Joerg Sprave is a German man on a mission to introduce you to all of the fun you can have with slingshots and their launchers. No, these are not the slingshots of yesterday, the makeshift items randomly thrown together at a moment’s notice so you can smack your friend with a paper wad while your substitute teacher has her back turned to the classroom. It’s not the relatively innocuous weapon of the schoolyard bully, although from looking at Joerg Sprave’s website and Youtube channel called “The Slingshot Channel,” you are left wondering if he was the school bully growing up, and just kept getting interested in increasingly more complex slingshots and their respective paraphernalia.
Yes, that’s right, we are talking very complex slingshot bolts and launchers and what have you, and of course he uses 3D printing technology here or I wouldn’t be writing about it, would I? A 3D printed bolt and long wooden crossbow launcher were recently featured on Sprave’s Slingshot Channel, and like many of his featured weapons, they are definitely intimidating. Let’s begin with the rocket/bolt. It’s a 3D printed object, shaped like a rocket, that has a hole at its tip where a big nail can be placed. In fact, the people at MyMiniFactory contacted Sprave to ask him if they could 3D print something for him, and this is what he came up with. He’s that well-known as the Youtube Slingshot Guru!
Sprave was very pleased with the 3D printed rocket part of the weapon, so what he did next was to make the world’s longest pistol that doubles as a 3D printed rocket slingshot launcher. Using a Proxxon machine, he carved the pistol and the slingshot fork, which was equipped with huge rubber band sets. Then he attached a very long piece of wood to use as the barrel, which makes it the world’s longest pistol, too, as he claims.
For those especially interested in the 3D printing aspect of this, the rocket broke upon its first test because the pieces were conjoined by two grid-like inner structures. But no worries! MyMiniFactory printed and sent Sprave another 3D printed rocket that was green this time and printed with 100% infill, so it would not break apart in flight. And it worked! The pistol/slingshot launcher sent the green 3D printed rocket directly through a water bottle target that was up against a wood wall; it also penetrated the wall. Just imagine what schoolyard bullies would do with this weapon if they could get their hands on one!
Now you know how to make one of these as well, so what’s keeping you? (Besides the obvious fear that someone can get hurt in the use of this device…) Let’s hear your thoughts on this design in the 3D Printed Slingshot forum thread on 3DPB.com.
