Back in 1966, Wham-o introduced the first commercial version of this type of glider called the Turbo-Tube. This was followed by the Skyro, the Toobee, the Zoom Toob and the X-Zylo. Tossed like a football with a little spin, these fliers glide long distances, ghost-like, and stay in the air for no apparent reason. This version can be hand-tossed for indoor play, or used with the launcher outdoors for long, soaring flights.

This design is based most closely on the X-Zylo, the unquestioned distance champ. From what I gather, the tubular airfoil surface needs to be very thin and light, and the weighted ring in the front, thin and heavy. The difficulty with the many other 3D printed flying ring designs I've seen that print as a single piece is that the tube section is printed as a thin-wall extrusion, which is hard to get thinner than about 0.4mm. And even at that, the direction of the print lines makes it extremely fragile. What I've done instead is print the tube flat as a single 0.2mm layer film that gets wrapped around the weighted ring to form the tube. (I actually use 2 separate flat sections so that there are symmetric seams on both sides of the glider.)

To make these rings fly far, you actually need more of a side-arm throw, which is difficult to master and hard on your shoulder. In researching these, I discovered that X-Zylo makes an oddly crude but effective launcher for their mini versions. The launcher I've designed is a refined version, using a rubber band powered slider that hooks onto the ridge on the inside of the glider, and includes a pistol-grip with a trigger for one-handed operation.

What You'll Need
In addition to the 3D printed parts, you will need:

• Five rubber bands (size 33 - 3mm x 90mm)
• One ¼" / 6mm dowel, about 600mm long
• Superglue (for the end piece)
• Thin, double-sided carpet tape (or more superglue) for assembling the tube
• Two 4-40 x 3/8" or M3 x 10mm screws for securing the dowel to the grip

Printing
UPDATE: I've included several different versions of the GyroRing-Ring part with differing height to give a different amount of weight to the front-end. the GyroRing-050 or -055 seem to work best for me, but you can experiment with the other sizes.

Print one of each part, except print two of the Tube parts. I printed all parts in PLA with 0.2mm layers. Do not use a textured print bed plate. For the Tube, you may want to use something tougher like PETG or PA. No supports are needed, but note that there is a small built-in support underneath the latch on the trigger mechanism that you'll need to break away after printing.

Glider Assembly
You can assemble the glider using double-sided tape or superglue. Tape is way less messy, but you'll need to cut the tape into thin strips about 8mm wide. (My tape slitting tool is way easier than using a blade or scissors.) Start by placing both Tube pieces with the rough side up. You'll see that there is a small 1-layer thick ridge at the end of each piece shat is used for alignment during assembly. Place a strip of double-sided tape on the end of the flat pieces near the ridge. Remove the tape backing from one piece and stick the two pieces together, making one long strip.

Next, take a long strip of tape and apply is along the outer edge of the ring on the stepped-in section. Notice that this surface has a tiny Tube film around the ring until you are almost at the end. Remove the backing from the last little strip of tape at the end of the Tube film and form the second seam as you wrap the last of the film in place. In theory, the tube will be less prone to cracking if you wrap it smooth-side out, but I haven't verified this.

You can also assemble everything using superglue, which I've done, but I also left several patches of skin stuck to the glider. (FYI: here is a link to the particular double-sided carpet tape I used.)

Launcher Assembly
First, make sure that the Slider slides smoothly along your dowel. Sand the dowel if there are any rough spots. Next, apply a little super glue to one end of the dowel and press the Launcher End piece onto it. The hole is tapered to give you a tight fit, but you'll still need the glue to take the impact of the Slider when launching.

As shown in the 6th photo, loop one of your rubber bands many times over at the base of the End piece. This will act as a shock absorber as the Slider whacks into the End piece. Next, as shown in the 7th photo, pull each of the remaining 4 rubber bands into the tiny grooves in the arms of the End piece. You'll have to stretch the rubber bands to get them to side in, but once in, they won't come flopping back out during operation.

Before assembling the Slider, sand the tips of the arms to eliminate the ridges. You don't need to sand out the ridges completely, but you want the Slider to slide into the inner diameter of the glider smoothly but with just a little friction. Now slide the Slider onto the dowel and pulls the other ends of the rubber bands into the thing grooves as shown in the last photo.

Lastly, slide the Grip onto the other end of the dowel. Pull the Slider back and click it onto the trigger latch. Now pull the Grip back until the rubber bands are at full extension. Mark on the dowel the position of the handle. Release the slider and reposition the Slider to the marked position. Use the two screws in the holes in the top of the grip to secure the Grip along the dowel. (Note: 2 screws are needed because there is quite a bit of force on the dowel when slider slams into the End.)

Using the Launcher
With the launcher unloaded, pull the slider back until it is almost latched. Now twist the Slider ¼ turn before clicking it into the trigger latch – It doesn't matter which way. This twist is what will create the spiral motion of the glider. Now fit the glider over the slider as shown in the 4th photo. Aim the launcher up from level about 5 - 10 degrees and pull the trigger. You'll want to play with different launch angles and amounts of twist to see what gives you the best flights. Have fun!