1" can shells

[d4j0n]

This is a great project for the small scale pyro and can be shot without gathering much unwanted attention.

 

Materials needed:

 

-visco of choice, I prefer american 3/32" as it gives me both reliability and a maximum of empty volume I have to fill inside of the shell.

-1" cupsets, cheaply bought from cannonfuse.com or you can make your own.

-hot glue, woodglue, masking tape, tweezers, etc

 

 

http://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/1incannister/1incannister1.jpghttp://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/1incannister/1incannister2.jpg

Using a razor, start by cutting a .5" legnth of fuse at a slant with a little extra. Using a .5" x 1.5" piece of masking tape, roll around the fuse tightly. Later on after experimentation adjust this step as needed, of course.

 

 

http://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/1incannister/1incannister3.jpghttp://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/1incannister/1incannister4.jpg

Drill a 5/32" hole in the smaller half of the cannister (shorter half if you bought from cannonfuse.com). Push the fuse through and hot glue it in place. I smear a bit of hot melt glue on the end of the tape to keep it from unraveling. Ideally the exposed part of the fuse on the inside should be at the center of the shell.

 

http://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/1incannister/1incannister5.jpg

Wrap a piece of thin paper (newspaper works, I'm using thin kraft here) around an AAA sized battery and smear a bit of white glue to hold in place.

 

http://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/1incannister/1incannister6.jpghttp://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/1incannister/1incannister7.jpg

Hold the tube with tweezers and hot melt glue one edge on the high setting (if you have high and low settings) and quicky press it into the center of the shell.

 

http://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/1incannister/1incannister8.jpghttp://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/1incannister/1incannister9.jpg

Use the bigger half (longer half if you bought from cannonfuse) as a stand to hold the shell upright and protect the exposed slant cut of the fuse. Fill the cavity with granulated bp and a pinch of flash. You will almost certainly adjust flash as needed later on so try to use a tool you can measure relatively consistently with...I swear to god a .02g change in flash makes the biggest difference in report.

 

http://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/1incannister/1incannister10.jpghttp://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/1incannister/1incannister11.jpg

Sprinkle some bp on the bottom of the shell. Here I'm using bp fines that fell out when I sifted my lift with the same strainer I made it with. I find that fine bp is easier to work with than the meal. Add stars around the central burst. Here I'm using cut Akwapo and Chrysanthemum #8 stars that are around 3/16".

 

http://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/1incannister/1incannister12.jpghttp://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/1incannister/1incannister13.jpg

Add another layer of bp between the crevices of the stars so that the first layer is covered. Add more stars, cover with bp, etc. I fit 18 stars in this particular shell.

 

http://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/1incannister/1incannister14.jpghttp://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/1incannister/1incannister15.jpg

Stretch out the bigger empty half of the shell so it can easily fit over the filled smaller half. Holding the fuse, apply wood glue around the small half of the shell, taking care to cover the top edge. Close the shell, making sure both halves are as far into each other as possible. Wipe off excess and squeeze it in a 1" tube to dry. Commercial tubes are good for this because the diameter at the edge of the tube is smaller than the shell.

 

http://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/1incannister/1incannister16.jpghttp://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/1incannister/1incannister17.jpg

Measure out your lift. The standard 1/10th of the shell's weight doesn't apply to small shells. Here I'm using a little over 3 grams. If you are firing many shells from the same mortar, a nice way to store the shells is to measure out the appropriate lift in a film cannister and drop the shell in with the lift and cap the whole thing off.

 

A 6" tall mortar is good enough to fire the shells. Drill a hole .5" from the base and side fuse the mortar. The shell should easily drop to the bottom of the mortar unassisted if you sealed the shell tightly enough. If using commercial 1" tubes as mortars, I suggest smearing the inside edge of the top of the tube with some diluted glue and mashing them out with the side of a pencil. This will get open up the slightly smaller ID edge of the tube resulting from machine cutting and keep it from unraveling after a few shots of the mortar.

 

http://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/video/1in_c8akwa.jpg

Video of the shell made as described. Windy day, though.

 

 

http://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/video/1in_gwav2.jpg

Video of a shell made as described with larger Shimizu Golden Wave #1 stars. The stars were quite fast burning and were made larger than those in this tutorial.

[inkjet]

Great tutorial. I did one or two of these on the 4th, but i tried to spike them, so they were very tight in the 1" tube. Next time i try i wont spike them, i guess they do have pretty thick walls anyway. I don't have divx, so i can't watch the video, but i'm wondering if you get ok breaks without a whistle or flash booster.

[Grizzly]

Very nice mini man, thanks for the tutorial.

[d4j0n]

Yeah, I find spiking isn't really necessary given the scale of the thing unless you make slightly smaller cupsets yourself...but IMO it's not worth the time, effort, and limit of precious space within the shell. Not alot of traditional rules apply to these tiny things...kind of just mess around until you get it right.

 

Breaks are achievable without whistle or flash booster, but the stars kind of just fall out. Still do-able, though.

 

I guess I'll post some non-divx'ed videos later. I really wish Microsoft would add it to list of codecs to download automatically though....

