# Connecting Chinese tubes with a cylinder ?



## Yotee (Jan 25, 2013)

Hi All,

Just fell in love with slingshots again, 40 years later and then found this forum. I have been reading the forums and am now smart enough to do some real damage, mostly to myself and immediate surroundings.

So it's time to ask my first stupid question. I ordered a pair of Dankung slingshots off E-Bay. They had the 17/45 tubes which were pretty heavy for me so I did some looking and found Henry's article on Chinese tubes. Anyone that can change tubes 1000 times just to shoot them over a chrono is my type of guy. SO I ordered some 18/42 tubing to try to lighten up the pull some and also to try a 'tappered' setup. I have fingers like thumbs, all of them, and trying to tie off those new tubes was not very easy even after watching 10,000 youtube video on it. I got to thinking about an easier way to do it and remembered that all the old slingshots, and many new ones, mount tubes right on the metal frame like a chinese finger trap. So I cut a nail (slightly larger than the tubes) into an inch piece and stuck the tubing on it and it seems to work well.

Which brings me to my question finally. Has anyone ever tried this and are they still living to tell me how it worked out? What I actually ended up doing was to keep the 17/45 loops intact as they were quite short (<6") and added a 3" loop of 18/42. I have a 36" pull so these aren't stretched to the max but I was thinking of doing the same to the 17/45 loops to shorten them alittle. So has anyone ever tried putting tubing together this way and seeing how it holds up? I have shot maybe 50 rounds thru it with just the 4:1 stretch ratio but it hasn't budged yet and shoots quite nice.

Do I sound like the guy who fell off the empire state building and as he passed the 100th floor was heard saying; 'well this isn't so bad...'


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Personally I have not seen this done before. I have used short pieces of plastic knitting needle, drilled through the center, and stuffed into the ends of tubes, to attach a pouch using small diameter chord running through the middle of the plastic. So in general, this sort of arrangement should work theoretically, depending on the diameter of your nail.

One down side is that the nail is heavy ... I know, it does not seem like much, but even a small amount of extra weight at the pouch is to be avoided if possible. The more mass your tubes have to accelerate, the slower your shot will be. But this is all mumbo jumbo in the end. Experimentation is the real key. But be sure to wear good eye protection. If a band breaks, you do not want a chunk of that nail in your eye. Keep us posted.

Cheers ....... Charles


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