Salute Cannons

[AirCowPeacock]

I recently saw a 1.3G show with very large aerial salutes on every hour before the show. The salutes where very deep and loud, from 300 meters you could feel it in your chest. I really liked this and want to put it into my new years and 4th of July show--but don't want to create 3" flash salutes. I wanted to know if a smaller salute cannon could produce a similar effect (although maybe only from around 100 meters,) such as this one here http://www.pyrodirect.com/ecom-prodshow/043-0150.html. I don't want to spend 100$ on a salute cannon, but really want that incredible shockwave. Can anyone point me in the right direction for a sufficiently loud and cheap salute cannon? Thanks.

[sparky]

I think pyrodirect has them or cannonfuse.

[mikeee]

You can make your own "Thunder-Mug" out of good quality machine steel or brass.

You want a heavy wall thicker then the bore and a stable base.

Bore a hole in the top for your powder.

Drill a small hole in the side for your cannon fuse.

Back in my younger days I would use a pipe flange and a heavy wall forged steel short nipple.

Weld the bottom of the nipple closed and drill a hole in the side and mount it in the flange.

 

Mikeee

[dagabu]

I recently saw a 1.3G show with very large aerial salutes on every hour before the show. The salutes where very deep and loud, from 300 meters you could feel it in your chest. I really liked this and want to put it into my new years and 4th of July show--but don't want to create 3" flash salutes. I wanted to know if a smaller salute cannon could produce a similar effect (although maybe only from around 100 meters,) such as this one here http://www.pyrodirec...3-0150.html. I don't want to spend 100$ on a salute cannon, but really want that incredible shockwave. Can anyone point me in the right direction for a sufficiently loud and cheap salute cannon? Thanks.

 

Like Makeee says, you can make them out of off the shelf parts like a pipe flange and pipe nipple but you have to weld a cap on this system where a drilled and bored solid bar would allows for a much higher pressure spike without failure. Pipe caps offer quick and easy flash pots as well but again, the iron parts off the shelf are not able to hold pressures that the Thundermugs can hold.

 

-dag

[FlaMtnBkr]

I don't think I would use flash powder. I would stick with black powder which will also probably give you a deeper 'boom'. Repeatedly using flash could shatter even thick wall steel eventually. There is a formula that is used in theatrical effects that is technically a flash formula but I'm not positive I remember it correctly and don't want to be wrong.

 

I'm pretty sure none of the thunder mugs use standard flash, but wanted to point out it should never be used.

[dan999ification]

binary or a and b, i think it is coarser than your usual 70/30 with gd al and fine perc, can you slow it down by over or under oxidising/fueling it.

 

Dan,

[dagabu]

I don't think I would use flash powder. I would stick with black powder which will also probably give you a deeper 'boom'. Repeatedly using flash could shatter even thick wall steel eventually. There is a formula that is used in theatrical effects that is technically a flash formula but I'm not positive I remember it correctly and don't want to be wrong.

 

I'm pretty sure none of the thunder mugs use standard flash, but wanted to point out it should never be used.

 

Thanks guys for the reminder, NEVER use *flash in a thundermug or salute canon, only BP should be used. Flash is a highly brisiant mixture and it causes a high speed pressure wave that will shatter metals. BP is a much slower burning mixture and is much less likely to shatter metals.

 

*As the name indicates, flash used in pyro is normally used to create a salute while theatrical flash is normally a bright white flash of light used to illuminate or distract the audience. They are closely related but perform very different jobs.

 

-dag