Mephistos Minion Posted February 21, 2006 Posted February 21, 2006 Gday all, Just thought I would kick of this thread, which is designed as a place for the discussion of pyro tools which you have made. I'll start by posting the pics of my Star Pump Sleeve (Piston to come tommorow after I make it ) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mep...perAndKnurl.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mep.../FrontTaper.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mep...BackKnurled.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mep...eKnurlTaper.jpg As I said the piston pics will be tommorow (it's a good day tommorow as we have swimming carnival during maths and science and then metal in the arfternoon.) So go ahead people post pics and/or descriptions of your home made tooling wonders. EDIT: OK it took me a bit longer than I thought to make but here are the piston pics, the threaded hole in the end is for 1/4" threadded bar, so the end bit (still to come) can be screwed onto it: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mep...eveSideSide.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mep...SideSansNub.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mep...ontPistonIn.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mep.../PistonSide.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mep...nThreadHole.jpg EDIT2: I forgot to capitalise "I" in the first edit.
stunned Psycho Posted February 28, 2006 Posted February 28, 2006 Well seeing how u haven’t got a reply I thought I may as well make u feel special and post on your thread, so um yeah good work on the star pump, love the large pounding nub u put on and the knurling makes it look very professional, cant wait to test it out for my self.
TheSidewinder Posted February 28, 2006 Posted February 28, 2006 Nice machining, MM. What lathe do you have? I'm getting a Sherline system in a few weeks, and will be turning out pyro tooling as fast as I have can. M
Mumbles Posted February 28, 2006 Posted February 28, 2006 I am willing to be a voluntary tester of said tools there sidewinder. I wouldn't mind testing a 3/8" starplate, 4oz BP Rockets or some stinger tooling.
Von Bass` Posted February 28, 2006 Posted February 28, 2006 i dont really understand how a star pump works, is it simply like a tube with a piece of metal or wood that is the same shape and diameter of the ID of the tube so that it may form cylindrical stars? Btw they are looking absoloutely brilliant - proffesional!
Kilo_G Posted February 28, 2006 Posted February 28, 2006 i dont really understand how a star pump works, is it simply like a tube with a piece of metal or wood that is the same shape and diameter of the ID of the tube so that it may form cylindrical stars? Btw they are looking absoloutely brilliant - proffesional! Ya, basically. You basically fill the tube with comp, put the openside of a hard surface, press to compress the comp, then shit the star out. You can see pictures here: http://www.wolterpyrotools.com/pyrotools/stars.html
optimus Posted February 28, 2006 Posted February 28, 2006 If you're having trouble visualising the process of making pumped stars, take a look at this pictorial. It also shows how easy it is to make a simple home-made pump. http://www.thegreenman.me.uk/pro/star.html
Kilo_G Posted February 28, 2006 Posted February 28, 2006 I totally forgot about that page. LOL and the stars literally look like shit.
Mumbles Posted February 28, 2006 Posted February 28, 2006 Yeah, in the pictorial on the greenman site, the comp looks overwet. They generally arn't that shiny. There is a second method to use with star pumping. You corn the composition, fill the tube, and ram the stars. They require less moisture this way. I feel they turn out more solid, but I don't have a lot of experience with either method. I am personally a star cutter.
BigBang Posted February 28, 2006 Posted February 28, 2006 I would like to note that the cylidrical stars produced by these pumps are usefull in canister shells. They are easy to stack and give the shell some strength, because they wont crush very easily. Watch out with starplates as they can be a real bitch. If it isn't PERFECTLY allighned, it will get stuck!
Mr. Yuk Posted February 28, 2006 Posted February 28, 2006 What kind of cutter are you using? HSS, carbide, carbide insert? You sould be able to achieve a much nicer finish with a slightly radiused carbide, even HSS cutter at a high speed with no oil/coolant. It should machine very freely with a high polished cut. Also your knurl looks double cut, perhaps not perpendicular, just make sure your knurler tracks in properly if you should have to stop and pull away the knurler prematurely. Overall pretty nice though, I hope it works well. Are you using a scissor knurler?
Kilo_G Posted March 1, 2006 Posted March 1, 2006 Yeah, in the pictorial on the greenman site, the comp looks overwet. They generally arn't that shiny.Actually I was just reffering to the fact that the stars were brown and looked like a small animal terd, not the defects/what if anything they did wrong. I think the one really good thing about star plates/pumped stars is their uniformness. This is the main thing they have over rolled stars. In order to achieve uniform sized rolled stars you (and thus stars that all burn out at the same time) need sizing plates which are either a serious bitch to make or are preitty expensive, one of the few things that get's cheaper with bigger size in pyro (i.e. a 1/4" star sizing plate will be $200 where a 1" star sizing plate would be ~$75). Mr. Yuk, nice to see you around. Where've ya been, what's goin on?
stunned Psycho Posted March 1, 2006 Posted March 1, 2006 I’m thinking of having a go at making a ½” star pump and ¼” spindle and some other tooling some time, iv got to finish my current project first, but ill post pics of the tools when I get around to making and finishing them.
