# shorts



## cavedweller (Mar 10, 2015)

I was trying single band solid rubber on a couple of my homemade shooters. It was this sort of idea:



At first I thought it was great. I was getting some really good performance out of around 4mm single loop. Seemed almost like my posh flat bands. However, there's something about the physics of it all that ruins the band in no time. It tends to wear out badly along the area that stretches through the wire loops. This also happened on this one:





After trimming the two broken sides the same length I had some short, solid single bands that looked useless, but then I tried clamping them in a couple of my flat band shooters, a cheapo Chinese one and a Wasp. The white one had 4mm solid round band and the Wasp had 5mm.



This made for a quite short draw, a bit like the slingshots I used as a kid, but it actually worked pretty well. Probably because the solid round rubber of today is a lot better than whatever I was using back then. I shot 6mm steel balls, and 6mm and 8mm hex nuts at a can and was really surprised.



https://postimages.org/



The 6mm steel balls mostly just dented the can but a lot of the hex nuts went through. I was surprised how much power this short draw could actually generate. This might be an idea for anybody who needs a short draw for some reason.

As for the two wire frame homemade slingshots, the only way they seem to work is by using double looped. For whatever reason the band doesn't wear out like the single one does, and I've found that double looped 3.5 and 4mm work really well and last much better than flats.


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## Lisa (Jul 22, 2020)

I wonder if you could put a larger tube over the tubes for a couple inches at the contact points. I did a diy like that after I saw the powertubes at simpleshot. It does improve the return and reload. It kind of snaps back without tangling.









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## cavedweller (Mar 10, 2015)

Yes, I think it needs something like that. I was well impressed with the performance of the one big single loop of rubber, it just wore out at the friction points too quickly. Next time I make a single solid loop band I'll put a length of tube around it to protect it where it goes through the metal loops. I have to say I'm still quite impressed with what a single loop of solid can do and it's really easy to make a single loop band.


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## SJAaz (Apr 30, 2019)

sandpaper. sand, sand ,sand those inner rings to a mirror finish.


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## Lisa (Jul 22, 2020)

The solid rounds, are those called rubber fishing line on aliexpress? I'd like to try those out.

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## cavedweller (Mar 10, 2015)

OK, this is weird.

I did the tube thing, running the solid band through another tube sleeve through the hoops so it wouldn't even touch the metal, and the band still began to wear out after like 25 shots.

In this instance the actual rubber of the band never even contacted the metal slingshot frame, and it started to wear out in exactly the same spot as before even though it never touched the metal.

The outer tube showed no signs of wear at all.

However, if I make looped bands out of the same solid rubber it lasts perfectly fine.

All I can think is that there must be some reason why the stretching through the frame loop bit causes the solid rubber to wear out there. It's fine when made into looped bands, so it's not a case of rotten rubber.

I noticed that it seems to be worse the thicker the band is, but all sizes of solids seem to wear out badly at the spot where it goes through the frame loops. It's great in any other configuration, so it must have something to do with the way it bends through the frame loops when shot.

Yeah, on Aliexpress it's sometimes called "fishing rope" or something but it's also found when searching for "slingshot rubber", you just have to do a lot of digging. It's not hugely expensive and in my experience it lasts really well, probably even better than tubes for longevity on the right slingshot frame.

I've found the 3.5mm looped bands I've made to be easy to draw and really fast for anything up to about the weight of 10mm steel balls and it really zings smaller ammo like 6mm.

The 4mm and 5mm works well for heavier ammo like 8mm and 10mm hex nuts on some of my other slingers. The solid round band is nicely suited for attaching to oddball slingshots that aren't made to take flats bands.


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## Lisa (Jul 22, 2020)

Thank you for all the info. You are right, the wear is weird.

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## Sean Khan (Mar 27, 2020)

Not so weird.... rub an eraser on another eraser, see what happens.

I used paper tubes instead of larger diameter rubber tubes around the smaller tubes. Worked fine. But then again, too much work for too little return.

Like Elon Musk sez, "The best part of an electric car is when there is no part at all". I just use the simplest attachment method of all... drill a 7mm hole, countersink and smoothen the sides, and put a ball-in-tube through it. I have not noticed any wear whatsoever.


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## cavedweller (Mar 10, 2015)

Yes I'm also a big fan of the ball in the end of the tube method. It's quick and easy. I've got some that use that style. I rather like 3060 tube.

However, today I was experimenting with these homemade jobbies that I was having the problems with above. This time both are armed with solid round rubber band looped. The top one has 4mm and the bottom one has 3.5mm slightly longer loops:



I was using 6mm, 8mm and 9.5mm steel ball bearings on various cans today. Both slingshots with these bands had no trouble with thin ally. Here's a fortunate pic of what the holes look like side by side on an ally cat food tin:



Here's a slightly sturdier tuna can. The 6mm only dented the can but some 8 and 9.5mm went through, so these looped solids are putting out some pretty good whack.





And then here's what happened to a really sturdy tin can. Don't know what it was for but it seemed to be even sturdier than the baked bean tin I shot the other day. Only the slingshot using the 4mm bands and 9.5 made it through.





I must have shot at least a couple hundred rounds through each slingshot today and the looped bands show no sign of wear whatsoever. I was at it for quite a while and managed to kill several tins without sustaining any casualties myself.

This just shows how powerful these solid bands can be. The 3.5mm loops are a heavier draw than flats but not anything much more. Seems to be almost as good as my flats and lasts a lot longer.

The 4mm is a fairly heavier draw, harder than any of the flats I've used. Could probably do with some longer loops, but it seems to work best for heavier ammo. I've shot 12mm steel ball and 10mm steel hex nuts with this and they hit with some force. None of my flat band slingshots can handle ammo that heavy.


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## Sean Khan (Mar 27, 2020)

Yep. Looped tubes are awesome. I use them too. No wear on mine either.

They did come undone from the pouch so I had to re-tie them. Original pouch ties can't take serious action.


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