been experimenting with cestrosphendone lately and just got an idea - shot thrower adjusted to firing darts. probably something like stick with long channel and socket at the bottom. darts probably would have two feathers, because of the same reason crossbow bolts have two feathers. what do you think? :D

sounds good you should have a look at that and let us know how it turns out

Below is a picture of my personal hunting rig.....It's great for the occasional stuffed animal safari.



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TS

haha, thats nice :) solid amentum actually. now as I think a bit more about it I think it will need some kind of mechanism to prevent early and unwanted discharges, i think strong leaf spring as used in crossbows to keep bolt on the tiller would serve well. mounted at the back and going in half circle to the dart and securing it until the final swing blast is imparted. i'll keep you informed as the project goes on

a shot thrower suited to darts...that sounds stangly alot like an atlatl, unless you are thinking of something different, or i am misreading you description

atlatl throws darts 6 feet long. darts i'm talking about would probably be around 15 inches and would work on different principle, the thrower would induce circular motion like cestrosphendone does, but it would be a short (not necessarily) stick instead of sling. the dart would be placed in a similar way crossbow bolt is mounted on a crossbow stock. sorry if my posts are confusing, english is not my first language

i see.  i have also seen mini atlatls designed for throwing normal size arrows, but i understand that this is not what you are looking for.

that's quite alright about your english, i know some native english speakers here who make less sense than you.

i see it is early in the morning in the usa but where I live it is about noon now. i tried the principle today with a simple plastic tube as a thrower, and the principle works well, though the tube does not ;D i can throw it about forty yards with tube about the length of my forearm and it flies straight, but, as i presumed, the biggest problem is that the dart flies out before top speed is attained so timing was very crucial with this device. the other problem I was thinking about was interfering of the moving end of the pipe/thrower with dart trajectory. fortunately, it doesn't happen. dart probably moves faster and escapes during that phase. to solve the first problem i devised a trigger, so far only in my head but also in ms paint ;) the picture will also i hope explain a general principle of the thing

seems posting pics here involves some procedures so just follow this link: http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b357/Eglacam/projekat.png

so, here's how it works: dart fits into socket at the bottom of the channel in which it lays. just behind the feathers is a notch, there fits the end of the trigger which keeps it in until the moment of release. to release it it is only needed to pull it down with your finger at the handle. coiled spring pulls the lever down to ensure easier loading and keeping the dart in place. throwing action is swinging the stick downward or some other direction you like and pulling the trigger in the right moment.

oh, i forgot details about the dart. it is 14 inches long and weighing about 40 grams.

Sounds like you've got a genuine innovation on your hands....

Good luck,


TS

This does sound very cool! If you get some good pictures, post them please! I'd be interested in maybe building one of these myself. We could call it the Lathron Gun in honour of its inventor! And don't worry about your English proficiency. Most people that speak it as a first language mangle it much worse than secondary speakers.

hai Lathron

I just found this toppic saw your idea.
about a year ago a thought about something the same!
This is a (rather poor) drawing of it...
Don't pay attention to proportions.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d24/rednassreve/slingthing.jpg

It's a hollow bamboo shaft.
The arrow fits in. There's 3 slides sawn in for the feathers.
The green pin by it self tends to get out of the shaft due to the green leaver.
The red cord arroud the stick(just under the feathers of course)  is held in place by the blue pins and hops over the one on the right. This cord is attached to the pin and when pulled down with your index finger while going underthrough the yellow "sort-of bridge", pulls the green pin in to the shaft to hold the arrow.
The dart/arrow has a carved-out ring or hole at the end that fits the pin.
When you swing the stick you can release the dart by pointing your finger...

or so was the idea.
I never tested it.
it just came up some day, but seamed too complex compared to a atlatl wich I started to make first.

If  this idea might help you further, your free to use it...
I'm curious how it will turn out to be!

Good luck,

Sander

I used to use to throw things quite a distance using a plastic pipe. I was mostly throwing pebbles, but darts should work just as well.

The pipe you can make roughly baseball bat, or cricket bat length. It has to be wide enough to drop whatever you want to throw inside it.

To throw, you hold the pipe roughly like a cricket bat ie. vertical, drop the whatever-it-is down the 'handle' end, and swing. If you get the timing right, 'it' comes out travelling pretty fast. The action is something like a straight drive in cricket ;). Or the last bit of a golf swing, maybe.

My recollection was that the timing was a lot easier than with a sling, because you can 'feel' the stone or whatever asliding down the tube as you swing.

hi guys! finally made the thing. the mechanism works fine, but the dart I made I think is too light, it is also too thin so it wobbles in the tube a bit. here are a few pics

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/8274/boltspitter001kg5.jpg

here you can see it complete with the dart. i didn't have a drill bit long enough so I made a combination using river cane. cane tube is quite wide but it was all I could get. there is no glue used, everything is tied on or fitted.

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2642/boltspitter004kv4.jpg

here you can see how it engages the dart and also way trigger is held in tension. i used small rubber band pulled through a hole and simply tied on the wooden stock

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/7844/boltspitter005yn6.jpg

and here are trigger & pivot in its wooden block which is only tied on the chiseled wooden base

i tried throwing it outside. right now it is quite windy and it didn't fly too well. as I said I think dart is too light and there also may be a problem with the fletching as it didn't fly well even when i tossed it by hand. i'll make a heavier dart and see how it performs. i hope the wind will stop by then.

morning! made a new dart, longer and heavier. it flies ok. not that great but ok. i can throw it easily about forty yards, I didn't go harder to stay on the range. unfortunately, it already broke, hit the wall. I guess that's destiny of almost every arrow  ;D I think the dart would get the best performance with minimal thickness and maximum weight, while keeping it sufficiently long to get a nice drag
here it is compared to the last one

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/6273/boltspitter2001lt3.jpg