Eggish shaped ball shell after wrapping help

[Indypyro317]

I was building dummy shells today full of about 50-60 grams of sand and I inserted a time fuse so I could wrap it how I planned to wrap a live one by starting with it fused I don’t know if this or my pattern for pasting caused this almost cone shaped top of the shell my main question is are these even safe to be tested or could the strange shape cause them to rotate while launching and getting stuck, thank you for your time and help 

[Arthur]

The pasting pattern, or the way you use it causes the final shape.

[Zumber]

8 hours ago, Indypyro317 said:

I was building dummy shells today full of about 50-60 grams of sand and I inserted a time fuse so I could wrap it how I planned to wrap a live one by starting with it fused I don’t know if this or my pattern for pasting caused this almost cone shaped top of the shell my main question is are these even safe to be tested or could the strange shape cause them to rotate while launching and getting stuck, thank you for your time and help 

I can be fired it won't stuck in mortor.

Did you used round ball hemisphere? Or homemade hemisphere?

If hemisphere dye is not perfect half round then you won't get proper round hemispheres.

Second thing is with wrong pasting pattern you have to change poles every time once you paste one layer.

Try alternative poles for pasting each time.

[Indypyro317]

6 hours ago, Arthur said:

The pasting pattern, or the way you use it causes the final shape.

That’s what I was assuming next time I’m going to get my tape more wet so I can smooth it out better and fallow a different pasting guide 

[Indypyro317]

48 minutes ago, Zumber said:

I can be fired it won't stuck in mortor.

Did you used round ball hemisphere? Or homemade hemisphere?

If hemisphere dye is not perfect half round then you won't get proper round hemispheres.

Second thing is with wrong pasting pattern you have to change poles every time once you paste one layer.

Try alternative poles for pasting each time.

I used premade hemisphere that had a time fuse that was inside of a tube already before pasting I see some people fusing after warping don’t know if that would help but I don’t like the thought of drilling into or punching something that sometimes will have flash in it or other mixes that don’t like friction or shock What I did was what is done in this video I had trouble trying to explain it I had been using this same technique for my 2inch shells and got nice round shells I’m going to try another way or looking into better ways to smooth the paper thank you for the help I was worried that it might get stuck and I’d be out of a tube 

[Mumbles]

For smoothing, I like to use a wet wash cloth or something like that.  I rub it over the surface of the shell to get it wetter, and roll it around on a hard surface.  It seems to do a pretty good job of flattening everything out.  You can hear and kind of feel when the paper is well compressed.  

As far as fusing post-wrapping, most people use a neodymium magnet or a stack of them and put a piece of masking tape over it.  This allows a tube or passfire to be installed inside the shell, but still be fused in the proper location.  The magnet makes it easy to find the fuse hole, and you just cut out the paper around it.  Some people use a cork borer to make quick work of it.  It's definitely easier to cut while the paper is still wet.  You don't actually cut or drill into the shell this way.  I'd be sketched out from drilling into a shell and potentially hitting a star and causing a spark.  Not to mention drilling at the wrong spot might not make it very easy to thread fuse inside.  

I'd say this is from your pasting pattern.  If you used a continuous strip method by hand, this can be hard to avoid without some practice and attention to detail.  Excess buildup on the ends is one thing I don't like about certain pasting machines as well.  That said, if the paper is solid and the shell doesn't feel spongey, it should be safe to fire especially full of sand.  You'll know when you try to drop it down a tube if there are any immediate problems.  If it slides down nice, it should come out nice.

[Indypyro317]

4 hours ago, Mumbles said:

For smoothing, I like to use a wet wash cloth or something like that.  I rub it over the surface of the shell to get it wetter, and roll it around on a hard surface.  It seems to do a pretty good job of flattening everything out.  You can hear and kind of feel when the paper is well compressed.  

As far as fusing post-wrapping, most people use a neodymium magnet or a stack of them and put a piece of masking tape over it.  This allows a tube or passfire to be installed inside the shell, but still be fused in the proper location.  The magnet makes it easy to find the fuse hole, and you just cut out the paper around it.  Some people use a cork borer to make quick work of it.  It's definitely easier to cut while the paper is still wet.  You don't actually cut or drill into the shell this way.  I'd be sketched out from drilling into a shell and potentially hitting a star and causing a spark.  Not to mention drilling at the wrong spot might not make it very easy to thread fuse inside.  

