Pretty green flame Posted February 19, 2008 Posted February 19, 2008 Those look nice! Gummed tape is easy isn't it? How many layers did you put on them? Any booster in the burst? Right now there is only 1 layer of gummed tape on them, will do about 10. The burst is BP on rice hulls with 5g flash. Hopefully this will give them the extra kick i'm looking for.
Pretty green flame Posted February 19, 2008 Posted February 19, 2008 The gummed paper was sourced from a local supplier, won't be much help to you i'm affraid Took me a few months to find it, checked every hardware store near me, never found it on the shelves, in the end i found out that the stores keep this stuff off the shelves so you need to ask the salesperson to get it out of the warehouse. Good luck finding this stuff.
Arthur Posted February 19, 2008 Posted February 19, 2008 in the UK Gummed tape is available from Staples a multiple stationery outlet but yes you often have to ask for it.
Chris Posted February 19, 2008 Author Posted February 19, 2008 I just dug up an old tape from the summer. It contained a fairly succesfull 3" C6 shell, which I'd like to share. As the shell was filmed from a balcony with roof, parts of the flower are cut from the picture. http://www.apcforum.net/files/3inchr6.avi]3" C6
vice Posted February 24, 2008 Posted February 24, 2008 helo i'm new here , and sorry for my english i started building shells at the midle of the sumer and closed the seson at the start of schools (so i had only 2 months for lerning how to do them i want to show you iwhat i made ...prefire picture: http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x105/vi...91/DSC00669.jpg (only 6 of them i filmed ... other i shot at cristmas , and dident have a chanse to film , but other 3" were bether ... i think the dried better...) video: http://s183.photobucket.com/albums/x105/vi...ent=mypiro3.flv first shot was 1 3/4" cilndrical shell witch lame bracke and win26 stars , second 3 shots were 1 3/4" round shells , seckond 3 3" shells (it was my first try with 3" shells and bp brust on grass seeds ... only first one was ok , but other two were ruened becose only the iner perl stars lighted (stubed me - iner perl for 3" ) and the last one inset for my cakes 20mm cilindrical shell this ime with very lame bracke ... video2: http://s183.photobucket.com/albums/x105/vi...ent=mypiro2.flv and here was my seckond atempt at 1 3/4" video and foto of my firs try (ugly shells) : http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x105/vi...kslelis0106.jpghttp://s183.photobucket.com/albums/x105/vi...nt=P6240240.flvhttp://s183.photobucket.com/albums/x105/vi...nt=P6240243.flvhttp://s183.photobucket.com/albums/x105/vi...nt=P6240245.flv that's all
WarezWally Posted February 24, 2008 Posted February 24, 2008 Nice, only thing I don't like is the ematches directly in the lift charge.
vice Posted February 24, 2008 Posted February 24, 2008 what's wrong with e-matches ? if it's interesting i can show tke foto of my igniting box (charges about 2-3sec... 3 capilators 200v 330mF ... if interesting i can give more info ...)
ST1DinOH Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 ok so i have officialy popped my cherry with shell building, huge thanks to everyone here. this weekend was my 30th b-day, last night we shot some cakes and 3 of my shells. here's the prefire pic: http://www.pyrouniverse.com/gallery2/data/500/medium/IMG_0152.jpg now here's the vids in order of appearance in the photo. forewarning...please ignore the drunk people on the video. it was my birthday and everyone was hammered other than the guy doing the handfiring (not me). it just so happens that the order i set them up to take the photo was lining them up from ok to perfect. first shell is that buzzball expiriment i was talking about in another thread. thats the one i only used the fibertape on, no pasting. this shell had 10 inserts (buzzballs) inside but as you can see only 5 of them lit. lift, height, and break were all spot on though so no real complaints here. 3 inch buzzball insert shellhttp://www.pyrouniverse.com/gallery2/data/500/MVI_0157.avi this next one was supposed to be a willow "ring" but it fell kinda flat. didn't see the ring but it was a nice break, height, lift, ect... 3 inch willow ring shell (forewarning...loud drunk people)http://www.pyrouniverse.com/gallery2/data/500/MVI_0155.avi this next one is the best one of the night. i'm lovin this shell. 3 inch willowhttp://www.pyrouniverse.com/gallery2/data/500/MVI_0156.avi thanks to everyone who's helped me get to this point so far. next is making stars, these stars all came from 1.4 that i took apart. now that i know my burst (coated rice) and lift calculations all work perfectly i can concentrate on making stars. btw...feel free to make fun of the drunk people.
nath0r Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 Really nice shells there, Well done! I'll look foward to seeing more of your shells once you've made some of your own stars. Keep up the good work.
