Wiley's Shells

[Wiley]

Borrowing Enan's idea, this thread shall henceforth be used for posting my pyrotechnic endeavors.

 

 

First up are some shell tests from today. I was pretty happy with #7 and #8.

 

Looks like a delay on the bottom shot of about 3 seconds works out nicely, and around two seconds on the first break is about right.

I can definitely get LOTS more hang time out of the bottom shots. I'll be making a nine timed report pretty soon. All were broken with 2FA sized pulverone.

 

Did you notice the peculiar oblong smoke cloud on some of the bottom shots? I've seen this in videos of shells made by people who really know what they are doing (Dr. X), and I always assumed it was just the end disks coming off before the tube bursts. They all sounded the same, so no problem there, but is it possible that my bottom shots are jetting? My report comp is 2:1:1 KNO3, S, and German dark. The bottom shots were perhaps comparable to a consumer 60 gram color can, or maybe a bit louder, and they only had 25g in them.

 

The bottom shots already have two 1/8" disks glued onto their bottoms, but most of the multibreaks had an extra 1/8" disk dropped in on the bottom of the bottom shot after rolling up the paper casing around it. #3 and #7 did not have this disk and worked fine. Is it okay to continue to leave it out, especially as I move into 3 or 4 break shells?

 

Also, the paper casing/spiking came down smoldering on a couple of these. Is there a way to alleviate that?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM6J424GU3E&feature=youtu.be

Edited March 11, 2015 by Wiley

[braddsn]

Wow man, awesome shells!!! Love the last one.... was a hard hitter! Next time wait until it's a little darker outside! I wanna see those flashes better. Good D-1 too. Check into N-1... it's a longer hanging and deeper color version of D-1.

[Wiley]

I shot them in the twilight so I could see any stuff that decided to do a round trip. Also, the light made it easy to see the shell in the air on its way to apogee.

 

Those last two were identical, but the second one was a little low (don't think it was seated fully in the gun), so it really pounded. I think I'm going to use perc flash in the inserts, since they were a little weak. Other than that, and learning that visco sucks for fusing inserts, I thought they turned out ok.

[FlaMtnBkr]

So the inserts and bottom shots were the same comp? I guess the black smoke left by the BS is just because they were bigger and produced more smoke.

 

I didn't see what you said might be meeting but it could be with the slow nitrate flash. Especially the smaller inserts. Smaller inserts are more prone to jet and the use of hot flash is a good start towards eliminating the problem. I believe some even add sulfur or antimony to help with ignition in the small inserts.

 

The binary method is a good practice where it is possible and helps reduce risk when using the hotter flashes.

[Wiley]

The inserts weren't jetting, but the bottom shots made some interesting oblong clouds. I even got what looked like a double smoke ring out of one.

 

The smoke is white, but looked black due to the lighting conditions.

 

I'd love to binary mix, but for bottom shots and inserts I'm stuck with diapering the mix because those all need to be filled to the brim. The inserts didn't seem loud enough to me, so I'm going to try perc report mix in those and stick with my 2:1:1 in the bottom shots and single salutes.

 

Any thoughts on the extra bottom disk (see 1st post)?

Edited March 11, 2015 by Wiley

[psyco_1322]

Looking good!

 

Visco can be troublesome to get lit. I'm not sure how you are priming but I'd suggest splitting the fuse open and slurry priming it (lightly). Maybe add some black match over if for good measure. Sometimes hard breaks will cause ignition issues, I think heavy primes can be prone to breaking off during that, and never lighting the fuses.

Edited March 12, 2015 by psyco_1322

[Wiley]

I cut it off at an angle, coated in slurry, and dipped in granulated BP. The prime was rather thick actually.

[enanthate]

Psycho got a good point, you dont want that prime to break off. I use a very thin layer of NC, dipped in -50mesh bp granules.

 

For what its worth, I have had countless fails when using e-igniters directly onto the inside(angled cut) of a visco.

The igniters ignite, but the visco loves to fail on me it seems. Expensive visco that is. Nice for fusing the quickmatch, but no more imo!

[Wiley]

Good to know. My next few shells at least willuse time fuse in the inserts.

[WonderBoy]

Looked like a pretty successful first round of shells!

 

I generally don't use any additional disks on the bottom of my shells. On my bottom shots, one disk is dropped in on top of the casing, the paper is pleated down, then a second disk is spiked on over the pleated paper. I don't add any more disks to the bottom of the shell, but when I roll the casing over the bottom shot I "pleat" the first turn of paper down, then finish with a tongue fold to ensure it is sealed from fire.

 

WB

[Wiley]

Thanks for the compliments and creative input everyone!

 

Ok, I'll try not adding the extra disk on my next set of shells. I hope to make a three break (maybe even have a go at a draw out), a pair of nine timed reports, and about three rondelles with bottom shots. I'll be testing the limits of my timing, a different report mix, and an attempt to keep the paper color break casings from smoldering all the way to the ground. Should be fun.

