memo Posted June 27, 2016 Posted June 27, 2016 I have been building can shells for almost 2 years and my spiking still looks like shit, sometimes i get a dood looking shell, but not to often. i have watched videos many , many times and i still suck. any body have a magic pill to take so i can spike a shell ? i am not tryingg to make the perfect shell, kinda like making black powder, i dont need the fastest or the best , i just want it to work. memo.
MrB Posted June 27, 2016 Posted June 27, 2016 The magic pill is just careful, stupid handwork. Someone sold "guides" for marking out the points where you "should" cross the edge. Lazercut i think they were. Agora. Might all have sold.B!
memo Posted June 27, 2016 Author Posted June 27, 2016 i thought about those, i just keep thinking i am smarter than that, but it seems not. memo
mikeee Posted June 27, 2016 Posted June 27, 2016 If you mark your end disks or make a template that fits over the shell and mark the location of each string.
memo Posted June 27, 2016 Author Posted June 27, 2016 i thought i had a file some place that had 3,4,5,6 inch templates all you had to do was print them out.. i can't find the file. must be on my old laptop , so it is lost for ever. does anybody know the link ? memo
MadMat Posted June 27, 2016 Posted June 27, 2016 (edited) I don't know if there's a magic pill, but, when I spike a shell, I try to make sure the lines are straight. Make sure your verticals are parallel to the sides of the shell, and then try to follow what looks like a straight line when you cross over the ends of the shell. Then try to make sure where the lines on the ends of the shell cross over they are always at 90 and 45 degree angles. I found a chart on sky lighters site that gave the dimensions of spolletes for different size shells. At first, I thought the O.D.'s listed were too large, but after thinking about it, an O.D. that size actually helped in spacing the verticals properly. The only problem I ever had was making my horizontals look good. Making them nice was just a matter of practice, but still some of my horizontals don't look the best, but my burst patterns still look good and that's all that really matters. I don't know if this helps at all, just a few things I've noticed. Edited June 27, 2016 by MadMat 1
Nessalco Posted June 27, 2016 Posted June 27, 2016 (edited) Here are templates for 3-6" shells. I paste a template on top of the shell only. Twine to the left side of the spolette on top, and to the right of center on the bottom. Once you get the hang of it it's pretty straightforward. Kevinspiking templates.pdf Edited June 27, 2016 by Nessalco 3
memo Posted June 27, 2016 Author Posted June 27, 2016 madmat I am doing something wrong, I am sure it is something stupid that I am doing over and over. at one time I would get a perfect pattern on a 3" I had not spiked anything or a few months and I cant get back on track , I think I am taking a left when I should be taking a right, you should see me drive.... or maybe not. memo 1
OldMarine Posted June 28, 2016 Posted June 28, 2016 Great patterns! I was just looking for templates for 3" shells and VOILA! Thanks.
Mumbles Posted June 28, 2016 Posted June 28, 2016 It's possible you're not quite doing the pattern right, which can lead to issues. The above templates are for off-center spiking. I prefer this pattern personally, but even after spiking probably over a thousand shells and inserts, I still need a template or marks to keep things looking right most of the time. I think there are a few slightly different variations of this, but I'll describe what I do. With a 3", it's easy to describe since there are 12 verticals and it makes a nice clock analogy. Just to be clear, here's how the pattern works. Tie off to the spolette and make a vertical at 12 o'clock. Go down the side, across the bottom, and off set by 1 mark, ex. 5 or 7 o'clock depending on which way you prefer. I like 5 personally. Come back up to the top and go two over from where you started. For me, this would be 10 o'clock. From here it's just an every other pattern going in the same direction. 12, 5, 10, 3, 8, 1, 6, 11, 4, 9, 2, 7, and then you should be back to where you started. From here you want to wind a gradual spiral down the size of the shell, and start your horizontals from the bottom. The rule of thumb is to make squares, but I tend to go more short rectangles for simple color breaks. Certain inserts and types of shells use different spacing, but that's not really relevant to the current discussion. 1
memo Posted June 30, 2016 Author Posted June 30, 2016 (edited) thanks guys for the help. i knew i almost had it.. my problem is i was marking the top and bottom and i dont do a real good job with keeping my lines straight from top to bottom. today i was going to print out the jig for spiking my printer eneded up in the shop. so i took a cloth tape and measured and marked the top only. the spiking wasnt perfect, but a hell of a lot better than before. its about freaking time !! memo Edited June 30, 2016 by memo
OldMarine Posted June 30, 2016 Posted June 30, 2016 Here's my first attempt (with live comp). My spiking was a bit erratic but I hope it will suffice: 1
mikeee Posted June 30, 2016 Posted June 30, 2016 Oldmarine, Hundred more shells like that and you will be doing them in your sleep.Once you spike a number of shells it just becomes second nature with very little concentration during the process.Decide on a pattern and after you spike a number of shells you will have it memorized.First one looks good!