ST1DinOH Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 Really nice shells there, Well done! I'll look foward to seeing more of your shells once you've made some of your own stars. Keep up the good work. thanks man... i'm one chem away from making some stars. i'd still be launching with store brand BP (goex) but as you can see the results were just fine. 4f to coat the rice, 1f to send them up. eventually i'd like to be milling my own BP, not just for cost, but for the pure-ist wanna be in me... but hey it is what it is for now. untill i get the mill this goex stuff works great, so i can live without making my own BP for a whiel... time to concentrate on stars next instead of digging everything out of 1.4. as good as a sucessfull build feel's i'm sure it'll feel 10x better when it's my own stars. also forgot to mention this...i added a little crackle to the lift in the last one...nice crackle mine effect.
TheSidewinder Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 Nice shells, ST1. And what's a birthday party without drunks, eh? Good luck with the stars.
justanotherpyro Posted February 26, 2008 Posted February 26, 2008 Three inch shell with 1/2 inch pumped golden TT. This one was pretty jury rigged. Really old black match (which actually made an interesting fountain effect) and I couldn't attach a rising comet because someone misplaced my glue gun. Prefire pic: http://www.apcforum.net/files/JAP3nnTT.JPGThe place is a real mess. Video: http://www.apcforum.net/files/JAP3nnTT.wmv
TheSidewinder Posted February 26, 2008 Posted February 26, 2008 Nice shell, including the pre-fire fountain! Good clear video, too.
k1ley4evr Posted February 26, 2008 Posted February 26, 2008 ok so i have officialy popped my cherry with shell building, huge thanks to everyone here. this weekend was my 30th b-day, last night we shot some cakes and 3 of my shells. here's the prefire pic: http://www.pyrouniverse.com/gallery2/data/500/medium/IMG_0152.jpg now here's the vids in order of appearance in the photo. forewarning...please ignore the drunk people on the video. it was my birthday and everyone was hammered other than the guy doing the handfiring (not me). it just so happens that the order i set them up to take the photo was lining them up from ok to perfect. first shell is that buzzball expiriment i was talking about in another thread. thats the one i only used the fibertape on, no pasting. this shell had 10 inserts (buzzballs) inside but as you can see only 5 of them lit. lift, height, and break were all spot on though so no real complaints here. 3 inch buzzball insert shellhttp://www.pyrouniverse.com/gallery2/data/500/MVI_0157.avi this next one was supposed to be a willow "ring" but it fell kinda flat. didn't see the ring but it was a nice break, height, lift, ect... 3 inch willow ring shell (forewarning...loud drunk people)http://www.pyrouniverse.com/gallery2/data/500/MVI_0155.avi this next one is the best one of the night. i'm lovin this shell. 3 inch willowhttp://www.pyrouniverse.com/gallery2/data/500/MVI_0156.avi thanks to everyone who's helped me get to this point so far. next is making stars, these stars all came from 1.4 that i took apart. now that i know my burst (coated rice) and lift calculations all work perfectly i can concentrate on making stars. btw...feel free to make fun of the drunk people. first and foremost happy belated birthday bro. Great job on the shells bro. Im glad the buzballs shell worked out for ya. The other 2 shells was very nice also. Like you said, now that youve got your burst and lift figured out, once you start making your own stars its gonna be even more badass. Keep it up, cant wait to see more.
psymon Posted February 26, 2008 Posted February 26, 2008 ST1DinOH Is there any way you can turn the auto focus off on the camera? If you can just leave it focussed to infinity and then we will be able to see the shells a bit clearer... Just a thought.
