pyroguy1960 Posted December 6, 2010 Author Posted December 6, 2010 Yes they crumble very easily when they come out of the plate, so easily in fact I have to be careful to eject them softly. Also, if you're drying them in a cold area, they take longer to dry. I dry my stuff in my garage which is almost like a freezer in the winter, I've noticed things take twice as long to dry when it's really cold. Make sure you have a fan blowing over them, increases the drying time 10 fold for me. That 12 ton press I bought was really cheap and works well, picked it up for 150.00 at harbor freight tools, my best pyro investment so far.
pogue1000 Posted December 6, 2010 Posted December 6, 2010 (edited) I have been drying mine in a food dehydrator and had it in there for about 4 days and figured it should of been dry. I ended up just unplugging it this weekend.Its very cold here as well. We are getting 5 inches of snow today! I went to harbor freight on friday and was looking at that press. They had it on sale for 130 and I had a 20% coupon. I should of picked it up.I ended up getting the 12 ton air hydraulic jack and figured I could get the press later and upgrade the jack. I thought the air jack would be nice,but still kind of a pain though because you have to turn the valve for it to release. Yes they crumble very easily when they come out of the plate, so easily in fact I have to be careful to eject them softly. Also, if you're drying them in a cold area, they take longer to dry. I dry my stuff in my garage which is almost like a freezer in the winter, I've noticed things take twice as long to dry when it's really cold. Make sure you have a fan blowing over them, increases the drying time 10 fold for me. That 12 ton press I bought was really cheap and works well, picked it up for 150.00 at harbor freight tools, my best pyro investment so far. Edited December 6, 2010 by pogue1000
pyroguy1960 Posted December 6, 2010 Author Posted December 6, 2010 Yea that kinda stinks, they should make it a lever at least, but I guess on something that basic it's wishful thinking. At least you don't have to sit there pumping the thing up. I have found that the shop press/star plate method is the most efficient, less wastefull way to make stars for me. I can crank out about 1200 stars in under a half hour even with the manual press and the resulting stars are very uniform in size. Can't really argue with the efficiency benefits.
pyroguy1960 Posted January 1, 2011 Author Posted January 1, 2011 Just an update to this, I shot another 8inch hardt gold brocade tonight, but this time I used 3/4" inch stars instead of 1/2". I actually liked the original smaller stars alot better.... 8 inch shell with 3/4 inch stars 8inchgoldbrocade.75stars.wmv 8 inch shell with 1/2 inch stars goldstreamer.wmv
dagabu Posted January 2, 2011 Posted January 2, 2011 I agree, the smaller stars sure did a nice job of filling the sky.
Updup Posted January 9, 2011 Posted January 9, 2011 I agree, the smaller stars sure did a nice job of filling the sky. In such a large shell, whats to prevent doubleing up the star layers? It would be alot more stars, and give a very full effect no?
ExplosiveCoek Posted January 9, 2011 Posted January 9, 2011 Yeah, and a big ugly break. Just use smaller stars, it's better for the symmetrie too.
pyroguy1960 Posted January 9, 2011 Author Posted January 9, 2011 An additional note, when I first started this hobby which was not too recently I tried that same logic and in practice it is like he said, the break get's all messed up, dump fill is fine for really small shells when you're not looking for a nice big round break. But otherwise I haven't had good results doubling up layers of stars in the bigger shells.
ExplosiveCoek Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 The shell's I saw where he used those double layers wheren't really nice IMHO. It just gives your petal a 'messy' look.
pyrojig Posted January 15, 2011 Posted January 15, 2011 Those sure are wonderful shells! Where these canisters or round shells? I was assuming they where round , by the look of the break.
Mumbles Posted January 15, 2011 Posted January 15, 2011 There has to be some secret to using double layers of stars. I've seen some very good examples, and some mediocre samples. As a thought, I would think it would be less noticable in chrysanthemum shells and when using smaller stars.
FREAKYDUTCHMEN Posted January 15, 2011 Posted January 15, 2011 Only for certain kind of shells and stars it can be very nice. For symmetry it's definitely better to choose for warimono type shells.
davis050594 Posted January 15, 2011 Posted January 15, 2011 Warimono being single layer of stars? Here's something I just thought about, are ferro ti and feti the same thing? Does either of them have anything to do with iron?
pyrokid Posted January 15, 2011 Posted January 15, 2011 Warimono being single layer of stars? Here's something I just thought about, are ferro ti and feti the same thing? Does either of them have anything to do with iron? Hey Davis, Yes, FeTi and ferro Ti are the same thing, an alloy of iron and titanium. It can give some very nice effects as you have seen.
davis050594 Posted January 15, 2011 Posted January 15, 2011 Wow I just put those two together, I had always thought ferro was just another size/type of ti. Like sponge, spherical etc
ExplosiveCoek Posted January 16, 2011 Posted January 16, 2011 (edited) Warimono is a certain way how to build your shell, also described by Shimizu in FAST. Yes, it's one layer of stars. With a strong burstcharge to give a big, round, break. Edited January 16, 2011 by ExplosiveCoek
VintageRacer Posted March 24, 2011 Posted March 24, 2011 So I've found the winning comp, this is an 8" shell and could have probably been a little better with larger stars, but still it was very nice. Sorry for the shaky camera work and the peanut gallery. Thanks to Karlos & Gorski for comfirming the comp offline before I tried it. KNO3 - 29Pine C - 34Sulfur - 6FeTi (mixed) - 25 Dextrin - 6 goldstreamer.wmv [#10171] You do not have permission to view this attachment. Is it possible this file no longer exists, or maybe I can't view because I'm a new member? DanB
Updup Posted March 24, 2011 Posted March 24, 2011 [#10171] You do not have permission to view this attachment. Is it possible this file no longer exists, or maybe I can't view because I'm a new member? DanB Try it now, it should work. When you first sign up with the site, you are a member, and cannot open attachments or start a new thread. Once you make at least one post, you are promoted to full member, and can start foruming to the max . It's to prevent spammers.
VintageRacer Posted March 24, 2011 Posted March 24, 2011 Try it now, it should work. When you first sign up with the site, you are a member, and cannot open attachments or start a new thread. Once you make at least one post, you are promoted to full member, and can start foruming to the max . It's to prevent spammers. Yes it did work and thank you! A friend recommended me to this site, so I'm in to give it a whirl. Seen some familiar nicknames which is nice! Dan B
pyroguy1960 Posted March 24, 2011 Author Posted March 24, 2011 By the way Dagabu, you had asked a while ago if this comp works with commercial airfloat, it indeed does, looks pretty much identical.
VintageRacer Posted March 24, 2011 Posted March 24, 2011 Hi Dan Greetings Sir, nice place! It might take me a while to get used to the different wallpaper though.Thanks for having me.
Updup Posted March 24, 2011 Posted March 24, 2011 Greetings Sir, nice place! It might take me a while to get used to the different wallpaper though.Thanks for having me. FYI, You can change the theme to somthing that suits you better if you like. If you scroll all the way down, right next to the language selection box ( which you might want to explore, since we have a whopping number of choices ), is the theme selection box. My favorite is APC Lite.
50AE Posted March 24, 2011 Posted March 24, 2011 Has someone tried to substitute the FeTi with metals such as Al, MgAl, or Fe? Can a similar effect be achieved with one of them or a mix?
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