Slingshot Archives - Metro Grade Goods

Posted on December 2, 2016 by Metro Grade Goods — 4 Comments

Metro Made | The Steamplinker Slingshot

It’s been quite some time since I’ve written about another build, frankly, it is tough to live up to last slingshot (The Cafe Racer). In this Metro Made, I dive into a deep custom for my last build of 2016. I’ve been collecting materials for this build for quite some time, from all over the planet. Mainly, brass sheet and brass hardware and brass coated components. When the last component arrived, it was time to start building.

To start, this slingshot is dedicated to OTT shooting, with flats and tubes. To achieve this, the design of the Oren’s tips (which this design was based on) had to be altered. Probably the most unique and often debated feature of Simpleshot’s Ocularis ^® plug system is the rounded tips. While it offers an incredible versatility and ease of banding for various styles of band orientation, my preference for the Ocularis ^® is usually always OTT. Since this build is going to be my 2016 opus and this frame being exclusively mine, I decided to refine the tip into something I would enjoy shooting over, and over and over again.

This illustration you can see the variations I went through to arrive at the final shape. The final tip shape is slightly convex with flat sides and a dip in the middle for the single tube to seat into. The bottom left is what I went with, but without the indentations (a meek attempt at adding wrap and tuck style grooves). The body and handle style remained unchanged, a shape I was very familiar and comfortable with.

Here’s a sample of what I had to work with for details. Some very small 12mm brass cogs, gears and otherwise Steampunk-like accoutrements.

After programing the initial profile, the concept was to use the profile as a template to successively cut and trim each layer of brass, g10, brass, g10 etc etc. This worked out with a few hiccups, but for a complex build like this it can be expected.

The profile also was host to gears, layered at different depths to really mesh into the body. The outmost gears had a 5mm hole which I used to integrate the brass Philps screws.

Rough cutting the rest of the materials. At the core is a 3mm thick brass sheet, flanking that is a .03″ black g10, then a .5mm brass sheet, then purple .03″ G10 and finally an outside scale of .125″ black G10. Did I confuse you with the Imperial/Metric measurements? Try working with them…the reason is that they are sourced from all over the world, so the Metric 3mm and .5mm brass was sourced overseas, while the G10 was source from two different North American suppliers. Regardless of system, the final thickness is just a hair over the ideal thickness for the Ocularis ^®plugs. I wanted to create a piece that had colour in it but in a subdued colour palette suitable for the steampunk theme. While purple on its own is quite flashy; however used as an accent colour to black and brass/gold tones, it gives an air of royalty and class.

Each layer was attached with glue and then trimmed closer to the final shape. Then the brass core and before the last layer was applied, brass M3 inserts were set into the body to so that the screws could be put in place when it was time for final assembly. Unlike most of my excited builds, I took my time with this, letting it sit overnight before trimming the excess material. The Cu-Ren sits next to the Steamplinker as a jumping off point.

The unfinished main body travelled around with me while I did some admin work and shipped out some orders. The more I looked at it, the more things I resolved in my head on how to finish it. Next to it is the Kylo-Ren, yet another Oren variant.

After sitting on the frame for a day (which was mostly to build up the courage) it was time to tackle the brass core with a flush trim bit via the router. My router jig to hold slingshots was crucial for this step as I wanted nothing to do with holding work with my hands near this potentially dangerous step. Luckily with some tweaking of the router bit and feed speed (and some light lubricant on the brass), the majority of the brass and other stacked layers were trimmed away revealing the very attractive core.

The heat of the machining separated some of the layers, no matter, a quick flood with some viscous CA glue and some pressure cured that problem. This also gave a quick preview of what the final core would look like.

With so many layers combining to make the main body, I had planned on peening over some brass rod at the tips, which is what I did. This locked the layers down for good. The added thickness of the OTT tips allowed for two pins per tip.

This next step I couldn’t document very well since it required a lot of hands on manipulation, but the front scale was cut from .185 G10 with the same .03″ purple G10 liner. On this surface a pocket for the maker’s mark was machined and two channels for inlays to be put in. Strips of brass, black and purple G10 were set into place and then sanded flush with the surface to create a faux separation between the handle and the tip area. The channels aren’t straight, they have a slight curve to them, a feature impossible to do by hand but only with the aid of CNC. A quick router trip with .125 bit cleaned up the side and the surface roughed to 100 grit in prep for more shaping and the fine hand work. Having made this shape dozens of times, the compound curves of the shooter side scale is complex but familiar.

Now to flip it over and pay attention to the target side, this is where it got a little crazy. I had to estimate where the lanyard hole would eventually be and select the correct materials to suit the theme. Not only did the materials need to match, but I also like designing these types of features to wear nicely when the slingshot is put on a table or surface or replaced many times into a holster/bag.

So, first was a layer of .5mm brass, then a nice selection of brown ebony (with the grain oriented vertically). Once that cured, the end was ground off with some aggressive 80 grit belt sanding. On that off-axis surface, more brass, purple heart and finally a chunk of canvas micarta. I felt the brown ebony was precious enough to stay within the theme, the purple heart being a natural version of purple tones and the canvas being a little bit of a ‘rougher’ visual texture, it would combine into an interesting composition with the delineated, intersection of brass lines. This is something I’ve been experimenting with for a little while and this was a perfect opportunity to apply it.

Rough trimming the excess material away. The ebony is HARD stuff! The ebony section is pinned in place with a brass rod. The offset purpleheart/micarta is held in place with a .25″ brass tube (itself offset to the rotation so it won’t be going anywhere)

Again, one of those times when taking process photos would have ruined the flow of creation, but fast-forward to the part where the pinky swell is rough shaped, then tweaked with file work and sanded to 400 grit. Ebony being so hard and oily, it took to wetsanding very well.

Some of my favourite parts about this design is how the pinky swell melds into the middle finger indentation near the center of the handle. This makes for a seamless shape, but the material makes is even more interesting.

Fast-foward view on the front scale. The process is very much the same, rough shape after drawing on the lines and then lots of file work, abrasive papers and some cloth backed 400 grit. The design of the front scale has been refined over the various iterations of the Oren, but essentially it’s a removal of all the material that would hit a hot spot in the palm. By placing the liner under the thinner scale material, a nice contour of colour is revealed when filing it back.

Test fitting the gears before the final sanding and polish.

I had tried using the MicroMesh polishing system before on a few other G10 frames and the results were amazing, so there was no reason to skimp on the finish for this. After going through the grits (1500 to 12,000), the surface of the g10 and wood would be as smooth as it would ever get without polishing. The trick to G10, I found, was to leave it unpolished and use some mineral oil to return the jet back colour to the surface since sanding clouds the finish. I may still buff this to a high high shine but the high gloss pinky swell, the matte finish of the g10 and the gleam of the shiny brass makes for a combination of textures that I highly enjoy.

I am still waiting for ONE more hardware piece to come in, which put this deep custom slingshot into the next level. Some 10mm ear tunnel gauges. While I sourced 7/16″ G2000 brass balls for the Ocularis plugs, the gear laden era plugs will give the shooter side some interest beyond the maker’s mark.

