pyroguy1960 Posted December 24, 2010 Author Posted December 24, 2010 Think I spoke to soon about that gun, I don't really mind the fact that it's used but upon close inspection, the plug is blown out of the bottom already. I tried to bang it back in flush with a mallet but it won't budge, what do you think useable?
davis050594 Posted December 24, 2010 Posted December 24, 2010 You better give them a call. Make sure you give them a chance to explain because it could be an honest mistake, but with a purchase this big you better get the right product. You would think they would at least re-plug the tube for you with a wood plug
Seymour Posted December 24, 2010 Posted December 24, 2010 (edited) Sorry, our club shoots around 65,000 shells a year, we use mostly HDPE because of durability but on big shows we borrow guns and I still have to yet to see any gun fail as long as it didn't detonate inside the gun. I really dont agree with your statement about the fiberglass at all, they work well and have good lives, if someone gets fiberglass under their skin, wear better gloves. I don't think the damaged mortars were due to being fired, I believe it was rough handling that put the holes in them. Obviously that's avoidable, by simply treating them with respect, but had they been HDPE they'd be intact. I'm not saying Fibreglass is unsuitable for mortars, but it's not at the top of my list. Better gloves? I was wearing no gloves! This one is my problem, definitely. Think I spoke to soon about that gun, I don't really mind the fact that it's used but upon close inspection, the plug is blown out of the bottom already. I tried to bang it back in flush with a mallet but it won't budge, what do you think useable? Good luck, I hope you get that sorted out, and look forward to seeing the videos of the big shells! Edited December 24, 2010 by Seymour
Mumbles Posted December 24, 2010 Posted December 24, 2010 How come we dont get to see all of the crossettes here too? Dont worry, Eric doesn't troll here too. Eric is actually a member here. Anyway, I've shot double break 5" shells from fiberglass before, and have seen triple break 5" shells from fiberglass before. A guy I build with on occasion believes anything under 10lbs can go out of fiberglass. I've done 3 break 3" shells from fiberglass too. These were all buried mind you, never racked or staked. I have a good set of steel now, so I probably wont be risking it in the future.
dagabu Posted December 24, 2010 Posted December 24, 2010 Eric is actually a member here. Anyway, I've shot double break 5" shells from fiberglass before, and have seen triple break 5" shells from fiberglass before. A guy I build with on occasion believes anything under 10lbs can go out of fiberglass. I've done 3 break 3" shells from fiberglass too. These were all buried mind you, never racked or staked. I have a good set of steel now, so I probably wont be risking it in the future. Shutter!!!
pyroguy1960 Posted December 24, 2010 Author Posted December 24, 2010 So is that gun usable in that state?
pyroguy1960 Posted December 25, 2010 Author Posted December 25, 2010 Final result of the 8" crossette shell 8inch_silvercrossette.wmv
dagabu Posted December 25, 2010 Posted December 25, 2010 BRAVO!! I really liked that shell, I am a big fan of variegated timing. Great job!
pyroguy1960 Posted December 25, 2010 Author Posted December 25, 2010 Thanks the staggered timing wasn't intentional, but it worked out pretty well anyway. Thanks to all those who helped along the way!
Algenco Posted December 25, 2010 Posted December 25, 2010 I think it was excellent for your first attempt, you now have a baseline for improvements
davis050594 Posted December 25, 2010 Posted December 25, 2010 That was beautiful. Was that titanium or aluminum? I don't believe I have seen a bright mettalic tail on crossettes. All the imported ones are color and everything else is charcoal. IMO the best part about the mettalic tail is that it hid the flash, I can't stand seeing a flash break in a charcoal star, it just doesn't look good. Do you have any glitter crossettes? I would love to see a color tipped glitter to crossette. Don't know if that's possible though.
pyroguy1960 Posted December 25, 2010 Author Posted December 25, 2010 I'm very partial to Ti, that's what these were. I love the nice bright white sparks it produces. The only drawback is it stratches the crap out of the tooling. I think the method I used for the break 50/50 bp/70-30 flash goes a long way twoards hiding the flash as well. That was the only crossette I have at the moment, to be honest I don't see one in my near future either as it was a little too much work for me. I got an email out to wolter to see if he'll make me a 1" star plate for crosettes to cut down on the pressing time. I know firesmith makes one, but I like the coating that wolter puts on his tooling.
Mumbles Posted December 26, 2010 Posted December 26, 2010 I'm glad to see it worked out. It was very nice for shotless. To seeminly take a lot of the work out of making crossette shells, I tend to press a bunch over the winter months so I have them ready for the summer. I know you may not like it, but another way to make them go farther is to use smaller shells. It may not seem the 1" crossettes can fit in much smaller of a shell, but you're forgetting about canisters. They fit very nicely into a 4" shell, and you use 1/4 as many.
pyroguy1960 Posted December 26, 2010 Author Posted December 26, 2010 (edited) I thought about canisters as well and have a copy of Fulcanelli. However since I haven't been able to successfully make a reliable 2FA powder yet, I didn't want to launch any large canister shells with the goex 2fg I've been using as I would think they'll be much weaker and susceptible to time fuse blow-through causing flowerpots as compared to ball shells. I suppose I could try a few 4 inchers though because as you mention I would be able to better arrange the larger comets. I must admit though I do really like the break pattern of the warimono style shells and have not found canister breaks appealing. One of the main problems I had pressing the crossettes was due to the fact that they were Ti comets. I imagine I would have been able to press them in half the time if they didn't contain any gritty metals. Much of my time was spent pounding the tooling apart after pressing one, a proper extraction sleeve would have been nice too. I'm curious to hear Rich's response about the plate, would be a real time-saver to press 20 or so at a time.Problem is now that I've seen them, I like the effect and want to make more. My addiction grows more insatiable. Edited December 26, 2010 by jms04081974
pyroguy1960 Posted December 26, 2010 Author Posted December 26, 2010 Algenco, I think my main problem was having an inferior mill. That's why I bought the new lortone C40. The thumblers mill I was using I was unable to load the barrell halfway with media because it wouldn't spin. So the powder I've milled so far I've only been able to fill the barrell about a 1/4 of the way with media. Now i think I'll be able to put a proper charge of media and comp in it and that will probably resolve my issue. I was also using pine charcoal as it's the only other charcoal I had besides commercial airfloat. I've bought a few pounds of black willow. So all that being said I'm going to mill a new batch with the proper media and comp charge using the black willow charcoal, I imagine this will eliminate all my issues. Then once I've been successfull with that I can move on to making my own charcaol for BP. So more to come on this, I appreciate your offer for help. If you see anything wrong with this approach let me know.
Algenco Posted December 26, 2010 Posted December 26, 2010 I think you have it worked out, white pine makes decent lift, other varieties are good for sparks I'm still using the little harbor freight mill, Powlownia charcoal makes up for inferior milling. Anxious to get my large mill together and see the results
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