[Von Bass`]

Nice! I've just started making shells, so this has come at an excellent time!

 

Am I correct in saying that you use a six inch mortar to fire these?? That seems very short to me, is there any harm in using anything longer?

 

I shouldnt think so, but if thats all thats needed it would be much easier to transport the mortar to my test site

[Pretty green flame]

D4jon, excelent tutorial. I have always been a fan of small shells as i prefer to make a lot of small ones and if made correctly they provide one hell of a show. These mini shells should be excelent for small shell inserts too. Thanks for that, pyrocreations can expect an order for some cup sets.

 

[d4j0n]

So I'm a lazy consumer whore.

 

I'm sure you can use longer mortars, but 6" tubes can easily be bought along with the cute plastic bases. I wouldn't know of the performance improvement by using longer tubes, though, but please post your findings. Commercial tubes are useful timesavers for making cakes (competition idea!)...something I need to get around to doing but I will probably put it off and not do it til summer next year.

[pyrochris]

So I'm a lazy consumer whore.

 

I'm sure you can use longer mortars, but 6" tubes can easily be bought along with the cute plastic bases. I wouldn't know of the performance improvement by using longer tubes, though, but please post your findings. Commercial tubes are useful timesavers for making cakes (competition idea!)...something I need to get around to doing but I will probably put it off and not do it til summer next year.

longer the tube = higher it goes with more stability. very nice indeed!

[d4j0n]

Yeah, I know it's supposed to go higher with a longer tube but I'm not sure that it would make any difference on this small scale is what I meant.

[Von Bass`]

Yeah, I know it's supposed to go higher with a longer tube but I'm not sure that it would make any difference on this small scale is what I meant.

right, Ill cut a 6" 10" and 15" tube from my megatube and post my findings

 

EDIT: sorry for taking a bit to get back, but I now believe that 10 inch is about best.

 

Both 10 inch and 15 inch looked to get much higher than 6 inch, but there was much less of an increase in burst height once i got above 12 inches, also it started to look kinda small at 15 inch tube height.

 

(I was adusting the length of fuse so it was bursting a bit later, thus giving the shell chance to head higher)

[omijam]

no pictures... no videos...

could them be posted again?

also, the same is happening in other tutorials

please moderators provide sugestions on how to avois this to happend

[Senz]

can you fix the pictures please?

[TheSidewinder]

Looks like the pictures and videos, which were hosted elsewhere, have been removed.

 

Unfortunately, the OP hasn't been around for months, either.

 

It's too bad. I seem to recall this being a decent tutorial.

 

(All the more reason for Users to put their submissions here on APC as attachments or in the new Gallery/Downloads.)

[d4j0n]

A few years later and I stumble upon the APC once again. I feel that this is a very valuable tutorial all beginning (or even seasoned) shell makers should do. Discreet, fun, fast, inexpensive, portable. In spirit of the 4th, here is a repost of the tutorial with pictures:

 

This is a great project for the small scale pyro and can be shot without gathering much unwanted attention.

 

Materials needed:

 

-visco of choice, I prefer american 3/32" as it gives me both reliability and a maximum of empty volume I have to fill inside of the shell.

-1" cupsets, cheaply bought from cannonfuse.com or you can make your own.

-hot glue, woodglue, masking tape, tweezers, etc

 

 

 

Using a razor, start by cutting a .5" legnth of fuse at a slant with a little extra. Using a .5" x 1.5" piece of masking tape, roll around the fuse tightly. Later on after experimentation adjust this step as needed, of course.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3391/3649440743_cb62efe8d2_m.jpghttp://farm4.static.flickr.com/3381/3650244990_20eda1da8d_m.jpg

 

 

Drill a 5/32" hole in the smaller half of the cannister (shorter half if you bought from cannonfuse.com). Push the fuse through and hot glue it in place. I smear a bit of hot melt glue on the end of the tape to keep it from unraveling. Ideally the exposed part of the fuse on the inside should be at the center of the shell.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3344/3650245012_d9ba034171_m.jpghttp://farm3.static.flickr.com/2444/3650245036_938b7f5cec_m.jpg

 

Wrap a piece of thin paper (newspaper works, I'm using thin kraft here) around an AAA sized battery and smear a bit of white glue to hold in place.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3544/3650245080_7858398945_m.jpg

 

Hold the tube with tweezers and hot melt glue one edge on the high setting (if you have high and low settings) and quicky press it into the center of the shell.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3627/3649440947_4fc2068289_m.jpghttp://farm4.static.flickr.com/3337/3650245144_2973d0163c_m.jpg

 

Use the bigger half (longer half if you bought from cannonfuse) as a stand to hold the shell upright and protect the exposed slant cut of the fuse. Fill the cavity with granulated bp and a pinch of flash. You will almost certainly adjust flash as needed later on so try to use a tool you can measure relatively consistently with...I swear to god a .02g change in flash makes the biggest difference in report and break strength.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3395/3649441017_56505e2bb2_m.jpghttp://farm4.static.flickr.com/3628/3649441055_39dec43c50_m.jpg

 

Sprinkle some bp on the bottom of the shell. Here I'm using bp fines that fell out when I sifted my lift with the same strainer I made it with. I find that fine bp is easier to work with than the meal. Add stars around the central burst. Here I'm using cut Akwapo and Chrysanthemum #8 stars that are around 3/16".

