Mumbles Posted June 17, 2007 Posted June 17, 2007 Hammer will work as well. A rubber mallet or deadblow hammer is the best to use to not damage your pump. You will want something faster than visco in your crossettes. Most visco wont fit into the hole anyway. Fast Thermalite(yellow) is the fuse of choice. It is near impossible to get anymore as they have stopped making it. There is a substitute formula in Best of AFN 5 by Tony Petro. He is a wonderful shell builder and makes amazing crossette and beraq shells. Perhaps someone could look it up for you. IIRC it is basically a flash mixture on a string, a sensitive one at that. I made some, it burns very fast and hot. The fuse in my opinion serves a second purpose besides just ensuring passing of fire. It helps to ignite the whole charge at once. Wolter's pumps were designed to not require fuse, but even Rich himself uses fuse in them. Passfire uses hand rolled chinese paper fuse. Skylighter sells a fast burning variety that I bet would work well. A third option is rolled shots. Search on rec.pyro. There is an excellent tutorial on making them. These offer very consistent preformance and good breaks. They are a bit of more work though. They seem to be pretty easy to make. These will work better with visco, or preferably fast visco.
viziers Posted June 17, 2007 Posted June 17, 2007 Hammer will work as well. A rubber mallet or deadblow hammer is the best to use to not damage your pump. You will want something faster than visco in your crossettes. Most visco wont fit into the hole anyway. Fast Thermalite(yellow) is the fuse of choice. It is near impossible to get anymore as they have stopped making it. There is a substitute formula in Best of AFN 5 by Tony Petro. He is a wonderful shell builder and makes amazing crossette and beraq shells. Perhaps someone could look it up for you. IIRC it is basically a flash mixture on a string, a sensitive one at that. I made some, it burns very fast and hot. The fuse in my opinion serves a second purpose besides just ensuring passing of fire. It helps to ignite the whole charge at once. Wolter's pumps were designed to not require fuse, but even Rich himself uses fuse in them. Passfire uses hand rolled chinese paper fuse. Skylighter sells a fast burning variety that I bet would work well. A third option is rolled shots. Search on rec.pyro. There is an excellent tutorial on making them. These offer very consistent preformance and good breaks. They are a bit of more work though. They seem to be pretty easy to make. These will work better with visco, or preferably fast visco. Thanks Mumbles i do indeed have 2 dead blow hammers one is a 2lb and the other is a 5lb ....... But being that all 200 crossettes are already made and its a little late to order stuff to get here in time and then finish the stars can i just get away with filling the cavity 90% of the way with a 70/30 flash and be ok?
Mumbles Posted June 18, 2007 Posted June 18, 2007 You'd be best off building some test crossettes. I can't tell you what will or wont work definatively without trying the methods myself. It will probably take some trial and error. I have full confidence a possibility not requiring fuse can be achieved. Thin blackmatch may be something to look into. You may get a quickmatch-like effect that may work. Chances are this wont be as easy as just filling part way. Some things to look into:blackmatch as the fuseMaking some of the imitation thermaliteUsing a granular whistle or burstplacing a piece of tissue paper at the bottom of the cavity and hoping the flame transfers up Crossettes are a tricky thing. It is rare to get them to work on the first attempt even if you have the absolute best materials. I got lucky as was shown by someone with lots of experience. Getting the correct burst combine with fire transfer device is tricky.
viziers Posted June 18, 2007 Posted June 18, 2007 You'd be best off building some test crossettes. I can't tell you what will or wont work definatively without trying the methods myself. It will probably take some trial and error. I have full confidence a possibility not requiring fuse can be achieved. Thin blackmatch may be something to look into. You may get a quickmatch-like effect that may work. Chances are this wont be as easy as just filling part way. Some things to look into:blackmatch as the fuseMaking some of the imitation thermaliteUsing a granular whistle or burstplacing a piece of tissue paper at the bottom of the cavity and hoping the flame transfers up Crossettes are a tricky thing. It is rare to get them to work on the first attempt even if you have the absolute best materials. I got lucky as was shown by someone with lots of experience. Getting the correct burst combine with fire transfer device is tricky. Thank you Mumbles for all you advice. I do have about 10 to 15 extra crossettes i can use as tests which i will do to make sure they work some what well. I am hoping that i hand compressed them enough to break well BUT if it doesnt work well it wont be a total loss because there will be some kind of effect they will act as a bursting star or shooting star if that makes sense to you. Vizi
Crazy Swede Posted June 20, 2007 Posted June 20, 2007 Just for some inspiration I would like to post a picture of a set of multi purpose tools I designed for something like 12 years ago. The dimensiona are not important since the star formed cavity turned out to be too small. What is nice about the design is that the protruding pin can be changed and you therefore don't have to machine a whole new plunger if the tip is worn out or destryed. What is not perfect is of course that pyrotechnic composition plugs the threaded hole for the locking screw but I never had problems with rinsing the hole with water and a tooth pick! Edit: changed picture size!
deadman Posted June 20, 2007 Posted June 20, 2007 Why didn't you ever make an appropriatley sized cavity former in the past 12 years you've kept your tool? I've thought about getting into crossettes and would love to make one, but doubt I could make a tool that makes reliable breaks. Were these machined by yourself?