Mephistos Minion Posted March 1, 2006 Author Posted March 1, 2006 Yuk: I really have no idea; I made it in metal work on the shitty lathes at school. It is the first time I have used a lathe so it's not going to be super pro quality I finished the pump now, here are the pics: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mep...isassembled.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mep...ideFinished.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mep...ontFinished.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mep...ThreadedNub.jpg There we are, not too bad for a first attempt I think anyway. Next project 1/4" Bottle Rocket Tooling for my new tubes.
TheSidewinder Posted March 1, 2006 Posted March 1, 2006 I am willing to be a voluntary tester of said tools there sidewinder. I wouldn't mind testing a 3/8" starplate, 4oz BP Rockets or some stinger tooling. LOL... you may have to get in line, but you'd be among the first. Seriously, though, I'll make custom tooling for anyone willing to provide COMPLETE drawings of said parts, AND who is willing to pay materials cost plus a SMALL flat fee for labor. I'll need practice anyway, so you will be guinea pigs. That's how you'll get it cheap. M p.s. Mumbles, you're exempt. I'll keep you on the list of testers I trust to give proper critique and practical suggestions, who therefore may receive samples free or at straight materials cost.
Mephistos Minion Posted March 7, 2006 Author Posted March 7, 2006 I made a 1/2" Al star pump today, same design as the 3/4" just smaller: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mep...ideFinished.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mep.../SideBySide.jpg
FrKoNaLeaSh1010 Posted March 7, 2006 Posted March 7, 2006 Just a quick question about pumping stars in general. I am deffinitely a star cutter usually too lazy to make different ways however I have rolled some stars manually (pain in the ass...but i like glitter to dragon egg core). In my reading about pumped stars I came into a slight confusion. Using the single star pumps as on greenman site or the very nicely ones made by Mephistos minion once you fill with comp and compress....how hard are you supposed to compress it? I have read people gently pushing down and i've heard of people tapping with a mallet to compress. I would assume the harder it is the longer it will burn. Is this a feasible way of determining a good burning star due to playing with the compactness (burning too fast gently packed...then hammer them next time) or should the stars just generally be made a certain way light or forced?
Frozentech Posted March 7, 2006 Posted March 7, 2006 Just a quick question about pumping stars in general. I am deffinitely a star cutter usually too lazy to make different ways however I have rolled some stars manually (pain in the ass...but i like glitter to dragon egg core). In my reading about pumped stars I came into a slight confusion. Using the single star pumps as on greenman site or the very nicely ones made by Mephistos minion once you fill with comp and compress....how hard are you supposed to compress it? I have read people gently pushing down and i've heard of people tapping with a mallet to compress. I would assume the harder it is the longer it will burn. Is this a feasible way of determining a good burning star due to playing with the compactness (burning too fast gently packed...then hammer them next time) or should the stars just generally be made a certain way light or forced? I just press down on a polyethylene cutting board as hard as I can by hand. If it's a large star ( or a small comet actually ) for a rising effect, I smack it with a mallet a few times as well.
TheSidewinder Posted March 8, 2006 Posted March 8, 2006 Same here. Load pump, compress by hand, then whack it a few times with a mallet. I use SLIGHTLY under-wetted comp for this. Otherwise, the mallet hits will squeeze out excess water and it gets real messy, real fast. The excess water can also carry away soluble ingredients, throwing their percentages off. Sometimes significantly. M
Mephistos Minion Posted March 9, 2006 Author Posted March 9, 2006 Ok, so my wonderful 1/4" pyrotube tubes came on Tuesday, so I decided instead of ruining several tubes by ramming them till they break apart form pressure, I made a sleeve and ejection thingy first off. Here it is: The brass rod is used to compact the BP into the tube. The Al rod is used to eject the finished spoullette. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mep...ulletteTool.jpg When you want to eject the tube you need something to hold it up while you force it out; so I made this sleeve extender with a larger hole that the spoulette will fit through easily. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mep...ToolStacked.jpg Here is how well the tubes fit. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mep...ion/TubeFit.jpg I didn't bother to sand or turn down te rough stock as it isn't really necessary. When I sell this sort of thing it will be though to make it look cooler.
maximusg Posted March 9, 2006 Posted March 9, 2006 Cool man, looking forward to when you open up shop! Thought of doing any rocket tooling yet? Be cool if you tried some little 1/4" bottle rocket tooling or something... Anyway, keep up the good work.
Pretty green flame Posted April 15, 2006 Posted April 15, 2006 Guys i need help. Which tools can you make on a lathe in adition to rocket tools.I am trying to convince my dad to buy a lathe and he said he will get me one if i provide some good reasons for what i need it for (he knows i'm into pyro and all)
Givat Posted April 15, 2006 Posted April 15, 2006 Drivers, fountains, stingers, different kinds of rockets...you can also make "transmission wheels" with it and all kinds of different items. I guess he can use it to for his own use to make things he need. dunno what...
aquaman Posted April 15, 2006 Posted April 15, 2006 Star pumps Lathes can also be used to make other things other than pyro. Like for RC you have to (cut) lathe the commutator on a brushed motor to keep it working properly. People also use lathes to make furniture, for exmple table legs and wooden railings.
BigBang Posted April 16, 2006 Posted April 16, 2006 You could get into HPR and machine some casings and nozzles. Taking a lathe to a slug of graphite will be messy though, but makes some of the best nozzles there are. You could turn specialty mortars too.
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