Design | Cut | Build – Season 2, Episode 3 – Make Your Own Shooting Target!

 

Portable shooting targets that are also sturdy can be really pricey if you buy them from another company. There’s no better way to get a shooting target for a reasonable price than building it yourself! All it takes is a Torchmate cutting table, some 11 gauge and 1/2” material, a stick of 1” pipe, an 18” chain, and a 1” bolt with a nut.

Make and Break Toolpaths with Torchmate CAD

Making and breaking paths in Torchmate CAD is essential to making parts and pieces with cut outs inside of them. The term make/break path is telling the software where to apply male and female toolpaths, or in other words, what parts to drop out from the design and which ones to keep. Torchmate CAD also has the capability of grouping designs together. This can be extremely helpful when you need to center objects vertically or horizontally inside of bigger objects to make your cuts as accurate as possible.

Torchmate University has a full library of video tutorials available that cover several different topics, such as making and breaking paths, node editing, and welding tools to help you learn more about the software. Several different techniques are often required to design one project, and Torchmate University has you covered!

Get Ready to Cut!

Once your design is ready for your custom shooting target, you’re ready to cut! In this episode, two tables were used at once to cut two different thicknesses of material. Thicker steel was used as the target so it would hold up better with lots of target practice. With the pieces cut out, any dross that accumulated on the back of the pieces can then be removed with a grinder. Then, use a chop saw to cut the pieces of 1” pipe down to size, and then arrange the pieces in the center using the bracket so the target can stand up on its own. Finally, run the chain through the bracket at the top, and then attach the target to the bottom of the chain using the 1” bolt and nut. Now you’re ready for some target practice!

When you’re ready to make your own portable shooting target, head to FarbricationForum.com. That’s where you can find all of the design files and also a list of materials used in this episode. When you’re done with your project, share a photo of it to show it off to the rest of the community, and make sure to let us know how your build went!