Crazy Swede Posted June 21, 2007 Posted June 21, 2007 That's a good question deadman! I guess the explanation is that it took me some time to realize that the reason for many crosettes jetting instead of splitting was not due to inferior flash powder but because of the small volume of the cavity. The tools were not machined by myself and the tips were hard to get right, which also was part of the reason! When I finally understood how the cavity should be designed I was already in the fireworks business and what once was a passionate hobby slowly became (almost) ordinary work. I stopped doing lots of private experiments on my spare time and I only used my own tools now and then for ordinary solid comets or cavity comets that doesn't split but just have an increased burning area. The longer small star formed cavity was very good for making glitter fountains though! A long comet was pressed and wrapped in masking tape and hot glued to a cardboard disc. A fuse was inserted into the cavity and the result was a short but furious spray of glitters!
Ener Posted December 30, 2007 Posted December 30, 2007 Hi Sorry for my bad Englisch. I have also wolters 3/4 and 1/2"crossette tool.Had many problem with it in the begining becausei did not have mg wich should be very very fine.i tryed whisle corned without luck, and later also flash made from chlorate because i cant get any perch. later I tryed it again only i pressed those rock hard andused a fine peace of chinese fuse (Paper).and some flash and the did not jet anymore.a glu a cardboard disk ontop with some hot glue. 2 turn of some gumtape folded over te disk andi dip them in some nc and in some fine cornedbp to make shure the alway lid. Happy New Year..Ener
mormanman Posted January 9, 2008 Posted January 9, 2008 Hey, I got a question. Can one make a comet then drill a pattern it?Will that work for a crossette? I'm doing an experiment and trying it but I don't want to get my hopes up.
TheSidewinder Posted January 9, 2008 Posted January 9, 2008 Once it's dry, it'd be hazardous to try and drill out a cavity. If it's still damp you could probably get away with carving it out, but I think it would make a poor crossette. You really have to press the wet composition into the final shape you want for good ones, using proper tooling. You could make crossette tooling easily. I think there's one in the tutorials here, though I could be wrong about that.
Mumbles Posted January 9, 2008 Posted January 9, 2008 Properly functioning crossettes can be made with a cylindrical cavity as well, not neccesarily the cruciform cavity from wolter. With a little practice you, or someone else would be able to drill a short hole in the center of a wooden dowel. A second, smaller dowel would then be placed inside here. Might even be easier to drill a larger hole, and center and align vertically by securing the cavity forming dowel with epoxy or glue.
mormanman Posted January 9, 2008 Posted January 9, 2008 Properly functioning crossettes can be made with a cylindrical cavity as well, not neccesarily the cruciform cavity from wolter. With a little practice you, or someone else would be able to drill a short hole in the center of a wooden dowel. A second, smaller dowel would then be placed inside here. Might even be easier to drill a larger hole, and center and align vertically by securing the cavity forming dowel with epoxy or glue. Mumbles, that is a great idea. You know what I really am going to go to ace hardware today and buying a dowel as well as exchangind my "jig saw" blades that a really saws all blades and get some real jig blades.
Mumbles Posted January 9, 2008 Posted January 9, 2008 Here, even a present. From Jeff Doty on passfire 10/2/2006 For my 3/4'' pumps with a cylindrical cavity: Length of Cavity: 15mmDiameter of Cavity: 9mm tapering to 7mmLength of timing pin: 6mmDiameter of timing pin: 2mmDistance from tip of pin to bottom of crossette (ie. burn distance to flash): 10mm For 1'' pumps with cylindrical cavity: Length of Cavity: 18mmDiameter of Cavity: 11mm tapering to 9mmLength of timing pin: 7mmDiameter of timing pin: 2mmDistance from tip of pin to bottom of crossette (ie. burn distance to flash): 16mm
hst45 Posted January 9, 2008 Posted January 9, 2008 With a little practice you, or someone else would be able to drill a short hole in the center of a wooden dowel.A drill press makes this a breeze, but the field-expedient option is a centering punch. If drilling by hand the bit will tend to wonder a bit off center. Take a sharp object, such as a nail, and make a dimple in the end of the dowel and the bit will tend to follow that pilot hole. I know, that's woodshop 101, but I thought I'd throw it in just in case some of our members aren't up to speed in the wood-butcher department.
