Lazy Man Shell Pasting Ideas

[usapyro]

I personally cannot stomach more than two layers of three strip pasting on a four or six inch shell... So much so that I am actually considering getting a stinger when I have the spare cash, even though I will probably only ever make around 100 shells a year... LoL!

 

But for now the main thing I do to make sure of a decent burst is to use gorilla white expanding glue on the seam of the shell. Probably should use epoxy... Not sure whats best...

 

I just had a big LIGHTBULB moment... You know that 1mm to 1.5mm cardboard paper? I am thinking of cutting that stuff into triangles and using wheat paste to layer it on... Then using a couple layers of three strip pasting. What might be even easier is using glue soaked newspaper and make a second shell to encase my purchased hemi's... But with an alternated rotation! Hmmm...

 

Anyone have any better ideas?

[dan999ification]

ive seen plastic hemis that have two sets and are rotated from plasticos gamon no need to paste them, if you make your own i would like the outer to be rock hard like wood or coconuts like my hemis and tubes i think this would improve symetry once dialled in because the burst has four seams to break open it depends what you want from them, if they were over pasted which might not be to many layers consiering two sets of hemis it wouldnt open from the four seams but crack it open like an egg which could ruin some shells.

if you make your own hemis from newspaper you may as well take the time to properly paste your shells,

if your sick of pasting make some cans, less pasting no strips, more space inside for inserts etc

dan

[Seymour]

There certainly are lazier alternatives to the three strip pasting methods, ones that can be much less labour intensive, though just as, or nearly as effective.

 

At the laziest end of the scale is what I call the "tennis ball pattern. In this system two wide strips that go about three quarters of the way around the shell, so that they "mate, much like the two green pieces of felt on a tennis ball. So here we get one layer over the whole shell in two strips, while with the three strip method you get from the tropic of cancer to the south pole in two strips (even though they are smaller more manageable pieces).

 

There are many other methods using wider strips, to make life easier, but here are three consistent factors of them (or at least if they're to be done well).

 

-When cutting the strips, make sure the direction of the grain (the direction most fibres are pointing) is going at right angles to the length of the strip.

 

-Before you glue the strips to the shell, coat them all in wheat paste, and then cover them to prevent drying out, and let it soak in for half an hour, overnight, or however long your lifestyle permits. This makes the paper soft, and often expand, so that it becomes much more flexable, and the wide strips easily lay flat, where a freshly pasted strip would leave a mess of ridges and air pockets.

 

-Whatever pattern you do, paper will overlap in some places, not others, and give an uneven thickness in that layer, and the bigger the strips, they tend to do this more. Rotating your pattern so that the areas more heavily built up on one layer, now get less paper pasted on the second layer, considerably reduces this effect.

 

As for your idea with the thin card/thick paper, that could work, though I'm not sure why you'd want to use triangles, however I'm not sure it would have the same strength as ordinary pasting. That said, don't let that stop you giving it a go!

 

My ideal compromise between laziness and quality is to use Kraft that is not nearly 1mm, but about as heavy as Kraft can get. After a good few hours soaking in paste I'd paste one layer per inch diameter, using a pattern perhaps not quite as lazy as a tennis ball, more like two full rotations of the paper strips around the shell, and shorter strips cover the four slivers left un-pasted, as described by Shimizu on page 250 of F.A.S.T.

 

If you can't get double thickness kraft, two layers per inch is rather typical for more "ordinary" kradt. Unfortunately I've never known the weight of the kraft I've used, so my descriptions are more vague than is to be desired.

[50AE]

Oh, the lazy people... Laziness is a great key to poor results and PITA.

 

I prefer pasting thoroughly a lot, using the proper thickness of paper and enjoying the final burst with happiness

Now that I have mastered the 3 strip method, I can paste very fast, like 30 minutes for a 4" shell (12 layers)

Edited May 28, 2011 by 50AE

[dan999ification]

Oh, the lazy people... Laziness is a great key to poor results and PITA.

