rohit Posted September 12, 2017 Posted September 12, 2017 Hello Friends I have six cases of 80 cm electric confetti cannons manufactured in September2016.Anyone here have experience of electric confetti cannons. Does long storage period can affect on its performance?
Arthur Posted September 12, 2017 Posted September 12, 2017 If these are similar to my preloaded, made in China, confetti cannons they are one shot, mine have been in case for about ten years all OK, BUT if stored loose do not stress the plastic where the wires go in, they break there with a bang if the plastic moulding gets damaged.
rohit Posted September 12, 2017 Author Posted September 12, 2017 Thanks ArthurMine are made in China with pressurised co2 bottle at bottom.I think yours are same like mine.
Arthur Posted September 12, 2017 Posted September 12, 2017 They sound like mine! The plastic component in main body holds the cylinder pressure, bend them and they break -making a MESS of fetti.
Arthur Posted September 16, 2017 Posted September 16, 2017 Yes, that's them! Horrible engineering but cheap even by Chinese standards! Who makes a plastic moulding to hold compressed gas in it's cylinder?
OldMarine Posted September 16, 2017 Posted September 16, 2017 I just saw one of those fired the other day and it was surprisingly good! It was at a baby reveal and was fired on a small patio area. There's way more confetti in there than I thought there'd be. I'm getting me some!
AllisterF Posted September 16, 2017 Posted September 16, 2017 I just saw one of those fired the other day and it was surprisingly good! It was at a baby reveal and was fired on a small patio area. There's way more confetti in there than I thought there'd be. I'm getting me some! I saw a totally oblivious lady discharge one of the (non-electric) twist to fire pressurized air confetti cannons into her face right in the middle of the party isle at Walmart a few months back, beyond holding back my laugh, I was actually quite impressed with the amount of confetti and with how much force it fired for a $3 item... I can only imagine that as you spend a bit more the results get better... 1
OldMarine Posted September 16, 2017 Posted September 16, 2017 The one I witnessed made a noise like POPWHOOSH! and we were watching it rain blue confetti. It was a nice effect.
Arthur Posted September 16, 2017 Posted September 16, 2017 The cannons in the picture need 8 amps for 1 second to fire, which means big battery and short wires, so they are hard to use commercially, then need their own big heavy firing base -I have two four channel ones- The spring powered ones are a lot wimpish in comparison.
AllisterF Posted September 16, 2017 Posted September 16, 2017 (edited) The spring powered ones are a lot wimpish in comparison. The twist to fire ones I have seen use compressed air, not springs... They have a small steel pressurized canister in the base, the twisting action twist off a two tabbed cap on the canister releasing the air... Here is a Youtube video of a guy that took one apart beware, not work safe language and the guy is not exactly brilliant, in fact the entire video might as well be a 'this is what not to do and how not to do it' video but at about 5:30 you can see the canister and mechanism in action... Note deliberately not linked because overall the video is a disaster, you will need to copy and paste... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aFxRislRkEOut of curiosity does anyone know what kind of mechanism triggers the electric ones? Edited September 16, 2017 by AllisterF
Arthur Posted September 16, 2017 Posted September 16, 2017 For the electric ones a threaded steel bottle contains the gas against a rubber bung held in by a lever. The lever is fastened down by a piece of plastic string. All of this is made into the plastic moulding. The plastic string is wrapped with a turn of thick resistance wire (probably about 16 gauge), when heated the wire melts the string.
AllisterF Posted September 16, 2017 Posted September 16, 2017 Thanks makes sense, I was just curious what kind of electronic trigger could be implemented so cheaply, it also explains why they require so much current to trigger...
rohit Posted September 16, 2017 Author Posted September 16, 2017 Thanks everyone.The electric confetti cannon has one nylon string inside holding pressurised metal cylinder cap and nichrome wires coiled around the nylon string so once you pass electrical supply nicrome coil heat up and it melts nylon string and it release the pressure from metal cylinder. 1
Arthur Posted September 16, 2017 Posted September 16, 2017 It's a clever system, though cheaply made. The lever that holds the sealing bung in place has a small hole in it, I surmise that the sealed metal pressure vessel us filled by a fine needle through the hole and through the bung -which seems to seal adequately again.
AllisterF Posted September 17, 2017 Posted September 17, 2017 It's a clever system, though cheaply made. The lever that holds the sealing bung in place has a small hole in it, I surmise that the sealed metal pressure vessel us filled by a fine needle through the hole and through the bung -which seems to seal adequately again. Again makes sense, in the video I posted above you can see a similar (what I suspect is a fill port) on the twist off cap for the air can... I'm an electronics design engineer by trade, and due to being 'new school' I tend to 'digitally' think of a solution in this case actuators and/or solenoids come to mind vs a simple old school mechanical solution like melting a nylon hold down cord...
Arthur Posted September 17, 2017 Posted September 17, 2017 (edited) While the string is a fusible plastic, I have no proof that it's Nylon. PS I always wondered why the internal gas cylinder had a left hand thread (well it did on the one I dismantled). Edited September 17, 2017 by Arthur
rohit Posted September 17, 2017 Author Posted September 17, 2017 I think it's for safety. If someone curiously try to open it. He can be seriously injures by pressurised metal cylinder. Any one here have noticed failure of such cannons?
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