ST1DinOH Posted February 26, 2008 Posted February 26, 2008 first and foremost happy belated birthday bro. Great job on the shells bro. Im glad the buzballs shell worked out for ya. The other 2 shells was very nice also. Like you said, now that youve got your burst and lift figured out, once you start making your own stars its gonna be even more badass. Keep it up, cant wait to see more. thanks for the b-day wishes, and thanks for the props on the shells. you know how long i've been trying to get these damn shells up, so i'm sure you know how happy i was to see them go off on my b-day weekend. i'm getting my order ready to get some chems and a ball mill, then i'll be makin all sorts of fun stuff. more questions to come, and more shells to come i'm sure. next time filled with my own stars, the time after that lifted with my own BP. ST1DinOH Is there any way you can turn the auto focus off on the camera? If you can just leave it focussed to infinity and then we will be able to see the shells a bit clearer... Just a thought.try watching agin just don't maximise the video. i was almost out of room on the flash card so i took the vids in low res and made them short to conserve room. in fact i ran out of battery before i could tape the strip of buzzballs going off. the vids look better if you don't try to watch them on full screen, but next time i shoot a vid i'll make sure to increase the resolution.
psyco_1322 Posted February 27, 2008 Posted February 27, 2008 I really liked that bright, intense orange of that TT. Looked like it was broke nice and hard with some flash.
justanotherpyro Posted February 27, 2008 Posted February 27, 2008 ST1, for a fist try at shells they performed admirably. I really liked that bright, intense orange of that TT. Looked like it was broke nice and hard with some flash. Yeah I would have to say that TT and gold TT are definitely up there on my list. The shell had a 3g MgAl/KMnO4 flash bag and BP coated puffed rice as a filler. I have been wanting to try out my HM flash to compare performance and it did quite well.
qwezxc12 Posted February 27, 2008 Posted February 27, 2008 ...The shell had a 3g MgAl/KMnO4 flash bag...Just a somewhat strident observation: KMnO4 is a notoriously unstable and unforgiving oxidizer. KMnO4 flash is bad enough when made with Al, but MgAl? And Mg is a *significantly* more powerful reducing agent. I guess what I'm trying to say is you do not need to consult Websters to see that KMnO4/MgAl flash = accident waiting to happen. Ask yourself, what do commercial operations use (composition-wise) for flash? Even the Maltese shell makers, who many would say have brass balls the size of the shells they shoot, do not use KMnO4 as an oxidizer. No-one who is serious in this hobby does. If you insist on using flash to break your shells, and can't get Perc, there are plenty of Nitrate/Al/S formulas that are safer to use.
TheSidewinder Posted February 27, 2008 Posted February 27, 2008 Agreed, KMnO4 has no place in Pyrotechnics. As was said, it is unstable at best, and it's never at its best is it? JustAnotherPyro, I don't want to tell you how to build your shells, but you are running a MUCH larger risk than you might think. Just friendly advice. As a reference for accuracy, consider this. As far as I know, NO ONE in the WPAG uses Permanganate for anything whatsoever. Considering that the Guild has won the PGI's "Club Trophy" (whatever it's called) for 5 years in a row now, that might give you a clue as to its overall competency level. It takes a lot more than "just a few good members" of a club to pull off that win. It's packed with VERY skilled, and some very OLD, builders. Everyone I've ever heard say anything about it, says the same thing: Don't use it in pyro. Period. As a component of a legitimate chemistry experiment, absolutely yes. And discussion of that would belong in the Chemistry section. But in Pyrotechnics? Zip, zilch, nada, none. And you mentioned one of the worst offenders for chemicals that make their way into this hobby, with no business doing so. As such, your mention of it, and the cautions that qwe posted will stay, but there will be NO more dicussion, or even hint, of KMnO4 flash here. Take it to the HE section, if you have access and wish to do so, but I suspect you'll get some of the the same cautions there. Thank you.
