Alright, so I got this idea stuck in my head – a slingshot car, but one that kinda fired itself off. Not like, remote control driving, just the launching part. Seemed like a fun little project for a weekend, you know, tinkering around.
Getting Started
First thing, I rummaged through the garage. Found some scrap plywood pieces, perfect for a base. Wheels… ah, wheels. Had this old toy truck the kids broke ages ago, salvaged the wheels and axles off that. Good enough. Then, the main ingredient: rubber bands. Grabbed a handful of different sizes and strengths, figured I’d need to experiment.
Building the Thing
Okay, cutting the wood. Didn’t need anything fancy, just a basic rectangular shape for the car body. Drilled some holes roughly where the axles should go. Getting them straight was a bit fiddly, gotta admit. Used some small screws and wood glue to hold the basic frame together. Pretty solid.
Next, the slingshot part. This took some head-scratching. I wanted something that held the rubber band stretched and then let go easily.
- I mounted two strong screws at the back of the wooden base.
- Stretched a couple of thick rubber bands between them.
- Then, I made a little pusher piece from another bit of wood. This would push the car.
- The tricky part was the “automatic” release. I ended up making a simple hinged lever near the front. You’d pull the pusher piece back (stretching the bands), hook it onto the lever, and then tapping the lever would release the pusher, launching the car. Simple, yeah, but getting the catch angle right took a few tries.
Testing… and Failing
First test. Pulled the pusher back, hooked it onto the lever. Tapped the lever… thwack! The pusher shot forward, but the whole car just kinda flipped over sideways. Okay, not powerful enough, or maybe too much power all at once? And definitely not stable.
Tried fewer rubber bands. Better, didn’t flip, but it only rolled like, a foot. Useless.
Went back to more bands but tried to make the base wider. Glued some extra wood strips along the sides. Helped a bit with stability.
Making it Work (Sort Of)
The release was still a bit jerky. Sanded down the lever catch point, made it smoother. Also fiddled with where the rubber bands were anchored. Moving them slightly changed the force direction.
After a bunch more tweaking, it started working okay. Pull back the pusher, hook it, tap the lever, and zip – the car shot across the floor pretty straight for a decent distance. Not exactly breaking speed records, but it worked consistently.
It’s not “automatic” like a robot, obviously. The “automatic” part is just that the lever releases the built-up tension from the slingshot mechanism when you trigger it. Calling it “automatic slingshot car” sounded cooler in my head, I guess. It was a fun build, killed some time, and used up some scrap. Pretty happy with how the little launcher turned out in the end, even if it took more fiddling than I first thought.
