Pyroman2 Posted July 12, 2006 Posted July 12, 2006 HelloI shot three shells yesterday. These are 2" canister shells. http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?acti...085BDBC7FB9A2EA Each shells contained 28 stars pumped and about 20g BP as bursting charge.Weight: 86-91g (third with comet)Lift 6g RegardsP2
Pretty green flame Posted July 12, 2006 Posted July 12, 2006 I'm impressed at how you manage to get such good breaks with small shells. Good job. Emm....do you have any pics of the shells during construction?
Mephistos Minion Posted July 12, 2006 Posted July 12, 2006 anthropoid: Breaking in of paper involves soaking your sheets in wheat paste, crunching them up alot to get the paste into the paper really well, and the unfolding/crunching it again.
anthropoid Posted July 12, 2006 Posted July 12, 2006 Pyroman2 the breaks are amazing for canister shells and especially for such small ones!! Ravaz I do smooth the paper down, but only from time to time with my fingers...I'll try rolling the shells every couple of layers as you sugested next time I make some Mephistos Minion - thanks for the explanation, I think I got the idea and I'll try it very soon Going to lunch alot of stuff tonight (over 20 devices, mostly shells..), including - 3" canister shells with 1/2" canister shell inserts and hummers- Alot of 2" and 3" shells and some 4" palm shells- 3" mine with hummer, 1/2" canister shell and tourbilion inserts (just crazy, but I always wanted to see how this will look ) and some other small stuff.. If I'll get a camera from somebody by then I'll upload some videos of this stuff
anthropoid Posted July 12, 2006 Posted July 12, 2006 Hmmm, sorry guys but there won't be any videos soon, the lunching is postponed due to the problems that arised with Lebanon today and won't be made until our "beloved" diplomats will finally figure out how to solves this shiese they got us into Until then, I can't even light a bengal fire without getting linched by whole IDF squads...God, it just sucks to live in Israel...
Caleb51 Posted July 13, 2006 Posted July 13, 2006 If you guys don't know me, I live in Arizona, stricktest state for fireworks. I want to buy Introductory Practical Pyrotechnics by Tom Perigrin and learn a lot more on pyro. I want to make real shells. Any tips to get started, or should I just get that book? Thanks
Mumbles Posted July 13, 2006 Posted July 13, 2006 IPP will provide a nice overview of several different topics. As far as specifically for shells, it's not the best. I would actually recomend Round stars and shells by David Bleser. It contains some very valuable information. As a beginner I would personally recomend starting with a 3" shell. They are much easier to use and work with than 2".
FrankRizzo Posted July 13, 2006 Posted July 13, 2006 HelloI shot three shells yesterday. These are 2" canister shells. http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?acti...085BDBC7FB9A2EA Each shells contained 28 stars pumped and about 20g BP as bursting charge.Weight: 86-91g (third with comet)Lift 6g RegardsP2 Were these shells commercial?
aquaman Posted July 13, 2006 Posted July 13, 2006 I want to buy Introductory Practical Pyrotechnics by Tom Perigrin and learn a lot more on pyro.You can get the basically the same information from this forum and the old one. So in other words when it says introductory it means introductory. But it is an ok read and I can probaly say I learned a couple new things but not that impressive. For ~52 (skylighter) you can do better probably. The book's binding is like a spiral notebook and it looked like it was photo copied. Not $52 quality (that's what I think). But like I said, it does have some comps and explainations for all of the fireworks listed on skylighter. So if you really need it go for it. Or you can spend time reviewing forums and download a couple of books **cough** on the internet like what I do for free!
mr.pyro Posted July 13, 2006 Posted July 13, 2006 If you guys don't know me, I live in Arizona, stricktest state for fireworks. I want to buy Introductory Practical Pyrotechnics by Tom Perigrin and learn a lot more on pyro. I want to make real shells. Any tips to get started, or should I just get that book? ThanksHaha in phx? Shooting shells here is a bitch. One try at 2am is all youll get and you better had scan for cops first. I live here too if you dont catch on.I bet I can teach you how to build more fireworks and shells then that book can. And for 50 bucks, might as well go buy a passfire subscription.
hacker Posted July 14, 2006 Posted July 14, 2006 sorry if theres anything thats already been posted about this but, does anyone know if theres a formula for figuring out how much lift powder is needed for cirten shell sizes? (i.e. 1", 2", ect) or if theres a table that tells you?
