thepyrotextbook Posted February 10, 2017 Posted February 10, 2017 I have been working with fireworks as a hobbyist for about 4 years now, but I've (surprisingly) never tried to make rolled stars, mainly because I don't have a star roller, and I have no clue as to how to make one. As stupid as I may sound, does anyone have any good advice on making a relatively small, cheap(ish) and well-functioning star roller? Thanks!
calebkessinger Posted February 10, 2017 Posted February 10, 2017 windshield washer motor and a bowl. Drill and a bowl. small motor and a bowl. Harbor freight concrete mixer. Pretty much any way you can figure out how to turn a mixing bowl or bucket keeping in mind that you can get some dust into an electric motor and have an explosion hazard if you don't defend against it in some way.
thepyrotextbook Posted February 10, 2017 Author Posted February 10, 2017 Thanks for the explanation! I knew it involved a motor and some sort of container to roll the stars in, but I'm still wondering on how to lay out the parts to make everything work/spin properly.
dynomike1 Posted February 10, 2017 Posted February 10, 2017 http://creagan.net/fireworks/misc.html#hsrThis is about as good as you are going to get. 1
Pyrodood Posted February 10, 2017 Posted February 10, 2017 Here's mine, someone gave me a 7 rpm tefc motor, so I used pulleys to gear it up to the proper speed, as defined by the equation in Lloyd Sponenburgs book. I don't make stars any larger than 3/8". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQIFU93l18A
thepyrotextbook Posted February 10, 2017 Author Posted February 10, 2017 I should be good to go on trying to make a star roller. I'll try to get the container itself to rotate around 40-60 RPM for the best results. Thank you all for the help!
Seymour Posted February 11, 2017 Posted February 11, 2017 Batches under a few kilos are easy to hand roll, especially using the Toro method. Literally all you need is a bowl, bucket, or even just an ice cream tub.Even making stars commercially there are times I just use a bucket and my hands. No motor. No rollers, just a bucket, some slurry, some dry comp, a tray to dry the stars on, and the willingness to get your hands dirty.Making a star roller is a good idea, but I also think hand rolling is a good way to get a basic rolling skill set before you decide on the specifics of your roller.
Livingston Posted February 11, 2017 Posted February 11, 2017 I hand rolled when started. with just the 1 I got!!
Arthur Posted February 11, 2017 Posted February 11, 2017 I've heard of a Wok being used as a small roller. Either you hold the handle and roll the cores round with one hand and sprinkle powder with the other hand, or you fit the wok to a motor at possibly 30 - 60 rpm
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