# Making catapults with Cub Scouts and Scouts - band power?



## Ironliver

Hi All,

I have a quick question regarding use of bands. This is my first post having had a look through some of the diy slingshot sections and the bits on Theraband and worryingly RTS. I am based in the UK and am a leader with my local scout group. We have a camp booked for October and I am planning on running an activity that allows the young people to make their own slingshots using forked sticks they've bought with them (I may pre cut a few templates if I have time as well). My question relates to the type of band I should use and quantity needed.

I was all set to buy a 1.5m roll of Theraband gold but will this be too powerful for kids aged 7-14? I just want them to be able to burst a few water balloons or knock some tin cans over at maybe 5m rather than take down a rabbit at 40 yards!

Does anyone have any advice for me as I have never made any catapults/slingshots using this Theraband stuff before and I need to order supplies ASAP. Any advice you can give on the simplest design to focus on for a large group (approx 40 kids maybe 10 at a time) would also be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Iron


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## JohnKrakatoa

HI, hmm... Try looking in your garage or in a bikeshop for old bicycle tubes, they are weak and free. TBG could be used for small power, but it has to be cut slim (like 1cm wide per band tops) and long so they cant draw it out so far (or on the other a short bandset so it cant ever expand to a strong force), and that might feel unsatysfying for them. Why not just order a weaker Theraband color? There is also the Q of what ammo you wanna use to burst the waterbaloons.

Also, you might want to ask for consent of their parents, I think. Coz kids will 100% use them to shoot a t random stuff. Even if you give them a proper shooting rules schooling.


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## Ironliver

Thanks for you comments John. I am thinking that inner tubes would be good as well. Maybe I will speak to my local bicycle shop to see if they have any old ones they are throwing out. If I go down that route what would be the most effective way of cutting the rubber down to size?

What would be a weaker colour of Theraband that I could use for kids? I like the fact that it could be cut to size consistently from a roll.

I think we could get away with some dried peas or beans chickpeas (garbanzo) as ammunition for the target shooting to aid consistency and make it less perilous!

If you guys think it might be too much for kids of this age then we could stick to making larger catapults/trebuchets like we have done in the past. I don't really want any eyes taken out on my watch. However I bought a couple of fairly low power catapults (with thick rubber bands) from a French market for my two oldest sons (7 and 9yrs) and they love them. Sadly the catapults are not that accurate due to the thick rubber and the way in which it is bound to the forks.

I think is done in a controlled and safe way it will be a really exciting activity and something the can take home to say they they made on camp. Especially for the older ones.

Any other input is greatly appreciated.

Iron


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## Suffolkslingshots

Try this black one...should be perfect for your needs!






Tim.


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## HMIB

Suffolkslingshots said:


> Try this black one...should be perfect for your needs!
> 
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> 
> 
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> 
> Tim.


Tim - thanks for the info; I'm setting up a SS for a friend's son. 
Felix


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## ryguy27

Theraband Blue Is Not Too Strong, But Not Shabby Either. You Might Want To Look Into That! It's Great For .177 BBs As You Can See In Metropolicity's Videos. Dried Chick Peas Should Be Fine, But Might Not Pop The Balloons. Make Sure They Have Safety Glasses, And Maybe After They Prove Proficient They Could Use BBs?


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## Ironliver

The black Theraband looks good. For a beginner/child do you have any recommendation for length of band and thickness? I saw a video in the diy section showing the gold bands doubled up, would I still be best doing this with the black?

For the targets I might just stick to stuff they can knock over or hit with peas or beans rather than trying to burst a water balloon. As we are on a woodland campsite I think picking up millions of bb pellets after the activity might prove problematic.

Thanks to all for your helpful responses.

Iron


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## Suffolkslingshots

Straight cut 20mm bands (width) and cut at 250mm length strips...you would need a roller cutter and mat to cut.
I sell strips of elastic and pouches and also made up bandsets,I can cut or make these for you if you don't want to buy cutter and mat etc.
If you are interested you can contact me on [email protected] for a price stating how many you would need.
If you want to make them yourself you can get mat and roller cutter on eBay.

Tim.


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## JohnKrakatoa

Hmmm, for inner tubes its sufficient to have a sharp shears to cut them.

If you wanna make bandsets from therband, a roller cutter is the best way, but it can be done with a exacto knife too, or even shears, but not so precisely, you need a ruler for every method.

I think if you made them from TBgold you could make them to be simply the width of the whole band. So the width will be the lentgh of one band per fork, and the width
.. half to one cm I think.

But as I said, that short and slim might be unsatisfactory. If you go with tb blue you might be better of.


