Introduction: Rubber Band Gun

By Blog

I came across "Slivki Show" on youtube, where the host shared "10 awesome gadgets to buy from Aliexpress"

I was really amazed by few for these gadgets, one of them was a rubber band gun. I did not know of such gadget existed and wanted to have it... Ordering from Aliexpress would mean to wait for few weeks and I did not want to wait. The construction looked simple, so I did an extensive research for few hours and decided to make one..

In this instructable, I will share how I made one using scrap wood, Jig saw and sandpaper

Please vote for me

Step 1: What Do We Need ?

Materials and Tools

  • 5 mm plywood
  • 10 mm plywood
  • Spring from old pen
  • Tooth picks
  • PVA glue / Fevicol
  • G Clamps
  • Sandpaper
  • Nail filer ( borrowed from my wife's drawer)
  • Jig Saw
  • Screws

Step 2: Design

  • My Design is inspired by RBGUNS.com... at least the overall logic
  • I am not using any software here so sharing my hand drawings
  • Key changes
    • Shape
    • Dimensions
    • Trigger is spring based not rubber band
    • Screws for tweaking / maintenance
    • In short changed the everything design
  • Why did I make my own design
    • I did not want to cut multiple plywood and stick them, as I am not skilled enough
    • I had just enough 5 mm and 10 mm plywood
  • Mechanism
    • The rubber bands are held in place using the teeth on the body
    • when the trigger is pressed, it pushed the rubber band outwards to skip the tooth and move to the next one
    • To avoid too many skips, the trigger must also have teeth
    • When the last tooth is skipped the rubber band shots off

Step 3: The Body

  • Draw the template from previous step on a A4 sheet
  • paste them on the wooden planks using glue-stick
  • Cut the left , right side and the middle parts of the body as shown
  • Glue the middle and right side and leave to dry for 2 hours
  • Screw the left side as shown, this will help us to tweak and maintain
  • Sand the edges down with a 80 grit sandpaper and then 180

Step 4: Trigger

  • Since I didn't use any software, I had to construct the body first and then make the trigger
  • Trigger needs to move back and forward without wobbling and with enough space to trigger rubber band skip teeth
  • Mark the min and max teeth space as shown in the picture
  • Cut the teeth in the trigger, which is offset by half of the distance between teeth
  • Drill a hole from the body in to the trigger as shown
  • Add a small spring to push the trigger front
  • Secure using a toothpick, this avoids wobbling too

Step 5: Test and Lessons

The tests went well, I have added a video in the first step
I have shared a video

Lessons

  • The trigger needs to push rubber band further by 5mm
  • If you cut the teeth incorrectly you can use match sticks or popsicle sticks to correct them
  • Sand the teeth on the body by 45 degree or more
  • Rubber bands have to be with good elasticity, old rubber bands do not work well
  • Teeths does not have to be taping, they could be just grooves, which will reduce a lot of effort

I liked making this project, please share if you have a better design that I could try out with more than 10 rubber bands