# Aluminum Ergo Slingshot



## mxred91 (Aug 8, 2010)

This is another slingshot using my last Ergo design, but in Aluminum. Although I have worked as a designer in custom metal fabrication for the last 30 years (mainly stainless sheet metal), I rarely do metal work at home. Therefore my metal working tools are limited. So I thought aluminum would be a good challenge for me. No doubt inspired by Holzwurm's tremendous creations in aluminum, I studied his threads for insight in how to work the aluminum. Chris (or BearGryllis?) keeps asking me, "Can I cut it out with a coping saw?", well I cut this out with a coping saw. I drilled holes around the perimeter first. There was no way I was risking my wood only band saw on this. It took about 45 minutes. Tex shooter latex for the bands, and the inside fork design is right from Tex's design (I like that fork). Shoots great, a little heaver than wood. I have to say I like the feel of wood better, must be from all those selfbows I have shot. It was fun. I have posted the template for this design before, but for your convenience here it is again:
http://www.4shared.c...str_ergo_2.html
If you are interested in more details I have also posted a video.

Chuck S.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=pMOq4UZrJV4


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## PandaMan (Oct 14, 2010)

Wow, I'd love to do something like that, but I don't have a drill...
Well done, it looks cool!


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## Brooklyn00003 (Feb 28, 2010)

It looks great!

I never knew this is being cut out like this with the drilled holes.


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## Flatband (Dec 18, 2009)

Nice job Red! Came out great Bud! Flatband


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## ronan (Oct 19, 2010)

Hi,
Beautiful work. I'm glad to see an other aluminium enthousiast.


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## Frodo (Dec 19, 2009)

Great job! Only 45 minutes for the whole slingshot?
I always wanted to make a slingshot out of aluminium but micarta is first!


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## NoSugarRob (Jun 3, 2010)

come out very well.


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## Holzwurm (Nov 5, 2010)

@ mxred91

Came out a very nice great shooter














, .......I'm very glad , if I was able to provide some input !

I understand , if the metal frame feels kinda strange to your hand , you're probably used to wood only !

I see , that you've marked some more frames on your metal sheet , .........you can make grips for these of any material you can think of , ......wood , antler , soapstone , micarta, ....etc ,....... works just the same like making a knife handle , .......either pin or rivet two grip halves onto the frame or make the grip part of the aluminium frame in square(with a smooth and rounded transition towards the fork not to break at that spot) , make a wooden(or other) grip with a matching lengthwise blind bore and finally epoxy the frame in .

Here is a special chisel , that you can use to punch out the metal frame instead of utilizing a saw , .......sorry , but I don't know the English name for it !

You'd drill holes along the outline as well , but somewhat bigger ones , also leaving narrow ridges inbetween them , .....now clamb your workpiece in a benchvise , the ridge to be separated must be as close to the edges of the vise clambs as possible , ....now place the chisel at about 45° sideward against the ridge and use a medium sized hammer in your other hand to punch out the ridge with a few well-placed hits .

As said before , the holes must be sufficiently large for the chisel not to bind into them at least before halfway through .

To avoid material tearing out on the rear side of workpiece , flip it over and repeat from the other side to meet in center , .......wear eye protection , as metal chips can accelerate quite a bit and ricochet like little projectiles !

The pictured chisel is already worn out , ....sorry , did not have another one handy , ........my crappy pencil sketch shows how the cutting edge should look like , a bit wider at the tip , so that there is a relief behind that cutting edge for the tool not to bind and get stuck .

greetz , Holzwurm


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## John-Boy (Oct 15, 2010)

Very nice!! if i could give a little advice here, try some 2500grit wet and dry followed by a metal polish like autosol, work it in with scrunched up newspaper and a wipe off with old rag repeat if necessary, mirror finish guarenteed!!

Thats only if a mirror finish is what your after of course!!









Apart from that its a sterling job


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## Dayhiker (Mar 13, 2010)

Red, I'm heading out the door for a mooch right now, but before I can properly comment on this I see that you use the same exact coping saw and blade as I do for most of my work.


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## lucifer93 (May 4, 2010)

I'm sold, just going to order a new drill press now. Happy New Year


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## BaneofSmallGame (Sep 22, 2010)

Simply incredible work again MX.....I love your woodwork but you show true skill crossing over materials and making do. I had no idea Aluminum could be cut this way, this is good to know....

