Make Your Own PVC Pipe Sling Shot - Frugal Fun For Boys and Girls (original) (raw)

Aidan and I designed and built a PVC pipe sling shot yesterday! We had a lot of fun building a PVC pipe sprinkler last summer (the cool part is that you can rebuild it different ways!), and I thought that a sling shot or a catapult that could launch water balloons would be fun this year! After some discussion, we decided on a sling shot because it seemed a little simpler.

Aidan had so much fun helping design this. We looked at Home Depot’s website together, and he drew a picture with the parts we needed. Then, he made a shopping list for each of the boys!

Unfortunately, the finished product won’t shoot water balloons, but it shoots nerf balls really well! Lots of fun indoors and out!

Here’s how to make one:

We spent just under $3 per sling shot!

You will need:

A 24″ length of pipe – we purchased 24″ pieces of 1/2″ pipe that was a pretty thick gauge (I have no idea if that is the correct term – not really an expert in plumbing!!)

Two 90 degree elbow joints (1/2″) – make sure they have no threading where they connect

One “T” shaped joint (1/2″) – also with no threading

Felt for the pouch

Four rubber bands

Nerf balls, foam balls, or whiffle balls for shooting 🙂

Use a saw to cut the 24″ inch pipe into a 6 inch piece, two 4 inch pieces, and two 5 inch pieces. Even though Aidan likes to use the saw, this was definitely an adult job. The pipe is slippery and it’s a little tricky getting started.

Build the sling shot as pictured above. We used the 6 inch piece for the handle, the 4 inch pieces connected to the “T,” and the 5 inch pieces coming up as arms.

Cut a pouch for the slingshot out of felt. Cut a small slit in each corner to attach the rubber bands.

Yeah! It’s ready to shoot!

We had a little bit of trouble with the pipe pieces moving around when we pulled back the sling shot, so Dad glued them together with E 6000 glue after Aidan went to bed last night. Now the sling shot is more stable.

We just couldn’t get it to work with water balloons – not enough torque. Maybe it was our technique? They were hard to hold onto, so we had trouble pulling back the pouch.

Maybe we’ll just have to build a catapult for water balloons… Hmmm… 🙂