WASP

[Tim1877]

IM thinking about buying a wasp hornet would like to hear from some owners and everyones opinion if they are worth the money and the ease of use or how hard they are to learn to use and will they run on windows 10

[Arthur]

Can you justify the money for the number of shells that you will make? Can you get the tape at a fair price and keep it dry in storage. The one WASP that I know doesn't look like a W10 machine, have you asked WASP sales -he's usually extremely helpful and good. If your yearly climate has damp times you do need to keep the tape dry (snap top bag and dessicant pouch).

[Tim1877]

What do you consider a fair price Im assuming will have to buy in bulk to get better pricing do you recomend any suppliers?

[Arthur]

i can't even suggest a supplier in your area, I'm usually in the UK though I'm in NV atm. In the past week I've been offered paper tape at $4 and $7 a roll but that's buying singles. Also look into what width you will need for the shell sizes you wish to use. I've seen half inch tape used for 2 and 3 inch shells and two inch tape used for 16inch shells. You do need to put enough thickness of tape on to make up the finished diameter you need. Stocks of gummed paper tape are prone to blocking up when damp in storage, keep them stored in poly bags with a dessicant packet.

 

If you are buying from WASP directly ask them for a suggestion for a supplier in your town/state/region, It's shipping that makes odd rolls so expensive.

Edited September 26, 2019 by Arthur

[Tim1877]

I sent them an email tonight so we will see I only make ball shells and rockets so im leaning toward the wasp wish there was cheaper alternative

[Arthur]

AFAIK the next cheapest available method is hand pasting. No up front cost but more time spent.

[Tim1877]

Does anyone on here own a wasp would like to hear from you your welcome to PM me.

[memo]

i have a wasp super stinger and i love it. i just started makeinf ball shell last year. shipping on the tape is a killer. i buy from woodysrocks.com and ship to costa rica

[FredBartholomew]

I have a hornet and yes the software does run on Windows 10. A few extra steps on the install but easy enough to do. I have run the software on a small windows 10 tablet and my windows 10 laptop.. works fine on both.

 

Its an expensive extra and not perfect on small shells but the time and labor it saves is nice.. bigger shells even more so. Its a lot like mowing your lawn.. you can buy a push mower for 99.00 and walk for a couple hours or you can buy a zero turn for 2500.00 and drink beer on the deck in 10 minutes.

[Tim1877]

I have a hornet and yes the software does run on Windows 10. A few extra steps on the install but easy enough to do. I have run the software on a small windows 10 tablet and my windows 10 laptop.. works fine on both.

 

Its an expensive extra and not perfect on small shells but the time and labor it saves is nice.. bigger shells even more so. Its a lot like mowing your lawn.. you can buy a push mower for 99.00 and walk for a couple hours or you can buy a zero turn for 2500.00 and drink beer on the deck in 10 minutes.

What do you mean its not perfect on small shells I mainly make 3 or 4 inch shells

[fredjr]

I have a super stinger wasp. It is a nice toy if you make a lot of big shells. But it is a machine that I love to hate. It is a royal pain in the ass to set up properly. Basically I call it a poor implementation of an excellent idea. Especially for small shells. If I have a less than a dozen 3" shells to tape I'll do them by hand because the setup time to get it working properly on a 3" is longer than it takes me to hand tape them. If you know what you are doing a 3" by hand is less than 5 minutes.

[Arthur]

For single shells 2 - 4" the machine is a liability -It is usually stored broken down, so it takes time to put it together that could be spent pasting a shell by hand, 6- 16 inches and the wasp saves a lot of time , but a 16" shell may take an hour on a wasp or 6 hours by hand

[FredBartholomew]

What do you mean its not perfect on small shells I mainly make 3 or 4 inch shells

 

As others have alluded to it is temperamental on small shells. It takes a bit to set it up, learn how changes affect the outcome, and then you chase the pattern back and forth hunting for a consistent run. The small shells like to slip during a run so they don't index perfectly for the tape width used. This leads to buildup and bulging in areas that receive more layers than they should and this results in the obvious opposite... less layers in the other areas where they shouldn't. It is more obvious on small shells... if you shoot for say 10 layers and areas get 12 and other areas only get 8.. you can tell.

 

I still love the machine for what it saves me but that love comes with an understanding of its limitations/slips and what I can expect from it. Again, that is with small shells 3-4".. as you get bigger the result improves as the machine seems to handle indexing better and is a little more forgiving. Have I exhausted every possible remedy to make it perfect.. no, so I won't say it cant be done.. but I've spent a good deal of time getting it to where it does a satisfactory job, most of the time..

Edited September 30, 2019 by FredBartholomew

[memo]

i have never used my wasp on anything smaller than a 5 " i spend a day wasping shells that i have ready up to 8 inch, bigger is next year need the tubes first. I would love to add some 10s and 12s .

[clarkie752]

I had a SUPERSTINGER for 4 years and never had a problem with it. The biggest issue I had was getting the program for each size shell dialed in. That took hours on smaller shells but once I had my program setup I never did it again. I ran over 300 3 inch shells on that machine and the main problems I had when I got started was slippage. All I did to fix that was slow down the taping speed and made sure the tape wasn't too wet when being applied to the shell. I had to sell mine last year due to financial issues but i will definitely buy one again. Hopefully soon.

Adam