I have a friend who bought a plasma cutter fairly recently.  As soon as I found out, I told him I had an idea for a project.  The plate is 1/4 inch thick mild steel.  It came out quite hefty, right around 19 lb.

This is actually the second one of these that he's made.  The first one I took to the Down South Sling Comp and gave to Channing as a gift.  I'm so excited to get mine!  I just have to drill some mounting holes and get it up on a target.  Which should be sometime this week.

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Update: A video has been made with this thing.  I tried to squeeze an ice ball through the gap.  ;)

https://youtu.be/RItYY76EWBM

Round 2: https://youtu.be/lZkBQ_rlM7o

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That is so cool. Looks great! I need to get a metal diana again.

nice!

That is awesome!

Very nice.

Could have used the laser plasmacutter for some mounting holes  ::)

Cool!

Stabyhoun wrote on Jun 3^rd, 2024 at 9:59am:

Could have used the laser plasmacutter for some mounting holes

Ha!  100% true.

What happened there is he was trying to surprise me with it.  We never discussed the specific position of mounting holes so he just left them out.  I have a drill press so it won't be hard to do.

So cool !!
I want one with an eye in the middle!!

And she's up!  This is just temporary.  I'll eventually put this plate on my stand up Balearic target.  But it's on one of the ground targets for a little playing around first.

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Looks great. I thought there was green paint on it and then remembered it was a hole :)

A video has been made with this thing.  I tried to squeeze an ice ball through the gap.  ;)

https://youtu.be/RItYY76EWBM

As usual, great vid, cheers Joe   8-)

In the heart ... Mortal ...

And a Round 2 has been posted.  No cool slow motion this time.  I just have the plate moved to my upright target, and finding out how loud a tennis ball is against it.

https://youtu.be/lZkBQ_rlM7o

I think the ding is fine.  There's no need to mess with it IMO. 

It's very strange.  It sounds louder and you can hear it more distinctly in the recording.  Hearing it in person, a diana vs a quad hit is still very distinct, which is the important thing.  But I was surprised how clear it was in the video.

I agree with you though.  I might try making an adjustment in the future when I actually need to replace the wooden board.  But until then, probably not doing anything more.

Very cool. Also now see why you have "slinging ICE is cool" (thought it was "just" a play on words). Seems like more accessible ammo than clay.

Yep, the pun aspect of the phrase was certainly part of the choosing.  But yeah, ice balls are a great projectile.  They're single use (for the most part), but give a consistent size and weight, about the same size as a tennis ball (if you get the 2.5 inch molds), and you don't need to gather them up.  The biggest downfall is they don't travel very well.  You need to be slinging close to your freezer.

If you like slow motion ice explosions, this is one of my favorite videos that I've done: https://youtu.be/zO9-sKjfC4M.  It's a little bit long, but oh well.

joe_meadmaker wrote on Jul 20^th, 2024 at 5:06pm:

Yep, the pun aspect of the phrase was certainly part of the choosing.  But yeah, ice balls are a great projectile.  They're single use (for the most part), but give a consistent size and weight, about the same size as a tennis ball (if you get the 2.5 inch molds), and you don't need to gather them up.  The biggest downfall is they don't travel very well.  You need to be slinging close to your freezer. If you like slow motion ice explosions, this is one of my favorite videos that I've done: https://youtu.be/zO9-sKjfC4M.  It's a little bit long, but oh well.

Thanks for the reply (already checked this and the video, very nice btw, a good while ago but forgot to write back). Have you tried making pointy ones too or just the round ones?

Won't travel well correct but come wintertime here and going somewhere putting a couple in the outside bag pockets... Already have a few ice molds like this and have just found a good wall to sling at VERY close to my house so after clearing the freezer a bit will be giving this a go (until I can order a few lacrosse balls at least to be less limited; unsure how well clay holds up as well). Would need more molds though to truly make it worth it; not much practice in a session otherwise.

Klydd wrote on Jul 27^th, 2024 at 3:11pm:

Have you tried making pointy ones too or just the round ones?

No, I haven't done any with biconical molds.  It's something I've wanted to try for quite a while.  Mainly for use with slings that don't handle spherical ice balls very well.  They have no grip and like to roll, so with certain pouches they just don't stay seated very well (for me).

If you try out ice slinging, definitely let me know how it goes.  It's great fun seeing them smash!  :)