So david's having a teach in nd competition at bushmoot in a couple of weeks. And I'm going down with a target and some competition forms.

I've decide to build something pretty substantial but easy to transport. As I'm probably going to have to lug it a fair distance.

To which end my first acquisition is a 50cm centre disc.

The ones I already have are 1mm steel and only 40cm diameter.

My new one is 3mm aluminium, predrilled for a 6mm bolt (of which I have lots)
This should be tough enough to last a long time and won't rust :-)
And cost me 10 minutes of my time sorting out a java issue this morning :-)


I've decided to make the target itself fold in half on the vertical axis.

Which just takes a couple of hinges at the joint and a couple of deadbolts to hold it together. Also means i can fit handles for easy carrying. 

So I'll make the basic frame and then screw two 120x60cm pieces of plywood on. I'll also need a crosspiece for the disc bolt and a support for the base of the disc, to avoid bending the bolt.
Screws rather than nails, so the plywood can be easily changed when needed.
6mm bolts for everything else.


Still working on how to make the stand. Unfortunately my usual partner in crime is currently on holiday lol

So I'm going to have a go at modelling a mini target for ideas this afternoon :-)

More over the next week or so.

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Great stuff CA.  8-)

That will be cool. I like the idea of making it sturdy and portable. Don't forget to post the finished picture CA ;)

Are you guys rattle can painting your rocks? or using some way to collect them? ie backstop.

been to b&q
While we were waiting for the man who could use the saw. Had a chat with the guy helping me and decided that if I chose a ratty looking sheet of plywood it would be cheaper :-)
At some point it will be destroyed, so who cares what it looks like :-)

Ended up with 4 sheets of 60x120cm 12mm plywood for £18
£6 cheaper than the usual price.
And weirdly if you bought the sheets ready cut they were £25 each. As opposed to buying one very big piece of plywood and gettig them to chop it into size for you - which would have been £24 without the 'tatty wood' discount.
Crazy.
It's actually £1 cheaper to buy a huge sheet of plywood, get a 120x60cm panel cut out of it and throw the remaining 3/4 away. Than it is to buy a single sheet of 120x60cm plywood.
Now if you can see the logic in that - you're stranger man than me.

And yes I know 12mm is pretty thin plywood - but once the frame is built I'll be able fairly quickly swap damaged sheets or thin sheets for thick sheets.
The proper full spec balearic targets use 25 or 30 mm I would think.
Pricewise that was actually pretty good. But too heavy to carry any real distance. 

This stuff should be strong enough for tennis balls and clay balls (I'll take the orange clay balls with me for david and I to play with :-) )

Pretty much finalised the design.

Going to make the main target fold in half for carrying and the cross pieces holding it solid with bolts under the disc to protect them.

Legs going for a sort of 'A' frame.

So straight legs coming down from each side that hold the target 1metre off the ground. And two slanting bracing pieces keeping it upright - would have been one for a proper A frame. But I figure 2 will be stronger and a lot more stable.
I'll 3d print some plastic feet that will also double as holders for cross brace timber.
I'll do that front and back. The back bracing will also be used to put weights on to prevent it toppling forward.

Everything held together with 6mm steel bolts.

And nothing longer than 120cm both for ease of loading and carrying. Longer pieces will be drilled and bolted so they'll break down into shorter pieces.

I'll take pictures as I go :-) 

The remaining wood will come from breaking down the slingfest 2008 target frames and any odds and ends from the big box of scrap in my shed.

The bolts I bought for slingfest 2008. And I'm pretty sure I've got hinges in the shed. So the only real outlay is the plywood.
The only stuff i saw that might have been nickable, uh recyclable  ;)
Was a bit too obvious and much too close to home  lol

What i should have done was collect all the corrugated plastic election banner things after the election and recycled them. Use half a dozen sheets of that packed pretty tight and it'd be quite tough.

Oh well, maybe next time :whistle:

Had a think. And decided I'd print a bracket and foot attachment thingy and try with just the one supporting leg to start with.

This way It'll be adjustable for angle if I can't find a flat spot to put it.

And yeah, these days 3d printing is like duct tape for me. I just don't feel it's right unless it's used lol

Pics please. 

I think the plywood will hold up pretty well, as long as you don't start or allow the "shield breakers" to be thrown at them.  After all, 12mm plywood is pretty close to what Roman shields were, back in the day.

Maybe put a slab of old carpet on it to spread the impact and cushion the impact? 

Remember, I'm not carrying it. ;D

Paint it into quadrants! It would be interesting to see where most of your shots hit. High and to the inside for example would let you know you're probably a power slinger while lower shots indicate your shots dropping.
Would make it easy to track your habits.

lol okay - first, I don't do painting :-)
Spent an entire summer one year painting a local laboratory complex from top to bottom. Cured me of paintbrushes for life :-)

second - it's actually 9mm - I read the wrong shelf lol
So this will be tennis balls and other non-stone items only.
Or real gentle slinging with clay balls. 