Despite the ‘proper’ hardware missing, I couldn’t help but take some archival photos of the finished slingshot.

If you’ve made it to here, it means you are truly dedicated to slingshots! Thank you for reading!

• Stay True •

-Metro/Eric

Posted on April 4, 2015March 30, 2015 by Metro Grade Goods — 1 Comment

Metro Made | The Italian Job Slingshot

Since I started making slingshots, there have been a lot that have gone out the door. More and more I have less and less time to appreciate them before they do leave my shop. It was time to build one for me and me alone, one for the ages, one for me to take to tournaments and show off my skills as craftsman. I call this build…the Italian Job.

This all started when I came across a unique material, a vintage, hand cast acetate tortoise shell made by the famous Italian house, Mazzucchelli. This amazing fluid, subtly textured, semi transparent material is common used for eyewear but I managed to acquire a few sheets at 8mm thick. This was the anchor to my flagship slingshot.

I used one of my most comfortable frames, a modified Mule (designed by Mark Toddy) I like to call the Three-Trick-Pony. The tips are able to use three types of bands, hence its three trick monicker. The 1/4″ thick aluminum frame was scuffed and then tortoise shell was laminated onto it. I then mixed up some more epoxy and incorporated some espresso beans which filled the hollow voids in the aluminum core. This was the 2nd nod to the Italian theme.

Once the epoxy had cured, a quick sanding on the belt sander made the cast beans flush with the surface of the frame.

After trimming and sanding the tortoise shell flush with the frame’s perimeter, I chose to use another very unique material: C-Tek. This white C-Tek was chosen as I felt it mimicked the hexagonal ties found in many Italian cafes. It was at this time, the pin holes where filled with brass tubing.

Separating the C-tek is a red vulcanized fiber spacer, this will play into the theme as you will see later.

The pattern of the tortoise shell beginning to show up.

The espresso beans are barely visible, but after some buffing, they will be easily seen.

A close up of the C-Tek. The opaque white with aluminum honeycomb really does come out looking very nice.

For a better ergonomic grip, a pinky stop made of highly figured olive wood separated by another fibreboard space, but in emerald green. Completing the Italian national colours, the green spacer helped interface the natural wood material and the synthetic C-tek.

I didn’t take too many process pics of the shaping of the tortoise shell, but I used my favourite shaping tools, an Iwaski file followed by an ultra fine 1/2 round file then various grits of sand paper till I hit 1000. I then use a hard buffing wheel with some green compound and buffed it to a dull shine.

In certain lights, the cast beans are much more visable. You can also see how I used some tin foil to back the casting to prevent the red from showing up.

Then it was time to shape the C-Tek. The soft resin behaves poorly to power tools since it heats up very quickly so again, it was time to use the Iwasaki carving files and various grits of sand paper. I could only do so much shaping as the epoxy for the pinky stop was still curing.

Before rough shaping of the pinky stop, the corners and bulk of the olive wood was bandsawed off.

The olive wood sands very nicely as it is very oily and dense, so the belt sander was a good way to do a very rough shaping into a tear drop shape.

There is no really fast was of doing a palm/pinky swell. Manual tools again come to aid, as the roundness of the pinky swell took shape, the swirly grain also revealed itself.

After some high gri sanding, and then some light buffing, this slingshot is complete.

Sexy archive photos, note the Metro Grade skull etched into the pinky swell

Thanks for reading yet another slingshot build.

-Eric

Posted on March 29, 2015March 20, 2015 by Metro Grade Goods — 3 Comments

Metro Made | Bloodlines Slingshots – Meeting Prince Charles

May 21, 2014. The Prince of Whales visits the shop, I am tasked to present him with a unique gift made in the shop. I am proud to say, I have 2 Metro Grade slingshots in the Royal gift collection.

I call these two slingshots, the Bloodlines, as you see, one is for Prince Charles himself and one for his brand new grandson, George. These had to be unique, classic and well crafted, so I didn’t fool around with an unfamiliar shape, I went with my classic Capuchin side shooter.

My goal for the pattern design is to meld a little bit of Brit with a little bit of Canuck. Using the Union Jack as inspiration, maple, paduak and walnut is utilized to make a slightly modified version of it. Here you can see the laser cut maple as the skinny lines of the Union Jack are formed.

As the each piece of paduak is set in place, the ‘Jack comes to life.

As I said, a little bit of Brit and a little but of Canuck. After dry fitting and making sure all the parts fit, it was time for glue up.

Once the glue was set up, the surface was face sanded to reveal the gestalt pattern of the Union Jack being anchored by a purple heart Canadian Leaf. The paste at the bottom is a bit of ghetto wood filler for some gaps left in the lay up.

On one slingshot, I decided to document the date, the event and the location. Also the Assentworks logo is etched into the handle. On the 2nd slingshot, some Metro Grade branding as well as “George”, for obvious reasons. Another purplehear maple leaf would later fill George’s slingshot’s handle.

Some quick router work on the edges and some final sanding before a couple of coats of sealer.

Here are the archive photos:

..and thanks to Tracey Goncalves for the images of the actual hand off. My exchange was quite short, a mere minute. His majesty was ill, runny nose to be exact so his voice was very quiet. He asked, “are these catapults?” to which I answered “yes, one for you and one for your grandson, George”. He explained how he used to play with one as a child, good to know.

It was an honour to meet him.

It’s funny to review those photos and look at my face….I can’t make a single serious face even when meeting royalty.

Thanks for reading!

-Eric

Posted on March 19, 2015June 26, 2016 by Metro Grade Goods — 4 Comments

Slingshot BB ammo philosophy

This is a bit of a different kind of post, usually I go through a complicated or simple build of whatever I felt like building, but this time I am going to talk about the kind of slingshot ammo I like to shoot: the humble B.B.

Just to be clear, I am talking about the tiny ones, the .177 (4.5mm) kind, not the larger kind. It is pretty common to call anything steel and round a BB but really, a TRUE BB is .177 calibre and has its roots in shot gun shell ammo. I am going to go through why I like shooting them and a few of my favourite band measurements so you can enjoy this inexpensive, addictive, fire-and-forget ammo.

1. Cost

One of the biggest (or smallest if you prefer) reasons why I love BB’s is the cost. At the time of this article, a bottle of Copperhead 6000 ct BBs is about $16.99 Canadian. After taxes (here in Manitoba) that’s just shy of $19 for 6000 rounds. That’s 1/3 of cent per round. Yes, a FRACTION of a single cent per round. You can understand why I call these fire-and-forget ammo.

Don’t want 6000? They also come in 1600 ct bottles, which equates to 1 cent per round. Considering we don’t even have pennies anymore, 1 cent per round is VERY affordable.

I was pretty aggressive on shooting these little guys all spring, summer and fall, and even gave away a whole bunch and only managed to make my way through about 3/4 of a 6000 rounds.

2. Band life

A typically BB weighs in at 5.1 grains, this equates to nearly nothing when it comes to slingshot ballistics calculations. To properly throw a bb, extremely light weight bands and a pouch combination has to be used. As such, light weight bands that throw BBs typically last an extremely long time compared to the mere 100’s of shots you get with most other types of bandsets. A BB can travel in excess of 250 ft/s, so even at a standard tournament distance of 33ft (10m), a BB will travel in a very flat trajectory.