Great effort, great result, you've got a lifetime shooter made in 45 min. ! (which is astonishing) ......along with that, we have the same file!









Take Care and keep sharing all of your beauties
- John


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## Dayhiker (Mar 13, 2010)

Well, what can I say? Perfect! I like that one a lot.


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## Devoman (Oct 15, 2010)

Very Cool! So much to try, so little time!


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## mxred91 (Aug 8, 2010)

Frodo said:


> Great job! Only 45 minutes for the whole slingshot?
> I always wanted to make a slingshot out of aluminium but micarta is first!


Frodo, 45 minutes just to saw it out. Probably about 6 hours total. I agree the micarta is something I would like to try.


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## mxred91 (Aug 8, 2010)

Holzwurm said:


> @ mxred91
> 
> Came out a very nice great shooter
> 
> ...


Holzwurm, thanks for the tips. I did look at how you mounted tour teak grips with the registry pins, reminded me of a pistol. I thought that was really cool. When I work the rest of the sheet I will look into a chisel as you have shown, easier than the saw I am sure. Ronan's grips look really nice. I also think I may design a shape specific to aluminum to take advantage of the strength of the material.


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## mxred91 (Aug 8, 2010)

John-Boy said:


> Very nice!! if i could give a little advice here, try some 2500grit wet and dry followed by a metal polish like autosol, work it in with scrunched up newspaper and a wipe off with old rag repeat if necessary, mirror finish guarenteed!!
> 
> Thats only if a mirror finish is what your after of course!!
> 
> ...


Thanks John-Boy. I was trying for a high finish, worked from 220 to 1500, and then Automotive polishing compound. There were some dents and dings that were too deep to polish out. The newspaper idea is something I will try.


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## mxred91 (Aug 8, 2010)

lucifer93 said:


> I'm sold, just going to order a new drill press now. Happy New Year


My drill press is one of my favorite tools. With a set of drums sanders it really makes short work out of shaping and sanding. I also have a Rigid spindle sander, I use the drill press more often.


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## Holzwurm (Nov 5, 2010)

mxred91 said:


> Holzwurm, thanks for the tips. I did look at how you mounted tour teak grips with the registry pins, reminded me of a pistol. I thought that was really cool. When I work the rest of the sheet I will look into a chisel as you have shown, easier than the saw I am sure. Ronan's grips look really nice. I also think I may design a shape specific to aluminum to take advantage of the strength of the material.


I first drilled the holes for the registration pins(and fixing screw)on my catty through the aluminium frame ONLY , ............after I utilized the fixing screw to hold ONE wooden grip and drilled through the completed holes in the frame into the wood to get the blind holes in there properly aligned .

Did the same with the second wooden grip !

If due to your design you cannot utilize a screw , you might use carpenters clambs as well to fix the grips against the frame .

You may think , that clamping together ALL the three parts(frame and two grips) and drill right through all of them is easier , but as the aluminium would be most likely somewhat harder than the wood , your drill bit might easily wander off it's course , .........as it hits or exits the metal frame , it would bite into the wood and get the holes in there too large in diameter and off direction as well .

Metall chips stuffing up the spiral grooves of your drill bit would also be a problem and tear out material from the bores inside of the wooden grips rendering them to get too large .

These are the reasons , why one should procceed the way described above , ...........many years ago I've tried my hand on knifemaking , and I've learned it the hard way







!

good luck , Holzwurm


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## bunnybuster (Dec 26, 2009)

I think if you could lock the drill press in place, you could use an end mill, and make for a much easier cut on the metal.
That way you could steer the pattern around the mill and have a cleaner cut with much less work.
JMO


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## jmplsnt (Jan 1, 2010)

Fine work Chuck and a beautiful completed piece. It's really something to see you create something in aluminum!


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## Holzwurm (Nov 5, 2010)

bunnybuster said:


> I think if you could lock the drill press in place, you could use an end mill, and make for a much easier cut on the metal.
> That way you could steer the pattern around the mill and have a cleaner cut with much less work.
> JMO


This would only work , if you would have a powerful and sturdy industrial grade press with a crank-operated crosswise moving table , on which you'd need to fix the workpiece .