Hell I could put  a golf ball through it without any problems. 

So current state of play:

Folding frame made - remember not to take the width of the wood away twice from each piece before cutting the 4 crosspieces :whistle:

Playwood fitted frame perfectly - wahey ! - and is now screwed on.

Front legs have been cut, drilled and bolted.
Bracket to attach support leg to back of target has been designed, made and attaches to leg perfectly after minor sanding.

Next is making the bracket for the foot. That'll be larger so feet can be attached for stability and to put weights on to keep it still.
Likewise I need to make feet for the from legs so  crosspiece can be bolted across - again for stability and to put weights on.

Other than printing the feet it's pretty much just drilling bolt holes in things and bolting it all together.

My only real problem is that it's too big to work on opened up in my shed and it's rainig. I'd rather keep it dry as long as possible. So working on it opened up is trickey.

Changing the plywood in the future will entail unscrewing the 18 screws, replace with new wood and redrill the 7 bolt holes.   
Pictures show: folded & unfolded without plywood, plywood fitiing perfectly and disc in the middle.
Can't be arsed to go downstairs now and tale pic of the bracket attached to leg so here's a pic of it before printing instead :-)

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I'm worried that the screws holding those hinges for the center aren't biting into the wood far enough in for the pressure they will be under. Maybe put a third or fourth hinge in the center ? Looks cool though CA ;)

the hinges won't be under any pressure.
There will be three places behind the target where I'll have crosspieces bolted either side of the plywood to prevent it moving.

One where the target bolt goes through with a bolt either side and longer pieces at the back. One for the support foot mounting plate and one at the bottom of the target. These will have wood batons either side clamping the plywood.
And they will be behind the target so won't get hit.
Likewise there will be a crosspiece between the two front feet that will also hold it open.

Putting stuff thorugh the plywood is far more likely thatn any pressure on the hinges. And they're pretty good screws.

Eventually I'll probably buy some longer hinges - but these'll do for now.

Booked my B&B monday night and tuesday night :-)
Tuesday we'll have the competition and I'll meander back sometime wednesday.

Should be fun :-)

weather forecast says. Cloudy with rain and some sunny spots - ie: it's wales, it's going to rain but just in case it doesn't, they've hedged their bets lol

o well slinging in the rain is better then no slinging. I know you worked hard on the target, but I kinda think it would be cool to see it all devastated by slinging stones 8-)

lol maybe after the competition.

forecast for the weekend is pretty awful - so it'll be pretty muddy by the time I get there.

Why is it I mostly sling wearing wellies ?

Actually that's probably what i did wrong in mallorca - no wellies :-)

Right target MK 1  finished yesterday - couple of things I'd like to do but run out of time for.
Double thickness legs and two back supports linked like the front legs are.

My only concern is that a good hit on the front legs might hit a knothole and break them. Should be fine with tennis balls.

Pictures pretty much self explanatory.

It's a lot tougher than it looks I 'field tested' it with the rubber mallet. And apart from a tendency to turn slightly when hit hard at a top corner. It was extremely sound.
Made a few black marks and some slight dents. But no sign of anything failing.

The turning would be fixed by adding a second back support and joining the two together.
The plastic brackets are a lot stronger the they look and as I mixed a triangular solid infill with a thick shell, surprisingly durable as well. 
Plus I've got spares :-)
And I can always make them stronger if it proves necessary.

I've actually got the double thick wood for stronger legs, but didn't  have any bolts long enough.

The whole thing breaks down into two easily carried packages. The legs and supports etc are fairly light. The target and disc - not so much lol
So adding stronger legs and an extra back support - wouldn't make it any harder to carry.  Just balance you out  a bit more.

The bolts on the back support and front leg brackets will have the bolt shafts pointing down to act as anchoring points (bit like tent pegs) and it's designed so weights can be placed on both front and back to add stability.

All in all I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out

It's bang on spec too !
The top bar is 220cm - about 7foot 4 off the ground. Centre of disc is exactly 160. basically my head is dead centre of the disc - which makes sense if you think about it ;-)

It's been absolutely piddling down all day here, so i doubt walse has been any dryer.
Oh well, guess come wednesday I'll have gills :-)   

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The disc is duck taped to the side of the target, you can't see it in the picture :-)

I think you did a great job. That is awesome. I like the single back support too. I was thinking you needed a double I dunno why. I'm impressed CA!

Cheers :thumb:
Have to admit I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.
fits nicely in the car as well.

well apparently there are force 9 gales battering the welsh coast today.

So we might have to tie it to a tree instead.
That's the beauty of having everything adjustable.

It doesn't strictly need two back supports - but with them and the stronger legs and thicker ply wood (or just 2 layers of the 9mm) you'd be able to sling rocks at it no problem.

Awesome shirt!

yeah, my mate got it for me :-)

Good job!  I like that!  And it is portable.  Any idea how much it weighs?

more than I first thought lol
the stick bundle is pretty light. But after lugging the target a couple of hundred yards or so, I wouldn't like to carry it any real distance.