BB pouches have to be light weight and sized correctly. I found a single layer kangaroo was the best pouch material, at least to date.

I cut my pouches at 10mm wide x 50mm long, with a 2mm center hole.

Since discovering the joys of shooting BBs, I’ve done a lot of testing in the types of bands. Here are the combinations that work well. When I write active length, for those who don’t know, it is the measurement of one of the sides of the bands from the pouch tie to the frame tie. These calculations are based on a 32″ draw length, so when you go and cut your own bands, you can scale up or down based on your draw length.

Dankung 1632 tubing @ 7″ active length (based on a 32″ draw length)

I found that the 1632 was actually a but stiffer than the pure amber latex tubing, so it was almost too heavy for BB’s hence the extra inch of length to decrease the snappiness of the bands.

Pure latex .125 Amber tubing @ 6″ active length

This is one of my favourite slingshot rubber in general, let alone for bbs. The pure latex has very good elastic properties and retains a very comfortable 500-600% elongation rate before beginning to show signs of stress.

Theraband Gold @ .25″ wide x 7″ active length

TBG is known as a the ‘gold’ standard for slingshot rubbers, fast, snappy and long lasting due to its additives. It’s almost too much for BBs, but at very thin widths, it’ll work great. The thin strips excel on TTF frames.

Theraband Black @ .5″ wide x 7.5″ active length

TBB is a VERY zippy band set, again, topping out at .5″ wide since it is a very fast retracting rubber. The biggest downside to TBB is it’s tendency to tear if cut incorrectly. I’ve had a set of TBB BB bands last for nearly solid a month of shooting nearly everyday.

Theraband Blue @ .65″ wide x 7″ active length (or shorter if you want REAL fast speed)

TB Blue is my favourite flat band BB rubber. For some reason, the incredibly light draw and the extreme speeds from that light draw is satisfying and wholesome. While it is the thinnest of the Therabands, TB Blue last just as long as TB Black, and will likely tear near the pouch tie if the bands are taken care of. Unfortunately, since it is so thin, it will tangle up the most after release, which can be annoying.

3. Frame Design

Now that we’ve discussed the KINDS of rubber that throw BBs well, this section will deal with frame design. Most of the frames uses as examples in the band life section where quite small (with except of the olive natural fork). This is not a coincident, BB’s are so light, the tips of the slingshot do not need to support the extreme pressures of a double layer TB Gold frame would need to. BB frames are often small, palm size and as such, pocket sized.

PFS (pickle fork shooters)

PFS bbs shooters are awesome, it takes all the fun of shooting a PFS and removes the FEAR of shooting a PFS. PFS novice shooters often get a little overwhelmed with the lack of a fork gap, but when shooting BBs, fork hits are much less severe. The light weight bands are perfect for practicing on a PFS.

OTT (over the top)

Frames designed with OTT band tips make for fantastic BB shooters. Again, using the advantage of a light weight band set, small pouch design and small diameter ammo, there very little gap needed to make it work. Unlike a PFS, there is room for the pouch to clear the forks, but since the pouch is so small, even a mere 1″ is enough.

TTF (Through the Fork)

Frames with TTF bands are toted to be the most accurate, I always say the most accurate slingshot is the one you have with you. Regardless, TTF slingshots with BB bands don’t really receive the benefits that larger slingshots with wider bands configured with TTF. Full size TTF frames, especially with flat bands, project ammo in a more accurate fashion because the bands follow a more natural path, remaining flat throughout the bands retraction. OTT bands, typically need to twist a bit before letting go of the ammo. That being said…since BB bands (flat bands) are so narrow, they don’t receive the same benefit as wider, full size bandsets get.

That was a long winded way of saying that TTF and OTT band configurations perform nearly the same, and are just as accurate as each other. The only downside to TTF shooting is that your sight picture and aiming point maybe below the frame (when shooting sideways, this isn’t the case when shooting upright). Luckily, as previously discussed, BB frames are typically smaller, so the sight picture typically remains open.

Leather Tabbed Bands

When using leather tabs for BBs, it’s the same solution as the pouch, strong, but thin leather. The leather has to follow through with the rubber to avoid skewing its trajectory. OTT or TTF, leather tabs offer a lot of advantages and disadvantages. Advantages include decreased band friction on the frame thus leading to extended band life, consistent band length and decreased rubber consumption. Disadvantages include increased difficulty making the band set (accurate length is crucial), possible differential leather stretching and premature leather breakage.

4. Portability

Another factor in choosing to shoot BBs most of the time is the portability. Not only are the frames smaller and easier to conceal and carry, but a hand full of BB is potentially 100’s of rounds. I usually keep a couple of Altoids tins full of BBs so I can throw them in a bag while on vacation or driving around and have plenty of ammo to shoot and share. Heck, keeping two, even three BB shooters in the range bag is a great way to introduce people to shooting slingshots.

A pocket full of BBs can keep you busy for hours if you wish, or convert a walk in the woods into a literal cornucopia of target opportunities. Downside is if you forget you have a pocket full of BB’s, your dryer is going to make a lot of noise for next few cycles.

*tip, use a small neo-magnet to keep them in check in your pocket. Clumping IS your friend.

5. Training

Shooting BBs is great training for the eventual time when you want to move up to larger ammo or train for an upcoming tournament. Shooting BBs is challenging because the light weight bands can be easily misaligned or accidental frame cant could occur, there is very little feed back on the frame’s squareness to the band set. Ideally, the bands and the frame form a perfect isosceles triangle. Shooting with light weight bands forces the shooter to pay attention to their form, their frame position, frame grip and pouch draw and release. Essentially, it trains all aspects of proper slingshot shooting form.

Once you get the hang of the band’s weight and the smaller scale pouch, when you move up to a larger frame with larger ammo, everything should be much easier. You gotta walk before you run right? Well, in this case, you gotta shoot BBs before big 1/2″ cannon balls.

Thanks for reading up to this point, its kind of a long winded way of expressing my love for BBs.

I’ll shoot them till the day I die, one BB at at time.

-Eric

Posted on June 15, 2014June 15, 2014 by Metro Grade Goods — Leave a comment

Metro Made | The Bolt Cutter

Happy Father’s Day! In this Metro Made instalment I make a little BB shooter from the nuts and bolts isle at your local hardware store. A recent post over at the Slingshot Forum sparked the inspiration for this quick project. Literally taking all of 15 minutes, this little BB shooter is actually quite accurate once you dial in your sights. The Bolt Cutter is a hard as nails with looks only a Father can love.

First, I gathered the parts. A 2.5″ long 3/8″ bolt, a 2″ long 3/8″ coupler nut, a 3/8″ acorn nut, a 3/8″ wingnut and some 3/8″ spring washers (I didn’t end up using them but I wanted to have them just in case)

First, since the threads on the bolt don’t go all way to the head, the female threads of the coupler nut need to be drilled out so that the shaft of the bolt can ride free. The left over 3/8″ thread will be plenty to hold the nut on.

