DavidF Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 I did a few rockets the other night and uploaded video from my iphone directly to YouTube since my computer is on the fritz. So the vids are not trimmed nicely. Sorry about that. I won't bother with details right now. Here they are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqV-t63Q4g4This is a slow 3lb strobe rocket with strobe stars. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1iqwBI8Lfk6" tiger willow ball shell on long spindle 3lb rocket. More tiger than willow IMO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPBxKMV4_DU6" Bleser's blonde streamer cut stars ball shell on long 3lb spindle rocket. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIDqEEOjiU86" with purple stars and 6 BS stars for 'spokes'. Same 3lb rocket motor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYWrtHv14gcMy favorite: 5 1lb nozzleless rockets with 4" willow diadem ball shells. These are all simple basic fireworks, and they all were made as testers, with a view towards doing better down the road. I was satisfied with the rocket motors. I was only about 100 feet from the rockets when they took off, so the videos are up close and personal. 2
dagabu Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 My favorite as well is the 5 1lb nozzleless rockets with 4" willow diadem ball shells. Well done!!
DavidF Posted October 9, 2016 Author Posted October 9, 2016 Thanks folks. The 6" shells were broken with single-component-milled 'BP', screen-mixed 2X through 40 mesh with 5% dextrin, and coated onto rice hulls. With the 4" shells I used 1 tsp. of whistle shaken in, as cheap insurance. The blonde streamer, tiger willow, and willow diadem all used red oak charcoal. The stars were all cut, using the bag method. The rockets with glitter delay used Lancaster's yellow glitter with 2% wax to facilitate pressing. The dextrin was omitted from the formula. The fuel for all but the strobe started as mixed dribs and drabs of milled BP. For the charcoal-flavored tails, 10% -60 mesh red oak charcoal was added. All rocket fuels were granulated with 2% additional wax to facilitate pressing, except the strobe rocket, which had 2 1/2%. The strobe rocket was pressed a month and a half earlier. The heaviest rocket/shell combo was the blonde streamer one, which weighed 4 1/4 lbs. All rocket motors were nozzleless.
Zmuro Posted October 11, 2016 Posted October 11, 2016 Very nice shells. I really love the 3lb nozzleless motors and their power. Do you also wax the tubes?
a_bab Posted October 11, 2016 Posted October 11, 2016 Zmuro, since David invented the waxing, it is unlikely he doesn't wax his motors What spindle for the BP nozzleless did you use David?
DavidF Posted October 11, 2016 Author Posted October 11, 2016 Hehe, yup I wax the tubes- and the fuel! No surprises on launch day. The spindle for these particular motors is an extra-long BP spindle, 8 3/4" on the tapered portion. The charcoal-tailed ones don't go as high obviously, but high enough. The ones with the glitter delay had 75-15-10+2% wax most of the way up the spindle, except for the last 1 1/2-2". Then waxed glitter the rest of the way. It's easy to control the power if you have more spindle than you need. The motors are 12" long, so I can use an uncut piece of brass shimstock for my tube support, straight out of the box
ExplosiveCoek Posted October 11, 2016 Posted October 11, 2016 How much is this 3lb in mm's again, 25.4 mm right? I normally used Passfire's conversion table, but my registration has passed.
DavidF Posted October 11, 2016 Author Posted October 11, 2016 Yes, 25.4 mm ID. Spindle is 224 mm on the taper, tube is 305 mm long. I always convert to American units automatically
calebkessinger Posted October 12, 2016 Posted October 12, 2016 Hey.. I know a guy that makes those extra long shiny spindles in all sizes! as always Dave, Nice rockets! Good to talk to you again last night. Cheers. http://www.woodysrocks.com/store/p67/Extra_Long_Black_Powder_Kit_.html
DavidF Posted October 12, 2016 Author Posted October 12, 2016 Yes of course Caleb knows the dimensions since he made the tools I'll be honest when I say I think the TR-style spindle is my 'go to' spindle now for my BP rockets. I'm not much into nozzled rockets, but I could be! I don't bother much with my old BP spindle now. Because I want to lift 6" ball shells on 3lb rockets, the long spindle gives me the breathing room to do different things, and still get my shells high enough. With the regular BP tooling, I have also lifted plenty of 6" shells- but the rockets are working hard to get the job done.
Sparx88 Posted October 16, 2016 Posted October 16, 2016 Love that willow. Long hanging effects is where it's at and you did a nice job. The purple was nice as well. With that purple and some orange and/or yellow for inner petal you could build one to resemble a -crocus sativa- flower or a paulownia flower.
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