I still got it

[Mumbles]

After about a 6 year hiatus from building, I got a chance to manufacture and put up a couple of shells at PGI this last week. Special thanks to Wonderboy for giving me a place to crash, showing me multibreak rinfasciature, being a build partner, and firing these shells so I could tape them. Also special thanks to Psyco_1322 for the supplies.

 

The single break is a 4" shell with comets and a purple and turquoise inner petal. I'm not sure if the inner petal lit. I couldn't tell on video if they lit or the comets just covered them up. These were Hardt #2 silver comets. I was trying out a different method of bursting I saw Mitch Piatt demonstrate earlier in the week. The flash bag contained 8.5g of 2:1:1 KNO3:S:Al. This was made with the normal rinfasciature method of spiking the shell, wrapping with 4 turns of paper, and then spiking again and finished as normal and lifted with fuse powder.

 

The thee break is also a 4" shell. They were breaks of ca. 1/2" purple, red, and turquoise stars. The red looks kind of orange on video though. They were burst with a mix of forte nitro and polverone in a 1.25" cannule. I assembled them with a modified rinfasciature multibreak method. Each shell was filled as normal with a drumhead or piece of tape over the hole in the bottom of each shell. They were then spiked individually with double strands of 12ply cotton/poly string soaked in wheat paste/carpenters glue. The drumheads were pierced, fuses crossmatched, and the 2nd and 3rd were then spiked together with 8 verticals and a thick band of horizontals at the joint of the same string. The 1st break was then spiked on top. The whole shell was then wrapped in 4 turns of 60lb paper, and then spiked again with 16 verticals, suitable horizontals, and another small band at the joints. The shell was then finished as normal and lifted with fuse powder.

 

Clearly I got a little excited about that triple break . The shell blew the gun and lifted low. They are transitioning to all HDPE at PGI. That includes competition guns and B-line guns. I disagree with this, and the video is proof of why. When you repeatedly fire from HDPE it gets soft, distorted, and damaged. The three break weighed 5lbs, and was too much for the weakened gun to handle. It tore the base of the mortar in several places, and resulted in a low lift. I was going to try to retrieve my trophy and replace it, but couldn't find a replacement and the weather prevented getting out there.

 

 

[dagabu]

Congrats on the shells! I noticed you all of the sudden were smiling a LOT in manufacturing, now I understand why.

 

Great to see you again, glad you are thriving in life and loving fireworks!

[chuckufarley]

Mumbles,

 

Those looked pretty sweet. I've been reading the "Fulcanelli papers" and have an itch to try my hand an making some traditional cylinder shells. Unfortunatly my pocketbook doesn't agree with me at the moment.

 

Glad you had a chance to build again and have some fun. Hopefully you can continue between convention's.

[braddsn]

Right on Chris. I wish I could have went, I am so close.. but I had to work. Beautiful shells, as always! (I didn't see any bottom shots though!!)

[Sparx88]

Ya man, glad your back active. Looking forward for more of your work. Nice job. Those silver comets are nice aren't they. Being partial to A. Hardt's material, this is no surprise

[Mumbles]

Appreciate it guys. It was a blast. This last week was just what I needed to be honest. I may have another opportunity to build for an October WPAG shoot. We shall see.

 

Trust me, I would have loved to put a bottom shot on that baby. I was intending to build a 5 break shell initially; 4 color breaks to bottom shot. The realities of manufacturing at PGI make it so you need to have bottomshots pre-made. You can't mix open flash in manufacturing, and binary is not an option. I also probably wouldn't have had time to complete that big of a shell. As it is I completed those at about 7:59pm (manufacturing closes at 8).

[dagabu]

Quick question: Why are binary mixed bottom shots not a possibility at PGI?

[OldMarine]

A binary mixed shot would have to have empty space for mixing and would likely collapse during lift?

Dunno, never built one.

[dagabu]

Yes, that was my question. Reading all sorts of articles on bottom shots, there are many that do not "pack" the shot but just fill it and others that make bottom shots at PGI using the binary method without issue. A better understanding of the issues will help us all when making shells at PGI.

[ddewees]

Nice work!

[Mumbles]

It's nothing particular about PGI, I would just never make a binary bottom shot. They're not possible, or at least structurally sound, with hand rolled bottomshots, and I'm not particularly comfortable with them in hard walled casings. I'd prefer all of my bottom shots to be filled and packed for maximum structural integrity. If I didn't want to use as much flash in a particular shell or bottom shot I'd simply use a shorter casing, some sort of filler, or a smaller salute and pack it into the correct sized casing with sand or sawdust. The bottom shot is more than just a salute, it's a structural component and solid base on which the lift force is focused. The fact that they're tremendously enjoyable is just a bonus in my book. A sfera final break can serve a similar purpose as well.

 

It's a matter of preference. I've gotten away with plenty of just filled hard walled bottom shots up to probably 5", and I know plenty of others who have too. As you advance larger, certain shortcuts no longer work. I'd rather do it right all the time, than get complacent and forget or tempt the pyro gods. Outside of economics, there's no real advantage to partially filled bottomshots, and there are disadvantages so it's not worth it in my book*.

 

 

* - I hope at least someone got this very subtle pun.

[dagabu]

Great post to bookmark, Mum!

[gregh]

Nice work Mum! Are you going to be able to make it down to MFF next month?

[Mumbles]

Unfortunately not. My cousin is getting married, so I'll be out on the east coast.

[marks265]

Looking good Chris! It's about time you got your finger nails dirty!

 

I agree with your thought on those long HDPE's. I shot a 3 break 6 and cringed when I loaded it. I'm glad that came out OK. I don't think I could stand to do larger caliber in one.

[CrossOut]

Nice shells mumbles glad to hear you are back in it.

 

That is interesting, wpa generally disallows salute manufacture especially for noobies. And for the more experienced builders with permission, binary is the only allowed method for manufacture... Agreed not exactly preferred for bottom shots.

Edited August 19, 2016 by CrossOut