qwezxc12 Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 (edited) Finally was able to access my friends camp and fire a few shells. I used the 'fireworks' setting on my Cannon HG10 and I'm disappointed - the normal 'night mode' took superior video last summer. The luminosity suffered and subtle effects like the brocade were much brighter in person.http://www.apcforum.net/forums/uploads/1217876542/med_gallery_747_5_163608.jpg The 3in Mad Lions didn't work quite right - I'm assuming the end caps blew off under internal pressure and I got a giant serpent as opposed to a giant hummer. Both were BP: First one had added FE, second one had Ti. They weighed 260-280g and were lifted hard with 27g BP. Pretty, but not what I was after. More tuning needed:http://www.apcforum.net/forums/uploads/1217876542//tn_gallery_747__4027.jpgVideo - 3in Mad Lions The two 3in Purple and Green Comets were cored and cut to make them fragment, sort of a cross between a comet and a mine. The purple portions had a measure of -80 charcoal for a little tail... Mardi Gras colors! They weighed 324g and 369g and were lifted with 33g BP.They worked ok, I think:http://www.apcforum.net/forums/uploads/1217876542//tn_gallery_747__4607.jpgVideo - 3in Purple and Green Comets This was a 4in canister shell, 5/16" C6 to flash core (too small) layered with 5 1in D1 comets. The can was spiked with cheap Home Depot Sisal twine and finished with 6 layers of 70lb paper tape. Burst was a cannule of -16mesh Red Gum bound Alder BP. The shell weighed 453g and was lifted with 33g BP. I may try it again, but double up on the spiking pattern:http://www.apcforum.net/forums/uploads/1217876542//tn_gallery_747__9223.jpgVideo - 4in C6 & D1 Canister shell Another 4in can, with 16 1in Ti hummers, construction same as above, except burst was BP coated crispies - looking for a softer break. I used angle cut visco for the hummer fusing, I need to stick w/black match to get consistent insert ignition and timing, I think. The shell weighed 471g and was lifted with 34g BP:http://www.apcforum.net/forums/uploads/1217876542//tn_gallery_747__7981.jpgVideo - 4in Hummer Canister shellLast for this post was a 5in can, 3/8" D1 inner stars and 27 1in Violet comets. Construction was the same as the 4in can, burst was Alder BP. The shell weighed 928g and was lifted with 58g BP. It was a hose-pipe break. Too bad, it would have been really nice - I love the violet color. I'll try it again but with 1/2" D1 stars and doubling up on the spiking.http://www.apcforum.net/forums/uploads/1217876542//tn_gallery_747__3374.jpgVideo - 5in Violet and D1 Canister shell Enjoy! There's more coming... *edited for spelling...damn! Edited March 2, 2009 by qwezxc12
FREAKYDUTCHMEN Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 Looks like you're blowing out the enddisk from your cannister shells as you can se on the hourglass pattern.
swervedriver Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 Very nice! That violet composition is beautiful. Do you mind sharing it?
psyco_1322 Posted March 3, 2009 Posted March 3, 2009 I second the nice looking purple stars. Sucks you had to use the crappy sisal twine, would have been even better to see that last one break round.
Yankie Posted March 3, 2009 Posted March 3, 2009 qwezxc12 very nice stuff there! I am very confused, I made some polumas to test my flash powder out, and for a bit of fun mostly, but none of them lit, they burned sliverish a bit when the fuse touched them but the flash didn't fully ignite. It's not the flash powder because I tested one earlier and it worked fine. Also I had two go getters to report, but the report didn't go off, but that could be because the fuse got choked, but it did work once or twice.
PyroMan LTU Posted March 3, 2009 Posted March 3, 2009 (edited) nice shells qwezxc12! what purple is that? Edited March 3, 2009 by PyroMan LTU
Mumbles Posted March 3, 2009 Posted March 3, 2009 The canister shell breaks sound plenty hard. There's a good chance it is the twine used, or the combination with the paper tape that caused the mishapen breaks.
