Caramanos2000 Posted December 26, 2007 Posted December 26, 2007 OK I am using clear plastic sandwich bags taped to y shells for lift and bottom fusing. my question is if I need additional lift if I can just tape another small bag with some more bp under the bag already attached to the shell and have them both go off without any trouble. My bottom fuse melts through the bag to light the bp as suggested by one of the members on here.
GraafVaag Posted December 26, 2007 Posted December 26, 2007 It will work fine, but why not use a paper bag? Just take a sheet of paper, press it into a bag-shape using your hands. (This works for shells up to 6 inch if you've got big hands) You can make these bags as big as you want. Any fuse burns through paper with ease.
hst45 Posted December 26, 2007 Posted December 26, 2007 I agree, it shouldn't be any problem. The heat from which ever charge lights first will burn through the bag and light tho other one no problem. If I understand correctly you have these made up already and are looking to add a "kicker" charge for more height, right?
qwezxc12 Posted December 26, 2007 Posted December 26, 2007 You certainly could add another plastic baggie - once one lift bag ignites, the second will light too. For larger shells (6" - 8") I use craft paper rolled into a cone. trim the top into a curve with scissors. When they're filled with the lift they fit the curve of the shell nicely. For smaller (3" - 4"), I use either 2oz. condiment cups or drinking cups like you see in the picture. They're sturdy and help protect the lift.http://www.apcforum.net/files/DecShells.jpg One thing to think about...If you're reloading your mortars when you shoot, using just a plastic bag to contain your lift could be a risky proposition. The plastic affords zero protection to the lift if there is a lingering ember in the mortar. You should make ABSOLUTELY sure there is no ignition source in the mortar before reloading another shell if the lift is exposed in a bag.
Caramanos2000 Posted December 26, 2007 Author Posted December 26, 2007 yes, exactly they are already made but need extra lift. I have 8 mortars to rotate through 60+ shells so i figure it is long enough for them to go out iff embers remain. The problem really is only with some shells which i didnt notice but much of the bp was powdered and not granulated. Noticed last night when i fired a shell and it didnt even go poof just lifted it to about 30 feet. http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m171/Caramanos2000/PICT3460.jpghttp://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m171/Caramanos2000/PICT3461.jpg
hst45 Posted December 26, 2007 Posted December 26, 2007 yes, exactly they are already made but need extra lift. I have 8 mortars to rotate through 60+ shells so i figure it is long enough for them to go out iff embers remain.Well, whether or not you add the kicker charge in a plastic bag, or just re-load the shell with the plastic bag you're still at equal risk of a pre-fire due to an ember remaining in the tube like qwezxc12 said. It might be a good idea to make a sort of bore swab to run down the tube between shots, something like a damp cloth on a stick, to make sure the embers are extinguished. Think 1800's naval cannons. Looks like a nice load of shells, by the way. Good luck with your show.
Caramanos2000 Posted December 26, 2007 Author Posted December 26, 2007 Thats a great idea. Broom stick with damp towel on end. Fire one pass it to friend have him swab it, use a fresh mortar and repeat 8 times for all the ones I have. I mean I will use 1 mortar at a time. Concerned about lift because I dont want a 50g bp/flash ti salute going off on the ground
psyco_1322 Posted December 26, 2007 Posted December 26, 2007 WTF? Did you paste those shells with chocolate? Thats kinda what it looks like to me. Oh and you shouldnt shoot more than 7 consecutive shells through a mortar without letting it cool. And cooling time is going to be longer than your show. HDPE and fiberglass start coming apart from the heat and pressure. But the small shells will probably be ok if you shoot 8 through them. Bigger shells and you need to start worrying. The wet rag will help too. If you are using steel or paper you shouldnt have to worry much about the heat though, as they arent effected as much. Good luck.
Caramanos2000 Posted December 26, 2007 Author Posted December 26, 2007 I have HDPE mortars, 8 of them which means I only shoot from 1 mortar once before swapping for another. Pasted with my own recipe: Elmers, Vinyl Wallpaper glue, wood meal, dextrin, red gum and water.
psyco_1322 Posted December 26, 2007 Posted December 26, 2007 How does the red gum work if there is not solvent but water?