Second, mark the 3/8″ drill bit. Since this isn’t stainless steel, a nice sharp TiNi HSS 3/8″ drill bit will do. I used some oil to smooth out the cutting.

I chucked up the coupler nut into the 3 jaw chuck and mounted the 3/8″ drill bit into the holder. I drilled all the way to the mark.

Now it’s time to pay attention to the wingnut. Again, faced with the issue of the bolt not having threads, the threads of the wingnut need to be drilled out. To do this I clamped up the wingnut in my mill using some parallels as a spacer.

I then removed the parallels to leave the wingnut sitting proud of the vice jaws. This leaves room for the 3/8″ drill bit to cleaning pass through all the threads with out drilling into the vice.

See what I mean…

Pre assembly state. In the end, the pressure of the coupler nut is all the wingnut needs to have to be set in place. At this point you will notice the head of the bolt interferes with the forks.

Milling off the bolt head so it sits more flush in between the forks. It’s basically a button.

Sliding the wingnut onto the shaft to see how it fits. Lots of clearance for a OTT set of BB bands.

I tested out the spring washer. While it works, it was unnecessary so I removed it and torqued down the coupler nut onto the bolt sandwiching the head and the wingnut. It is also useful to round the tips of the forks so increase band life.

Adding the acorn nut on the base. This caps off the bolt making a nice clean look. As clean as hardware stamped out at 300 per minute can look.

Time to make up a set of BB bands. Cutting a 1/4″ wide elastic and then attaching it to a mini kangaroo leather pouch.

Then use some Theraband Blue to attach it to the forks. I used TB Blue because it is extra thin so I can get more wraps without bulking up the tips too much.

So that’s it. While there were some advanced tools used in the making of the Bolt Cutter, you can easily do it with a drill press or even a hand drill with some patience. Here are some photos of the final result, I have a few more sets of hardware so I may make another and pimp it out with some knurling, jimping and a polish.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our Youtube Channel: Metro Made

Posted on June 5, 2014 by Metro Grade Goods — Leave a comment

Double Nomination for June SSOTM

Every month, the Slingshot Forum community nominates slingshots made in the previous month to be pitted in a friendly, juried competition.

I am happy to report that not just one but TWO Metro Grade slingshots are in line to gain the coveted recipient of the title Slingshot Of The Month (SSOTM)

Our Metro Grade Black Hornet (based on our new Wasply Maker Kit) and the mega layered Turkey Shukapow!.

Turkey Shuckapow!

Posted on May 31, 2014May 31, 2014 by Metro Grade Goods — 1 Comment

Metro Made | Wasply PFS Slingshot

Been a little while since I’ve posted a Metro Made, so there is no reason why NOT to post one. Fresh from the laser cutter to your workshop, this is a tutorial on how to assemble and finish your Wasply PFS Maker Kit. Don’t have one? You can get yours here: Wasply PFS Maker Kit

In the kit, you’ll have two cores, and two sets of palm swells.

First things first, glue up the core, and two palm swells.

When they are set up, I used a belt sander to start to shape the palm swells. This make life a lot easier later if you take off the bulk of the material first.

Once the swells are partial shaped, time to glue up the swells on the body core.

I used a spindle sander to remove the laser burned wood but this can be done with files and sandpaper.

A round file expands and refines the band grooves.

A few more swipes with a first cut file and the inside of the forks is cleaned up.

The hardest part of the build is shaping the palm swells so they are perfectly round. I used the belt sander again, rotating it like a drum stick. Rasps, files and sandpaper will do the same job.

Using some 100 grit nail files, the palm swell is blended into the core, making a seamless joint.

An optional machining step is to cut some scallops with a big 3″ drum into the finger grip area, but this can be done with a 1/2″ round file.

Now to finish it! A variety of 100 grit, 320 grit foam blocks and a final swipe with some steel wool to prep the surface for clear coat or oil.

The one on the left is one designed by Magpie Slingshots and I replicated it to test out the scale. We worked in collaboration to come to the final design of the Wasply PFS.

After a couple of coats of clear and some light buffing with the wool to get it a more matte finish, the Wasply PFS is done!

Thanks for reading and in case you missed it, you can get your Wasply PFS Maker kit at our store.

Posted on May 11, 2014May 9, 2014 by Metro Grade Goods — Leave a comment

Metro Made | The Vulpes Aluminum Core

Working with an existing aluminum frame that is already structurally sound has a number of benefits, less time spend in beefing up the forks, less worry about the whole thing collapsing in the middle, but the biggest benefit is being able to concentrate on the adornments; the wood. In this Metro Made, I look at expanding and combining a number of methods and methodologies to our aluminum Capuchin frame.

I only ever made one other slingshot with a palm swell and I wasn’t too pleased with it yet it still looked and functioned well. Over the past little while, I have been really paying attention to how I hold a slingshot and my primary grip is actually focused on the pinching of the frame with my index finger and thumb with the slingshot being held back by my pinky looped into the pinky hole (hence the name). This way, I can keep an archer’s loose grip while still maintaining an accurate sight picture when aiming.

This precipitated a couple of things when I was using some heavier band sets (looped 1745), the pressure built up on the finger and thumb area was pretty high and I was pinching way too hard to compensate for it. I wanted to explore another means to lock my hand in more natural position and still be able to use heavier bands. I found that the hollow of my palm was empty when shooting with the MGG Alugator, so it was time to fill in the hollow so the pressure would be evenly distributed through the hand, or at least part of it. The palm swell would require a thicker lamination of woods and to keep it stylist and Metro Grade, it’s only fair that I use some techniques I learned from making the Turkey Shuckapow!.

Here I am mentally planning out that needs to go where.

Two thickness of Black Walnut and a top layer of Paduak with Maple veneer spacers in between each layer making up the palm swell side. The other ‘scale’ is made up of purple heart, paduak with cherry and walnut veneers on top.

Prepping the surface of the 6061 Aluminum frame, removing the marking ink and otherwise natural face.

After some time, the scales where unclamped and the edges that aren’t accessible from the outside of the slingshot are sanded so to reveal the shape and colour.

Here is a shot of the full thickness of the materials, there is a lot of sculpting and wood removal to be done to make this work.

With the scales taped on, the edges of the scales and the frame are sanded together. Next time I am going to make some temporary pins to hold them in place, since the frame heats up from the friction causing the tape to become soft.

After that, the scales are taped together to smooth out the transitions from the scoops to the nubbin shapes.

Time to work on the palm swell. First I used the belt sander to mow down the top layer into a gentle slope. From there I rocked it back to curve the lower portion and also rolled the tips of the scales into a curved nubbin.

It was hard to take photos while working this section since it’s something that is requires a lot of micro sanding operations, slowly taking off material, checking, taking more off, checking again. Eventually the main scallops where taken off.

The ‘waist’ area had the biggest scallops since that where the middle and ring finger wrap around. Thinning around that area makes for a positive yet loose grip. The back side scale is also scalloped in the same way. I want to note that the scallop was done on the yoke area purely for aesthetics, as the routed edge didn’t really match the chamfered edges well.

After placing the scales on the frame, I noticed that the finger/thumb areas were too beefy.

