athlon Posted December 18, 2011 Posted December 18, 2011 I've been thinking about making some inserts to put inside headers for my rockets and been rolling tubes all day today. The headers are 44mm ID and the inserts are 8mm ID, there's room for 8 inserts in every header and I'm wondering if the space left is enough to get a nice break with meal coated rice? (not hulls) I tested one of the inserts as a header by itself on one of my 8mm ID small rockets and it worked great with a nice subtle report from flash powder. The rockets that the headers are meant for are 20mm ID.
NightHawkInLight Posted December 18, 2011 Posted December 18, 2011 That's plenty of room. If they're not getting enough punch to get the ring of inserts out far enough just dust the break with a little flash.
dagabu Posted December 18, 2011 Posted December 18, 2011 I've been thinking about making some inserts to put inside headers for my rockets and been rolling tubes all day today. The headers are 44mm ID and the inserts are 8mm ID, there's room for 8 inserts in every header and I'm wondering if the space left is enough to get a nice break with meal coated rice? (not hulls) I tested one of the inserts as a header by itself on one of my 8mm ID small rockets and it worked great with a nice subtle report from flash powder. The rockets that the headers are meant for are 20mm ID. They look really nice Athlon. I just put a shell together last night that has 11 inserts in a 3" ID can, I just use a small piece of chipboard to get the spacing just right. Like your headers, there is plenty of space for burst. http://pyrobin.com/files/128_2787.jpg -dag
Mumbles Posted December 19, 2011 Posted December 19, 2011 To ensure all of your salutes take fire, you'll want to point the fuses toward the center of the shell to get the most exposure to the fire of the burst. Also, you may need to pack the inserts in to be able to properly spike and paste the shell. Is there any reason you're using rice instead of rice hulls? Rice is just going to add extra weight, and possibly make some flaming fallout.
JFeve81 Posted December 19, 2011 Posted December 19, 2011 Kind of along these lines are there any good tutorials or vids that show how to put together a good insert shell. All I've found are for stars.
Mumbles Posted December 19, 2011 Posted December 19, 2011 Passfire or the Fulcanelli articles are both quite informative.
dagabu Posted December 19, 2011 Posted December 19, 2011 Kind of along these lines are there any good tutorials or vids that show how to put together a good insert shell. All I've found are for stars. You can take a look at this one, it is all about timed reports but it will work for any inserts you may use. Keep in mind that I make most of my shells for use on top of rockets since I like to control the aptitude of the break so there are some other procedures like paste wrap, lift bag and outer wrap that may play in the making of the shell. LINK Yes, it needs an update badly... -dag
athlon Posted December 19, 2011 Author Posted December 19, 2011 Is there any reason you're using rice instead of rice hulls? Rice is just going to add extra weight, and possibly make some flaming fallout. No rice hulls around here as far as the eye can see...living here sometime feels like the backside of the moon...
Mumbles Posted December 19, 2011 Posted December 19, 2011 Homebrewing isn't huge in your country, but you may be able to find a supplier. Rice hulls are used in homebrewing beer and making wine as a filter aid. There are other things that can work as well. You're certainly not the only pyro from your country.
athlon Posted December 19, 2011 Author Posted December 19, 2011 Could grass seeds work? They should be considerably lighter!
dan999ification Posted December 19, 2011 Posted December 19, 2011 Could grass seeds work? They should be considerably lighter! they work a treat thats all i use. dan.
athlon Posted December 19, 2011 Author Posted December 19, 2011 I made a batch of 20g dry seeds, will see tomorrow if they works as intended.
dagabu Posted December 19, 2011 Posted December 19, 2011 Grass seeds can sprout if they are not cooked before using. You only need 30 minutes in an oven set to 200° F to de-germ the seeds. -dag
NightHawkInLight Posted December 19, 2011 Posted December 19, 2011 Grass seeds can sprout if they are not cooked before using. You only need 30 minutes in an oven set to 200° F to de-germ the seeds. -dag Haha, now that's something I've never considered. I sure hope the epoxy coating the seeds in my dummy shell is enough to prevent them from sprouting. I guess coating them in BP does provide a pretty ideal sprouting environment if it stays damp just a little too long.
