# PVC slingshots



## tradspirit (Jul 23, 2012)

Been following the creations of the Backyard bowyer on you tube and discovered that he has also information on building slingshots out of PVC pipe. If you watch his video, pay particular attention to his shooting arrows w/o any sort of rest other than the base of the fork split and the amazing accuracy that he achieves. Pretty remarkable fellow with a lot of talent. His other you tube vids on same subject show fabrication of pouch, band sets, finishing and shooting.


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## bigron (Nov 29, 2012)

i just really don't like the idea of or the look of pvc shooters some people might but i'm not pulling something back towards my face when it's attached to a heated up bent and contorted piece of plastic,no offense to anybody that does it but not me


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## Urban Fisher (Aug 13, 2014)

I think they are pretty cool! Simple, low cost yet effective. Here is another video you may be interested in...






And another...


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## Arnisador78 (Apr 10, 2013)

I made a few of the back yard Bowyer pvc slingshots. Pretty cool design and concept. His bow tutorials are awesome. Just a warning about pvc fumes when you heat it up,including cutting. I've read it is pretty toxic! I remember getting wicked head aches from it. I later bought an organic vapor gas mask and that worked well. I have been wanting to make some more of his bows lately.


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## tradspirit (Jul 23, 2012)

The fumes are carcenogenic so care should be made to assure proper ventilation ( heating them outside is the best method ). Warming to bend should not create fumes, whereas excessive heating and resulting discoloration of the PVC will. Backyard bower has you tube presnetation on associated dangers.


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## Phoul Mouth (Jan 6, 2015)

I prefer this method for PvC pipe slingshots. Seems much more solid and safe to me as well as being more aesthetically pleasing.


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## Kerry Cornelius (Nov 11, 2014)

2 or 3 layers welded together makes pvc really strong.


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## Susi (Mar 3, 2013)

The maker of these videos, the first one above, makes pretty workable PVC bows and what not, he offers some pretty interesting and practical ideas however I tried the PVC slingshot idea made of heavy PVC tubing. It not only came out absolutely butt ugly but the material would not sustain a decent band pull. It flexed too much. It went in the garbage. There are a lot more practical materials including good old wood to make slingshots. I had to try it however. For weak bands they would work I guess. I'd advise to not waste your time on this. The flat models however look promising if that's the only material you can scrounge up. Personally I'm not much of a PVC fan but it does work to some degree. The young man who made a laminated PVC SS out of 2" pipe in a video seemed to work fine...a flat model not the split tube design I tried (and didn't like). I guess if you have no other material out of which to make a slingshot, PVC pipe from a construction site, flattened out and glued together would satisfy the urge to shoot.

What I do like is youngsters getting into making things and improvising! Reminds me of my SSGT nephew when he was young. Promoting youth activities such as this wins in my book. He's got lucky parents. If any of you are scout masters or 4H ers out there, you might adapt this PVC tubing flattened out project to something they can do and get interested in sling shots at the same time. The project is almost cost free except for the bands. Office Depot used to sell large office rubber bands that could be cut open and cut in half to use rather than more expensive elastic. We used exclusively those types of rubber bands for our slingshots when we were kids.

chuck


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## Phoul Mouth (Jan 6, 2015)

Susi said:


> I guess if you have no other material out of which to make a slingshot, PVC pipe from a construction site, flattened out and glued together would satisfy the urge to shoot.


I look at it like people making their own HDPE slings. Recycling. Why have that chunk of PVC sitting in a landfill for all eternity when you can make something enjoyable out of it? Plus there are several different varieties of PVC piping. Maybe the one you tried was a softer material than his because he has a 40lb pull on the slingbow made of PVC pipe and it looks pretty solid.


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## Arnisador78 (Apr 10, 2013)

Phoul Mouth said:


> Susi said:
> 
> 
> > I guess if you have no other material out of which to make a slingshot, PVC pipe from a construction site, flattened out and glued together would satisfy the urge to shoot.
> ...


The ones I made where really solid. I put triple tbg on one of them. I used 1" schedule 40 pvc pipe.


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## SharpshooterJD (Oct 9, 2012)

You definitely used the wrong type of PVC. You want white plumbing grade schedule 40 PVC pipe. It's the standard version. I only used 2 layers of PVC in my video above but you could use say 4 layers which would make it close to 3/4 of an inch thick and that would take any bands you could throw at it. You could also use it as an interesting material to use with laminated metal and wood slingshots.

I made that video for a couple of reasons. #1 PVC is somewhat easier to cut and work with than wood which could make it more available to people with less tools and experience which has already been mentioned. #2 It's dirt cheap. #3 It's fun to try new things and it makes you a better craftsmen + it's cool to take a material and use it for something it's not intended for and have it work very well. And #4 I hadn't ever seen it done before although I'm sure it has. Anyway PVC is an incredible material and very fun to work with so don't count it out until you really give it a go. Josh


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## bigdh2000 (Feb 9, 2015)

I have been following BackyardBower for a while now. He is very talented and knows his stuff. Those of you who are having trouble, I think the advice above is accurate. Get PVC that is clearly marked SCH 40. At places like Home Depot they have the crap laying right next to the good stuff. It is very easy to grab the wrong stuff. Also, let it cool slowly after heating.

I was also fascinated by another post entered a few days back on this forum where someone used layers of PVC that appeared to be joined with epoxy (need to study the post further). The slingshots were beautiful and appeared seamless. I will most definitely be expanding some of my tests into PVC over the next few months.


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## SharpshooterJD (Oct 9, 2012)

I saw that post too. Obviously he is a step ahead of me working with PVC. I'd really like to know how he does that. Josh


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## NaturalFork (Jan 21, 2010)

I like his bows. PVC slingshots seem ok.


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