…causing me to stretch to get around the grip.

The answer was scalloping the finger/thumb grip to reduce the travel for my hands. It is at this point, I noticed the face that came out of the woodwork, and the name came to me. Red Fox…or Vulpes.

It was time to brand the beast.

Lots of sanding, 100, 240, 600, steel wool.

I prematurely hit the scales with clear coat to see the grain and colour. The contrasty light in the paint booth makes for a terrible shot.

After some time, I swiped the surface with steel wool to knock down the sheen.

Testing the grip area.

Aluminum bleeds a lot when you sand it, but who ever said making things was a clean job? No one that’s who.

After mixing up some epoxy and fitting some 1/8″ aluminum tubing into the holes, it was time to glue the scales on.

Thanks for reading again and find us on Facebook & Twitter (@MetroGradeGoods)

-Stay True-

-Eric

Posted on May 9, 2014May 7, 2014 by Metro Grade Goods — Leave a comment

Metro Made | The Wordsmith

Previously we had made the Flatland Flame for Prairie Fire‘s annual fundraiser, Speaking Volumes, and we promised to make two for them. In this short, but sweet post of Metro Made, we look at how we made the Wordsmith, a Scrabble™ themed slinger!

Much like any other Metro Grade slinger, it starts with a core, some lamination layers and the ever important outside face. Here you can see the maple game squares being cut out.

I wanted this to have a little pop on all angles and much like the Tukey SHUCKAPOW!, there is a layer of Purple Heart on both sides of the core sandwiching some contrasting veneers. The rose wood underneath is going to be used for the tips.

After glueing, clamping and sanding the edges, it was back to the laser to etch on the M, G and the G and their letter scores.

Tadah! The nerdiest slingshot of all time! Too bad MGG wouldn’t actually count as a word.

On the back side, a cherry face was carefully selected to have a symmetrical grain so that the rings matched up with the graphics and lettering.

Soon after, routing the edges, contact sanding the scallops and lots of hand sanding, it was paint booth time.

….and the final result! This will be banded up with some 1/4 surgical tubing and it’s off to the event!

In case you didn’t see the Flatland Flame, here is it.

We hope these slings bring in a lot to support the best local magazine around these parts.

Thanks for reading.

-Stay True-

_Eric

Posted on May 5, 2014May 13, 2014 by Metro Grade Goods — Leave a comment

Metro Made | The Turkey Shuckpow!

Shops that have skunkworks devisions will always try new things, one offs, tests and prototypes that often lead to very possible production ideas. In this ‘skunkworks’ post, I try to do a few things differently that will definitely make its way into some production slingshots.

It’s much easier to test something when you have a solid frame to work on, quite literally. I took our SHUCKAPOW design and made up a 1/4″ Baltic Birch plywood core. From there, it was some quick work since the spacer veneers in between the layers would curl from the wet glue moisture. I have a lot of smaller pieces of exotic and hardwood veneers and it would take a life time of making slings to use them as small spacers between surface laminations, so I decided to try something new, skunkworks test #1: surface veneer lamination.

On top of the ply core, a layer of purple heart was laminated to both sides. This was left to try a bit before sanding down the surface.

In between the Paduak layers, I laser cut some maple veneer to contrast between the orange and purple. Again, left to set up a bit before sanding the face flat to receive the veneer.

This is the entire sandwich. On one side is a layer of cherry/zebrawood veneer and on the other side birch/wenge. Two scrap plywood boards kept everything tight and under pressure. I actually leave this for a whole day to ensure a good bond between the veneer and woods.

It’s a bit of a mess, but the careful planning and forethought will pay off in the end.

After curing, it was time to try skunkworks test 2: differential layer laser etching of the veneer. Using the laser set at a 20% higher power than usual, I try to vaporize the zebra wood to reveal the cherry underneath. Check!

Worked very well. I also want to note that I purposely used a more watery wood glue to bond the two veneers together to ensure that the layers are well set.

I do the same to the other side, but the Wenge is much harder than the Zebrawood, so there is only a different in texture and not colour. It is at this point I take the sling to the belt/disc sander and clean up the edges, revealing the sweet, sweet colour palette.

The spindle sander takes care of the rest of the burned edges and the insane amount of lay up work is showing it’s true “colours”.

This is where a bit of experience comes in handy. Having made many slingshots with plywood before, I knew that underlying layers would show up once the edge was routed. A rim of orange surrounds the dark hardwood veneers, making me very pleased with the progress. The top two layers of light wood plus darkwood makes for a very clean and graphic contrast.

Skunkworks test #1: scalloped grip areas. I have seen this done on many beautiful slingshots from other makers, but I couldn’t figure out how to do it correctly until now. I finally figured out that if I took the biggest drum on the spindle sander, I could use the top layer as a guide as to how much to remove and the general angle of contacting the drum. The existing curve helped guide the process along and the 100 grit drum took off material in a hurry. Before this step, I drilled out the tube holes and counter sunk them too.

After all the major machining steps, it was time to give the Turkey Shuckapow the full sanding treatment. 100, 240, 600 and steel wool, the off to the paint booth for three coats of acrylic. The clear coat really brings out that differential veneer etching, the cherry shining through the zebra wood.

The Wenge side is much more subtle, but the whole point is use this as a test bed for some previously unused techniques.

After some cure time in front of fan, I quickly wipe it with some steel wool to take off some of the glare. Then it’s time for a close up!

You are probably thinking…why did I name is the Turkey Shukapow? Because in the end, the colour, the shape, the lines, reminded me of a vintage 50’s bowling alley. What’s better than three strikes in a row? 10 dead centre shots with a custom slingshot.

Thanks for reading yet another long winded post…were you interested in HAVING it? Buy the Turkey Shuckapow here!

-Stay True-

-Eric

Posted on April 27, 2014May 6, 2014 by Metro Grade Goods — 4 Comments

Metro Made | Flatland Flame

When I was commissioned by Prairie Fire magazine to make a few slingshots for their annual fundraiser, I gladly accepted the challenge. This Metro Made documents the creation of the first of the two, the Flatland Flame.

I started with a familiar design, the Harlequin Capuchin. Laser cut some 1/16″ thick purple heart slabs. Since the piece of purple heart I had was only 3″ wide, I had to split it up in halves.

To get a bit more contrast between the purple heart and laminated faces, some maple veneer was also cut.

Slowly, but surely, each piece of the puzzle was cut from various woods. Shown here is some Cocobolo, some Padauk and some Tulipwood.

On the back side is Rock Maple and Padauk. To complete the main face, Chakte-Kok, Bloodwood, Yellow Heart and a maple circle.

Now, the longest and hardest part of the build, the lay up. To start, the Purple Heart halves are glued to the plywood frame with some maple spacers.

After about 15 minutes of compression, the veneer is sanded flat, ready to accept the next step.

The maple veneer spacer to complete the layer. This was repeated on the other side to mirror the wood pattern.

Like the original Harlequin Capuchin, I started with the simpler back side because it take less time to setup and dry. Zebrawood and Wenge spacers make a nice texture between the contrasting woods.

