ST1DinOH Posted May 20, 2008 Posted May 20, 2008 built a 3 inch ball shell this weekend. once i had it all taped up and ready to lift, i attached several (20) 2 inch lengths of blue crackling effects fuse to the underside of the shell. i did not prime the ends of the fuses, which i imagine became the problem... when i finished the shell, i cross matched the time fuse, then attached the effects fuse to the shell. the tips of thoes fuses were just a tad past the tip of the time fuse. i used a simple plaastic bag to hold my lift, and the effects fuses were buried into the lift grains when it was ready to fire. once lit the shell lifted skyward...there were 2 or 3 snaps of crackle (no color) then the shell functioned as normal. nice break if i do say so myself anyway the point is attaching (angle cut) un-primed effects fuse to the underside of the shell did basicly nothing. so... i imagine one of two things happened here to cause this "failure" either the effects fus didn't light (because they weren't primed) or the shell lift incinerated/destroyed the loose ends of the effects fuse and the crackle and color was consumed by the lift. any opinions? in the future i'll be attaching the fuse bundle to the top of the shell and priming the ends to try and solve both possible problems at once. but just out of curiosity which problem do you think is more likely? destruction of the fuses, or failure to pass fire to them?
nath0r Posted May 20, 2008 Posted May 20, 2008 Both of the problems you outline seem plausible, but from experiance in a similar situation where i used visco as the time fuse on a small 3" ball shell, i was somehow distracted and forgot to prime the fuse, when it came to the shoot, the time fuse failed to light and upon recovery the end of the fuse was burnt and slightly melted and the powder from within the visco was gone. This would lead me to believe that the forces from the lift must destroy the fuse. Obviously when the fuses are primed the shell is well away from the high pressure of the lift before the actual fuse takes fire from the prime. Of course this is only my theory on things and i could be wrong, but this is what seems most likely to me. Good luck in the future though
ST1DinOH Posted May 20, 2008 Author Posted May 20, 2008 Both of the problems you outline seem plausible, but from experiance in a similar situation where i used visco as the time fuse on a small 3" ball shell, i was somehow distracted and forgot to prime the fuse, when it came to the shoot, the time fuse failed to light and upon recovery the end of the fuse was burnt and slightly melted and the powder from within the visco was gone. This would lead me to believe that the forces from the lift must destroy the fuse. Obviously when the fuses are primed the shell is well away from the high pressure of the lift before the actual fuse takes fire from the prime. Of course this is only my theory on things and i could be wrong, but this is what seems most likely to me. Good luck in the future though sweet...thats a good verification. my thought was the bunching together of the effects fuses, combined with locating them, in the lift, and in direct line of the hot sparks flying from the time fuse should have increased the odds of passing fire to the effects fuse. unfortunatly i think it was a tad overkill next time around, the fuses on top and primed should stand a much better chance of surviving. i wish i had pics to post but i was cameraless all weekend. was a great looking shell, now i'm officially out of my "stolen" (from 1.4 shells) willow stars so it's time to make a few batches.
hst45 Posted May 21, 2008 Posted May 21, 2008 ST, I've used various flying fish and crackling fuse's as a sort of rising comet effect on my little 2" shells, and they always have seemed to fire-off just fine. I paste three pieces of fuse onto the top of the shell, angle-cut the take-fire end, and they burn kick-ass well every time. I only do small scale stuff, so I don't know if a larger shell with a larger lift charge would blow the hell out of these little guys, but in my backyard world these work great. I've never primed them, but there's no down-side to it. Good luck.
justanotherpyro Posted May 21, 2008 Posted May 21, 2008 I'd try priming them next time. I shoot 3" shells with visco and always prime. It doesn't shred the fuse for me and the timing is very consistent.
ST1DinOH Posted May 21, 2008 Author Posted May 21, 2008 ST, I've used various flying fish and crackling fuse's as a sort of rising comet effect on my little 2" shells, and they always have seemed to fire-off just fine. I paste three pieces of fuse onto the top of the shell, angle-cut the take-fire end, and they burn kick-ass well every time. I only do small scale stuff, so I don't know if a larger shell with a larger lift charge would blow the hell out of these little guys, but in my backyard world these work great. I've never primed them, but there's no down-side to it. Good luck. I'd try priming them next time. I shoot 3" shells with visco and always prime. It doesn't shred the fuse for me and the timing is very consistent. ok...sounds like the bottom placement is what did me in. the lift probably just incinerated the fuse, and the crackle and color must have been drowned out by the thump and fire fromt he lift. thanks again guys, sounds like placement and prime would give me a nice effect. next one i build i'm gonna load up with effects fuse and glob a fat mess of prime over the bundle of fuse ends on top. if that doesn't work i'll just stop give up and make some comets.
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