# Folding bands at forks for (cheapskate) reuse?



## calinb (Apr 4, 2015)

I'm sure plenty of shooters have done it. I've done most of my shooting with Tex-Shooter Light bands and I folded them back against themselves to store additional length. When the bands break (inevitably at the pouch, because they are tapered bands), I re-tie the pouch, and let out more band at the forks. Even though I ran the bands at about 500% elongation for about 150 fps with 1/2" steel, I re-tied them four times for over 1000 rounds of use!

I'm trying it again with 1" Predator Pro TB Gold bands. Though not tapered, I have enough extra to re-tie once. This time I just wrapped the extra material to the other side of the fork.

What are other strategies shooters have used to increase economy of band use? I know Chuck replaces single bands in his dual band sets when they break.


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## gonene1 (May 24, 2015)

I have a ball in tube attachment method , i use cuffs sleeves on the tube end (right on the ball) .

this is a place where the stress cause the most damage to the tubes.

what i did before the cuffs was to roll the ball a couple of mm deeper into the tube every time i noticed significant damage to the tube in this place , so the stress will relocate to a fresh part of the tube's end (without making much difference to the elongation factor.

also

I read here on the forum that tapered bands (or pseudo tapered tubes) wear faster because the Lighter part stretches to a larger elongation factor .

What i used in my pseudo tapered 1745 was a small 1 inch of 2040 to connect them to the pouch.

I believe that this part is taking the most stress , and releasing some stress from the main 1745 tube.

I believe that this part will fail first and I'll need to replace only it. which is easy because it is too connected with cuffs.

I did not test this yet, i made barely 100 shots with this set , it turned out to be so comfortable, easy pull and accurate , that i am saving it for spacial occasions. (i used it for the 10m accuracy challenge)

here is a photo of it again


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## calinb (Apr 4, 2015)

gonene1 said:


> I have a ball in tube attachment method , i use cuffs sleeves on the tube end (right on the ball) .


Thanks for all the details, gonene1! I count three cuffs per side in your photo. How many balls are installed per side (noting that the the tubes at the pouch are also doubled)?


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## gonene1 (May 24, 2015)

yep tree cuffs per side and another 2 cuff sleeves per side for each ball.

The 1745 part of the band is made out of two parts .

one folded in two (double strand part), a ball at each end (for the fork connection)

the other one strand of 1745 connected to the middle of the first one with a cuff.

the cuff let the tube "slip" through it so i pull on it and by doing so it get tightened to the first part, when it is very tight it won't slip any more and stay fastened to the middle of the first part.

The double part 2040 which connects to the pouch was made out of necessity, i had only two holes per side pouches on hand.

But it proved to be a great way co connect the main part of the tube set to the pouch.

In the photo you can see the ending of just one side.

I will put a like of a photo of the slingshot model so it will be easier to understand.

(i can't photo my slingshot with the band right not because it's 3:30am here and my wife won't let me keep it in the house. we have two young boys and one baby boy)


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## gonene1 (May 24, 2015)

cuffs over ball fail after about 250 shots with a 1842 tube , cuffs where fine the tube itself still broke at the attachment .

probably the ball itself cut the inside if the tube .

I now think that using a short heavy tube like 2050 or 3060 folded in two for the ball attachment and to it connect a lighter tube will give a better life to the set.

making them like you'd use gypsy tabs .

a thick 2050 took over 500 shots and high elongation ratio , so they should be able to stay ok for many more shots as gypsy tabs.

I am just unsure what will be the correct way to connect the regular band set to them.


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## calinb (Apr 4, 2015)

gonene1 said:


> cuffs over ball fail after about 250 shots with a 1842 tube , cuffs where fine the tube itself still broke at the attachment .
> 
> probably the ball itself cut the inside if the tube .
> 
> <snip>


Thanks for all the very good and specific information, gonene1! Thanks for the photo of your slingshot too. I thinks I can now duplicate your setup.



gonene1 said:


> ....
> 
> a thick 2050 took over 500 shots and high elongation ratio , so they should be able to stay ok for many more shots as gypsy tabs.
> 
> I am just unsure what will be the correct way to connect the regular band set to them.


Yes--I agree that a solution might be realized in tabs. I'll give it some thought too.


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## calinb (Apr 4, 2015)

Given that one has enough fork width, I'd also like to know whether it's more economical to go wider or go with multiple flat bands. My PocketPredator SideShooters can easily handle 1-1/2 inch or perhaps even 1-13/16 wide bands, in the case of the one I have with the Titanium attachment system.

Tapered bands seem to always fail right at the pouch. How about doubled flat band tapered sets? Is it always the inner or outer band that fails first (Chuck)?


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## Chuck Daehler (Mar 17, 2015)

I really don't know what band breaks first, the inner or outer...I never made note but will.

Since I can't buy good rubber here and must bootleg it in from folks coming from the states and this is not particularly common nor reliable, I try to use all bands until they have broken a couple times and I have no more band left at the forks extra to pay out. Like Cal I cut my bands about an inch longer than I need and the extra is folded up at the forks...a break will entail paying out all or part of that extra inch of band so the entire band doesn't have to be discarded...saving the rubber for more use.

I even tie gypsy knots on long segments which are themselves too short to reuse, tieing two together for a full draw. That works just as well as ordinary doubles! It scrounges more shots yet, hundreds of more shots in fact. When those break, they are out of the game and I cut ties from them for pouch ties. Nothing goes to waste unless it is absolutely useless.

I use for example, almost exclusively, double 15mm TBG flat straight bands. /taper breaks too often at the pouch, and I am not a speed freak, so that extra amount of umph a tapered band gives isn't important to me. I'd rather save rubber.


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