The Slingshot Man Archives

The Entropy Slayer 2000: Encapsulated Slingshot Crossbow with Heating System

Monday, January 23rd, 2012 at 7:09 am  
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The scientific information we gathered using the thermal heat camera lead to more experiments: What happens if you heat a stretched band, one that already cooled down to room temperature?

It regains the power it lost during the cooldown phase. That is right, this video has the proof.

Now The Slingshot Channel has to use this critical information in order to build a slingshot crossbow that can heat the stretched rubber with the flick of a switch. The result looks bizarre and very uncenventional, but it does work very well.

Three heating films heat up the interior of an encapsulated band box. Using a strong 3300 mAh rechargeable battery, the bands can make the bands about 20 centigrade warmer than the environment, adding (or better, regaining) about 40% energy.

This weapon can be left cocked for a long time, and then – minutes before action is expected – be brought to top performance.

Two new slingshots are also presented as a bonus.

A “The Slingshot Channel” production!

Do or Die: Zombie Hammer vs. Coconut

Saturday, January 21st, 2012 at 11:02 am  
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This is just a quick litlle video I made for all my fellow Zombie Hunters out there that wanted to see the impact of the Hammer on a coconut.

Note how little effort is needed to put the spike all the way into the nut. Go figure!

A “The Slingshot Channel” production!

PS: I like how my arm looks like in the first slomo :)

The “Alien Predator” Slingshot Experiment (Science!)

Sunday, January 15th, 2012 at 7:28 pm  
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This video uses a great piece of equipment for learning more about rubber bands: A thermal camera! This professional product made by Jenoptics has a resolution of 360×240, means, more than 86,000 laser thermoscopes are building an image. Much like the “heat visor” the predators use in the movies!

This way, heat structures can be made visible. It is mostly used to check how well a house is insulated, but it is also fantastic for scientific experiments.

Here, the thermal aspect of slingshot rubber is researched with the camera. It turns out that rubber bands store the muscle energy the shooter invests by drawing out into thermal energy – the bands warm up very quickly. When the shot falls, the bands retract and then they get very cold, intstantaneously.

The video clearly proves the fact that a long pause for aiming lowers the speed of the shot dramatically – because the drawn out bands loose heat, and therefore energy.

Last not least, a lead ball is fired three times against a rock – and it gets about 20 centrigrade warmer because of the deforming.

Roller equipped “Pickle Fork Shooter” variation and more

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012 at 6:50 pm  
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Another week went by, and therefore there are new slingshots to be presented! See some variations on the “pickle shooter” concept, originally invented by dgui. Basically, a PFS is a slingshot that does not have any fork width. The fork arms are only present so you can attach the bands – the ball does not need any horizontal “clearance”, as it flies over the frame.

This is achieved by a slight twist of the pouch, and by flippibg down the hand while shooting. This is recorded in slow motion (1200 frames per second).

Also, some enhancements on the Zombie Hammer slingshots are shown, and a new “Panther” modification.

Last not least, one more reference to the online band manual, and the updated Thera Band Gold calculator. Here:

Slingshot Zombiehammer with Skull Ejector

Saturday, January 7th, 2012 at 8:01 am  
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After reviewing the second season of “The Walking Dead”, the team at The Slingshot Channel realized that firearms are weapons of last resort in a Zombie outbreak. Gunshots are just too loud, veritable dinner bells for the Undead.

A powerful slingshot is a very good choice, as earlier tests clearly proved. But then again, a close quarter weapon may even be nore important – most of the Zombie killings in the show have been done with clubs, rocks, machetes, even with a screwdriver.

So a combo weapon is our answer to the challenge. A 15cm steel spike, sharp and hardened, in combination with a blunt “smasher” side made from a large steel ball, plus a slingshot on the handle side!

A spike is the easiest way to destroy a Zombie brain. But what if it gets stuck, and more ghouls are approaching? Therefore, a skull ejector lever has been added. A simple pull, and the spike comes free, ready to make the next “dead thing deader”.

The weapon is tested agains some vegetables and melons, plus thick particle boards.

XMas at The Slingshot Channel

Sunday, December 25th, 2011 at 5:00 pm  
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Yes, we do celebrate christmas at The Slingshot Channel too. But of course our tree is decorated with slingshots, and even is a special “christmas” shooter, studded with crystals made by Svarovski.

“Walkback” Cannon Ball Shooting Slingshot | Slingshots For Sale

Sunday, December 11th, 2011 at 12:16 pm  
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In order to further increase the power of portable slingshots, there are two factors that can be optimized. One is the draw weight, the other one is the draw length.

