My Shell Pasting Machine

[Dean411]

Here is a short clip of some shell breaks read the video details .

These shells were pasted using my pasting machine the first 2 shells are 3" the second 2 are 4" the burst was MCRH only no booster. the first and fourth had 1 rotation on my machine the 2nd and 3rd had 1 1/2 rotations on my machine. they were ALL underlifted Ooops!!! all used 1/2 gummed tape from pyrodirect . stay tuned more to come.

 

http://youtu.be/etPdtVJyI2k

 

 

Dean

Edited January 27, 2013 by Dean411

[californiapyro]

Nice, Dean! I'd love to see some booster in there so we can see what the machine's really capable of. Cool glitter, too

[propellanttech]

I love your design and seems to work well. Have you thought of putting a radius on the ends of the burnishing plates to help the tape follow the curvature of the shell? It may help the appearance of the shell in the end, although I don't think it will change it's performance any.

 

PT.

[Dean411]

The shells in the video were unboosted because I was trying to gauge how well my machine was confining the shells . To get the breaks I did on a 3" loaded with 3/8 stars and barely 2 1/2 teaspoons of 2.75:1 MCRH means my machine is doing an excellent job of confining the shells.

 

Dean

[fredhappy]

#dean. Truly great aparatus, very nicely done.

 

Try a bit of boosting, you will like the results.

 

Again, much respect for your inventiveness, building a pasting machine is not an easy task I assume...

[marks265]

Dean,

 

How much clearance did you have in the mortar? I like #2 and 3 and suspect more containment would be better. The shells were low breaks and not moving real fast so it looks like they were spraying out one end to me. That's my take any way----not too symmetrical looking but more like a dump or horse tail break. It still shows promise to me.

 

Mark

[pyrogeorge]

Nice Dean!

I think you need more rotations to add more paper.

Which motors do you use and how does it cost?

[Col]

I think it`ll be much better when Dean gets his new stock of 3/4" tape. Narrower tape creates more of a buildup at the poles because it takes more wraps to cover the equator. For a 3" shell, it looks like 30% thicker buildup at the poles with 1/2" compared to 3/4" tape.

I`d stick to multiples of full rotations to maintain an even thickness.

[marks265]

I bet 3/4 tape would help a lot. Maybe also spooning or curving out the burnishing paddles a little too?

 

Mark

[Col]

The chinese machines apply a wet glue to both sides of the tape making it more pliable as in traditional kraft/wheatpaste. The wet on wet guarantees the tape sticks instantly. The gummed tape will have a dry top surface so it might not adhere quite so readily. Edited February 3, 2013 by Col

[Dean411]

Dean,

 

How much clearance did you have in the mortar? I like #2 and 3 and suspect more containment would be better. The shells were low breaks and not moving real fast so it looks like they were spraying out one end to me. That's my take any way----not too symmetrical looking but more like a dump or horse tail break. It still shows promise to me.

 

Mark

 

Mark,

The mortars didn't have a clearance issue, my lift got wet. also the burnishing arms are squared at the ends I did try a set that were rounded to the shell form and the differance was negligable and with them rounded it required changing them out everytime i changed shell diameters. Right now i can change from 3 to 4" or 4 to 5" in 20 seconds and thats taking my time.

3" look best with half inch tape ,4 look great with 1/2 or 3/4 , 5" use 3/4.

On another note the paper is wet on both sides now when it exits the wetting container.

As soon as I find someone to hold the camera for me I will post some videos that are alot better.

 

anyway here is a video of a 4" from the other night the 2 loud voices in the video are my wife and sister in law

 

let me know what you think http://youtu.be/kNB8uZR3nNg

 

 

100%

 

Dean

Edited February 6, 2013 by Dean411

[marks265]

"let me know what you think"

 

Of your sister-in-law? She sounds like a real nice cheerleader, what's she doin' this weekend? :-) Just funnin' I'm already married to enough trouble

 

That 4" looked more like a shell I would expect to see. A little ragged around the edges but it broke and spread nicely from that perspective. Were those pumped stars? IIRC it is the best to date from your new toy. Remember you will be tuning your shells for your materials and process of pasting which will tend to be a little more unique from hand pasting or a WASP. You are showing that pasting shells from a bicycle rim can be effectively done.

 

Good job Dean!

[Dean411]

Mark,

 

Ha ha my sister in law was the loud one I was also dating her before my wife (Sshhh) still comes up on occasion too.(mostly when my wifes pissed at me for something) and that was 19 years ago shesh.

 

the stars were last Mays rolled and various sizes(now i have sorters from MUMPyro) kinda leftovers Karlos's red formula IIRC .

Once the weather breaks here and gets near the 50's I will be firing shells every weekend so I hope to add alot to my Youtube page, it's just hard to get motivated when it's friggin snowing and 20 degrees out.

 

Had to figure out some use for that bike I don't ride anymore. LOL!

 

Dean

[MrB]

Ha ha my sister in law was the loud one I was also dating her before my wife (Sshhh) still comes up on occasion too.(mostly when my wifes pissed at me for something) and that was 19 years ago shesh.

What ever you do, don't look at her with your best poker face, and say "you know, sometimes i think i made a bad choice trading your sister for you..."

A mate of mine did. Set of all sorts of fireworks, not the pretty kind. In fact, i bet he wishes the workshop blew up in his face rather then seeing them fireworks.

 

 

And it cant be said enough. Thats a crazy good build. Simple, but gets the job done.

B!

Edited February 6, 2013 by MrB

[Bobosan]

Nice shell Dean411. Have to agree with others, the best looking one so far from your machine.

 

Have you learned how to ride that unicycle yet?

[Zmuro]

Hi guys. It's time I present my pasting machine, I was making during last few months. It's still work in progress and I have to make some changes to my program. This is just a dry run, so the tape isn't wet.

 

http://youtu.be/kpDLSVJyA2k

Edited May 29, 2013 by Zmuro

[fredhappy]

wow man!!! very cool design!!!!! I am very impressed, this is not an easy project to make!

 

How do the shells break when pasted with this ingenious contraption?

 

My compliments, thanks for sharing....

[Zmuro]

I should mention that Col pointed me in the right direction. He suggested the MotorHawk board, which can control two DC motors and has eight digital outputs which can be used to control relays, but I had to make another board with transistors (plate on the bottom right corner), because outputs on the board have the maximum current capacity of 25 mA and 3V.

 

So far I pasted two 4in shells, but haven't fired them yet...

[FlaMtnBkr]

Do you think the pasting is adequate by the fuse where at first there is no tape, and then the shell is rotated into position and tape applied close to the fuse. It seems like that gap is going to prevent the tape over it from providing any containment strength. Don't know for sure that is what is happening but thought I would point it out if it could result in a better product.

 

I have the shop to be able to make any pyro machine and an engineering education to get a lot done. I just don't know electronics well and I am disabled which makes getting out there and getting things built somewhat difficult. I would love to have a pile of pyro machines. Maybe one day I will get enough strength and motivation as I am still young enough, just need my health to get a bit better.

[Col]

Nice work Zmuro,

your wiring is a lot tidier than mine, looks nothing like my birds nest

If you used the ULN 2803 on the digital outputs to drive the relays, you could have omitted the diodes (for back emf) as they`re on the chip.

 

 

[Bobosan]

I missed this a couple months back. Nice clean work Zmuro.