PersonGuyDude Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 Google spamento and you will find tutorials and youtube videos. -dag How funny, I'm already subbed to you Small world, or at least the pyro world is small...I like those finned rockets, was thinking about trying some out myself.
dagabu Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 How funny, I'm already subbed to you Small world, or at least the pyro world is small...I like those finned rockets, was thinking about trying some out myself. Shoot me a PM, I'll send you a few to try -dag
flying fish Posted July 1, 2011 Posted July 1, 2011 First time making a finale board with consumer items... I tried that liquid nails construction adhesive stuff and learned that it doesn't dry in the time specified! They say 24 hours on the bottle. Some of the relatively thin layers I used still seem damp after 24 hours, and some of the larger gaps I tried to fill are still very liquid-y after 48 hours. Going to leave it in the sun and hope it is dry by the time I plan to shoot the stuff (Saturday night) The more general lesson learned: Start on show preparation much sooner!
flying fish Posted July 9, 2011 Posted July 9, 2011 Can a single-break 6" canister shell be fired from an HDPE gun? What about fiberglass?
Mumbles Posted July 9, 2011 Posted July 9, 2011 I'd go fiberglass before HDPE. It can be done, but make sure you inspect the gun first for defects. A 6" single break is about as large as I'd go for plastics.
killforfood Posted July 12, 2011 Posted July 12, 2011 On another note… It’s mid-July, raining and likely won’t break out of the 60’s this week. I’m getting a little tired of this La nina weather pattern. I hear you guys out east are having chickens drop dead from the heat.
flying fish Posted July 12, 2011 Posted July 12, 2011 Thanks, Mumbles. I also talked to the safety officer for the shoot this is for, he thought that even for a moderately heavy single break HDPE should be fine. Though I guess we will find out. What would you suggest as burst if my mill capacity is small and I don't have time to mill the required amount of BP for this shell? Granulated Green mix? KP? Sulfur-less KP? I'm leaning towards the least exotic of those three, haha. I could probably also do lightly milled BP, like no more than 1 hour mill time per batch.
Mumbles Posted July 12, 2011 Posted July 12, 2011 Well, what kind of shell are you building? Sulfur-less KP is actually a fairly weak burst, and is really suited toward bigger shells (8 or 10" single breaks for instance). If you can look at the HDPE guns first, and make sure the plug isn't stapled in. I wouldn't fire cylindrical shells from those type of HDPE, but probably would from ones with bolts or good screws.
flying fish Posted July 12, 2011 Posted July 12, 2011 It's a 6" single break color shell (no bottom shot). I wonder if green meal made into pulverone would be the most appropriate burst, next to milled BP. Would KP (with sulfur) be too powerful? The safety officer said he'd let me fire it out of any of our 6" guns, but I found we do have steel 6" guns if needed. He also told me that we have some HDPE with extra thick plugs. I'm going to the shoot early so I'm sure I'll get a chance to look at the guns before we bury them.
Mumbles Posted July 12, 2011 Posted July 12, 2011 I'd use as much milled BP as you can for the burst, but if you follow Mike Swisher's method of making polverone, I bet it would make a decent burst. The hot water seems to make passable powder. It's not great, but it's better than nothing. I've broken shells with KP on hulls before. It will probably work fine if you want to go that route. Are you planning to fill in between the stars with polverone too? I'd suggest it if you can. I really adds a lot of strength to the shell.
flying fish Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 Yes, I'm hoping to make the shell as solid as possible. In theory, could pulverone style KP potentially perform well? I'd imagine it would be wasteful of chems, especially if hulls work as well/better.
Mumbles Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 I don't see why using granulated KP as the burst would be bad. I'd hardly consider it wasteful, at least no more "wasteful" than using granulated BP vs. BP on hulls to break a shell. Granulated is the way it was designed to be done for structure and function. I've never tried it, but it seems like it should work. That is really about all I can say on the matter.
Mumbles Posted July 14, 2011 Posted July 14, 2011 I wouldn't if I were you. I'll just delete them which knocks your topic back down. Topics move slow enough here that things don't often get forgotten about.