Edited March 13, 2015 by Wiley

[Wiley]

So, I made the first of the 9 timed report shells using the passfire that Fulcanelli suggests for getting fire into the center of the shell. I found it very hard to pack the passfire with pulverone into the tiny space left in the middle of the four reports, since this space is just barely enough to clear 1/4" time fuse.

 

Does a shell this small really need the passfire? The manila liner I used was 3.5" tall, and was enough to add all the reports plus some pulverone. The fire only has to travel the length of the top row of reports (1.25") in order to light all of them and the bottom shot, which, as with all my multibreaks, has a very long parallel "cross match" that sticks up through the length of the whole first break. Then again, I'm using 2FA pulverone, not real black powder, to break these, so it obviously doesn't burn as fast.

 

On the flip side, I got a pretty symmetrical ring-shaped break on D1-to-report shell I made, using a 1/2" canulle and the same pulverone.

 

Here's how small the space is. This was the 5 timed report that fired successfully.

 

Edited March 17, 2015 by Wiley

[Sparx88]

After its all packed up and ready to close sprinkle some 4fg over the fused ends with the pulv. I'm no pro but it lights all mine like that.

[WonderBoy]

When you talk about the passfire, I assume you're talking about the nosing on a spolette? For shells of this size, crossmatching the time fuse should be fine. The space between the inserts is so small, I think they pipe the fire on their own.

 

Are you adding any booster, or are you just using straight polverone in these?

 

 

WB

[Wiley]

Just straight pulverone. And yes, I was referring to the nosing on, in this case, time fuse. Fulcanelli says it should be extra long.

[Wiley]

I tested my first colored stars recently. Its the purple from this sheet: http://www.skylighter.com/fireworks/making-fireworks-projects/cut-star-formulas.asp

 

Left out the dextrin, wet with acetone, and cut into roughly 3/8" cubes or a little smaller. Primed with a silicon laced BP prime. They're rather pretty stars, and I was pleased with how they turned out, in spite of their being carbonate based and non-metallic.

 

Also, here's a gratuitous pic of the first 9 timed report, minus lift and leader.

[Wiley]

Due to relentless peer-pressure from some of the members (not gonna name any names, Brad ), I purchased a HF 6lb rock tumbler and cast about 7.5lb of .50 cal lead balls. I optimized the mill according to Ned's instructions on Skylighter and used 5lb of the lead media. The charcoal used was made from newsprint, and was not airfloat. I just took the charcoal rolls out of the retort, put them in a plastic baggie, and crushed them up by hand. I weighed this into my composition like I would airfloat, then passed the entire BP composition through a 15 mesh kitchen strainer to break up any lumps. This also reduced the size of the charcoal, so the composition looked like a salt and pepper mix before putting it in the mill. Ran the well-barricaded mill for 4 hours and this is the result. I'm eager to see what it does when granulated.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4VsI_JT1dQ&feature=youtu.be

[braddsn]

YES! Now you're talkin'! Looking good man, now granulate some! To dial in your bp even better, try different milling times.. i.e., next time mill for 6 hours, then try milling for 2 hours and compare. If it's the same, then no reason to mill for 6 when you can just mill for 2. I have heard that with the HF mill, 4-6 hours tends to be the sweet spot though. Also, if you can get your hands on some Eastern Red Cedar, or Willow, cook some and compare. I cooked a lot of different species of wood before I settled on ERC. You will use that ball mill for all kinds of things.. you will see. A good investment for sure! Now that I have been doing pyro for awhile, I don't think a lot of what I do would be possible without a mill.

[Wiley]

I did granulate some. My 2Fg equivalent was not as fast as Goex 2Fg. Looks like I'll be trying red cedar pet bedding next.

[gregh]

My HF mill has held up surprisingly well. Like you said Brad, it gets used a lot, I run that thing almost nonstop. Six hours is what I run my bp as well. I use pine. It might not be as hot as ERC, but seeing as I have half a skid of pine charcoal, I might as well use it..

[WonderBoy]

I fall on the other end of the spectrum, I haven't run my ballmill in about two years

 

 

WB

[Wiley]

Wonderboy, do you use pulverone for everything?

[Mumbles]

I did granulate some. My 2Fg equivalent was not as fast as Goex 2Fg. Looks like I'll be trying red cedar pet bedding next.

 

Despite the hype that newspaper gets every few years, it generally fails to impress most serious practitioners. The ash content is quite high even before cooking.

[Wiley]

I made another batch with the black willow charcoal that Tyrone sent me. Thanks man!

 

It seems quite fast, but I have yet to video it.

 

I'll be comparing it to the newsprint BP, as well as another batch made with the western red cedar I have on hand.

[coogan1997]

I have a question about the ball mill. In the HF 6lb mill do you use both barrels or just use one almost completely filled with media? Im asking because im about to purchase a ball mill and im stuck between the lortone 3a or the hf 6lb mill, which would you guys recommend?