Psycodelic Posted June 13, 2013 Posted June 13, 2013 Hello folks, I've been making 3" shells for a little while now with good success. I've wanted to try out some 5" shell now, and for the life of me I can't find any info about how many seconds of time fuse I need for certain size shells. Ive been looking all over the web and haven't found anything. Any help would be great, thank you.
BJV Posted June 13, 2013 Posted June 13, 2013 Hello folks, I've been making 3" shells for a little while now with good success. I've wanted to try out some 5" shell now, and for the life of me I can't find any info about how many seconds of time fuse I need for certain size shells. Ive been looking all over the web and haven't found anything. Any help would be great, thank you.I would use 1" of time fuse, about 3 seconds should be good.BJV
Xtreme Pyro Posted June 13, 2013 Posted June 13, 2013 (edited) I time my 5" shells at 4 seconds, here's a good chart for reference. Time Fuse Delay Times Shell Size Delay Time(in.) (sec.)3 34 3.55 46 58 610 6.512 7 Edited June 13, 2013 by Xtreme Pyro
Psycodelic Posted June 13, 2013 Author Posted June 13, 2013 Awesome thanks guys, exactly what I needed.
psyco_1322 Posted June 13, 2013 Posted June 13, 2013 I'd use about 3 seconds also. For larger shells (above 4") a good rule is 1/2sec per inch of shell. So for a 6" shell, I would use 3sec of fuse. Using a bit of extra time, like XP's chart, will have the shell stalling it air, maybe dropping a few feet. It's personal preference really, but why use for fuse that you need. I used to time all my 4" shells for 4sec, now I do about 3.25sec, which is 1.25" of my fuse, 3" shells get 1".
Psycodelic Posted June 14, 2013 Author Posted June 14, 2013 Alright, I'll try 3 seconds first and see how that goes, I use 3 seconds for my 3" shells so I just assumed it would need to be a little longer. Rather then starting a new thread I might as well ask another question here. I'm aware it's a stupid thing to ask but here it goes. I don't have time to make whistle mix to use for the 5" shells, so if I dumped the powder out of a few whistling bottle rockets would that work just as well? I'm not sure if its the same composition. I remember taking one apart before and seeing at least 2 different powders inside so idk which is which. I just want to make a couple shells for the 4th and I thought I could improvise. I have regular whistling and then triple whistling bottle rockets. Thanks for any input on this lol.
flying fish Posted June 14, 2013 Posted June 14, 2013 I personally like and use 3.5s on 5" shells. Like psycho said it's all preference - as long as it's breaking at a safe height of course.
Mumbles Posted June 14, 2013 Posted June 14, 2013 I also use a bit longer than 3 sec on my 5" shells. My fuse burned at about 3sec/inch. Just across the board I gave my shells 1/4" per inch of diameter. 3" gets 3/4", 4" gets 1", 5" gets 1 1/4". I've done this up to 8" with success. It will take some dialing it to see what you like. As long as they're at a safe height and breaking around the apex, you're good to go.
Arthur Posted June 14, 2013 Posted June 14, 2013 Close to the suggestions above, the precise numbers are part of your shell design. As long as they work safely it's OK but some people prefer different things. If you want a falling willow effect then starting from a good height is good as it gives the long fall needed and the stars can burn out before they touch the ground. Add some lift and some break time the shells will rise higher, subtract lift and break time and they will burst lower, Too high and they look weedy and small, too low and it's too scary or things get burned with falling debris. In the middle is the effect that you want.
Psycodelic Posted June 14, 2013 Author Posted June 14, 2013 Thanks for all the input everyone, great community here. Could someone give some advice about my other question a few comments above? I'm wondering because I'm hoping it would help with a faster burst, my guess is that it should work but I don't know for sure.
flying fish Posted June 14, 2013 Posted June 14, 2013 Kind of tacky, reminds me of the stupid things I did as a kid... but I suppose in a pinch it should work. The white stuff is whistle, the shiny grey stuff is flash. Avoid banging on the rockets if possible and do this away from the rest of your live materials. I hate to recommend extracting powders from things because it just seems so...kewl-ish. As a shell booster I think you can just mix benzoate and perchlorate as they are. You don't need to do any of the fancy processing that the whistle rocket guys do.
Psycodelic Posted June 14, 2013 Author Posted June 14, 2013 Yeah It is its a pretty stupid thing to do. Not something that would go around recomending people to do lol. I dont have any benzoate or perchlorate at the moment so i might atleast give this a try, possibly.
pyroman2498 Posted May 30, 2014 Posted May 30, 2014 Why do you need a booster ? You don't need a booster for shells ,they will work well without it .I don't boost my shells and I get great brakes . Good BP is key to a good lift and brake.i use eastern red ceder charcoal based BP on rice hulls 5:1 , and I always get asked what I boost my shells with xD. Build your shell with out a booster if you don't have the chemicals , it's not worth the risk to take apart other fireworks to make one , its out right dangerous. Please be careful. Stay safe and stay green ~Steven
schroedinger Posted May 30, 2014 Posted May 30, 2014 I also would advice against the moon travelers whistle. Like stated before you don't know what they are made of. Maybe they contain AP giving you AN if in contac8t with your bp. Better use a higher ration of bp two rice hulls.If you really need that booster, you also could use 1-2g of benzolift made with fast bp, but bp should be sufficient. Better take care to watch out for proper pasting.
Mumbles Posted May 30, 2014 Posted May 30, 2014 First of all, this thread is a year old, and the poster hasn't been back in almost as long. Secondly, if he's already contemplating harvesting whistle mix from commercial rockets, what makes you think he is going to be able make benzolift? You do realize it is whistle mix cut with BP, right?
schroedinger Posted May 30, 2014 Posted May 30, 2014 Well he just said it is a matter of time, not of resources. And most whystle receipes call for slow evaporating solvents. Benzolift can be made using aceton or water.
nater Posted May 30, 2014 Posted May 30, 2014 I make whistle with acetone all the time. It takes about 2 hours start to finish.
Maserface Posted May 30, 2014 Posted May 30, 2014 Well he just said it is a matter of time, not of resources. And most whystle receipes call for slow evaporating solvents. Benzolift can be made using aceton or water. Not to keep this necro alive, but, what recipes have you been looking at that call for slow evaporating solvents? You should realize that the solvent matters very little, in this case.
Recommended Posts