memo Posted June 30, 2016 Author Posted June 30, 2016 looks a lot better than my first , not as good as my last one i made today.... only took 2 years/ memo
OldMarine Posted June 30, 2016 Posted June 30, 2016 Oldmarine, Hundred more shells like that and you will be doing them in your sleep.Once you spike a number of shells it just becomes second nature with very little concentration during the process.Decide on a pattern and after you spike a number of shells you will have it memorized.First one looks good!Thanks Mikeee, I've downloaded the above templates and I'll paste them on my top discs henceforth. I'll just eyeball the bottoms... er.. tops.
OldMarine Posted June 30, 2016 Posted June 30, 2016 (edited) looks a lot better than my first , not as good as my last one i made today.... only took 2 years/ memoI've made up a couple loaded with aquarium gravel for practice so I had the general idea!I need a better spiking horse since mine is mounted in my vise and gives me limited space in my shop. I've got a bud bringing me a big piece of stumpwood I can put a couple of landscape spikes in so I have some walking/adjusting space. Edited June 30, 2016 by OldMarine
memo Posted July 1, 2016 Author Posted July 1, 2016 OM i made up a dummy shell couple of years ago when i was learning to make bp, had a whole bunch of bad shells , bad lift , round trips spolletts would burn for 5 0r 6 seconds on a 3 inch shell. the tube I used was card board and had worked very well in the past. haveing problems first thought it was my kno3 was not pure so I recrystallized it . made no difference.... I had been using charcoal in the bag I bought from the store I made my first load of tropical red cedar. loaded everything up and shot a peanut butter jar full of gravel and pasted with 50 pound kraft. the card board tube was history that damn thing really blew up and the dummy shell went out of site. from that point I knew I was on the road to greatness or maybe just making some good shells. it has been a fun trip so far, I know it will continue. your gravel filled shells brought back some memories. good times... memo
OldMarine Posted July 1, 2016 Posted July 1, 2016 Memo, I'm putting mine on rockets so I want my first to be near the ionosphere when it bursts! Don't trust my stars yet because I've only fired them from mines thus far.
mikeee Posted July 1, 2016 Posted July 1, 2016 I've made up a couple loaded with aquarium gravel for practice so I had the general idea!I need a better spiking horse since mine is mounted in my vise and gives me limited space in my shop. I've got a bud bringing me a big piece of stumpwood I can put a couple of landscape spikes in so I have some walking/adjusting space.Patrick, I have a weight bench that I use as a spiking horse, you can easily adapt wood spindles onto the vertiical bar supports.The same basic design of the classic "spiking horse" used in the industry.Or you can screw a couple of lag bolts into a board and clamp it down to a work surface.Another quick and easy solution are the screw in hangers that people use in their garage and shops to hold a ladder on the wall or rafters.A set of these are nice to have for a club shoot you screw these into any tree and have a ready made spiking horse.
Mumbles Posted July 1, 2016 Posted July 1, 2016 A spiking horse or some sort is crucial for tight spiking, but almost anything works. I always just tied the string off to a tree. My spiking horse was a honey locust at home, and an oak (or occasionally trailer) at club shoots. Anything immovable works really. Ned Gorski even once tried to use me as a spiking horse. 1
dagabu Posted July 1, 2016 Posted July 1, 2016 I saw a video long ago with a seated Italian spiking small shells. The tarred string was in a ball behind him, it traveled under his butt and I bet it was under cardboard or something too, to a ring and back to him. He simple leaned to the side and pulled more string and spiked the shell. While probably not good for pasted string, I use this method for tarred string too when doing several shells in one sitting.
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