dan999ification Posted December 19, 2011 Posted December 19, 2011 (edited) ive had that happen drying them overnight in a cool dark place they seem to love the nitrate, still used them and they worked just fine after i dried them but you should dry them quick in a day or less, i never thought about cooking them. edit to add something usefull: the cans on my endburners are 40mm od and i normally break small ones like this with granulated bp as i find the bp on media not powerfull enough i spike them with strong cotton to keep the weight down and paste them as i would a shell to fire from a tube only difference is the passfire/fuse,here is a small insert shell,[and cato] the space for the bp on seeds was very small you could barely fit a 1/4" tube in, the break was probably less than 5g. http://youtu.be/JGsvDWnNQ5k dan. Edited December 19, 2011 by dan999ification
dagabu Posted December 20, 2011 Posted December 20, 2011 I go through about 100# of KNO3 as part of hydro over-seeding the grassy areas on the property I manage. The KNO3 makes the grass seeds germinate and sprout in 24 hours. If you have a bare patch, use a quarter cup of KNO3 and two cups of grass seed, wet and store for 24 hours, take four cups of water and pulp up newspaper in a blender, add the seed and spread it over the bald spot and you will get good grass growing. It breaks the seeds dormancy and forces it to start growing. -dag
athlon Posted December 20, 2011 Author Posted December 20, 2011 The seeds had dried, at least I think they had, and I decided to test some of them. Do you think this looks OK for break? grass_seeds_test.mov
dan999ification Posted December 20, 2011 Posted December 20, 2011 i cant view it but you want them to blow away when you light them if your bp is good no problem, how much did you coat onto the 20g of seeds?more pasting=more power here are some seeds made with pestle and mortar bp and a shell using them as break the bp is poor quality compared to recent batches, the shell was spiked pasted spiked pasted [ 8 turns in all ] to acount for the poor breakhttp://youtu.be/9niCy-RYcbs http://youtu.be/pt0QO3k3Lek the lift was also unmilled but corned my second ever bp. dan.
athlon Posted December 20, 2011 Author Posted December 20, 2011 The 20g of dry seeds was coated with 50g of black powder and 5% dextrin. I've uploaded the video to youtube instead. http://youtu.be/grCBE0cNzWs
Blackthumb Posted December 20, 2011 Posted December 20, 2011 I tried grass seed with great sucess.....have a 1 ton bale of old seed to get rid of....funny thing is it also has mouse poop in the top layer....they coat as well and add to the mix....does that make for a s****y break?
dan999ification Posted December 20, 2011 Posted December 20, 2011 What a waste of KNO3. good reason/excuse to bulk buy . dan.
dan999ification Posted December 20, 2011 Posted December 20, 2011 The 20g of dry seeds was coated with 50g of black powder and 5% dextrin. 2.5-1 the most i can get onto pre soaked seeds. you can get better but they will work and they will burn faster once in a shell [confinement] try testing one first before you make any more and if your not happy with the break paste an extra layer on the next one or spike or both. spiking insert shells the spiking should be as wide as the inserts and the horizontal lines should be longer than the vert's [rectangle's], some people dont spike small shells but i find without using a more energetic break evry little helps.cant wait for some video dan. and yes i blame the mouse turds on my shitty breaks
athlon Posted December 22, 2011 Author Posted December 22, 2011 Any good ways of filling 80 inserts with powder? I tried to make some funnel scoops from alu cans, but the powder sticks right where it should go through. Did I mention that I hate side fusing? Been drilling holes all evening.
dan999ification Posted December 22, 2011 Posted December 22, 2011 plastic spoon with the end cut off leaves a channel to scoop and pour with or my favourite a kraft funnel i made formed over a rocket header.i hate side fusing too and usually top fuse for most inserts. dan.
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