The cannon uses a winch to pull back very strong rubber (a total of 12 full Thera Band Gold bands), and with 2,6 meters the draw length was impressive as well.

But a cannon is not very portable. So a new idea was tested in this video: Four Thera Band Gold bands are attached to a pair of trees, and a new giant slingshot release allows the shooter to clamp in very big ammo (shot put, boule balls, even apples). The slingshot is drawn back simply by walking back. The trigger lever is pressed with both thumbs, then the shot falls.

The contraption weighs about 1,3 kg (just under three lbs) and is probably one of the most dangerous releases ever presented by The Slingshot Channel.

Gelatin Block Of Truth | Buy Slingshots Online

Friday, December 9th, 2011 at 4:48 pm  
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Ballistic Gelatin has been used on several occasions here at The Slingshot Channel. However, the powerful slingshots always sent the projectiles straight through the blocks used so far – they had been too small to stop the fast balls.

This time, a huge black (30cm x 30cm x70cm) was made, weighing 63 kg (139 lb).

Various steel ammo was shot into the block. The speed and the penetration was measured. Of course the temperature wasn’t high enough for record shots (4 degrees centigrade), but still the steel balls went into the block quite far.

This material is further thought food for the scientific research of slingshots.

The ammo ranged from the tiny 8mm ammo all the way up to 38mm “cannon balls”. Five different slingshots were used in the process, in order to match the various ammo weights and the related band/pouch dimensions.

As a bonus, the vampire stake projectile was shot into the block, too!

Slingshot Bands Demystified!

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011 at 8:48 am  
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This video is aimed at slingshot enthusiasts only!

The whole community always wondered why and how tapered bands are faster and more powerful. Lots of theories and guesses, but no data.

This changed when Destin came to Germany, with his great professional grade super high speed cam in tow!

Finally, at last, reliable data.

You MUST subscribe to Destin. Destin’s channel can be found at

http://www.youtube.com/user/destinws2

Anyway, this video demystifies tapered bands. The hi speed video allows accurate acceleration graphs, and side by side comparisons.

Dan, aka ZDP189, has much more calculations on his blog

( http://tinyurl.com/blqwmvh ), I recommend reading it!

For those of you who want to make your own slingshot, I have written and published a pdf manual, plus a band size calculator. Here:
http://www.slingshotchannel.com/band_calc.html

HiSpeed in HD: Slingshot Cannon Spectacular

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011 at 1:18 pm  
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For the first time, The Slingshot Channel features a guest star from the US! That’s right, Destin from Huntsville/Alabama came over. Destin runs an excellent and very successful youtube channel, called “Get Smarter Every Day”.

Destin brought a great camera – a “Phantom”, made by the US company Vision Research.

A 1082 frames per second at 1280×720 resolution (HD)! We don’t really know how much this beauty costs – but we are sure it is worth every penny.

It cleared up right on time, and we did many great shots… smashing particle boards… smashing pumpkins… smashing three pumpkins in a row with the big cannon…

The outcome is very spectacular. See for yourself!

Blood, Pain, and Slingshots

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011 at 1:17 pm  
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Well, in all these years a few accidents happened, mostly when there is distraction and/or not enough caution. This weekend, Jörg Sprave, frontman of The Slingshot Channel, hit his hand while clocking the speed of the recent Zombie Rooftop Slingshot.

Luckily, the shot was deflected and it was not fully accelerated when it hit the hand, but there was a lot of blood and good, honest pain.

So no shooting today! But we are no pussies here at the Slingshot Channel, and therefore three new slingshots are presented in this video – there still was enough daylight when the “crew” came back from the hospital.

Halloween Special #3: Zombie Rooftop Slingshot

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011 at 7:10 pm  
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Halloween approaches quickly, and it is again time for the long awaited Special, presented to you by The Slingshot Channel.

This time, a specifically designed monster slingshot is tested against a 40mm (1,57″) particle board. Even a carpenter’s hammer, brought down with full force, can not punch a hole in this thick piece of wood.

Regular slingshots have no chance against the board – not even a Hand Howitzer shot in full butterfly.

But the RTZAS (Roof Top Zombie Annihilation Slingshot) gives you 3,70 meters draw length – more than 11 ft. This is enough to punch a huge hole into the board, with an enormous exit funnel! The wepaon is no doubts more than strong enough to smash a Zombie skull.

The video also shows the aiming procedure and the accuracy of the weapon.

This may be the strongest portable hand operated slingshot ever built!

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