50AE Posted July 14, 2011 Posted July 14, 2011 (edited) Bought my first DAC kit, and my prefered opamp for it http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200616958865&ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:US:1123 http://cgi.ebay.com/360324403926?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.com%3A80%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm570.l1313%26_nkw%3D360324403926%2B%26_sacat%3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1 From all I've read, it seems good for his price. It can be modded a little. Gonna post results when I receive and assemble it . Edit: God, this LP 24/192 music is enchanting! I can't get off my headphones. Help me Edited July 14, 2011 by 50AE
Ralph Posted July 15, 2011 Posted July 15, 2011 Anyone made electric Zinc spreader stars ? are they as good as they sound ?
Mumbles Posted July 15, 2011 Posted July 15, 2011 Yes, and eh. They were cool back in the day because there was relatively little color in shows. Then they were cool recently because of the novelty, nothing really looks like them. I think they've currently become too wide spread and are losing their charm. It's certainly a unique effect, and definitely worth a try though.
flying fish Posted July 15, 2011 Posted July 15, 2011 Another 6" can shell related question. I don't have a feel for lift when it comes to shells of this size. The lift I plan to use is milled BP granulated through a 4 mesh screen, with the extra fines removed using a window screen. Does this seem appropriate? And how much? What's a reasonable upper limit if I want to err on the side of overlifting while not destroying the shell? Fulcanelli says 4-5 oz as a starting point for 6" shells, but that's FFA. With the smaller shells I usually build, I use 1.5 times the amount of homemade lift as I would for commercial graphite coated powder. I was going to use this same ratio but then add a couple oz for the overlift factor, putting me at around 9 or 10 oz.
Mumbles Posted July 15, 2011 Posted July 15, 2011 That's the granulation I use for my lift as well. It's equivalent to 2FA + 3FA. I'd stick with the ounce per pound rule. You'll probably get a shell somewhere in the 4-6lb range. Just for assurance I do round up some. If I had a shell that was 5.2lbs I'd probably use around 6oz. You have to have a feel for your powder of course, and it definitely helps to have your own guns as the fit clearly matters too. HDPE is pretty uniform though. Honestly, putting it at 9-10oz seems like you're asking for trouble, especially in a two piece gun. If you're worried, add an extra ounce of lift. It will be more than enough to get it safely up in the air. The heavier the shell, and the closer the fit the more efficiently the powder is used.
optimus Posted July 15, 2011 Posted July 15, 2011 Check these crazy smoke tentacles out! http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6121/5941233288_9e8004655d_z.jpg
flying fish Posted July 16, 2011 Posted July 16, 2011 I'll be sure to be more reasonable in terms of lift. Also, we have an obnoxious amount of space at this event (we've fired 24" shells in previous years) so I may just request that a gun be buried further back such that a low break wouldn't be dangerous anyway. Is is true that KP burn speed enhances greatly in the confinement of a shell? Because I just lit a loose pile of it and it was painfully slow.
optimus Posted July 17, 2011 Posted July 17, 2011 Is is true that KP burn speed enhances greatly in the confinement of a shell? Because I just lit a loose pile of it and it was painfully slow. That's correct, all KP bursts will burn relatively slow in open air and will benefit from heavy pasting.
flying fish Posted July 17, 2011 Posted July 17, 2011 (edited) Thanks for the tip, I vaguely remember reading that somewhere a long time ago but had trouble finding it. For comparison, I took some of my course granulated BP and course granulated KP and lit them next to each other. The BP grains were loud and propulsive. The KP grains just sat there and threw sparks in a very polite and quiet manner, haha. Added to this post: On a completely unrelated note, there needs to be a show like "Iron Chef" except for firework makers, haha Edited July 18, 2011 by flying fish
Seymour Posted July 18, 2011 Posted July 18, 2011 That is a spectacular picture Optimus! Care to explain what's going on?
50AE Posted July 18, 2011 Posted July 18, 2011 This picture looks like a BP or other fast pyrotechnic mixture ignited to me. The colors have been changed, so that the smoke looks green and the sparks orange.
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