[TowerTalk] EZ-Hang

[Jim Lux]

At 01:26 PM 12/13/2005, Al Williams wrote:

> >>   What is the highest elevation you can get the line up and over with a
> >>slingshot/reel combo? With just the slingshot and the 60# test line
> >>pulled off in front of me with out a reel I can get up to about 90'. Can
> >>you get up and over a 120' tree using  a reel with the slingshot? What's
> >>the best weight fishing line?
> >>       73 and I remain,
> >>       Lew  W7EW/W7AT
>
>I home brewed a super slingshot using two 8' 2x4's and a 1x2 to make a
>tripod configuration.  I used latex tubing commonly referred to as surgical
>tubing for the stretch.

In a former job in the special effects business we built just about every 
kind of launcher you can imagine: slingshots with 10 ft spread 20ft off the 
ground and a 50 ft draw; air cannons to throw refrigerators hundreds of 
feet; trebuchets, catapults, electric motor driven, etc.  The pneumatic 
launcher is by far the most repeatable, compact, aimable, etc. especially 
if you want to drag a tether.  The power source is consistent: unlike latex 
tubing, which ages and is ozone and UV sensitive and temperature dependent, 
or bungee cords; and unlike spring loaded mechanisms (can't store enough 
energy).

It also has the least chance of being perceived as a weapon.  For example, 
big slingshots are marketed as weapons, so the onus is on you to explain 
why it isn't a weapon.  A pneumatic launcher can be made very innocuous in 
appearance.