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## nydiver

We recently wanted to do something similar with our Scouts here in the US, but then word got out of our plans. Next thing you know I had our local council all in a tizzy. I didn't check BSA regulations and it seems that we could physically make slingshots, and the scouts (ages 13-17) could take them home, but if we wanted to test them we couldn't. To use a slingshot here in the US requires doing so at a BSA resident camp, it must occur on a firing range with a NRA certified range master, with an adult per scout ratio supervising. I would hope that in the UK they don't have such ridiculous regulations for the sake of sue happy people. We merely wanted to have some fun, I guess sometimes that's just not part of Scouting until the regulations are met. Can you imagine the looks on my Scouts faces when I had to tell them that the $20-80 slingshots THEY had just purchased could not be brought on the camp out? They were looking to simulate games from the Tougher than a Boy Scout show, with a target event using some soda cans. What a kill joy!


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## NaturalFork

Theraband black, straight cut 3/4 inches single layered is what my 9 year old shoots ... it is certainly light .. but he busts cans with it and it is light enough so he can hold aim.


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## Imperial

nydiver said:


> We recently wanted to do something similar with our Scouts here in the US, but then word got out of our plans. Next thing you know I had our local council all in a tizzy. I didn't check BSA regulations and it seems that we could physically make slingshots, and the scouts (ages 13-17) could take them home, but if we wanted to test them we couldn't. To use a slingshot here in the US requires doing so at a BSA resident camp, it must occur on a firing range with a NRA certified range master, with an adult per scout ratio supervising. I would hope that in the UK they don't have such ridiculous regulations for the sake of sue happy people. We merely wanted to have some fun, I guess sometimes that's just not part of Scouting until the regulations are met. Can you imagine the looks on my Scouts faces when I had to tell them that the $20-80 slingshots THEY had just purchased could not be brought on the camp out? They were looking to simulate games from the Tougher than a Boy Scout show, with a target event using some soda cans. What a kill joy!


sounds like an out of state camping trip should be on the agenda. it also seems as if its only new york.


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## nydiver

No, sadly its in the BSA guide National Shooting Sports Manual (I was the "proud recipient" of a copy with highlighted slingshot portion outlining the requirements) its nationwide. I think its ridiculous and makes it seem like adult leaders are irresponsible and can't manage or control the situation without stringent requirements and safeguards and triple checks inplace.


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## Ironliver

Hi all, thanks again for all the replies, just a quick update to let you know how we got on. In the end I had some help cutting out around 40 of Dayhikers sharpshooter templates using a combination of router and flush trim bit (until the bearing disintegrated) and a band saw. All slingshot blanks were made out of exterior grade 18mm ply, which seemed to be ideal for this use.

I ordered more Theraband black and pre-cut loads of lengths to 230mm x 20mm plus loads of small strips for binding. Then I made up three jigs for tying the bands to the leather pouches so that the young people could have a go at this themselves. We already had a load of old leather sample books from DFS that we had used for leather woggle making, and these were ideal for the pouches.

In the end it took longer than I anticipated to run the activity and we (four adults) ended up having to pre-assemble the pouches and two strips of Theraband and just get the young people to help tie them to the forks so that they had time to try them out. We got them to sand down the edges of the blanks first and then cut a groove near the top of each fork to stop the bands slipping off (which the first few did that didn't have this groove).

We had an old canvas back stop rigged up with some numbered strips of cardboard suspended from a line in front as a range and this was supervised by an adult with only small groups firing at a time. We used dried chick peas which were ok, but they have a tendency to spin off target due to the slightly odd shape and they do feel a little too small and light. Once they had had a go with their catapults and it was time to move on to the next activity, we stored the slingshots in a box and only gave them back at the end of the camp so they could take them home.

Everyone loved it and had a great souvenir to remind them of the camp.

Thanks again to all for you help and advice.

Monty


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## Imperial

:thumbsup: good to hear a great experience was had by all .


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## HMIB

Sounds great! You may have started a few on the path of SS!
Felix


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## slingshotsnz

I had the same thing with scouts in New Zealand just us a bike tire it's knocks a can over but isn't so powerful that it will hurt someone


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## Rick O'Shay

Our scouts here in the US have to follow rules and regulations that require them ( leaders) to use female hygiene products.....Yeah the Girl Scouts have more Testosterone here in the GREAT OL US OF AM....LAND OF THE FREE HOME OF THE AND HOME OF WE WILL SUE YOU IF YOU HAVE FUN!!!!!

Glad you and the boys had fun teaching personal responsibility.


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