# Modify hyperdog, bend/cut frame?



## TimR (May 22, 2011)

I have a Hyperdog, a big extended fork tennis ball shooter. If you haven't seen one, here's a link:

https://www.amazon.com/Hyper-Dog-4-Ball-Launcher/dp/B000E9757I

My dog won't chase a tennis ball. She'll go nuts over a frisbee but good luck getting it back.

Anyway, I want to convert it, and the forks are too big. Each fork is 5.5 inches long and the spread at the ends is almost 8 inches. So I need to shorten them. But I need some advice on how and what they should look like.

I like starships, I've made a couple of wood and one of PVC pipe. I've never done a wire frame slingshot of any kind. The hyperdog is made of 1/4 inch (6 mm) steel wire. At 3 inches of fork length the spread would be 4 inches, which seems reasonable.

I can easily cut the forks, I have Dremel and angle grinders. But would it make more sense to bend it, and if so can I bend 1/4 inch steel? Do I need heat? Bend at a right angle, or down to a U?

And then the attachment problem of course. I do some flat bands and more file bands or chain bands, shoot mostly light ammo, haven't tried tubes but they look interesting.


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## TimR (May 22, 2011)

Oh, and I did try searching first, but if anybody knows a previous discussion that's relevant I'd like to see that.


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## Grandpa Grumpy (Apr 21, 2013)

Good to hear from you Tim. I think you would have to heat 1/4 steel to get a good right angle bend. Then there is the problem of attaching tubes to the fork. Any tube that will go over 1/4" is going to be for heavier ammo - 3/8" and up. I have forced 2040 and even 1632 on my Daisy but they never last as long as single tubes should. Flat bands are better.

I like to shoot 117b office bands and small single tubes with tabs using the Chinese hand cuff attachment. I will try to find a photo and post it later.


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## Grandpa Grumpy (Apr 21, 2013)

Here are a couple of photos of the tabs I use with 117b bands and 1632 single tubes. The tabs are made from old pouches, the thinner the better.









The next fork shows a short piece of 2040 and a larger 1/4" I.D. tube rolled up.









Lay the tab (or your flat band) over the short tube an unroll the large tube. Very firm attachment. PM me if you have any questions.


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## Ibojoe (Mar 13, 2016)

I used Mapp gas in my torch to heat and bend mine before I cut it. Gives a little more for the vice to hang on to. Worked great although mine wasn’t exactly like yours. Should still work though. Good luck


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## KawKan (May 11, 2013)

I'm going full echo chamber.

You seem to be in the right ball park with the fork height and width adjustment.

Grampa Grumpy has the goods on bands and attachments.

Ibojoe is on the money for technique. I would add, that I would start by straightening the fork ends - just to get a feel for the heat and force combination that works. Then you get to cut off the practice pieces!

Sounds like a fun project!


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## NSFC (Mar 31, 2020)

Grandpa Grumpy said:


> Here are a couple of photos of the tabs I use with 117b bands and 1632 single tubes. The tabs are made from old pouches, the thinner the better.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This is a great attachment method thanks for sharing. Im going to order a tennis ball shooter today and see what kind of trouble i can come up with. thanks for sharing.


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## Alfred E.M. (Jul 5, 2014)

*Suggestion - preserve the Hypermutt for the future and order a Marksman wrist rocket or their adjustable 3061 model.*

http://www.marksman.com/3061_slings.php


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## NSFC (Mar 31, 2020)

My cousin had one of these marksman adjustable slingshots. I remember treating it like the holy grail. It definitely looked like it next to my natty with the bark still on it. (Dennis the menace style)


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## TimR (May 22, 2011)

Alfred E.M. said:


> *Suggestion - preserve the Hypermutt for the future and order a Marksman wrist rocket or their adjustable 3061 model.*
> 
> http://www.marksman.com/3061_slings.php


Old post, but I did preserve it.

I bought several F16's at Walmart for less than $5 each and have been playing with light bands and rolling the tube down to hold them.

I'm still working on just the right strength - also I have a shoulder injury that limits what I can pull.

I found that flat bands hold fine just rolling the tube over. I really didn't understand Grampa Grumpy's method when this thread started but now it makes sense. It did not hold on a file band, so I just rolled the F16 tube back down, put the file band on top, and wrapped rubber band around it. But file bands don't really work, I think they need longer elongation. I got a light tube set from KawKan that works well and actually goes on over the forks.

So, back to the hyperdog, still preserved. I read Lisa's thread on Old Iron and liked her side tab method. So I made up some paracord side tabs tonight and moved them halfway down the hyperdog forks. I get pretty good zip out of light ammo indoors, need to test outdoors where I can see trajectory.

The hyperdog makes a rather awkward and ungainly starship. Too bad.


