madmax247 Posted June 10, 2010 Posted June 10, 2010 Hey everyone! Id like to ask, what are your proffered breaking methods for 5 inch and below shells and canisters? Ive been having major trouble breaking my plastic shells, they just do a pathetic pop and then the contents just falls out like a waterfall (which yes is quite cool) but i use granulated and some flash... Is BP coated rice hulls the best? Ive tried using rice crispies instead of rice hulls but its still not doing the job properly!
Xtreme Pyro Posted June 10, 2010 Posted June 10, 2010 Hey everyone! Id like to ask, what are your proffered breaking methods for 5 inch and below shells and canisters? Ive been having major trouble breaking my plastic shells, they just do a pathetic pop and then the contents just falls out like a waterfall (which yes is quite cool) but i use granulated and some flash... Is BP coated rice hulls the best? Ive tried using rice crispies instead of rice hulls but its still not doing the job properly! Plastic shells are tricky to get good breaks on. Are you pasting your shells, or using strapping tape? If you aren't I suggest you try it as it will make your break better. Also, try using a couple grams of whistle as a booster if your BP coated hulls aren't doing a good job by themselves as a burst charge.
dagabu Posted June 10, 2010 Posted June 10, 2010 Plastic is tricky, strapping tape has to be laid down evenly to cover all the area and a fast break must be used just like XP said. A full 5% of whistle coating your break will help a lot in getting the shell to open nicely but better yet is to use a flash bag in the center of the shell. 5 grams of good 70:30 in the center of a 4" plastic shell with stars (no BP for break) filing the rest of the shell will give you all the fire and pressure you need. Lloyd E. Sponenburgh came up with this design and he can make cheap crappy shells look full and well built using this method. Passfire, January, 2006 Issue
Mumbles Posted June 10, 2010 Posted June 10, 2010 Lloyd's method made use of 80g of 4FA black powder mixed in amongst the stars in addition to the flash break.
marks265 Posted June 11, 2010 Posted June 11, 2010 Hey everyone! Id like to ask, what are your proffered breaking methods for 5 inch and below shells and canisters? Ive been having major trouble breaking my plastic shells, they just do a pathetic pop and then the contents just falls out like a waterfall (which yes is quite cool) but i use granulated and some flash... Is BP coated rice hulls the best? Ive tried using rice crispies instead of rice hulls but its still not doing the job properly! Well Madmax it almost sounds like you are almost an expert at horsetails. This is one of those questions that rely on experimentation. If you are making your own bp it opens up to a wide range of how much pep is in the powder. Then adding flash or a booster changes things even more. Usually boosting with H3 or using kp coated hulls is where I would go for smaller shells. Try putting up a 3 or 4 inch shell with 4 or 5:1 kp (75-15-10) on hulls and see what happens. Once close then consider adding or subtracting paste layers or changing the ratio of kp to hull weight. When confined Kp pressurizes quickly (as compared to BP) and is good for smaller shells and bigger breaks. Flash is really not needed IMO and is an irratating retina burner for shells. Hope this helps ya! Mark
al93535 Posted June 11, 2010 Posted June 11, 2010 We need more information. Black powder coated rice hulls, or rice crispies. Where did you get the BP? Homemade? Is it milled? Is it lift quality BP? What ratio of BP to the carrier are you using? I use KP for my plastic shells, down to 4". 64 KClO4, 5 sulfur, 5 dextrin and 26 commercial hardwood airfloat screened twice through a 60 mesh. for a 4" I add 2 grams of flash. 67 KCO4, 5 sulfur, 28 10890 aluminum powder (american dark eqiv, -400 mesh). I use a ratio of 6:1 for my hulls... however in reality some never adheres so its less. For rice crispies I have gone by volume, because rice cripies weigh ALOT more then hulls. Methylene chloride is added to the seam and pressed together. You can use xylene.... just make sure the solvent has completely evaporated before firing!!! I do not paste anything on plastic.
Mumbles Posted June 11, 2010 Posted June 11, 2010 I've never been able to get any decent breaks on plastic shells without using reinforcement of some sort. I've switched over to all paper now. It might not be as fast as plastic, but I feel like it gives me better and more consistent performance. I have used Lloyd S' method with good success however. A lot of people have success with a few paste layers over the top of the plastic. The first one is hard to get to lay down, but they go pretty well after that. I've heard that the booster helps to get it to break bigger, while pasting and reinforcement help to make it break more symmetrically. Al makes some beautiful plastic shells, as does another member here by the name of qwezxc12. It sounds like you need more booster, and potentially a little reinforcement.
swervedriver Posted June 14, 2010 Posted June 14, 2010 Here's a round plastic 5" using ~5g of 7:3 flash boost dumped in the center, BP on hulls. Nothing special about the stars, but it broke ok. I use fast BP on the hulls, confinement is the key. 300lb tensile strapping tape for reinforcing-
Cookieman Posted June 23, 2010 Posted June 23, 2010 Here's a round plastic 5" using ~5g of 7:3 flash boost dumped in the center, BP on hulls. Nothing special about the stars, but it broke ok. I use fast BP on the hulls, confinement is the key. 300lb tensile strapping tape for reinforcing- I always love watching your shells Swerve, they break so well.Great job!!
madmax247 Posted June 23, 2010 Author Posted June 23, 2010 Im sorry for such a later reply!! But i shall provide all the information: All i do with the plastic shells is super glue the rims of the two hemispheres and thats it. I was told that plastic shells generally are not the way to go and the original art of paper and pasting is best. I just went for plastic because i was eager to get into pyro when i found out that it was possible to make amazing shells MYSELF! Anyway... my BP (granulated) should be award winning (not to sound cocky ) I had Seymour (for those of you who know him) round mine once and we made a big 5 inch cannister shell and used about 10% lift as usual and it managed to blow the mortar to pieces at the bottom... Im using rice crispies instead of rice hulls, granulated black powder is really good quality and broke the first 4 inch shells perfectly but required so much of the powder that i needed an alternative. The black powder is milled for at least 8 hours using high quality chemicals. I have only tried using flash or BP as breaks before. I can try using whistle and KP or even H3 now that i have a lot more stock.
swervedriver Posted June 24, 2010 Posted June 24, 2010 I always love watching your shells Swerve, they break so well.Great job!! Hey thanks cookieman. That 5" break worked, but it's still flawed. You can still see the hemi's equator in the break, and the stars do not travel as evenly spaced and equidistant from the center of the break as paper shells can do. I still like 'em though . I like the ease of assembly of plastic, some purists put plastic down for various reasons, and I understand why. In the end, paper makes better shells anyway, I just don't have the patience to dial them in. Any flash of light that does occur from 7:3 flash booster doesn't bother me, I don't relate to that point of view, so just my opinion. I've boosted with slow flash and whistle too, they both make a bright flash as well. You have to use twice as much or more of them as 7:3 for the same effect. To each his own! Hi Madmax, maybe try using a plastic cement that will actually fuse those plastic hemis together instead of super glue. Super glue is just a mechanical bond, and a brittle one at that. They also need reinforcement of paper or strapping tape, or they'll hose/horsetail, except for the really small shells like maybe 2" and down. peace
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