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Posted
I don't have time fuse, is there any way to make a mortar using Visco to fuse it? I've tried putting the Visco on top of the shell and tied it to the quick match but it blew up as soon as it launched. I'm guessing that the sparks from the quickmatch lit the beginning of the visco near the shell.
Posted
Use some foil tape to cover your timed portion of visco and embed it in hot glue.
Posted

Spolettes are the more traditional choice.

Posted

If making shells with spolettes, it wouldn't be a horrible idea to top-fuse them, even ball shells. That powder grain is pretty sturdy, but it's guaranteed to survive when pointed away from the lift.

Posted

If making shells with spolettes, it wouldn't be a horrible idea to top-fuse them, even ball shells. That powder grain is pretty sturdy, but it's guaranteed to survive when pointed away from the lift.

 

Any quality spolette will be just fine for straight replacing time fuse.

 

You would have to be lifting with heavily 7:3 boosted BP or something crazy in order to damage a spolette.

Posted (edited)

Use some foil tape to cover your timed portion of visco and embed it in hot glue.

 

This is only consistent with quality 3mm American Visco, not Chinese.

Edited by usapyro
  • Like 1
Posted
I have bought time fuse once in my life. I never use it anymore. I have about 300 ft of good, predictable visco that i fuse my shells with. I make my time fuses with visco and gummed tape. Inch and a quarter is perfect for a 3" shell. About an inch and 5/8 times a four inch and one inch for a 2.5". Anything larger gets a b.p. spolette.
Posted
I don't have time fuse so I just make my own spolette/delays fpr 2 to 3 inch cylinder shells by ramming meal into those cardboard drinking straws for parties and reinforce with a few wraps of masking tape. They burn quite consistently for how easy they are to make.
Posted

I have bought time fuse once in my life. I never use it anymore. I have about 300 ft of good, predictable visco that i fuse my shells with. I make my time fuses with visco and gummed tape. Inch and a quarter is perfect for a 3" shell. About an inch and 5/8 times a four inch and one inch for a 2.5". Anything larger gets a b.p. spolette.

So wrap the visco in gum tape before putting in the shell?

Posted (edited)

Ya I'm making some now. I'll upload a pic

 

post-19283-0-10957200-1499186792_thumb.jpg

post-19283-0-50262100-1499186828_thumb.jpg

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post-19283-0-18591400-1499186885_thumb.jpg

 

after the shell is wrapped, the time fuse hole is cut out and fuse inserted and glued in. then trim the end at a sharp angle right at the tape. i dip the end in very thin n.c. lacquer so it will soak into the first 1/4" and dip in screen mix, repeat 3x.

 

after the trim:

 

post-19283-0-75779500-1499187448_thumb.png

Edited by rogeryermaw
Posted

The visco lights all along the exposed end from the lift powder and passes fire to the shell as soon as the fire passes inside the hemis. SO the timed length is the thickness of the card hemis unless you make effectively a spolette by taping up a length of visco with gummed paper tape. Then you might as well make a spollette!

Posted (edited)

For me this is just as effective and takes much less time. Also i don't have to adjust for consistency from batch to batch.

 

Knock wood i haven't had a flowerpot or round trip since i switched to this method.

Edited by rogeryermaw
  • Like 1
Posted

<shaking head>....

 

It's no more trouble, no more work, and more-consistent to make spolettes. Roger, I have no idea what you mean by "adjust for consistency", but simple rough powder works fine for spolettes. If you make it from the same batch of chemicals every time, and weigh carefully, there's no need to adjust anything. You only need to check the timing per inch when you change chemicals.

 

On the other hand, visco's burn rate can vary from foot-to foot in the same roll!

 

Lloyd

Posted (edited)

I do make spolettes for anything over 4". Perhaps I've been lucky and I'm always open to learn new things. This is just how I've done it til now. I suppose if timing was more critical for my use, I'd certainly want a better method

 

By consistency, i was referring to variations in powder runs. Having to add or reduce the grain length for speed. When you crack that new bag of KNO3, impurities may affect burn speed so testing has to be performed for accuracy.

Edited by rogeryermaw
Posted

I guess what confuses me, Roger, is that it takes no longer to ram a small spolette for a small shell than it does to make 'wrapped visco'.

 

Hey! I've made some that way, too. Back in the early 1960s, when I didn't even know spolettes existed, I made that type of fuse.

 

But spolettes are SO fast to knock out, it doesn't make sense to make one sort for one size of shell, and a different fuse for other sizes.

 

Lloyd

Posted
True. After the 4th I'll experiment with them more. The crunch is on today tho and i have a handful made already.
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