Finally laying up the last pieces of the back side, spaced by Ebony and more maple. Slightly less than 30 minutes later, the face was sanded flat and it was onto the main face.

It’s messy, but it’s the way it has to be….

Another 30 minutes later, the face was ready to be flushed. Before more sanding, I moved back to the laser cutter to etch in some markings.

The Metro Made Skullthulu getting etched into the maple circle.

Flipping it over, the name of the sling etched.

Cleaning up the edges from the laser cut burning and refining the shape a bit.

To relieve some pressure on the final round over, all the edges where taken down with a 1/8″ bit.

Like the Mesquito Supernatural, select edges are taken down with the 1/4″ bit.

Sanding…lots of it. 100 grit nail file, 150 grit foam block, 240 foam block, 600 grit paper and a buffing with 000 steel wool. It’s the smoothest I’ve ever gotten wood to be.

2 coats of acrylic sealer and I washed my hands of this project.

The incredibly smooth surface thanks to the steel wool provided a perfect substrate for the sealer, the photos don’t lie.

Yet another satisfying job done.

-Stay True-

Eric

Posted on April 23, 2014May 6, 2014 by Metro Grade Goods — Leave a comment

Metro Made | The Back Bender

Having been an avid collector of mid-century modern furniture and a huge admirer of the Eame’s design manufacturing sensibility, I wanted to see if I could take the lessons I’ve learned from one of Industrial Design’s masters and apply it to something else besides famous chairs.

I am never one to compare myself direclty to the Eames’, but I do like to think I am a constant experimenter like they are. This time around, I wanted to take a slight three-dimensional approach to slingshot design, I speak, of course, the recurve slingshot. The recurve slingshot is a slightly more ergonomically design, made to fit the more canted, naturally forefinger/thumb forward position. The frame is usually bent into a curve, where the middle, ring and pink fingers can more easily grip on to them.

In this instalment of Metro Made, I attempt to make a recurve slingshot. Many successful recurve slingshot designs involve carving and removing material to create the curved portion, but very few, if not at all, use a bent plywood frame.

I start with 5 layers of 1/8″ Baltic birch plywood. On the top layer of this soon-to-be sandwich I laser etch a pattern of the handle in which I wanted to be bent. These layers where, one by one, laminated together and then compressed onto a pine form. In hindsight, I should of cut the layers longer so that they would have more room to bend, I don’t like wasting material so I did what I could. This was clamped down for 45 minutes while the glue set up.

After removing the now curved formed from the buck, I used the band saw to cut off the excess material, and use a medium size drum with 80 grit on the spindle sander to refine the shape.

After achieving the desired shape, I turned my attention to the pinky hole. The majority of the material was removed with a 7/8″ spade bit. The final shaping was done with the spindle sander.

You can see the handle take shape.

Before gluing the two hemi-spheres together, the edges were knocked down with a 1/8″ round over bit on the router.

Since it would be impossible to blend the Baltic birch together to hide the seam, it would a great chance to make a feature out of it. 4 stacked veneers made for a nice detail.

After clamping to ensure the joint is as strong as possible, the excess veneer was sanded off and the mismatched routered edges were bended together with some heavy grit sandpaper.

To further strengthen the joint, 3 nails were driven into the yoke.

When placed on a flat surface, the full effect of the bent plywood combined with the vectored glue joint can be seen.

Applying 3 coats of polyurethane, after each coat a rub down with some steel wool, the final result is a smooth slingshot with great grip. Since there is a potential danger of the forks separating, the heaviest band set I would place on this slingshot is Theraband Black.

Thanks for reading yet another build post,

The next time I decide to make this again, I am going to do things a bit differently, but for a proof of concept, this recurve slingshot is some thing I can have a lot fun explaining how I made it.

-Stay True-

-Eric

Posted on April 13, 2014May 6, 2014 by Metro Grade Goods — 1 Comment

Metro Made | Harlequin Capuchin TS & FB Limited Edition

It’s been far too long and it’s time for another Metro Made post, this time around, something familiar to you returning Metro Made readers. If you are tuning in for the first time, welcome! Metro Made is the blog of Metro Grade Goods and how I turn raw materials in the stuff you see on the site. It is my way of letting you know where things come from and how they are made. Besides, who doesn’t love a good behind the scenes.

In this installment of Metro Made, we take a look at how I took the plunge and crafted 8 super laminated slingshots in one weekend. A pretty daunting task since a single unit took 5 hours to complete. If you are at all familiar to scaling up production, you don’t just take your unit’s build time and multiply it by the number of units you are making. There are always ways to save time. Despite the time savings, this oct-build still took 15 hours to complete. This one is a long one so take a potty break if you need to now, those of you joining me DURING a potty break, I commend your multitasking mindset.

The Harlequin pattern is something I developed when I made another Metro Made project, the Art Deco Loris. It was my ploy to use up a lot of small, left over wood ‘sprues’ generated when laser cutting full frames from planks of hardwood. The results where a stunning selection of hardwoods arranged in a very pleasing Art Deco style.

There were a lot request to have this available but the Loris was not the most popular slingshot to begin with, so I decided to go with a more universally appealing frame, the Metro Grade Capuchin. A smaller frame with a lot of potential for slicing and dicing for the Harlequin pattern, I went ahead and did that. I started by laser cutting the 1/4″ Baltic Birch plywood cores. I planned to make 4 Harlequin Capuchin TS’s (Tube Shooter) and 4 Harlequin Capuchin FB’s (Flat Band).

The biggest difference between making one of these versus eight is parts management. With 8 sets of near identical micro bits of wood (close to a 30 some odd part count per slingshot) something to keep them in order was necessary. Here’s what I used:

Adjusting the laser so it would only shoot out 50% of it’s 75 watt beam and speeding up to a max velocity, I made a template to organize the parts as they came off the laser cutter. The material is a scrap piece of hardboard. The next few photos show how the parts started to fill up the puzzle grid. I chose to go with rock maple for the fork tips since it is one of the hardest woods that can be laser cut and it is also readily available.

Not long after, the Honduran Mahogany, Black Walnut, Paduak and some more maple was laser cut and placed in their respective spots. You can see how the puzzle board is necessary now, and this is just one side.

The final pieces for that side were cut from maple, here’s the video to prove it.

Here are some shots of the backside puzzle board. That’s some Walnut and a piece of vintage Oak reclaimed from an ‘old’ friend (who is young at heart!). Meet Mervin, the most brilliant guy I know.

Once all the parts were cut out, it was time for the hardest and longest part of the build process; the lay up. I wanted to start positive so I began with the back side. With less parts, I would feel like I was accomplishing more and carry me through to the more complicated side. The forks get glued on first, since they are the only parts that need critical alignment, especially on the flat band version. The tips were clamped for 10 mins to ensure a good bond.

Here the Oak goes on but with a Zebra Wood spacer to fill in the laser beam kerf, this only fills the gap, but lens a little bit more pizzaz and detail.

The final bottom pieces were added (solid Birch) and left to set up a bit. Once they were more solid, the whole thing was flush faced on the belt sander. This is one of my favourite states of a slingshot build, revealing a built up pattern is pretty great.