vice Posted February 27, 2008 Posted February 27, 2008 hello again . can someone please tel me what's wrong with e mathes in lift charges ? and i have anothes question , but i dont know were to ask it so - i have a lot of VT aloy tubes (volfram/titan) they are lite and super hard ! it lot of work tu make some powder from it , but whet it burns it loudly crackes so i tried ading few % to D1 glitter and efect was cool, but i dont rele know how meny % i should add to kompositions and maybe some one know some compositions where i could use it ? waiting for your answers and sorry for my english
Chris Posted February 27, 2008 Author Posted February 27, 2008 hello again . can someone please tel me what's wrong with e mathes in lift charges ?There is nothing directly wrong about it. It's just a matter of personal preference. Some display items from China, mines and shells mostly, come pre-fused with ematches in the lift charge. At least commercial ematches from China and India are sensitive to shock and friction. Considering handling, that might be a reason some people frown on preattached e-matches. Another reason is that you might not always know if you are going to shoot the device by hand or remotely, or if the device is to be chained. This applies especially to the display industry. The previous display company I shot for had some items pre-ematched, but I think my current company only uses devices with a quickmatch leader. All of our factory made chains also have a 'plug' for quick attachment of an e-match. Those things are really useful.
ST1DinOH Posted February 27, 2008 Posted February 27, 2008 hello again . can someone please tel me what's wrong with e mathes in lift charges ? and i have anothes question , but i dont know were to ask it so - i have a lot of VT aloy tubes (volfram/titan) they are lite and super hard ! it lot of work tu make some powder from it , but whet it burns it loudly crackes so i tried ading few % to D1 glitter and efect was cool, but i dont rele know how meny % i should add to kompositions and maybe some one know some compositions where i could use it ? waiting for your answers and sorry for my english if you are launching your own shell, just one of them, there's no problem sliding that match in the lift cup... just try not to slide the match head into the lift grains. i don't know if it's possible to cause accidental ignition, but the thought of crunching lift powder with a comp covered matchhead gives me goose bumps. there's also the risk that you may break the match doing that. there is another problem with running e-matches to the lift, when the shell launches out of the tube it will take the wire leader with it. so you'll need to wrap/secure the shooting wire around the rack somehow. otherwise the shooting wire may be yanked out of the slat/firing system and could possibly damage the firing system. when i had done this in the past i just twisted the wire around the eye bolts on the sides (that accept the rebar stakes). the biggest reason not to e-match your lift however is you may want to chain your shells in a line or fan rack and it's much easier to connect all the shells to a chain, then match the end of the chain, than it is to match and wire each shell in a series. add a SM or QM leader to your shells when you build them, this way once you are in the feild you can decide weather or not to match the end of the leader, or match a chain which is connected to the multiple leaders. by matching your lift you limit your possibilities. but again...there's no reason you can't but there's a few reasons why it's not logical. yes you save on QM/SM by ommitting the leader...but you are locked in to firing this shell one at a time.
FrankRizzo Posted February 28, 2008 Posted February 28, 2008 but again...there's no reason you can't but there's a few reasons why it's not logical. yes you save on QM/SM by ommitting the leader...but you are locked in to firing this shell one at a time. QM leaders also cost much less than ematches (even if homemade), so your cost per shell also increases.
vice Posted February 28, 2008 Posted February 28, 2008 in those shells that i showed i used e mathes with resistors (0.125w) and thei are absoliutly non sensitive to anything ... i use hi voltade laungching sistem. the e match often stays on te ground becose i seal my lift charge ant e match (lift cup) in only one or two layers of broun paper (not kraft) so when lift burns cup explodes to litle pices and nothing takes e match to the sky now i'm making 12 chanel low voltage lounching system so i will have to use hame made ematches with volfram...i live where i cant get any visco or othes matches and i dont realy trust mu bm so i do olmoist every thing with e matches ... mb i use onlu for 1" shells , but when i started make realy good quality bp my bm started tu EXPLODE realy .... i thing it because i uze nc insted of dextrin ... so this is my alternative for bm :http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x105/vice1991/th_bm.jpg and by the way my e matches price is 0.00 i have a lot of old resistors , and gat a lot of good qality viers olmost every day for free... and few months ago i got big rol of volfram vire so only kost is nc laquer/bp
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