qwezxc12 Posted March 3, 2009 Posted March 3, 2009 To all those that liked the violet; it's my resin bound comet comp. Formula is posted here: Comet Thread. I'm running low on Copper Oxide, so I used Copper Carbonate / Strontium Carbonate roughly 9/6 ratio. Same violet was in the 3in purple/Green comets too. Here's another one: 5in canister: 9/16" ID farfalle with inner color break. The farfalle were my first attempt - hand rammed BP w/Ti. The vent holes were a little small I think. The stars were some leftovers, I'm not even sure what the comp was...I think they were a NaNO3 and Cryolite orange experiment. The rest of the construction was the same as the others. The shell weighed 847g and was lifted with 53g Alder BP. http://www.apcforum.net/forums/uploads/1217876542/med_gallery_747_5_5340.jpg http://www.apcforum.net/forums/uploads/1236104374/med_gallery_747_5_87514.jpg http://www.apcforum.net/forums/uploads/1236104374/med_gallery_747_5_13233.jpg Video: 5in Farfalle Canister shell So I think I'll be looking for better twine, probably flax or linen this time. I don't think the paper tape is at fault, as Precocious Pyrotechnics finishes their canister shells with tape, too. The break charge seemed good as well - the RG bound BP is plenty hot and the cannule sizes seemed in the right range for the shell size. I'm assuming it's the crappy sisal twine I used. McMaster-Carrr has 8ply 48lb breaking strength Linen (.035" dia), 1lb. (330ft.) for $14.99...is that a good price? Harbor Freight also has Flax advertised at 28-39lbs (.059" dia) 900ft. for $5.99, but I'm thinking the quality is probably a crap shoot.Precocious has Flax, break strength not stated, 1/2lb ball for $12.00 - seems expensive. Ideas or suggestions? Thx...
Miech Posted March 3, 2009 Posted March 3, 2009 Hennep twine works as good as flax twine and costs near nothing. It should be available at supermarkets and your local DIY store.
tentacles Posted March 3, 2009 Posted March 3, 2009 McMaster-Carrr has 8ply 48lb breaking strength Linen (.035" dia), 1lb. (330ft.) for $14.99...is that a good price? Harbor Freight also has Flax advertised at 28-39lbs (.059" dia) 900ft. for $5.99, but I'm thinking the quality is probably a crap shoot.Precocious has Flax, break strength not stated, 1/2lb ball for $12.00 - seems expensive. Ideas or suggestions? Thx... http://pyrosupplies.com/shop/page/category...0260d5adfd.html < - Home of the finest string money can buy. It's a bit pricey. The HF stuff, if it's the same as what Andy and I bought, is pretty chunky, probably more like .082 than .062 - it's quite strong stuff. The rolls are 1lb each, making them a pretty good deal. They're a bit heavy for most spiking, though. Precocious sells the italian linen twine, and they also sell an untreated Jute twine, the jute's a bit thin for spiking any but small shells, but the jute is priced very well. The roll of linen twine I bought at PGI was more than 1/2lb - it was 1lb, but it was also single ply (apparently) and it's so strong it's absurd. So it may not be the stuff they normally sell, but the jute is. Breaking strength on that is like 10-15lb or so.
Mumbles Posted March 4, 2009 Posted March 4, 2009 I've been using 20lb polished hungarian hemp lately on my 5" shells. I don't think it's quite strong enough. If you doubled or tripled it up you'd probably get in the ball park. They've all been insert shells lately, so big breaks arn't needed. I'd probably use the thicker 48lb stuff for 5" from now on the next time I see it. I've been getting stuff from Wal-mart lately just to test, and it works just fine. It's for making jewelry or something. Some people have recently tried this stuff. They said it wasn't the high quality polished they had hoped for, but it will do the job without issue. 20#http://oldglory.com/lp/product?product_id=009903HMTW 48#http://oldglory.com/lp/product?product_id=009902HMTW Like I said, you can find smaller rolls for cheaper. I think I paid about $5 for 300 feet.
Ralph Posted March 4, 2009 Posted March 4, 2009 qwezxc12 very nice stuff there! I am very confused, I made some polumas to test my flash powder out, and for a bit of fun mostly, but none of them lit, they burned sliverish a bit when the fuse touched them but the flash didn't fully ignite. It's not the flash powder because I tested one earlier and it worked fine. Also I had two go getters to report, but the report didn't go off, but that could be because the fuse got choked, but it did work once or twice. your using bright flake (you told me about it earlier) and I when i have made flash with bright flake have found that sometimes it fails to fully ignite and just partially ignites this is because it is to greasy and needs to be degreased. I normally do this by putting it in kerosene and and than decant off the kero than use acetone and decant that off so that it drys quickly and than you will have degreased bright flake and it should work well
Mumbles Posted March 4, 2009 Posted March 4, 2009 I do believe that stuff is for the continual spiking method shown on passfire, not the more traditional set italian method.