Now, the painful but rewarding part, gluing up the 30 some odd parts that make up the pretty face side. I didn’t take to many photos of this process but as you can see, this part required a lot of attention to detail. The detail I particular enjoy is the red heart wood (Chakte-Kok) I used for the Metro Grade skullthulu logo. Even though I know that the red will deepen in colour once it hits UV rays (natural properties of the wood), the dramatic red splice in between the slabs of Walnut are really something else.

You’ll notice the face sanded frame has the Metro Grade skull sanded clean off, this was a mistake on my part since the Chakte-Kok wood was thicker thank some of the wood so the etching came clean off. No worries, I had a plan to return the etching back on the face the Capuchin.

After many, many cycles of this gluing, sanding, fitting and more sanding, the result was a respectable stack of work, worth of calling it a good day’s work.

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*One night later*

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The next morning, it was time to get cracking, knowing the project would have some finality to it. First order of business, flush sand the sides of the Capuchins and remove the burned laser cut edge. Thanks to a fresh 80 grit spindle sanding drum, this was a mere 30 min job for all of them.

This next photo represents 10 hours of time, kind of crazy to think. I call it ‘Fist full of Awesome’.

Remember when I said I had a plan to return the Metro Grade skull back onto the Chatke-Kok wood circle? This is that plan. I knew I wanted to mark on it that this was a limited edition of 4 (4 TS’s and 4 FB’s) so I again used a scrap piece of wood and quickly etched the outline of the slingshot so I could realign the already assembled and glued slingshot back onto the laser bed. This technique is also what I used to realign and re-etch the skull on those slings that had the face sanded off.

Now the most dangerous part of any slingshot build, the router. Things can go VERY badly here and the entire sling could go to waste if there are any slip ups. Thankfully, I’ve had lots of practice with this model having made a limited edition of 10 plywood ones and various other hardwood versions. Despite my comfort level with this pattern and frame, I treat every time I turn on a switch to a machine a chance to die. It works, seriously.

This photo doesn’t show anything new, but I wanted to grab a pic of the router shavings. Such beautiful array of colours.

The Capuchin TS and the Capuchin FB both have things that still need to be done with them before the band attachment area are operational. The TS’s tube slot needed to be widened but not before the edges of the hole are chamfered with a 1/4″ counter sink.

Then it’s off the band saw with a fairly narrow, 1/2″ blade, the tube slot gets widened to a saw width. The existing tube slot was not really a tube slot at all, it was merely a guide for the alignment when gluing up the layers and subsequently, a guide for the band saw to slide into.

Then the notched ‘iron sight’ needed to be cleaned up too, so a round rat tail file comes to the rescue. Under the TS is one of sanding blocks used to sand the surfaces of the sling. These are 80/120 grit mini blocks meant for manicurists, but for those tight curves and hard woods, they are perfect.

I didn’t take any photos of the FB slot finishing as it’s a bit of a secret but essentially it just needed to be sanded out to improve the consistency in the width of the slot for Theraband Gold and pure Latex bands. Once they were all sanded with 600 grit paper, it was off the paint booth to shoot 3 coats of acrylic sealing spray.

Once they were cured (acrylic spray only has a 30 min cure time), they were buffed to a shine with another manicurist tool; the nail buffer. It was time to hit the photoshop.

BUT before you go ahead to the final product and images, I want to list the woods used in these slings:

– Baltic Birch plywood core

– Rock Maple

– American Black Walnut

– Honduran Mahogany

– Chatke-Kok

– Maple Veneer

– Ebony Veneer

– Zebrawood Veer

– Birch

– Paduak

– Oak

…ok enough stalling.

I am pleased to present the Harlequin Capuchin TS and FB.

Thank you for reading to the end, it’s not often I get to spend this much time writing about my process and methods, but I know it’s always worth looking back on projects like these.

I am also really happy (but with begrudgingly) to announcing that Metro Grade is now on Twitter, you can follow and reach me at @MetroGradeGoods

3 of each Harlequin TS and FB will be available at the Metro Grade Shop.

Find the Harlequin Capuchin FB here

Find the Harlequin Capuchin TS here

-Stay True-

-Eric

Posted on February 20, 2014February 15, 2014 by Metro Grade Goods — 1 Comment

Metro Made | Grivet Slingshot

Been having a lot fun with the whole idea of compression tube/band attachment. In this post, we’ll go through a quick iteration and evolution of the mechanism. While the set screws are great for attaching bands, it still requires an Allen key. This new build method achieves a tool less adjustment.

The Grivet slingshot is named after the Grivet monkey, found in Ethoipa, Sudan and surrounding areas. They are noted for having tufts of hair protruding alongside their faces. When designing the the shape of the Grivet slingshot, the ‘tufts’ of hair were pulled from the forks, which double as finger and thumb grip areas.

The Metro Grade Loris uses a recessed threaded insert (1/4-20) and set screws for the attachment. The new Grivet slingshot is a simplified version of this. Instead of using aluminum, stainless steel hex nuts are captured into place via some strategic laser cutting and layer of materials. In this photo, you can see the 2nd layer (the first being a backing layer). The 2nd layer contains the slots for the bands/tubes to slide into. The are about 1″ deep.

The 3rd layer, is where some precision cut hexagonal shaped holes where laser cut to accept the 1/4-20 stainless hex nuts. These nuts are a little less than 1/4″ thick, which is perfect for the a thickness of 1/4″ Baltic birch.

The final top layer is where the branding and face sits, this also where the nuts get captured by centred holes which will also accept the pricey black anodized thumb screws.

The holes are larger enough for the shoulder of the threads to sit in, but the head remains out. The one BIGGEST advantage of using thumbscrews (besides the tool less function) is that you cannot over tighten the band set, risking delaminating the outer backing layer.

Once it was all glued up, all the same procedures on finishing a slingshot were done. To see exactly what is done, check out the Metro Made Loris post. Three coats of acrylic spray and some light buffing, this Grivet prototype is done!

Currently, it is banded up with 8mm Linatex bands attached to a Metro Grade Heifer GP pouch. A couple slices of the same suede cowhide was used to buffer the screw and the Linatex, preserving its integrity.

This post doesn’t stop here. You may have noticed in the feature image a walnut version of this….you weren’t mistaken. After confirming that the mechanism worked, it was off to the laser cutter once more to cut up a set of parts for a walnut Grivet.

Probably doesn’t much explaining, but the only difference is the fork tip shape. About 3mm is added to the outside edge to clean up the profile and add a bit more strength to the tips themselves.

Time to get shooting!

Stay True

-Eric

Posted on February 9, 2014February 9, 2014 by Metro Grade Goods — Leave a comment

Compression Tube Attachment

Wanted to make a quick post about our new compression tube attachment method found on some of our slingshots, The Loris PFS and The Pygmy Marmoset. A short video of how it works and some images of tube detached.

Posted on January 12, 2014May 6, 2014 by Metro Grade Goods — 6 Comments

Metro Made | The 505 Yoke aluminum slingshot

I know don’t know who thought of this first but it was pretty neat. I recently bought a couple of these figure 8’s with the idea that I could do the same, but I just couldn’t bring myself to just wrap flat bands on it. I finally got to making my own figure 8 slinger, this is how.

