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Mighty Tiny Slingshot

Mighty Tiny Slingshot
This is a fun little toy slingshot you can make in just a few minutes.

When I was a kid, we made these out of used 35mm photo film canisters. Since film canisters have become quite scarce these days, this is an updated version that uses a piece of PVC instead.

You can discreetly turn many small items into high-velocity projectiles with this thing, like pencil erasers, airsoft BBs, and spit-soaked wads of paper.

Go ahead and make a few, and let me know what you think!
 
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Step 1Materials

Materials
All you need are three things:
  • 1 inch of either 1" or 1 1/4" diameter PVC (I used 1 1/4")
  • A party balloon
  • Some tape (I used electrical tape)
If you have a film canister, you can use it instead of the PVC. Simply cut the bottom off with a utility knife.
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73 comments
1-40 of 73next »
May 24, 2012. 11:33 PMperson% says:
i cant believe i didn't think of that! what a great idea!

i used to make very powerful and small slingshots but they are all so hard to load, because they use those thick red rubber bands and it shoots sticks and pencils.
May 6, 2012. 7:41 PMInfinite_minus_zero says:
Perhaps a miniscule Laser Pointer on the side for aim, a small bag on the opposite side for ammo, and something to clip it to your belt with in the middle? Hmmmm...
Oct 22, 2011. 10:28 AMbioheezy says:
This looks like a great time! I wonder what would happen if you used bigger diameter pipe and bigger balloons... Tennis ball cannon methinks.
Oct 22, 2011. 11:52 AMcodongolev says:
sewage pipe and a weather balloon...
Mar 22, 2012. 8:47 PMJarheadicus says:
ummm...Ouch? are you gonna use a baseball, or a cannonball
Mar 24, 2012. 7:17 AMcodongolev says:
well, I'm not shooting it at anyone....
Apr 16, 2012. 7:09 PMJarheadicus says:
save the idea for WW3
Oct 22, 2011. 1:17 PMbioheezy says:
I like the way you think.
Feb 23, 2012. 2:49 PMOmikron1 says:
Is there a way to make it more silenced?
Feb 22, 2012. 2:36 PMFrank Lampard 13 says:
(removed by author or community request)
Feb 12, 2012. 1:24 AMsherms667 says:
Oh wow! I love it! Does it make me a bad parent if I showed my daughter how to make this?
Nov 9, 2011. 12:00 PMLlama Nerds says:
I had so much fun with this! I posted a video on Google+ of me shooting mini marshmallows at a video camera with mine. I also had fun shooting snappers/poppers (the little, paper-wrapped, tadpole-shaped things that explode on impact) at a wall after dark!
Nov 2, 2011. 4:05 AMchaitanyak says:
this is awesome
Oct 31, 2011. 9:59 AMbuilderkidj says:
Thats sooooo cool!
Oct 25, 2011. 9:02 AMnurdee1 says:
Film canisters aren't that hard to find. Just go to a store that develops 35mm film and ask for some, or if they don't have any ask them to save them for you. You get your film canisters and the people who develop the film have something to laugh about.
Oct 24, 2011. 7:31 AMboatingman says:
We made a similar shooter back when I was a kid but we used copper pipe and thick rubber bands ( we didn't have PVC back in those days ). Those puppies would shoot a bb through 100 pages of the Sears' catalog.
Oct 21, 2011. 2:44 AMdanielthomas72 says:
I hate to be the party pooper but 'friends' in high school in 1987 made something similar to this with pvc pipe and a finger from washing-up glove (quite thick rubber glove).
They shot small plastic pellets. similar to beans from a bean-bag in size only hard.
Whilst on school camp in Kings Creek, Central Australia (basically the middle of nowhere) I was accidentally shot in the eye and had to flown to the nearest hospital (some 200kms away) on the Royal Flying Doctors Service.
The pellet missed my pupil by mere millimetres and I narrowly missed being blinded. Whilst I know that anything on Instructables comes with an unspoken 'at your own risk' policy, I am wondering if there need be a parental style warning with many of the projects herein.....?
Oct 22, 2011. 4:27 PMbike19 says:
sorry to be an even bigger party pooper, but back in the 80's we were using condoms and film canisters to shoot things at relief teachers, schoolyard bullies and bus drivers ;D
Oct 21, 2011. 6:24 PMdrbill says:
I like to see this done with a 5 gallon bucket and golf balls !
Oct 22, 2011. 11:34 AMCocothewarior says:
Really, I might do that just 'cause it sounds AMAZING!!!
Oct 21, 2011. 8:54 PMexotictoad says:
wow that's creative!!! now I can shoot my sister with out her noticing!!!

8O
Oct 17, 2011. 7:13 PMPlo Koon says:
ive alredy seen like a hole bunch o' these.
Oct 21, 2011. 6:41 AMLondonbrig0 says:
If you're going to post a completely useless comment, please make an attempt to spell correctly.

Great instructible by the way. I, for one, have never seen this before and love the idea. We have a ton of film canisters around the house, but no balloons! rrgh
Oct 21, 2011. 2:50 AMdanielthomas72 says:
..and I thought you yanks were crazy, the original Glove Gun is right here in Oz..... Queensland no less, the land where people have one to many heads....!!!
Oct 17, 2011. 7:15 PMKaptain Kool says:
I've seen this in mini weapons of mass destruction!
Oct 20, 2011. 11:45 PMhjjusa says:
I wonder what a piece of surgical tubing,with one end tied closed and a small tube would do?
Oct 20, 2011. 3:28 PMMr911S says:
We have plastic pill bottles here and they work just fine.
Oct 20, 2011. 2:16 PMpposthoorn says:
I remember making these when I was young. Loads of fun and hurts like hell :P We used dried peas. They where hard, cheap, perfect size and easy te get (any local supermarket).
Oct 20, 2011. 12:53 PMbrassclams says:
I used to set a film canister on a turntable set at 78 rpm and watch it go flying off the platter!
As a prank, you could fill it with a liquid (top open, of course) and, if your physics was correct, watch it spray its target.
Oct 20, 2011. 12:25 PMFrozenIce says:
hahaha great for class room wars!!
Oct 20, 2011. 11:16 AMSpokehedz says:
We used to use condoms back in the day with those 35MM cans... Also, if you want cans, you can go to a photography shop and they have LOADS of them.

The condoms were great, because you could stretch the HECK out of them, they were perfectly symmetrical, and they had the "reservoir" tip on them which made the shot line up perfectly with the middle of the canister. They were QUITE deadly to frogs and fish back in the day. Plus, it would fit in any pocket and hold it's ammo easily.
Oct 18, 2011. 8:50 AMmrmerino says:
What's a film canister?
1-40 of 73next »

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