# CNC assisted slingshot making, 12 hours in 12 minutes



## Bill Hays (Aug 9, 2010)




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## Ordo (Feb 11, 2018)

Lots of work there. Great design.


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## Royleonard (Jun 30, 2017)

Great video amazing amount of intelligence required for sure in making a slingshot and a video. respect!


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## Grandpa Grumpy (Apr 21, 2013)

Great video. Still a lot of hand work involved. Too bad YouTube doesn't allow comments on tour videos.


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## Covert5 (Feb 7, 2018)

Awesome video!


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## Pebble Shooter (Mar 29, 2014)

Stunning CNC technology: what are the costs involved for such an installation?


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## James West (Dec 6, 2014)

I really enjoyed watching that


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## Bill Hays (Aug 9, 2010)

Thanks Guys.

The costs involved.... first you need a machine that is heavy duty enough to cut without deflection.... Which requires lead screws not belts, and extremely close tolerances on it's linear bearings and spindle... plus the motor has to be powerful and fast enough (torque) to cut and not bog down and stop. Those little $500 machines won't do it, to lightly built and tolerances are to loose.

The machine shown is probably about the minimum machine that can get it done... I had a customized Nomad 883 made... it has a little more powerful motor and is just a touch more robust all throughout... It's actually a semi-prototype of a machine Carbide3D.com may produce at sometime in the future... The standard Nomad costs $2500... upgrades cost about $500. The CAM software (MeshCAM) comes with it, but it's a beginner level, and although it will work for most projects it bogs down when using very detailed STLs (which is about all I create it seems) so I had to upgrade to the Pro package which was another $500..

You can get free 3D-CAD software... and some with a small nominal fee like Fusion 360 are actually pretty good.... But I like the GUI of Rhino 5.... and the incredible ease of drawing available in ViaCAD... So I use the two together and that runs around $1000.... but it's a one time fee as compared to a subscription that can be pulled or even increased at any time.

And of course you have to have a capable computer to run the machine... I use a dedicated Fujitsu with a built in Wacom screen so that I can get really artistic if I want... Cost, $900 new, but on discount.

To learn Rhino, Fusion360, ViaCAD or just about any CAD and or CAM software... there are many very good instructional videos available for free on Youtube... (another reason I want to keep all my instructional videos about slingshots for free on there as well, to give back)...

It took me about a month of steady practice and playing around with Rhino before I got to where I could make anything really useful and then to make exactly what I want to correct dimensions, curves, roundovers and so forth, probably about another month.

I'm generally a pretty fast learner, but I'm really into more graphical type interfaces, so your time to get decent may be more or less than mine was.

I also bought a ShapeOko CNC router table setup with a "High Definition Z" (HDZ) so I can do larger quantities if needed... but only softer materials because there is deflection, just a little, but just a little is all it takes to screw up a slingshot... So I basically use the ShapeOko to cut out flat pieces that don't require high precision.

So I guess, when you add it all together... it's about $5000 minimum in equipment and software to get started pretty well... that's before buying the material to cut, bits and other consumables... which could add another $500-$1000...


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## Tag (Jun 11, 2014)

Fantastic video I wasn’t sure how much hands on labor was involved. Watching this video made me appreciate your amazing craftsmanship even more. I felt that every time you changed from one tool to another you inspected the slingshot for any imperfections. Now that’s quality control at its finest. Your pride in your craftsmanship is amazing.


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## StringSlap (Mar 2, 2019)

Great video! Makes you appreciate the work put into them!


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