Caramanos2000 Posted December 26, 2007 Author Posted December 26, 2007 No idea but it works, probably the red gum doesnt do anything at all. But it was my first recipe and it worked great so i aint changing it.
qwezxc12 Posted December 27, 2007 Posted December 27, 2007 Just curious based on the pictures...Do you prime the shell fuses at all or leave them bare? I would think that you must prime them in some manner, right? I use visco for timing on all my shells right up to 8in (largest so far ) and tried various methods of priming the ends to take fire reliably...cutting at an angle, splitting, dipping in slurry, etc. I now cross-match them for 100% confidence. Good luck with your show...will you be filming it?
Caramanos2000 Posted December 27, 2007 Author Posted December 27, 2007 Def. filming it btw I have loads more to shoot lol. no priming at all on fuse. Just cut it and push the fibers outwards to reveal the core.
Bonny Posted December 27, 2007 Posted December 27, 2007 Just curious based on the pictures...Do you prime the shell fuses at all or leave them bare? I would think that you must prime them in some manner, right? I use visco for timing on all my shells right up to 8in (largest so far ) and tried various methods of priming the ends to take fire reliably...cutting at an angle, splitting, dipping in slurry, etc. I now cross-match them for 100% confidence. Good luck with your show...will you be filming it? I mainly use visco too.I usually cut on an angle and then either dip in slurry or or dampen the end and dip in bp right before loading into mortar. In this case I am not using a lift cup or bag though, bottom fusing mortar and dropping shell onto lift. Out of about 150 shells I've only had one fail to ignite from the lift.
psyco_1322 Posted December 28, 2007 Posted December 28, 2007 When I use visco I just cut it at an angle and apple a dip of thinned NC lacquer and then shove it straight into some 2or3fg bp and let it dry. No need for the bp to be mixed in with the NC in my opinion, works fine for me. Hay qwezxc12 I wanna see a pic of your fusing, especially one on a big shell that has crossmatched visco. How you do that? Kinda small aint it?
qwezxc12 Posted December 28, 2007 Posted December 28, 2007 snip...Hay qwezxc12 I wanna see a pic of your fusing, especially one on a big shell that has crossmatched visco. How you do that? Kinda small aint it?As I said earlier, I used to split and prime with slurry, then I tried cutting at an angle and priming. Cross-matching with black match is easy and it's been 100% reliable and most importantly, consistent for timing when using masking tape to prevent side spit...a 6in length of tape makes the diameter of the "timefuse" a snug fit in a 1/4" fuse hole. I use 1-1/2in wide tape to = 3sec delay for both 3 and 4in shells, 2in wide tape to = 4 sec for 6in shells, and 3in wide to = 6 sec. for an 8in shell. As an example, the 8in shell I shot timed out at 5.9 sec. from lift to burst. I slice the end of the fuse lengthwise until it's flush with the tape, cross-match with a piece of black match, and apply a little strip of high-tack masking tape instead of dental floss to secure the cross-match. The picture below is of a 6in fused with American visco:http://www.apcforum.net/files/IMG_0947.jpg
psyco_1322 Posted December 28, 2007 Posted December 28, 2007 Thats amazing. I have some of that american visco, that is of unknown origins, that burns about 3secs/in and is very drossy. It drips what I think is excess KNO3 when it burns. Its just green and has a heavy coating of NC on it, enough that the NC will catch fire and burn down the outside of the fuse before you get the fuse lit. Weird stuff but works good for timing.
qwezxc12 Posted December 28, 2007 Posted December 28, 2007 Hmmm...most of the stuff I have I bought pre-trimmed into 4in lengths from Cannonfuse:http://www.cannonfuse.com/store/pc/catalog/precutusa.JPGIt gives fire far less vigorously than the Chinese visco I have, but it burns at a precise rate: 1/2" per second. It does have a heavy coat of NC, but it isn't drossy at all. Because it doesn't side spit nearly as strongly as Chinese visco does, I have to make sure the fuse end inside the shell is in intimate contact with the BP in the straw used to pipe fire to the middle of the shell. Works great once you have the system down. Caramanos2000, Sorry about sort of highjacking the thread.
hst45 Posted December 29, 2007 Posted December 29, 2007 Just to keep the hijacked train on the wrong track, I use Cannonfuse's "ugly american" wrapped in four turns of electrical tape for time fuse, slash-cut the take-fire end, dip it in my homemade NC lacquor, and dip it in milled meal and work that in by hand and have had great results. We now return you to our regularly scheduled topic:
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