I'd say this is from your pasting pattern.  If you used a continuous strip method by hand, this can be hard to avoid without some practice and attention to detail.  Excess buildup on the ends is one thing I don't like about certain pasting machines as well.  That said, if the paper is solid and the shell doesn't feel spongey, it should be safe to fire especially full of sand.  You'll know when you try to drop it down a tube if there are any immediate problems.  If it slides down nice, it should come out nice.

It slides nice and the actual circumference of the shell is nice and round I ended up with a bit of build up around the time fuse but not as bad as the top of the shell I think I might try fusing after how is this done would the time fuse be tie with black match or primed so it’s easier to insert into the shell the shells have a solid feel to them I planed on using 1/10 of the weight of the ball shell as lift of a red cedar no binder bp it launched some two inch shells at 1/10 very high 

[Arthur]

Small shells need narrow tape so that they do not wrinkle as the flat paper will never match the 3D curve of the hemis. Sometimes you can damp the tape enough that the paper stretches round the ball smoothly, otherwise you could roll the shell on a table or board the help the wrinkles flatten out.

[Zumber]

https://youtube.com/shorts/e7waQ3nn69w?si=cZtqYYz5Jnrrnv9j

[Arthur]

Which clearly shows that the paper of the tape is wet and soft and will fit nicely round spherical shapes, making the layers of tape integrate nicely rather than wrinkle badly.

While some of the western pasting machines work well, the hand work that makes Chinese shells needs properly wetted paper tape properly smoothed regularly, and maybe a day of drying time between layers. 

Try pasting a small shell with narrow tape (say 6 to 10mm wide) and getting each piece of tape laid down smoothly. 

[Indypyro317]

7 hours ago, Arthur said:

Which clearly shows that the paper of the tape is wet and soft and will fit nicely round spherical shapes, making the layers of tape integrate nicely rather than wrinkle badly.

While some of the western pasting machines work well, the hand work that makes Chinese shells needs properly wetted paper tape properly smoothed regularly, and maybe a day of drying time between layers. 

Try pasting a small shell with narrow tape (say 6 to 10mm wide) and getting each piece of tape laid down smoothly. 

I’ll try this next time, tape I used was 1 inch I will try next time by getting my tape wetter using smaller tape and smoothing to perfection 

[Zumber]

Consistency of wheat paste is also very important you don't need to make it to thick it should be thin enough to spread quickly and not too much water so that it looses it's sticky nature.

Take Kraft paper sheet of rectangular shape and wipe it with water and brush or keep it over wet towel / cloth for few minutes before applying paste.

Apply wheat paste using brush to one side of Kraft paper and fold that paper so that wheat paste won't get dry as if it is exposed to air it gets dry.

Again fold it two three times so that you get narrow band of folded sheet then cut  sheet of desired weadth and keep it aside so that paper soak wheat paste and becomes sticky.

Now unfold paper and paste as shown like in above video and finish it to avoid wrinkles.

Please take care that there should be no air bubbles or air gaps between pasted paper and shell 

Edited August 2 by Zumber

[Arthur]

Some people wrap with gummed paper tape, other people wrap with plain paper that they have gummed when wrapping, both methods work. Importantly the pattern of the applied tape must ensure even coverage all over the sphere.

It matters not which glue you use, hide glues, dextrin glues and woodworking(PVA) glues all work. It does matter that the paper is moist enough to conform to the 3D shape of the ball, and the wrapping pattern that you use matters a lot. The easy "polar orbit" pattern puts vast thickness over the shell poles and little paper over the shell equator leading to egg shaped shells. Paper that's too dry leads to excessive wrinkling that causes inconsistent thickness and adhesion (it also looks ugly!).

[Arthur]

A search of Youtube for "shell pasting  machine" will yield many ideas for spending lots of money, and maybe offer some ways to randomly and evenly wrap a shell.

[rellim]

This method works for me:

 

I put a drop of hot glue on bottom hemi to guide placement by feel.