December 01, 2018 6 min read
The rubber band guns were one of the favourite displays at the Royal Melbourne Show. With just LaQ parts, 1 Hamacron wheel and 1 rubber band, you can make a very good rubber band (elastic band) gun. You can see it in action below
or our Facebook channel.
Lots of families enjoyed playing with this and loved the flexibility of how you could this in LaQ. This gun is surprisingly accurate, and like anything to do with LaQ - could surely be added onto and improved with a bit of thought. We had so many requests for instructions on how to build this - so here we are.
We've put together an overview here, and importantly outlined how many parts and pieces you need to build this. There is just one hidden part that it is a bit tricky, and may require some adult / teenager assistance.
The key to this gun is the Hamacron wheel. This is one of the special LaQ parts that only comes with some LaQ products. A key part of the Hamacron wheel design is that the outer surface of the wheel also allows for connecting the 2 base parts (squares and triangles) at 12 locations around the wheel, much a the clockface.
The Hamacron wheel is used for to connect a hidden rubber band, that provides the tension for the trigger release. It is then also used to connect the 2nd visible rubber band that is fired from the gun.
The diagram below shows that the hidden rubber band is connected to the Hamacron wheel at the 3 o'clock position, while the visible rubber band is drawn over at the 12 o'clock position.
The trigger itself is attached to the Hamacron wheel at both the 9 o'clock and 7 o'clock positions. Squeezing the trigger towards the grip moves and essentially rotates the wheel.
When the trigger is pulled towards the grip, it stretches both the hidden rubber band and then tilts the Hamacron wheel to release the visible rubber band
The total number parts you need are as follows - 351 basic parts in total
Part Type |
#1 |
#2 |
#3 |
#4 |
#5 |
#6 |
#7 |
Any colour |
67 |
75 |
66 |
40 |
6 |
72 |
25 |
You will also need 1 large Hamacron wheel. This can be found in the Basic 511, Basic 801, Basic 2400 Colors, Basic 2400 Pastel, Basic 5000, Race Car, Speed Wheels as well as the Hamacron Parts Kit
The beauty of LaQ is that you can interchange any part colour very easily. If you want to build the rubber ban gun according to the photos, the following types of parts per colour are needed:
Part Type |
#1 |
#2 |
#3 |
#4 |
#5 |
#6 |
#7 |
Black |
49 |
56 |
48 |
31 |
3 |
55 |
21 |
Lime |
18 |
19 |
18 |
9 |
3 |
17 |
4 |
The gun is built in 7 components
The number of parts per component is:
While we don't have detailed step by step instructions, the majority of the build is straightforward as there are not many #5 parts and curves in this model. The trickiest part is attaching the rubber band between the Wheel (C2) and the hidden square within the Grip (D1).
Component |
Colour |
#1 |
#2 |
#3 |
#4 |
#5 |
#6 |
#7 |
Wheel |
A1 |
Black |
24 |
20 |
19 |
9 |
- |
|||
A2 |
Black |
4 |
14 |
12 |
2 |
1 |
8 |
- |
- |
B1 |
Black |
7 |
8 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
14 |
- |
|
C1 |
Black / Lime |
12 |
12 |
20 |
7 |
11 |
- |
||
C2 |
Black |
1 |
1 |
||||||
D1 |
Black / Lime |
13 |
30 |
22 |
7 |
1 |
10 |
12 |
- |
D2 |
Lime |
7 |
10 |
8 |
3 |
2 |
10 |
4 |
- |
A1 - Barrel top - building notes
A2 - Barrel bottom - building notes
B1 - Trigger - building notes
C1 - Sight - building notes
C2 - Wheel - building notes
D1 - Grip - building notes
Connecting the hidden rubber band
D2 Base
While that's a lot of words - in practice it's easier to look at the photos and just have a go! The tricky part is getting the position of the hidden rubber band correct, and ensuring that the trigger works.
To use the gun - it's pretty simple
We'd love to get your feedback on these instructions, any enhancements and even a picture or two on how you've used it. Drop us a post on Facebook, or post a photo on Instagram with tag #laq
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