This Futuristic Hunk of Machined Aluminum Is a Functional Slingshot

You can pick up a normal slingshot online or at a sporting goods store for around $10. If you’re western Canadian resident Gord, however, you instead machine something truly unique out of aluminum. As if that wasn’t enough, he also added an interchangeable base system to augment its usefulness.

The build started off with a slingshot band, ammo, and a piece of aluminum, but no formal plan. Gord wanted a grip design with finger holes (for the look — they weren’t intended to be aluminum brass knuckles), so he started cutting until he had something interesting that his hand would fit into.

As he moved on to machining the yoke (if you can still term it that), the plan was still forming. As Gord puts it, “When the time came to cut the yoke open I took a second look and decided it looked pretty cool keeping the circle closed and that’s when I decided to leave it as it was.” I would say this was a great decision, giving it a really unique look.

Finally, the cylindrical part of the handle was made out of a 1.25″ diameter piece of aluminum stock. It was then milled to accept the finger hole portion, and tapped for two hex bolts. He also managed to bead blast the Gord’s Garage logo into it, which is a nice touch.

It’s really worth checking out the build process in the gallery below, or his page for even more info. He definitely put a lot of effort into getting this project just right, and has an excellent shop.

If that wasn’t enough, he designed the base to be interchangeable via 6mm metric threads. He can attach an ammo holder (held with rare earth magnets in the video below) along with a carabiner adapter or an arrowhead fixture. As for why an arrowhead, Gord, although neither a survivalist nor a hunter, “figured an arrowhead has to come in handy at some point.” I couldn’t agree more!

[via Hackaday]