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## Alfred E.M. (Jul 5, 2014)

*I'm likely to ignite some controversy but I want to propose a quantum leap in frame style for you. Just something to consider.*

*In the nineties, I worked a graveyard job that allowed me to shoot nightly at distance on my lunch break. Other than a Pocket Rocket, the only frame I shot was a Marksman wrist rocket with their popular red tapered tube sets. After a while, I started keeping track of the shot counts due to frequent breakage (almost always at the right fork tip) and I could never get above 200. I thought that was SOP and resigned myself to changing out tube sets at least once a week.*

*In 2000 we moved and bought a house, and the wrist rocket appeared only infrequently - barbeques, 4th of July etc. On a whim in 2014, I ordered a stainless tube shooter (Luck Ring) from Dankung with the unfamiliar round fork ears. I was attracted to six inch single length tube sets with short one inch loops to roll over the ears... and was blown away by the shot count, hundreds, often way over a thousand rounds before failure.*

*So I got on that band wagon and have bought, sold, and traded many similar tube shooters. Along the way, I've been trying to intuit why the Chinese style lasts so much longer than what I call prong frames - wrist rockets, F16s etc, and all I come up with is - upon release, tube sets are much less stressed rolling over the top of a round ear as opposed to being jerked against the side of a prong fork tip. I'm not an engineer, this is just my opinion.*

*Many models have come and gone. The latest and best iteration from Dankung is called the 360 (just under $30) and if I only had one slingshot, it would be this. I can band it with 16 series tubing and shoot small ammo with just over a 5 lb pull, or put the strongest full loops on it and lob cannonballs, Or flats with tapered plugs if I wanted to, but I don't.*

https://www.dankung.com/product/360-round-grooves-fox-antelope-cold-bending-slingshot_2909


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## TimR (May 22, 2011)

Interesting angle.

I see two different ideas there.

One is that thin tubes are a good idea. I've done almost nothing with them up to now, mostly have done flat bands with board cuts, or chained bands (but the shoulder won't allow that anymore).

The other is that the slingshot end of the band should be free to flip forward for long life. So either gypsy tabs or a ring shooter would work.

How is that loop made in your band? Is that a cuff plus a constrictor knot?


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## Alfred E.M. (Jul 5, 2014)

*My shoulders are ok, but I'll be 75 next month and my stamina isn't what it used to be. Nevertheless, I can shoot 1632/36 tirelessly, without fatigue ... all day, if my wife would let me, lol. I have relatively short sessions with heavy draw situations, but it's all good.*

*I was never very efficient with constrictor knots, so when the stretchy clear ribbon came along, it was most welcome. I could tie light tubing loops without using cuffs, but the loops on larger tubing would slip - so for a while I was using cuffs with extra wraps and square knots as in the pics. Now I use 3 wraps pulled very tight with a square knot in between each wrap, and it's solid meld without a cuff. The great thing about the ribbon is that no matter how hard it's pulled, it doesn't cut into the tubing.*

*When making loops, I fold the tube end around a stainless ruler that's 1.25" wide, then mark a Sharpie dot on both pieces of tubing where the tie will be. I think it's important that there aren't any twists in the loop pieces before tying, and the active length hangs relatively straight and in harmony with the loop and the tie at the pouch. When relaxed, a tube set should be straight without kinks, twists, or major curves.*

*If you don't have 16 series tubing, you could PM your mailing address and I'll get a few samples out - I'm guessing it would be comfortable for you. *


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## Grandpa Grumpy (Apr 21, 2013)

Alfred E.M. said:


> *I'm likely to ignite some controversy but I want to propose a quantum leap in frame style for you. Just something to consider.*
> 
> *In the nineties, I worked a graveyard job that allowed me to shoot nightly at distance on my lunch break. Other than a Pocket Rocket, the only frame I shot was a Marksman wrist rocket with their popular red tapered tube sets. After a while, I started keeping track of the shot counts due to frequent breakage (almost always at the right fork tip) and I could never get above 200. I thought that was SOP and resigned myself to changing out tube sets at least once a week.*
> 
> ...


I had the same problem with the red tapered tubes and the yellow tubes on my Daisy F-16. A few years back I bought a tubing sample pack that Simple Shot offered. I found that their small,medium and large Latex tubing would easily slip on the 1/4" prongs of the Daisy using alcohol as a lubricant. The inside diameter of those tubes was 1/8" but the walls were thin enough to stretch over the 1/4" prongs of the Daisy. Shot count went from a couple of hundred with yellow Daisy tubes to over a thousand with the latex tubing from Simple Shot and draw weight was much lighter. Sadly Simple Shot no longer offers bulk latex tubing only the Chinese style of tubing. I have found that if I pre-stretch 2040 
and 1632 tubing I can slip them over the prongs on the Daisy. I dip my hemostats in alcohol, insert them into the tube and gently open them, rotate them and repeat several times. Then holding the hemostats open I slip the prong into the tube to get it started and push the prong into the tube. I use a lot of alcohol as lubricant.

I also spent some time polishing the prongs on the Daisy. The factory left some sharpness on the ends.


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