I’m sure many of you have already seen the “captive nut” in one form or another. I came across it a few years ago and forgot all about it until it showed up on the forum recently.

Here’s Gareth Bell’s Captive Nut:

And here’s another version by Jerry:

It’s a great project for the beginner for a couple of reasons, but mostly because it allows you to practice single-point threading. Once you’re done you’ve got quite the conversation piece that will puzzle and entertain kids and adults alike.

For more information (including links with directions on how to make your own) visit the original forum post by Gareth.

Material: Steel or Aluminum
Units: (in)

This is pretty amazing. A Metal Gear Solid fan created a version of Solid Snake’s gun that shoots … Rubber Bands! I wish I could find plans for one of these! I’ve got the plans now! They aren’t exactly step-by-step, but they show details for the critical parts. It should be enough to get you started!

Here’s a video of the gun in action.

Here’s a video of the firing mechanism, and a bit of video showing how the gun was built.

And here are the plans, courtesy of James W. from the HSM forum. Thanks Jim! If anyone else has completed one of these, let me know – I’d love to post your project pictures. Also, if anyone has a more complete set of plans that includes 100% of the pieces, please let me know.

UPDATE: I found the site where this gun comes from, but it’s in Japanese. Here’s a few translated links to the construction process: Link1, Link2, as well as a link to some of the other guns they’ve done Here. The english translation is a bit shaky, but the links provide even more production information for anyone attempting to build one of these.

  Metal_Gear_Solid_Rubber_Band_Gun.pdf (1.1 MiB, 5,148 hits)
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