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2442/3649441095_f83b8f4c3a_m.jpg

 

Add another layer of bp between the crevices of the stars so that the first layer is covered. Add more stars, cover with bp, etc. I fit 18 stars in this particular shell.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3657/3649441171_821e451962_m.jpghttp://farm4.static.flickr.com/3581/3650245400_79a80ce31c_m.jpg

 

Stretch out the bigger empty half of the shell so it can easily fit over the filled smaller half. Holding the fuse, apply wood glue around the small half of the shell, taking care to cover the top edge. Close the shell, making sure both halves are as far into each other as possible. Wipe off excess and squeeze it in a 1" tube to dry. Commercial tubes are good for this because the diameter at the edge of the tube is smaller than the shell.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3389/3649441263_03414c7e1a_m.jpghttp://farm4.static.flickr.com/3330/3649441287_617b052609_m.jpg

 

Measure out your lift. The standard 1/10th of the shell's weight doesn't apply to small shells. Here I'm using a little over 3 grams. If you are firing many shells from the same mortar, a nice way to store the shells is to measure out the appropriate lift in a film cannister and drop the shell in with the lift and cap the whole thing off.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3360/3649441331_b59b5bc106_m.jpghttp://farm4.static.flickr.com/3416/3650245514_ca84bff517_m.jpg

 

A 6" tall mortar is good enough to fire the shells. Drill a hole .5" from the base and side fuse the mortar. The shell should easily drop to the bottom of the mortar unassisted if you sealed the shell tightly enough. If using commercial 1" tubes as mortars, I suggest smearing the inside edge of the top of the tube with some diluted glue and mashing them out with the side of a pencil. This will get open up the slightly smaller ID edge of the tube resulting from machine cutting and keep it from unraveling after a few shots of the mortar.

 

 

***REMEMBER, if you want to make larger quantities, always do one step at a time for ALL shells, i.e. cut all fuses first, wrap them all, then drill, etc. This saves a lot more time than you think.***

 

http://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/video/1in_c8akwa.jpg

Video of the shell made as described. Windy day, though.

 

http://d4j0n.freepgs.com/pyro/video/1in_gwav2.jpg

Video of a shell made as described with larger Shimizu Golden Wave #1 stars. The stars were quite fast burning and were made larger than those in this tutorial.

Edited June 22, 2009 by d4j0n

[Ventsi]

Haha, I use the EXACT same method as you do exept I ditch the powder core and use bigger stars[4-7 satrs in one] and use some hot , hard burst. most of the time I use a colour rising tail and something like TT or glitter stars for the break, It looks really good you should try it!

[Swede]

I've got about 40 of these ready for loading, but there's not much room... got to make some really small stars. These would be cool as a cake or simply chaining a few tubes together.

 

Excellent tutorial, I like the small, stealthy stuff.

Edited June 24, 2009 by Swede

[Ventsi]

Swede , I recommend you lift them with BenzoLift, out of the tens of these I've shot w/ BP only ONE went up to acceptable height.

 

Do a test or two first .You don't want them falling on the ground, All I've been busy doing these days.

[50AE]

I do the same with kinder egg casings, with the exception that I use epoxy glue (it's very strong) and I make a lift bag from tissue paper.

 

Very good tutorial though. I'd like to find some of these casings cheaply from somewhere, like Swede did.

[Swede]

Ventsi, did you have a decent fit of the shell to the tube? Was your lift good stuff? I'm surprised BP didn't do well. I'll definitely do some tests with a few dummy shells. I also need to determine what sort of height I need for timing. All my "time fuses" ended up being closer to 3/4" rather than 1/2" because I used a faster chinese visco of about 0.078" diameter. My best visco was 0.125" American, and it was too fat - took up too much room inside the shell.

[Ventsi]

Oh yeah , they fit just fine, and my lift is pretty decent, not the best around but it lifts my 2"ers high enough for 3''ers.

 

I dont know , even when I tried to make a mine cake out of 1'' tubes with 3g BP behind each shot, they went no-where

 

IMO they are too big to recieve a napkin plug on top and too small to make bag mines, if I cant get them working I'll sell all my tubes ,

,even most of 1/4 wall ones

[d4j0n]

Oh yeah , they fit just fine, and my lift is pretty decent, not the best around but it lifts my 2"ers high enough for 3''ers.

 

I dont know , even when I tried to make a mine cake out of 1'' tubes with 3g BP behind each shot, they went no-where

 

IMO they are too big to recieve a napkin plug on top and too small to make bag mines, if I cant get them working I'll sell all my tubes ,

,even most of 1/4 wall ones

 

 

Works fine per instructions I provided. Someone said that they have really good results with 12" tubes. Make sure that the tubes you are using are a real close fit, close to the point that while the glue on the shells is still drying, it should be a snug plug-like fit in the tube. Once the glue dries, they should be able to slide freely within the tubes.