Mumbles Posted January 9, 2008 Posted January 9, 2008 Speaking of crossettes. I am looking for a good charcoal/gold streamer, and am looking for suggestions. They will be prepared as crossettes, so quick burning is fine. Just a few prefered properties. No milling or at least short milling. I'd really prefer to be able to just screen the materials. If it contains meal, I'd prefer to keep it less than 60%. Metals are okay, I have pretty much everything Lampblack is okay This may sound odd for streamers, but very relavent, but I'd prefer to limit the use of antimony trisulfide I was thinking about tigertail, or some spider stars perhaps just screened, and perhaps wetted, granulated and dried, then pressed. Might spike it with 10-20% meal.
Frozentech Posted January 10, 2008 Posted January 10, 2008 Speaking of crossettes. I am looking for a good charcoal/gold streamer, and am looking for suggestions. They will be prepared as crossettes, so quick burning is fine. Just a few prefered properties. No milling or at least short milling. I'd really prefer to be able to just screen the materials. If it contains meal, I'd prefer to keep it less than 60%. Metals are okay, I have pretty much everything Lampblack is okay This may sound odd for streamers, but very relavent, but I'd prefer to limit the use of antimony trisulfide I was thinking about tigertail, or some spider stars perhaps just screened, and perhaps wetted, granulated and dried, then pressed. Might spike it with 10-20% meal. "Long Hangtime Willow" Taken almost verbatim from a rec.pyro post by Mike Swisher. I've made crossettes with these a couple times, they should also be good in a spider shell. 53.6 Potassium Nitrate23.0 Charcoal (Airfloat)13.4 Sulfur4.0 Lampblack6.0 Dextrin Preparation "Sieve the saltpeter, sulfur and dextrin individually through 40-mesh. Discard anything that doesn't pass 40-mesh. Separately, sieve the charcoal through 40-mesh and discard anything that doesn't pass 40-mesh. Now add the lampblack to the mixed saltpeter, sulfur,and dextrine. Hand-mix and sieve the mixture through 40-mesh onto the charcoal. The reason for this is that the lampblack is almost impossible to sieve by itself, and the other materials help it pass through the fine screen. Now blend all the ingredients by hand and sieve three times through 20-mesh." Dampen with 6% water and pump. (works best to add the H2O to comp in a ziplock bag, knead well, let it rest 15 minutes, then knead well again )
Mumbles Posted January 10, 2008 Posted January 10, 2008 Thank you very much. I was actually thinking about that one earlier, but I couldn't remember the name or find it. It is being saved right now.
mormanman Posted January 10, 2008 Posted January 10, 2008 snip...I know, that's woodshop 101, but I thought I'd throw it in just in case some of our members aren't up to speed in the wood-butcher department. I took woodshop and now metal but that is off topic. Crossetes don't have to be rammed do they. This is a little harder than I thought and I'm not trying to ask to be spoon fed I just don't like going into the dark without a flashlight.
TheSidewinder Posted January 10, 2008 Posted January 10, 2008 I've seen crossettes that were pressed, and others that were pumped, when made. The builder made it to his desired effect. Density plays a role in how the crossette burns as it falls. The simplest is pumped. I'd suggest starting there.
Frozentech Posted January 10, 2008 Posted January 10, 2008 Crossetes don't have to be rammed do they. This is a little harder than I thought and I'm not trying to ask to be spoon fed I just don't like going into the dark without a flashlight. I use Wolter pumps, and press them in a hydraulic press, really wishing that I had a nice arbor press, it would triple my output speed.
Mumbles Posted January 10, 2008 Posted January 10, 2008 Well, assuming you're using 3/4" crossettes, they have to be pumped harder than is possible by hand pressure. Normally I ram them, but I was recently lent an arbor press for the week, so it's a press-a-thon. I am making the following types, around 1000g or each. I am hoping to get enough for at least 2-3 shells each, of 1" crossettes, perhaps 3/4". D1Win 39JSwisher LampblackWin 6aBrocade type starHardt Silver #3 Looking into a few more, like Hardt Glitter #5, and some gold and silver spiders.
qwezxc12 Posted January 10, 2008 Posted January 10, 2008 Mumbles, If you're willing to entertain requests, please film those crossette cans. It would be great to see the various comps vs. each other, especially as the shells would be made by the same person. That will eliminate any variation in shell construction, confinement, burst, etc and allow a good heads-up comparison among the different comps.
Mumbles Posted January 10, 2008 Posted January 10, 2008 I always try to get my stuff on video. However, I think the request for video evidence is best put in to TheSidewinder or cplmac as I am lacking a video camera. Besides that fact, my fireworks have a natural aversion to being video taped. The last time video was taken, the two best of course did not get taped. I am considering purchasing one though just so I do not have to rely on others. I'd probably also have to keep bringing my Mom to shoots so she could video them while I light them.
FrankRizzo Posted January 10, 2008 Posted January 10, 2008 Do you have a digital camera Mumbles? If not, the Canon SD series are nice little pocket cameras that will take unlimited video.
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