qwezxc12 Posted March 4, 2009 Posted March 4, 2009 (edited) http://pyrosupplies.com/shop/page/category...0260d5adfd.html < - Home of the finest string money can buy. It's a bit pricey. After looking at all the suggestions, I may try this stuff: Imported Seven Strand Linen Flax Twine.2,460ft. for $36.50 seems like a decent price. So at 48lb breaking strength, should I be doubling up on my verticals? Passfire calls for 2x vertical spiking when using 8 or 10-ply cotton, but says when using flax (linen) one strand may be used. No reference is made to twine weight. Eric's Maltese jute is ridiculously cheap, though - anyone know it's breaking strength? You could triple it up, I suppose, and still be far ahead on cost/shell. Hmmmmmm.... Thanks. Edited March 4, 2009 by qwezxc12
Zmuro Posted March 4, 2009 Posted March 4, 2009 So the violet formula for your comets is: Potassium Perchlorate............43Copper Oxide.......................9Strontium Nitrate..................6Saran..................................14Magnalium...........................10Red gum..............................4Charcoal...............................7Titanium, sponge...................7 Do you think that strontium nitrate could be substituted with strontium carbonate and parlon for saran? I do have strontium nitrate but I don't like it because it's so hygroscopic, at least mine is.
qwezxc12 Posted March 4, 2009 Posted March 4, 2009 So the violet formula for your comets is: Potassium Perchlorate............43Copper Oxide.......................9Strontium Nitrate..................6Saran..................................14Magnalium...........................10Red gum..............................4Charcoal...............................7Titanium, sponge...................7 Do you think that strontium nitrate could be substituted with strontium carbonate and parlon for saran? I do have strontium nitrate but I don't like it because it's so hygroscopic, at least mine is. Zmuro,I didn't use any Str nitrate; I stated in the post above that I used Copper Carbonate / Strontium Carbonate roughly 9/6 ratio for the colorant...and there was no Ti in those particular comets. I'd think that Parlon would sub ok for Saran - it has some fuel value, so you may need to tweak the RG or C. Mumbles, I missed the 48# hemp, only thought there was 20#...I just ordered a spool to try out.
Zmuro Posted March 5, 2009 Posted March 5, 2009 Zmuro,I didn't use any Str nitrate; I stated in the post above that I used Copper Carbonate / Strontium Carbonate roughly 9/6 ratio for the colorant...and there was no Ti in those particular comets. I'd think that Parlon would sub ok for Saran - it has some fuel value, so you may need to tweak the RG or C. Mumbles, I missed the 48# hemp, only thought there was 20#...I just ordered a spool to try out. So the formula is:Potassium Perchlorate............43Copper Carbonate.......................9Strontium Carbonate.................6Saran..................................14Magnalium...........................10Red gum..............................4Charcoal...............................7 Could I replace Copper Carbonate with Coper (II) oxide?
Seymour Posted March 5, 2009 Posted March 5, 2009 It contains a bit more Copper, so you might need to drop the percentage slightly to make it match. I do not see why not.
qwezxc12 Posted March 6, 2009 Posted March 6, 2009 (edited) Another couple of videos: http://www.apcforum.net/forums/uploads/1217876542//tn_gallery_747__8000.jpgVideo: 6in Silver to Green ball shell 6in ball shell, Reaper Silver to Emerald Green rolled stars. Plastic hemi, pasted with 6 layers (3 layers 50% overlapping) 70lb. reinforced gummed tape. Shell weighed 1407g and was lifted with 94g Alder BP. Timing was home-made time fuse (duct tape wrapped American visco, pierced and cross-matched @ 1.5"). Rising effect was supposed to be a 1.5" matrix comet, but it looked like it shattered at lift. http://www.apcforum.net/forums/uploads/1217876542//tn_gallery_747__2623.jpgVideo: 6in C6 to Red ball shell 6in ball shell, C6 to Ruby Red rolled stars. Construction same as above. Shell weighed 1294g and was lifted with 87g Alder BP. Rising effect was 1" Slow Gold comet. http://www.apcforum.net/forums/uploads/1217876542//tn_gallery_747__6054.jpgVideo: 6in Slow Gold ball shell 6in ball shell, 3/4" cut Slow Gold brocade stars. Size was just about perfect - the -80mesh C burned almost to the ground. Construction same as above. Shell weighed 1133g and was lifted with 76g Alder BP. Rising effect was 1" Slow Gold comet. Edited March 6, 2009 by qwezxc12
TheSidewinder Posted March 6, 2009 Posted March 6, 2009 3 VERY nice shells there! The audience thought so, too.
Arte valdo Posted March 6, 2009 Posted March 6, 2009 3'' round shell, home made. Breik test on the ground, burst ratio 4:1, boosted with 2g 70/30 flash, stars was TT>emerald green. Breik over 50m. Sorry for my english.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybzj6E30j0
psyco_1322 Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 Wow, great shells. The square shape really altered the flight of those cut slow gold. Very nice man.
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