Replies

1. 
   Steinmetz | Jan 08, 2004 05:53pm | #1

   Take two lengths of 1x1-1/4" and join at right angles with an open  mortise and tenon joint.  (This will be the barrel and grip)    DON'T  glue it yet.

   With a hacksaw, or miter saw, Cut off at 45 deg's, two of the 'Tails'.of the barrel.

   When reassembled and glued, the top of the handle's tenon will protrude and serve as a thumb launch for the rubber band.

   Attach the rubber band under the barrel's front end to a saw cut, (Angled from the rear and up toward the front) 

   Also, create a vertical V  groove in which to wrap and cradle the elastic band up and around the nose.

   Stretch the band around the barrel's top and over on to the 'Hammer'. Insert one postage sized piece of cardboard at the rear and through the loop.

   (Cut up the back of yellow pads or shirt boards for ammo.) 

   A flip of the thumb will launch the missile. Stein.

   
   

   ---

   Edited 1/8/2004 10:02:26 AM ET by steinmetz

1. 
   PlaneWood | Jan 08, 2004 06:01pm | #2

   When i was a kid, I'd saw then out of a piece of pine using a coping saw and mount a clothes pin on the back.  Would occasionally stop at the town junk yard to search for 'red' inner tubes for making the bands.

   Anyone here remember 'red' inner tubes?  I doubt it!

   Also, anyone remember how to make a 'bean' shooter out of two clothes pins?  Vetch seeds are about the size of a BB and made darn good ammunition.

   PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)PlaneWood

1. 
   robkelly1 | Jan 09, 2004 04:26am | #7

   Planewood, even better that the clothespin seed shooter is the clothespin flaming match shooter that would light a strike-anywhere kitchen match and shoot it about 30 feet. If anyone really needs plans for this WKD I'll post instructions.

1. 
   PlaneWood | Jan 09, 2004 04:35am | #8

   Oh, yeah!  Forgot about that!  Your right, shootin matches was fun!

   PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)PlaneWood

1. 
   Drose | Jan 09, 2004 09:07am | #10

   Man, I got into so much trouble shooting matches.  My grandparents house burned to the ground when my mother was 14 or 15.  She has held onto that fear of fire even to today.  I was shooting matches out my bedroom window, got caught and lost my room for a week.  Mom locked the door of my room, and I had one shirt and one pair of pants.  The real kicker was that it was my birthday, and I'd already taken all my loot to my room.

2. 
   10fingers | Jan 09, 2004 10:09am | #11

   My brother & I lived in England in 1960 when we were small kids.   We had "spud guns".   The cartridge was about .38 and you stuck it into a potato to get the "bullet".    You then put a round cap on the rear of the cartridge and inserted it ito the derringer looking gun.   The gun would shoot the spud about 10-15' and would sting like crazy if you were closer.   It was wonderful fun, but can you imagine what the "saftey police" would say about them now.   I wish I had one of them now in order to teach my granddaughter how to scare cats.

3. 
   HeavyD | Jan 10, 2004 07:54am | #17

   Chuck,

   not sure if they are the same thing but in 1987 I was in England and I bought a spud gun, black maybe 2.5 or three inches long. sounds the same.

4. 
   10fingers | Jan 10, 2004 09:40am | #18

   Do you know where you bought them?   My brother goes back there several times a year to teach continuing ed classes to geologists.   I guess it would cause a little excitement if he put them in his luggage.

2. 
   PlaneWood | Jan 09, 2004 04:39am | #9

   Rob, yeah, post em!

   I still remember how to make a hickory twig whistle.

   PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)PlaneWood

1. 
   robkelly1 | Jan 09, 2004 10:36pm | #16

   I can't post pictures or drawings yet. (Don't know how).

   You do it like this: Take a spring type clothespin. It will have a slot in each piece for the ends of the spring, and a semicircle in each piece for the barrel of the spring to fit in. Remove the spring and keep the same relationship of the pieces as in the original. Mount one end of the spring in the bottom slot, the other end sits directly over it, and the barrel of the spring is now below the 2 pieces of wood. Cut the bottom edge of the lower semicircle to a square profile. This will be the sear. Now tightly wrap a rubber band around the device to hold the 2 flat surfaces together. Cock the device by pushing back on the end of the spring with a piece of wood until it catches on the sear. Stick in a match, head first, and pull the trigger. Because the safety #### seem to have outlawed strike-anywhere matches in some areas,  this device can also be used to launch darts.

2. 
   adrienne4468 | Jan 08, 2004 09:55pm | #3

   http://www.backyardartillery.com/

   This is a great site. I built one of the gattling guns for my 11 yr old last christmas and he loved it. I painted mine camo. If you buy these plans check with me and I can give you some pointers on what to change to make it hold up for a long time to come

   Tony

   We already have enough youth, how about a fountain of smarts.
1. 
   JMartinsky | Jan 08, 2004 10:07pm | #5

   What a very cool website! I thought the potato gun was a disappointment, as well as the "pig catapult" (I was REALLY excited there for a minute!!) But the machine gun is OUTSTANDING! I'll look it over later.

   John

3. 
   JMartinsky | Jan 08, 2004 10:02pm | #4

   How about a semi-automatic shoulder launch model with black rubber bungie cords? Or mabe a nice potato gun?

   How about a pumkin chunker?

   Perhaps a catapult?

   Guillotine?

   Well, mabe not the guillotine....................

   ;-)

   John

1. 
   PlaneWood | Jan 08, 2004 10:42pm | #6

   I used to make can guns by spewing acetelene into 2" pipes.

   PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)PlaneWood

1. 
   Muteability | Jan 09, 2004 07:24pm | #13

   We made potato canons out of PVC pipe and a BBQ sparker. 

   18 inches of 2" pipe to a 4" adapter, 5" of 4" as the chamber with a threaded clean out as the end cap.

   Drill a hole to attach the sparker, ram a potato down the barrel, squirt of gas from a plant mister in the chamber, point, shoot and watch the potato fly.

   Various produce gave varying results.  Most fun I ever had with vegetables.

1. 
   pplc | Jan 09, 2004 08:06pm | #14

   what kind of gas?

1. 
   PlaneWood | Jan 09, 2004 08:41pm | #15

   My favorite was to take a length of 1/2 galv pipe and put a cap on one end.  Drill a small hole in the cap so that a firecracker fuse would stick out.  I'd use the big long red firecrackers (about like a cherry bomb).  Pack in some paper wadding and use a marble for the projectile.

   It would punch holes in the wood boards on the side of our barn if I used big ball bearings.

   Just as well that those firecrackers are no longer around!

   PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)PlaneWood

2. 
   Muteability | Jan 11, 2004 07:38am | #19

   gasoline

4. 
   NormInFujino | Jan 09, 2004 11:25am | #12

   Apropos of the recent thread about V8 chainsaws, here's a rubber band pistol:

   View ImageView Image

   But if that isn't enough, you can always try . . .

   A rubber band shotgun!

   View Image

   and if you really need to get rid of that herd of feral cats that're roaming around the house, how about:

   A rubber band machine gun!

   View Image

   All these, plus much more (including crossbows, "pig catapults", and trebuchets, can be found at: Backyard Artillery

   ". . .and only the stump or fishy part of him remained."

   Green Gables: A Contemplative Companion to Fujino Township