Have you ever watched the tv show How It’s Made?
Chances are you have.
This tv show was the equivalent of mindlessly scrolling through random videos on social media back in the day. For some reason, it’s interesting watching random stuff like Pringles, money and marbles being made!
Well, if you’re a darts fan then you’ve likely searched for something similar in the past to see how darts or dartboards are made.
When darts manufacturers started to use tungsten barrels instead of brass or nickel silver, the darting landscape really shifted.
Heavier and thinner darts became the dominant option and with the tungsten component ranging from 70% – 95%, this has allowed for countless hundreds and thousands of new dart designs to be made.
Knurling, grooves, grip zones, barrel profiles and more, the design of darts has been evolving with each decade and advancements in computing and CNC machining are another big contributor to this…
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Shot Darts Show How Darts are Made
Shot Darts are a New Zealand darts brand founded over 50 years ago.
See also – 11 best darts brands [ranked]
Primarily operating in North America and Australasia, It’s only in recent years that they’ve started to grow in popularity and usage more globally.
This is thanks to partnerships with big UK retailers like Darts Corner, international shipping on Amazon (they are one of the most popular darts brands sold on the online retailer) and most recently for sponsoring 2023 World Darts Champion Michael Smith.
As the brand continues to grow their name in the sport, they have released some behind the scene footage onto their YouTube channel.
Their most popular and eye-catching are a few videos showing the CNC machining process as they make a darts barrel.
They have a few of these videos but the best one in our opinion is a mesmerising close-up as they make their ‘AI Mimic’ darts.
This video shows the process taking just a few minutes to transform a tungsten billet into a scalloped darts barrel with grooved ridges.
Shot Darts do clarify that this is just one part of the process with most darts requiring 3-4 different processes including application of titanium coating, tapping out the inside of the barrel, match weighing and re-machining depending on the design used.
As an example, they’ve also released another video showing how they add ‘laser grip finishing’ to a set from the Devon Peterson darts range.
Next time you pick up a set of darts take a look and see if you can notice any of the finer details that could have gone into making your set.
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