We had the competition yesterday in bright sunshine on a sand dune.
don't know exact numbers of competitors, but I reckon 15 or so.
daves got the score sheet.

some misses and a couple of really good scores at both ends of the age spectrum.

Target was rock solid in a very stiff wind. So doesn't actualy need any modifications.

So the first neternational federation of slingers competition has been held in the uk ! :-)

Going to make this an annual event?  Not really joking. 

It's traditional, (Hill Fort rock piles), it's something everybody can do, (more or less) it doesn't cost like a bow and arrows does and if you stick with tennis balls, the people you teach can practice in pretty near any fairly large open space.

And they can make their own slings pretty easy, too.

lol we had a sling making workshop yesterday morning.

I was doing leather butterfly pouches and paracord,

It was my leather, paracord etc, so i was charging £2 a sling.
As I ended up with £64 I reckon we made 32 slings !  Which paid for my petrol and a few quid towards the b&b.
Very busy couple of hours

david was doing braided slings with stitched leather centres.  I call them shepherd slings - he calls them something else. Don't know if he was charging anything, or whether they used my leather or not.

Davids guys made at least 2 that i saw. really nice. Lot of stitching.

I also did a 'how to make sockballs' bit. So within an hour or two apparently it was chaos :-)
Slings and kids and sockballs everywhere.
In fact i'd madea sling for one of the teenagers the previous evening and shown them how to make sockballs. So i think sockwars started the day before and got massively expanded.
Next year we'll figure a proper game to play with them. 

Sockballs are the ultimate harmless anti-personal ammo :-)
I will make a video.

And yes This will definitely be an annual event. I'd like to teach a few more workshops next year as well (beginner and advanced slinging classes, more complicated paracord and leather slings and more simple ones with different templates), so will go down for at least another day.

Hopefully as people come back year on year we'll end up with a decent core of useful and experienced slingers from around the country. And hopefully start having competitions in other parts of the country as well.

I can break the target manufacture down into an easy to make instructable.

I don't like to admit it (lol) but David was right. Bushcraft events are the ideal place to teach slinging and hold competitions as you've got a captive audience who are willing to try something new.

That sounds like a good deal of fun. Man I wish I could take part. Stupid Atlantic Ocean always getting in the way..lol.

My slings take too long to make for anyone to really enjoy so I'd just be a demonstrator  :)

Now I need to find one of these "bushcraft" events you speak of!

Signal at last!  :D

That was an amazing event, everything I hope for. I have been teaching slinging there for three years now and it was really something to see people I have taught striking the Diana repeatedly!

The kids sock wars were hilarious and they got really good really quickly.

I showed off a staff sling yesterday, that made people's eyes light up.

C_A, can you Dropbox all the photos and video to me please? I want to do a post on BCUK. Also... Catering for an international event. Could you fit a BBQ in your car and put on a meal for international slingers?

I'll mailbigfile them when I've sorted the colours out.
some idiot (:whistle: )  had the camera still set on 'nighttime taking pictures of fires' mode for the first round.

That said, the slower shutter speed did get me some really cracking action shots. Pretty sure I've got  at least one shot of everyone with an infilght tennis ball.
Didn't take any video.

Bung me a copy of the score sheet as well. Still reckon you got the winner wrong ;-)
Didn't the kid score exactly the same as the bloke who won ? 

I was sure both had two hits and a centre with both sets of 5 shots.

Been thinking about charcuterie and outdoor workshops. The biggest issue is the lack of refrigeration. But could probably pull off a fast dry salami and maybe some traditional jerky. Saw a cracking jerky fire soemone had set up.

Far as the bbq - goes, same issue we'd need some reliable refridgeration and also a big arse bbq or two. Mine needs to be dismantled just to get it round the side of the house.  and it doesn't fit, even in my car. Borrowed a van the only time I ever transported it anywhere. Real pita.
The on site pizza oven is too small.
And hanging stuff over open fires doesn't really work for bulk.

We could get away with getting people to bring big gas bbq's and use those. I don't own a gas bbq :-)

But I think a much better idea would be to have a bring and munch like on monday night. That way I don't spend 2 days preparing food and an evening cooking and serving, without getting paid.
I've got 3 large chafing dishes to keep hot stuff stuff warm, could get them in the car. But they each need about 2 litres of boiling water to get started. No idea how long it'd take to get cold water up to temp with a couple of gel burners. Suppose it could work like that - never tried it.

The other thing I was thinking of was holding an event up here - you know in the middle of the country where it's realy easy to get to :-)
Couple of places we could do it. My current favourite would be the national forest adventure farm.
The two guys who run it are mates and always looking for something different to bring the punters in.
 
But to do any kind of international event we'd need sponsorship.  For accomodation, transport etc.

I need to have a chat with the guy who runs the event. There's a few workshops I'd like to do and and organised tournament of sock wars with 2-3 players on a team should be doable. 

Pic attached of the guy who won - gives you an idea of the competition setup.

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