And a drill press is not constructed for sideward force onto the main working spindle , such operations won't do it any good through the times .

Trust me , you cannot push a 1/2" aluminium plate against a rotating cutting tool by hand , it would end up in disaster and maybe even in injuries .

greetz , Holzwurm


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## mxred91 (Aug 8, 2010)

Holzwurm said:


> Holzwurm, thanks for the tips. I did look at how you mounted tour teak grips with the registry pins, reminded me of a pistol. I thought that was really cool. When I work the rest of the sheet I will look into a chisel as you have shown, easier than the saw I am sure. Ronan's grips look really nice. I also think I may design a shape specific to aluminum to take advantage of the strength of the material.


I first drilled the holes for the registration pins(and fixing screw)on my catty through the aluminium frame ONLY , ............after I utilized the fixing screw to hold ONE wooden grip and drilled through the completed holes in the frame into the wood to get the blind holes in there properly aligned .

Did the same with the second wooden grip !

If due to your design you cannot utilize a screw , you might use carpenters clambs as well to fix the grips against the frame .

You may think , that clamping together ALL the three parts(frame and two grips) and drill right through all of them is easier , but as the aluminium would be most likely somewhat harder than the wood , your drill bit might easily wander off it's course , .........as it hits or exits the metal frame , it would bite into the wood and get the holes in there too large in diameter and off direction as well .

Metall chips stuffing up the spiral grooves of your drill bit would also be a problem and tear out material from the bores inside of the wooden grips rendering them to get too large .

These are the reasons , why one should procceed the way described above , ...........many years ago I've tried my hand on knifemaking , and I've learned it the hard way







!

good luck , Holzwurm








[/quote]

I know what you mean, I am really good at leaning the hard way







, That and I usually manage to cut myself in the process of making something.


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## mxred91 (Aug 8, 2010)

bunnybuster said:


> I think if you could lock the drill press in place, you could use an end mill, and make for a much easier cut on the metal.
> That way you could steer the pattern around the mill and have a cleaner cut with much less work.
> JMO


Thanks Bunnybuster, I am fairly ignorant when it comes to machining metal. It sounds like what you suggest would work.

Just read Holzwurms response. Heavy industrial drill press, not mine, $200 from Menards, a chinese Cal-Hawk. It makes sense that you may need some pretty good bearings for the lateral force. Can a router ( wood working type) work on aluminum? Carbide bits?


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## Holzwurm (Nov 5, 2010)

mxred91 said:


> Just read Holzwurms response. Heavy industrial drill press, not mine, $200 from Menards, a chinese Cal-Hawk. It makes sense that you may need some pretty good bearings for the lateral force. Can a router ( wood working type) work on aluminum? Carbide bits?


MX , ......here is a picture of the small hobby routing machine , that I have down the basement(sorry , cleaning up is a waste of time to me







) .

The motor is quite weak , ......can't plane off more than 0,5 mm from aluminium at one time with an industrial grade tool steel router bit of 1/2" dia . ,......takes it to it's limits !

Nevertheless it comes in quite handy for quite a few hobby tasks , ..........years ago I've made a couple of lead casting molds to fabricate lead lures , ...check out the three of these mold halves .

The registration holes I've drilled and honed at my work , but the cavities and relief portions I've made a home . Look at the mold for the big "football" jigheads , ........the cavities and the sprue holes(you can still see the tool marks of the oval bit there) I've cut out with my "Dremel" and it's tool steel router bits(pictured) , no carbide bits neccessary(not available in many shapes and also quite expensive) .

Did not cut the "football" cavities with those bits from the full material , but pre-drilled the cavities with different diameters , the smallest dia. the deepest and extended to the final shape with the router bits .

If using the "Dremel" for aluminium , wear a big apron and eye protection , the tiny chips coming off are kinda nasty and easily enter your clothing and skin , ......not dangerous though(accept to the eyes) , but quite a nuisance .

Sorry for switching the topic towards fishing lures , just meant to explain a bit about working on aluminium .

PS :

I haven't yet tried any wood tools on aluminium , but I suppose , that due to their rough teeth they might cause quite a bit of vibration to machinery and guide hand .

good luck , Holzwurm


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