 

I prefer pasting thoroughly a lot, using the proper thickness of paper and enjoying the final burst with happiness

Now that I have mastered the 3 strip method, I can paste very fast, like 30 minutes for a 4" shell (12 layers)

 

 

i agree since i learned my pasting and 3 strip from your tut theres no lazy way out for me either

[except the odd can shell]

dan

[Seymour]

I certainly agree with the idea that one cannot cut corners due to laziness and get ideal results. Pasting is an area that many people have attempted to avoid or minimize in various ways, with a very low rate of success. I'm a strong believer of traditional paper and paste pasting, though I am open to alternatives or variants which have shown to be effective (I've seen really very impressive shells pasted on a WASP, with the stars in the sky lining up in a grid due to their perfection).

 

However, when avoiding cutting corners it is best to check to see if the corner is real, with genuine results in performance, or if it's based on speculation.

 

While I have no doubt that the three step pasting method is very effective, and successfully does the job of giving the shell a uniform, solid layer, it's not the only pattern that succeeds in doing so, and it's certainly not the laziest one that meets quality standards.

 

If one is presented two routes to the same end, and one route was less work, surely this is justifiable laziness, with the alternative not being lazy, but somewhat self-disabling?

 

While 12 layers on a four inch in half an hour is certainly not bad, especially if you are not building too many shells, I could in theory paste two or three in that time with my normal methods (which uses "ordinary" kraft at 4", thicker stuff I've only used in larger shells) in that time. In reality though, I paste a few layers before drying, and do it in steps. That way it will be dry in about four days (four layers a day + a day extra), and I'll have no worries about the inner layers retaining driven-in moisture.

 

I'm quite sure the Japanese Shell builders paste with methods much less labour intensive than the three strip one, and with the work ethic that goes in to making those shells, if there was a way to get a significant improvement in burst symmetry, they'd be using it.

[Givat]

you can always make/buy this pasting machine:

Edited May 30, 2011 by Givat

[Trippiej!]

Take a large strip of paper and wrap it around a stick.

Flatten your wrapped pipe and cut of the corners until you have a shape, much like a sharp oval.

Repeat until you have plenty of these pieces.

When unfolding it, it should look like a globe pattern. [image]

 

I'll guess you can figure out the rest.

 

Important is that the width of your pre-cut strip of paper is slightly greater then half the ratio of your shell size. (did i say that right?)

 

Anyhow, here is a vid where you can see what i mean. [link]

 

When you standardize this method, you can save some great time, although in the end, it is relatively time consuming.

[Givat]

Any one tried One strip hand pasting?

 

the pasting machine only uses one strip and it works OK so I guess one can hand past with one strip.

I can buy one roll of brown gummed paper 4.5 c"m wide, 200 meter long for about 4$. I can cut this to 2X2.2 c"m wide gummed paper.

it will look something like that:

 

In my head it sound like a very easy and cheap pasting for 3"+ shells.

 

Any thoughts? suggestions? some one tried it?

[dan999ification]

i have pasted from one continuous strip when i first started 3 strip pasting i found it a pita to lay out all the strips and paste them before applying to the shell around the same time i saw a method that uses one strip for bigger shells the strip is torn as you need to rotate the shell i have a combination of the two.

the speed and cover of 3 strip pasting saving time from one strip.

i never thought of making a jig to hold a roll like this because shell pasting machines tend to be more complicated if they paste the whole shell for you like a wasp.

 

dan.

[Mumbles]

The full one strip method as show in that video tends to cause fairly substantial build up on the poles. I typically use something like that setup, but tear the paper off as I need it to make the strips.

[nater]

I made a gummed kraft tape paper dispenser to try using one strip to paste a shell. I've made a few dummy shells and no matter how I tried, they all ended up egg shaped from the build up. Tearing off the moistened strips and using a 3 strip patterened made a better looking shell, but I have yet to paste a live shell so I can only guess at the performance.