How can I change the time on my spollette's? Here is what I have tried.

[Arthur]

Remember importantly, fireworks are cheap disposable entertainment, there is room for lots of skill but avoid expensive ingredients. The first essential of good fireworking is good black powder. Spollettes have been cheap delays for centuries please assume that if you can't make them work -It's YOU, not the tube. Are you using commercial BP, or diy? Maybe you should buy your powder until you have perfected good, clean burning, fast, powder for making fuses. 

Try to make a tool to press short increments of powder into a tube so that you can reliably make a 2" tube with any length of powder inside. You should be able to make a reliable and consistent stack of spollettes with a calibrated number of seconds delay. This usually means pressing a short length of compacted powder in a longer tube. You should be able to make a one second delay spollette this may have a powder column of 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch.

[Zumber]

7 hours ago, Powertech said:

I added some German Aluminum and that drastically cut down the time.  I can reliably get about 6 seconds for 2 inches now....just needed some metal.  Maybe some of my chems are not as good as advertised.

Also doesn't seem to matter if i use sodium nitrate or potassium.  Anybody ever try cesium nitrate?

This totally diverse the major principle of firework.

Spolette is always made with bp only and contains Potassium nitrate sulphur and charcoal this is major ingredients and still in use by today and been used for centuries....some may add ferrotitanium or titanium for spark but moderating its burn rate with aluminium or using other oxidizer is not wise thing.

Sodium nitrate is hygroscopic and it may cause trouble with spolette timing.

Also one may need to think of aluminium nitrate reaction, pressing or ramming spolette with fine aluminium is this right?

Soplette is very important part of shell and it must be reliable otherwise it may cause shell go blind muzzle break or bursting of shell in mortor or premature burst.

Stick to Standard Bp mixture and.experiment.

First prepare good black powder.

[Arthur]

The first exercise in fireworking is to obtain really good and consistent black powder, in several mesh cuts. 0FA, 2FA, 4FA, and 6FA to dust, all have their important uses

[Powertech]

Some people have lots of money so Cesium Nitrate is still considered cheap to some.  If you don't experiment, you won't ever learn anything that isn't well known already.  As for the Sodium use, the hydroscopic trait doesn't matter if you are using things right away, which if you don't have a license and are following the law you would be doing.  As for the aluminum, no I'm not worried about a reaction, people do much more dangerous things with aluminum, like making flash which I am not doing.  I am also making tiny amounts at a time, to be used shortly after being made.  If you were worried about an aluminum reaction, you wouldn't ever end up using it.  

Edited July 29 by Powertech
spelling, not saying it is correct now

[kinji]

I don't understand. You adjust the timing of your fuse by adding or reducing the amount of powder, not by changing the speed of the powder.

Edited August 15 by Mumbles
Removed a likely spam link

[Powertech]

Are there bots on here or something?  Almost identical post at the beginning. 

On 7/25/2024 at 2:50 PM, Kalifireworks said:

I dont understand, you change the time of your spolette by ramming more or less Powder. Not by modifying the powders speed

And as I had said, I was worried about having a tiny amount of powder, and it not holding up to the initial lift.  It isn't an issue anymore as there are a few different solutions I can use.  

[Crazy Swede]

Cesium nitrate is very expensive and is only used in military pyrotechnics. If not coated it is also rather hygroscopic!

[Kalifireworks]

On 8/5/2024 at 11:24 PM, Powertech said:

Are there bots on here or something?  Almost identical post at the beginning. 

And as I had said, I was worried about having a tiny amount of powder, and it not holding up to the initial lift.  It isn't an issue anymore as there are a few different solutions I can use.  

It was never a issue with normal blackpowder neither. But do whatever you gotta do.

[cmjlab]

After admittedly only skimming through all the previous posts, and it appears the OP is satisfied with some solutions he received - I was curious if OP is using screen mixed B.P.?  8 seconds per inch does seem awfully slow.  For not particularly "hot" B.P. I typically get 2.6 to 2.8 seconds per inch in a spolette. 

Again, just curious!  Thanks - Charles

[Mumbles]

In terms of spolette length, I've never had issues with 1/2" or more column of BP.  As others have said, hot BP tends to burn around 2.5-3 seconds an inch.  Sometimes a touch faster, so 1/2" tends to be between 1 and 1.5 seconds of delay.  If need something faster, or am looking for precision, drill back the powder column.  

Also, the 5/16" NEPT tubes that Woody's sells are super nice for spolettes.  https://www.woodysrocks.com/store/c47/New_England_Paper_Tubes_.html#/  I've used similar spiral wound tubes like those bee hive tubes, and you have to be a lot more gentle with them or they split.  They also essentially require a support sleeve to get good compaction.  The NEPT tubes can be rammed without a support.