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Most often, aluminum climbing descender figure 8 slingshots are made simply by cutting the larger ring in half and then wrapping some flat bands on the top. I don’t really like OTT (Over The Top) slingshots and still much prefer TTF (Through The Fork), I also have been getting back into tube shooting for ease of use and the quiet release sound.

The figure 8 descenders are used in climbing and repelling as a means to slow down the rope via friction. They have since been retiree to just controlling gear and less humans but they are still used in climbing. They are mostly made from aluminum with some steel varieties. They are sized perfectly for the hand and as recent history has prooven, they make great slingshots.

Here’s how I made mine.

Lets start with cutting the larger ring, not quite in half but close. A metal chop saw makes short work of this step.

The edges are ragged and uneven, so a disc sander and a belt sander trues up the ends. These will become the fork tips. At this point, some would stop here after some rounding of the tips, band some Theraband to it and call it day.

Having never seen a version of this kind of slingshot that can shoot rubber tubes, I decided to venture down that road. I scribed the centres of the tips and drill the holes out to 7/32″ and finish with a chamber bit to knock down the edges of the hole. Rubber doesn’t like edges. My mill’s vice is only so big so when I want to clamp something larger, like this slingshot, I use two quick clamps to apply even pressure on the object with in the vice.

A couple of quick process images and few test shots with a set of bands. Not quite done yet…

The smooth anodized aluminum is quite slippery so the next steps address this as well some aesthetic concerns. Body of the slingshot is masked with tape so the vice would not mar the finish. Then the tips of the forks are sanded with a nail file to remove the anodizing.

After the rough sanding was done, a Scotcb-brite drum wheel was used to knock down all the scuffs. It’s at this step that I decide that this slingshot will be name the 505 Yoke, as it’s emblazoned on it.

Then some diamond compound polishing with a felt cone. Shiny!

After a painfully slow process, some black 5080 rubber tubing was slid onto the forks so that the aforementioned slipperiness is eliminated.

The 505 Yoke is essentially done, just needs some bands.

Awesome slingshot unlocked!

Of course, no slingshot project at Metro Grade Goods is complete without a trip to the Photoshop.

Then some actual Photoshopping.

The final results, the Metro Grade Goods 505-Yoke slingshot.

Thanks for reading another Metro Made post, it’s always fun to share and learn along the way.

I still have 2 more of these figure 8’s..maybe you’ll see one on the shop.

-Eric

Posted on December 5, 2013December 8, 2013 by Metro Grade Goods — Leave a comment

Coupon Alert! Christmas Target

Haven’t got anything for your elusive Christmas target yet?

Nail them with a Metro Grade slinger!

Enter this code : XMASTARGET5 at check out and get 5% off your entire order.

$10 flat rate world wide shipping.

Check out our latest limited edition, the MGG Capuchin FB, only $45 + shipping.

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Coupon can only be used once and is in effect till December 20, 2013.

Posted on November 29, 2013May 6, 2014 by Metro Grade Goods — 1 Comment

Metro Made | Recurve Skeluchin

The last time we posted about the Metro Grade Skeluchin, we showed off the amazing laser cut frames wrapped in paracord.

We got to thinking and looked at our collection of Chinese style slingshots, some of which are recurved for a more ergonomic handle and shooting experience. Since we had another one of the Skeluchin frames, we decided to give it a try.

Wielding a magic hammer with the might of Thor, the vice-secured Skeluchin frame was gentle encouraged to bend into an S shape.

The result was a pleasing, vectored S shape that provided just enough curve for a hand to wrap around it.

After wrapping it back up in cord and giving it a spit shine, it was time for a photo shoot.

That’s it, a simple, brutish mod on an already awesome slingshot.

To all our American friends, Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted on November 21, 2013May 6, 2014 by Metro Grade Goods — 4 Comments

Metro Made | Steel Skeluchin Prototype

Ever since we got really obsessed about slingshots, we found there is a clear distinction between styles of slingshot designs and their band/tube attachment methods.

Traditional Chinese style slingshot are typically manufactured from stainless steel and often have holes at the top of the forks for the ultra thin rubber tubing. Chinese slingshots are typically smaller, wrapped with cord and nest in the hand very well. Western style slingshots are made from any kind of materials, but they are often held in a hammer grip. Although some Chinese style can accommodate flat bands, they don’t do it well.

Why Skeluchin? The design is derived from our Capuchin FB design and this frame is skeletonized.

This Skeluchin prototype is made from laser cut, 1/4″ steel to mimic the Chinese sling style. The biggest difference is that the design uses our band slot/guide system to not adapt flat bands but full integrates the whole thing.

Here you can see the raw frame, straight from the shop, behind it the finished product, the laser leaves an undesirable jagged edge that needed a lot of grinding, finishing and sanding to make work. Perhaps water jet or wire EDM cutting (this is how the Chinese slingshots are made).

Over 10 feet of paracord was used to fully wrap the frame to make the sharp corners of the steel more comfortable to hold.

In the style of Chinese slingshots, the Skeluchin is held in a choke grip or in the finger thumb brace.

We use a 150 watt CO2 laser to cut our wood slingshots but it also makes for a great engraver for steel. Throwing the sanded frame into the laser bed, the Metro Grade Skulthulu Maker Mark into the middle of frame.

Posted on November 21, 2013November 21, 2013 by Metro Grade Goods — Leave a comment

Metro Grade Band Slot/Guide System

Still don’t know how the bands stay magically attached to our slingshots?

The best way to show you isn’t with photographs, it’s with a video.

It won’t be a mystery for long….

Posted on November 21, 2013May 6, 2014 by Metro Grade Goods — 3 Comments

Metro Made | Video – Plexiglass Capuchin Slingshot

Acrylic Plexiglass is one of materials that has so many uses and finishes that it’s hard to miss when used correctly.

Often mistaken for polycarbonate (Lexan), Plexiglas isn’t the bullet proof plastic, it’s the hard, semi strong material that can be made completely clear again after being machined. Unlike Polycarbonate plastic, acrylic CAN be cut with a laser, which is how what we used to cut the outside profile of this slingshot.

How’d we do it? It’ll all become clear very soon…..

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Want this slingshot? WIN IT!

Go to the Metro Grade Facebook Group : Here

Like, comment and share the post about the video. When we reach 300 likes, we’ll pick a random winner from that comment list and give this away!

Posted on November 20, 2013November 21, 2013 by Metro Grade Goods — Leave a comment

Metro Made Introduction

Welcome to Metro Made, the companion blog to Metro Grade Goods. Here you’ll find videos and posts showing how we make things.

You’ve come to the slice of the internet where we at Metro Grade Goods like to show off a bit. By show off, we don’t mean hot images of our stuff, but to show you how we go from an idea scrawled on a napkin to a full fleshed out product. As Industrial Designers, we love process, almost more than the final product. Documenting, displaying and telling the story of how a product is made is just as rewarding.

So sit back, grab a piece of wood to sand and prepare for a lesson in stubbornness, stupidity, makerdom and stick-to-it-ness.