a newbs progress and question thread

[RiderX]

i should have added i shot the original shell last night time fuse failed , i think its fault of my new cutter i tried , it had squished the shell side of the tf

the shell in the video above was an after thought i had after make the first one

[RiderX]

Make it out of the gun?

this was the first shell pictured

 

never did locate the shell itself the next day

[RiderX]

 

another canister/ball type shell

[GinsiderOaks]

I have a question about thermite and fire bricks:

 

I'd like to make a mold out of fire brick and then ignite thermite above it, letting it flow into the mold. I know thermite reaches ~2500 °C and i can't find fire bricks that can handle > 1500 °C.

 

I wan't to know if it'll be a problem, and if so, how can i fix it?

 

[OldMarine]

Use green sand. It's what foundries use.

[RiderX]

so my plan for end of thanksgiving day activities is a massive rapid salute barrage , what i would like to do is have 10-15 chained on the ground and then 24 total in the air , fusing the racked 24 ti salutes is easy

 

im looking at 10-15 150g ground salutes but trying to figure out the best way to chain them together on one fuse and have them go off 1 second apart

i already know fusing threw the cans doesnt work as the salute just destroys the fuse leading to the next one , does that with only 20g salutes., they have to be so far apart as not to blow the next can out of line and possibly towards somone that i dont want to use quick match would burn up a good bit of what i have on hand

 

last thought was a cardboard/paper trough filled with bp down the run , but aairad the salutes will knock that right out of place , and or it wont burn down the line fast enough .

 

 

any thoughts or suggestions

 

ps i do have an electronic firing system but forgot to order ignitors so i can use it

[OldMarine]

If you can find the fast white visco you could chain them easily. I don't know how far apart you are placing the ground salutes but even at 6 feet apart you'd get just over a second delay if you put the fuse in match pipe. That stuff is scary fast.

[RiderX]

If you can find the fast white visco you could chain them easily. I don't know how far apart you are placing the ground salutes but even at 6 feet apart you'd get just over a second delay if you put the fuse in match pipe. That stuff is scary fast.

even if i ordered some tonight i dont think id get it in time , was hoping for another solution with stuff i have on hand

 

i have 1 sec ft fuse but the salutes are way to big to be put 1 ft apart safely

 

i have though about hanging them by 1 second fuse but i belive they will drop ontop of each other before they go off ,

maybe use the 1sec ft stuff put the ground salutes 1 ft apart except half bury them so they previous one doesnt blow the next one out of place

Edited November 13, 2017 by RiderX

[RiderX]

the whole thing may just be to overly ambitious due to bad planning and what i have on hand , atleast the ground salute portion

Edited November 13, 2017 by RiderX

[RiderX]

i figured out what im going to do , instead of fusing the salutes themselves with 30 second visco , im going to fuse them with pink 5 second fuse , then im going to chain them with yellow 1 second fuse and hand the chain from the bucket of the backhoe , ill light it from the bottom of the chain , as the 1 sec fuse burns up the salutes should drop off one by one and go off just after next ones drops

3 inch 5 second pink fuse should give me 1.25 second from drop to ignition , safely keeping the salutes form ending up in a pile on the ground . and getting thrown out as they go

 

going to run the chain fuse down a piece of .035 welding wire to support the weight

 

actually if i use 5 second fuse and aim for 2.5 seconds between i could use alot less fuse

Edited November 14, 2017 by RiderX

[OldMarine]

If you order some of this it will be there before Thanksgiving:

https://www.cannonfuse.com/store/pc/Quick-Fuse-2p12111.htm

 

I would hang the salutes from twine to keep them off the ground to lessen the chance of flying debris. Just tie you a cradle around them and suspend the salute from a strand of baling wire. I just put a piece of the above fuse in a piece of match pipe and it is explosive! You could then use timed lengths of regular visco to time your salutes.

Edited November 14, 2017 by OldMarine

[NeighborJ]

The pink and yellow fuse have no protective coating and tend to be susceptible to ignition from the side spit of other burning fuses. You may have them all go off at once if you dont take steps to protect them from crossfire ignition.

 

OM, beat me to it with the solution😁.

Edited November 14, 2017 by NeighborJ

[OldMarine]

That is why I tried it in the match pipe. You can cut taps into the pipe and then run shorter pieces of a slightl slower visco down to the salutes.

[RiderX]

thanks , ill place the order for that fuse here in a few minutes , i wont bother hanging them with that fuse since everyone will be well out of range of any flying debris and ill be able to space them out safely with that fast of fuse

 

should be a pretty awesome end to our thanksgiving day festivities , if i have time i might try to do 1-2 color 6 inch shells to go off at the very end

 

ill be sure to get videos of the days/nights festivities

[Wiley]

These sorts of things really ought to be hung. Think about how far a 3" shell throws a star, then think about how far a 3" salute might be able to throw a small, dense rock.

 

Stretch a piece of wire between two trees or posts.

 

The reports themselves can be fused with something slow, like green visco.

 

Tie a little noose of string around each report and hang them from the wire. They will start swinging madly around when the fuse burns off of them. Ensure that they cannot hit each other when swinging.

 

Then fuse them all together with a length of some fast fuse.

 

The fast fuse flashes down the line and lights all of the individual, slower fuses on the reports. They twirl and swing around until they burst in sequence.

 

If they cannot swing close enough to damage each other, you should see perfect ignition.

[Baldor]

Another idea, if you don't mind using more fuse.

 

Fuse the reports with a loooong fuse, all the same length. Attach them to the main fuse, at the desired intervals. Lay them radially, so you will have more distance between reports.

[RiderX]

im doing batches of hardt blue stars today , was wondering if i could add some spherical aluminum to them to get a glitter tail

i also have sperical ti 20-40 mesh but i belive thats just to coarse right

Edited November 26, 2017 by RiderX

[NeighborJ]

I'd try the Ti over aluminum. It should have a very long tail with a small blue head.

[OldMarine]

Rider, I can't believe you aren't on the discord chat yet!

[RiderX]

Rider, I can't believe you aren't on the discord chat yet!

ill never get any work done lol , among other reasons

Edited November 27, 2017 by RiderX

[RiderX]

I'd try the Ti over aluminum. It should have a very long tail with a small blue head.

hmm ill mix up some 100 gram or so batches and try one with AL and the other with TI

[NeighborJ]

Should be a good experiment. If you want a true glitter effect then I'd try a coarse MgAl, maybe 60 mesh. I still think the more reactive metals will wash out the blue. FeTi would make a really nice tail without the washout but it won't glitter.

[RiderX]

yeah i dont have of either of those , im going to place a really big chems order here soon and ill grab some , i think i wanna build myself a star roller soon so i can do color changes and what not

[Mumbles]

None of these will actually glitter. Titanium, FeTi, and coarse MgAl and Al will all give tails. It'll be closer to a streamer. Spherical Al typical for glitters will probably just brighten/wash out the blue color. The only real way to achieve the effect you'd like is with married comets.

 

The glitter effect is based on potassium sulfide/Al melts. In theory potassium sulfide could be formed in Hardt blue, but I think a glitter reaction is fairly unlikely. That said, I'd love to be wrong. There are a couple purported potassium perchlorate based glitter formulas floating around.

[RiderX]

Rider, I can't believe you aren't on the discord chat yet!

ok i joined lol