johnnypyro Posted September 17 Posted September 17 With our small gardens, here in the UK we have the tradition of fireworks that can be safely viewed at 5 - 15m, typically 8m. Over the last three years, inspired by this forum, I've been working on creating small fireworks that I can fire in my 25m x 10m space. After getting decent BP, I've managed to progress to bombettes with a 1g star payload and 0.15g MgAl flash as break, and have been focussing on consistency before moving on to multi effect cakes. This is three bombettes with Emerald green (1/3) and Yankee's purple with (2/3) with flying fish fuse. Would be interested to hear about anyone else similar experiments. 3xPurpleGreen.mp4 1
Almostparadise Posted September 17 Posted September 17 I think they are looking great so far. Some w more valuable input than mine will likely chime in. Have you thought about dragon eggs or rather dragon flowers I think they are sometimes called? 1
johnnypyro Posted September 17 Author Posted September 17 Thanks for the encouragement AP. I have crackle, but at the moment I'm trying to keep the noise down as I get on with my neighbours and want to keep it that way! As we get into October, Guy Fawkes is just around the corner and you begin to hear commercial fireworks around the neighbourhood, so that will be the time to give it a go.
Almostparadise Posted September 17 Posted September 17 3 hours ago, johnnypyro said: I'm trying to keep the noise down as I get on with my neighbours and want to keep it that way! Absolutely! I've been making mostly charcoal streamers and glitter stars. Still learning the basics of ball shells. I've have started building very small cylinder shells and slowly scaling them up. I am planning on making some colored microstars for these shells. It's great though to see what you've been doing with small scale color effects. I'm going to grab my popcorn here and see if I can't learn a little more. Guy Fawkes sounds like a great time!
johnnypyro Posted September 24 Author Posted September 24 Buell Yellow (62:38 Green:Red) with Jopetes Fuchsia #1 and then Tiger tail bombettes2.mp4
pyrokid Posted September 25 Posted September 25 Great work! Miniature effects are very interesting to me. I wonder how small you could make a tourbillion...
johnnypyro Posted September 25 Author Posted September 25 (edited) This is really a post for myself to record the outcome of many experiments over the last few months and years. The aim is to create small bombettes that can be used to deliver a payload of around 1g of stars to a height of 8-10m as the basis of multi-effect cakes that can be viewed from a safe distance of 5-8m. Once you have the casings and stars, the bombettes can be filled and launched in under 3-5 minutes which makes them useful for testing new compositions, different milling times, colour combinations and different ratios of colours, different amounts of break composition, and so on. The bombettes are launched from a 13mm ID, 80mm height cardboard mortar using 0.9g of BP lift made with willow charcoal that has been in the rock tumbler for 12 hours with ceramic balls and then wetted (75% water, 25% alcohol), grated with #10 and sieved -#10/+#20. Bombettes are made from virgin kraft paper. A sheet 120mm x 180mm is rolled on an 11mm diameter form along the longest edge, wetted with sodium silicate. After drying the tube is cut into 6 x 30mm lengths. Two 15mm diameter paper circles are glued together with a tiny amount of cyanoacrylate glue and pushed into a form with a 9mm rod to create an endcap. The rim of the tube is wetted with glue, and the endcap pushed through. When dry, a hole is pierced in the endcap, a short length of 2mm visco fuse (I use flying fish fuse as it makes a visible rising tail) glued in place with about 5mm protruding internally, and the entire end is painted with sodium silicate. Takes a couple of hours to dry completly. 1g of stars is loaded into the casing along with 0.17g of MgAl/KNO3/S flash powder. The KNO3 and S are screened though #100 and the MgAl(#400) diapered in. A single layer of kraft paper forms the endcap. The open rim of the bombette is wetted with glue and the endcap carefully inserted and pressed into place all round with tweezers. With a bit of practice, this bit can be done in under a minute. The fuse is cut with a blade at an angle at a length of 7mm giving the right flight time, and it's ready to go. Edited September 25 by johnnypyro
Richtee Posted September 25 Posted September 25 (edited) If you ever experience early pops on those shells. wrap your fuse with a couple layers of light glued paper to prevent ignition further up the fuse than the end. Edited September 25 by Richtee
Foguete Posted October 13 Posted October 13 On 9/17/2024 at 5:42 AM, johnnypyro said: With our small gardens, here in the UK we have the tradition of fireworks that can be safely viewed at 5 - 15m, typically 8m. Over the last three years, inspired by this forum, I've been working on creating small fireworks that I can fire in my 25m x 10m space. After getting decent BP, I've managed to progress to bombettes with a 1g star payload and 0.15g MgAl flash as break, and have been focussing on consistency before moving on to multi effect cakes. This is three bombettes with Emerald green (1/3) and Yankee's purple with (2/3) with flying fish fuse. Would be interested to hear about anyone else similar experiments. 3xPurpleGreen.mp4 1.46 MB · 0 downloads Very nice display,very quiet and discrete. Good Job
Foguete Posted October 13 Posted October 13 On 9/17/2024 at 12:33 PM, johnnypyro said: Thanks for the encouragement AP. I have crackle, but at the moment I'm trying to keep the noise down as I get on with my neighbours and want to keep it that way! As we get into October, Guy Fawkes is just around the corner and you begin to hear commercial fireworks around the neighbourhood, so that will be the time to give it a go. You could try some strobes instead of crackle, these will look good for sure.
johnnypyro Posted October 13 Author Posted October 13 Sadly I can’t make stars big enough for strobes that fit into the bombette.
johnnypyro Posted October 28 Author Posted October 28 (edited) Winokur's Silver C as a gerb needs milled black powder to give the necessary power. It's a really great effect BP 0.68 Barium Carbonate 0.10 Antimony Trisulphide 0.14 Al (250 mesh) 0.08 2x15g in 0.5inch diameter tubes, no choke: Winokur Silver C.mp4 Edited October 28 by johnnypyro video size 2
johnnypyro Posted October 30 Author Posted October 30 Go-getters: KNO3 0.55 C 0.21 S 0.09 Dex 0.02 Milled for 5 hours then screen in Ti (20-40mesh) 0.13 1.5g hand pressed into 11mm diameter cardboard tubes painted with waterglass inside. No fuse or core (tried it, but didn't make any difference) gogetters.mp4
Zumber Posted October 30 Posted October 30 On 10/28/2024 at 11:00 PM, johnnypyro said: Winokur's Silver C as a gerb needs milled black powder to give the necessary power. It's a really great effect BP 0.68 Barium Carbonate 0.10 Antimony Trisulphide 0.14 Al (250 mesh) 0.08 2x15g in 0.5inch diameter tubes, no choke: Winokur Silver C.mp4 4.37 MB · 0 downloads Excellent 👌
Zumber Posted October 30 Posted October 30 1 hour ago, johnnypyro said: Go-getters: KNO3 0.55 C 0.21 S 0.09 Dex 0.02 Milled for 5 hours then screen in Ti (20-40mesh) 0.13 1.5g hand pressed into 11mm diameter cardboard tubes painted with waterglass inside. No fuse or core (tried it, but didn't make any difference) gogetters.mp4 1.27 MB · 0 downloads Thats really great effect. Congratulations 👏
Recommended Posts