_DB_ Posted July 14, 2006 Posted July 14, 2006 The general rule goes by the weight of your shell, not the size. Some use 1/4 of the weight of the shell in lift. Example: if your shell weighs 100 grams then you should use 25 grams of lift to launch that particular shell. Many (including myself) consider this to be over-kill. Some users here use 1/12 or 1/16 the weight of the shell in lift! It all depends on the quality of your lift though. Honestly the best thing to do is to conduct some test launches with dummy shells to figure out what "formula" works for you, that is what amount of lift to the weight of the shell is needed to launch it to the proper height. I hope that helps a little.
hacker Posted July 14, 2006 Posted July 14, 2006 wow, thank you so much, someone on another site said you should use the weight of the shell, ill experamint on this.
Mumbles Posted July 14, 2006 Posted July 14, 2006 The "standard" is an ounce per pound up to 10 pounds, and 1/2 ounce for every pound after that. This is 1/16 ratio. This is really only applicable for larger shells. Smaller shells will require more lift per weight. A 10g insert may require a few grams of lift for instance. Like DB said, experimentation is the best way, and really only accurate way. Starting at 1/16 or 1/12 is not a bad idea though.
hst45 Posted July 14, 2006 Posted July 14, 2006 hacker, I'm no expert, but here's my take on it. 1) Make the best lift powder you can. Make fast charcoal, (see thread on same) and ball-mill your components very well. Corn your powder relatively coarse, say through a 10 mesh screen. I add about 4% dextrin to my lift powder to get a stronger grain. 2) Use aproximatly 10% of the weight of the shell as a starting point, and adjust from there. 3) A loose fitting shell requires more lift than a snug fitting shell. 4) A longer tube will, up to a point, contain the lift gasses longer, resulting in a higher shot. 5) Experiament, document. keep good, detailed notes as to weights, lenghts, etc., so that you can duplicate your successes and avoid repeated failures. Then, read you notes, think about them, and re-read them. You'll find new questions which will lead to better answers. The learning process is perhaps the most rewarding part of our hobby. (Of course there's always the BOOOOOMMMM, the boom is good too.....)
Dr Boom Posted July 15, 2006 Posted July 15, 2006 I was talking to DB the other day and on looking for some 3" shell photos I came across a rather lengthy video of some shoots I did. I cropped out a 25 sec. section of a 3" salute shell and thought I'd offer it up for anyone to take a peek. It was a plastic round 3 " shell with a fiber tape leader and a 3 inch safety fuse starter. Lift powder was 2 Tbs of cannon grade BP. Shell filling was 2 Tbs of MSF with corn cob media as a buffer. Used packing fiber tape for shell re-inforcement and the result was an awesome 3 incher that could take a wallop of lift up and have a spectacular break. 3 Incher
Pyroman2 Posted July 15, 2006 Posted July 15, 2006 Emm....do you have any pics of the shells during construction? I don't have pictures with these shells. But I'll do photo next time. Were these shells commercial? It's all hand-made.
d4j0n Posted July 16, 2006 Posted July 16, 2006 I have 16-20ish mesh alder bp, just pressed through a screen. Is this too fine? I launch 1-2.5" shells, I'm assuming that to an extent, smaller shells need finer lift, correct? I'd make a batch of courser lift, but I'm out of alder c at the moment.
Bug_X Posted July 27, 2006 Posted July 27, 2006 IPP will provide a nice overview of several different topics. As far as specifically for shells, it's not the best. I would actually recomend Round stars and shells by David Bleser. It contains some very valuable information. As a beginner I would personally recomend starting with a 3" shell. They are much easier to use and work with than 2".You think a 3" shell is the best to start witch (It will be my first), what do the rest of you think? Are any of you guys build your on pappershells? How do you do it? My idéa is to cast a glassfibre tin of a ball and then cast papper in it. The ball shuild have the same measurement as the finishing shell. Do you think it will work? / Bug
Pyrohawk Posted July 31, 2006 Posted July 31, 2006 I realized that I havn't posted pictures of my shell the other night. So here it is. Prefire:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/pyr..._15/shelld1.jpg Video:http://www.apcforum.net/files/100_0360.avi
Pyrohawk Posted July 31, 2006 Posted July 31, 2006 Nothing fancy....just D1. To bad the stars shifted position, I was really hoping for a symetrical shell.
bubbelpower Posted August 1, 2006 Posted August 1, 2006 YEa i make most of my paper halves on my own. I use a plastic ball an grease it sligthly, and then i kinda paste it, and after that i let it dry for 2 hours, cut it open ad voila, have 2 paper shell halves.
Pretty green flame Posted August 8, 2006 Posted August 8, 2006 Quick question How big should the stars be in a 3" and 4" shell to get a decent burn time. I know that tailed and colour stars burn at a different rate so please post information for both types. And keep in mind the i would be using pumped stars. I'm just looking for a general rule of thumb so i can construct star plates for different star types. Thanks
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