SpudFiles

A friend of mine asked me if I ever experienced failures. Yes, sir, failures galore! For every successful design, I have one that doesn't work.

He said that just showing off the successes is wrong, and asked me to present at least the more spectacular failures as well. OK, here are two of those.

The first one is an attempt to make a slingcat with draw length extension. The idea: A spring loaded mechanism would automatically raise a roller when you draw out, and then when you release it would snap back in, making room for the ball.

Problem is that it did not work. What happened is that the ball hits the roller. Obviously the roller did not get down fast enough. A dangerous slingshot. For the trash.







This next one was my attempt to make a target slingshot. I wanted adjustable fork width and height, self centering grip, a spirit level to avoid canting and adjustable sights.

In general it works, but it is way to heavy. I can make about ten shots, and then my arm begins to ache and to tremble. Plus, the adjustable fork height and width is unnecessary really. The only thing that is worth preserving is the sight+spirit level.







Regards, Jörg

Insomniac wrote:Must be nice to have one of your designs turned into an actual product.

Agreed! Does anyone manufacture penguns?

Yes, sir, failures galore! For every successful design, I have one that doesn't work.

Try explaining it to the kids of all ages here it's what R&D is all about or so I keep telling myself...

Here is the video:

[youtube][/youtube]


Jörg

Oh what will he think of next? Great job as usual joerg I really like your work. Now, for your next launcher, you should make a harpoon gun, that would be really cool.

What if it hits your fingers

Hello,

upon special request, I have looked into ways how to shoot shot pellets with a slingshot. Using the conventional leather pouch does not work, as the pellets fly in crazy directions. Therefore I made a pouch that has been formed from thin Kydex (a plastic that you can form by heating it).

The new pouch holds up to 50 .177 (4.5mm) lead or steel pellets. Since it does not open fully, the groups are fairly tight, which is shown in the video.

This includes slow motion scenes recorded in Hi Speed (1200 frames per second). Watch how the pellets smash through beer cans! Spectacular scenes.

The slingshot used for these tests is the Cougar, the first commercially mass produced Jörg Sprave design. It is demonstrated in detail in another video (currently awaiting the approval of the Dankung company). You can order your Cougar at www.dankung.com!

Here is the video:

ahaha lol i can harvest my used balls

Even though I gave them the design for free, I am very proud.

Here is the video:

[youtube][/youtube]

Regards

Jörg

I have done some slomos to see how the pellets leave the pouch.

Interesting, the Kydex pouch flies high after the fork has been passed, while the shot pellets continue straight on.

The pellets are in a nice tight group, just perfect if you ask me.

Then, the pouch returns downwards. I have no explanation for the strange post-fork flight of the pouch, maybe it is because of the hollow container halfs. Well, I don't care as long as it works.

I have finished the video about the Alverton event.

Youtube oversteered my audio, I have to watch for that in the future. But it should still be interesting for you slingshot fanatics out there!



Greetings

Jörg

Hello,

after the trip to Alverton, I was eager to make another slingshot today.

I found a store where you can buy - fairly inexpensively - small wood blocks ment for pens. Some of them looked really cool, so I ordered a bunch of them.

Made a slingshot, in my favourite Compass design. But I used rosewood for the forks, amaranth and birds eye maple for the grip parts and birch for the bottom part. Came out great! No stain, no laquer, just polish.

I used bronze as the joints, and of course I put in a metal heart. It came out great!







Here you can see some of the raw wood pieces.



Here is the "skeleton"! I glued the parts together, but I do not trust glue very much so I secured everything with 3mm steel nails that keep the steel rods firmly in place.



This is a beautiful slingshot! Will finalize the polish job tomorrow and then do a video.

I actually think this may be my prettiest slingshot so far, I like it more than the Phoenix.

Regards

Jörg

Hello,

after the trip to Alverton, I was eager to make another slingshot today.

I found a store where you can buy - fairly inexpensively - small wood blocks ment for pens. Some of them looked really cool, so I ordered a bunch of them.

Made a slingshot, in my favourite Compass design. But I used rosewood for the forks, amaranth and birds eye maple for the grip parts and birch for the bottom part. Came out great! No stain, no laquer, just polish.

I used bronze as the joints, and of course I put in a metal heart. It came out great!







Here you can see some of the raw wood pieces.



Here is the "skeleton"! I glued the parts together, but I do not trust glue very much so I secured everything with 3mm steel nails that keep the steel rods firmly in place.



This is a beautiful slingshot! Will finalize the polish job tomorrow and then do a video.

I actually think this may be my prettiest slingshot so far, I like it more than the Phoenix.

Regards

Jörg

Hello,

I decided to try the lamination method, in order to make use of the remaining exotic wood pen blanks.

So I made a block from four of these 20mm x 20mm blocks, from Amaranth, Amerello, Zebrano and Rosewood.

In order to highlight the beauty of the wood, I decided to make a very simple fork, from stainless steel of course.

I think it came out pretty good! Feels wonderful in my hand, maybe because the handle is just like a file grip, a tool I dearly love and use very often.







The wood is just polished, no laquer, no staining. I just think polished wood feels great in the hand.

Greetings


Jörg

Looks great.

Without rubber, "Brass Knuckles".

Here is the video:



The new slingshot looks very simple, but it is well thought out. It can shoot a .38" (9,5mm) steel ball at almost 180 mp/h (79 meters per second), with a pull that is so easy even a pre-teen boy could draw it out. Pure efficiency.

Different bands are tested as well, showing that heavier bands only make sense for heavier ammo.

At the end of the video, you can find the details for another drawing - 2 "Cougar" slingshots will go to the lucky winner (drawing will happen on June 1st, 2010). Details in the video!

Jörg