Crossmatching time fuse

[Jakenbake]

I know the proper way to do this involves slicing the time fuse or spollette in half with a razor and tieing the quickmatch in between the two. I on the other hand use a straight o-ring pick to make a hole in the fuse to slide the quickmatch through. Then i take some pliers and gently squeeze the body of the time fuse back down to it's close to original shape. Does anyone see anything wrong with this? It sure beats having to tie knotts in tiny pieces of string. And i've never had a fttf (failure to take fire)

[Pyrodood]

Jake,

 

I use a similar method, except I use a punch to make the hole:

http://www.pyropunchtools.com/fusepunch.html

 

A single strand of home-made blackmatch fits in quite well, and has never failed me yet.

 

I actually made my first punch out of a 2x4 and some stainless 3/16" rod, and I found that the hole would 'shrink' slightly after punching. This was because my tool used a pointed end that would simply push the material in the fuse apart. The punch in the tool above has a flush, perfectly flat end that 'cores out' the hole so the blackmatch fits more easily into the hole, no 'shrinkage'.

 

 

Dood

[Jakenbake]

That thing looks sweet! Glad to see there are more like me with alternate methods.

[Seymour]

The punched method is also very common among Chinese shells, or at least the ones I've been working with. They are all double fused, even the 2.5" ad 3" sizes. Some have some sort of glue (non pyrotechnic) smeared over the tops of the timefuse and where the black match meets the timefuse, but on other shells there is nothing done but punch the holes and thread the black match, and the raw composition is exposed and loose at the end. Having said that the hole is not usually much larger than the black match, which is thick and of a high quality.

 

 

By using two fuses you've already reduced the issues of one lighting, not that I think it's likely with this method to have a single fuse fail, though cheaper timefuse is a more realistic opportunity to use for shells where you want the failure rate to be like the one in many thousands failure rate they have in these Chinese shells.

 

 

It is interesting to note that a single strand of BP is used to prime both fuses. The fuses are spaced between one and perhaps five centimeters apart, depending on shell size. By using one piece of fuse and holes punched so that if you held the shell fuse end up and had the fuses both facing you, you would be able to see in to the holes. The piece of match is threaded through the holes so as to make a U shape of match.

 

The advantages for mass production go a long way to reducing the added labor of double fusing. Once you have picked the shell up I'm sure punching two holes is not much slower than picking up a shell, punching one hole and grabbing the next. While slightly fiddly, once you have one strand of thick, solid through each hole you are done, as the tension between the two locks it in place and no added work is required.

 

Of course if you're using quality black match and quality timefuse you can single fuse and prime with a single strand of that black match you can have excellently reliable results with less effort. I personally single fuse most of my shells, with double fusing only for above 6" and special shells. I do use good timefuse though.

 

Another interesting thing I've noticed in the "black match" used on some commercial shells is a strand of copper wire running through the center of the string. This would greatly aid in stiffness (good for threading through that hole!), and I suspect allow them to be folded in to just the right shape to fit in to the timefuse holes on a jig.

 

While the copper cored fuse has in some other fuse kinds also been used in addition to aiding in pliability , I don't think that's of advantage here, it's already in an instant. I'd say copper was chosen for corrosion resistance. The thickness seems to be just the same as that used for many Chinese e-match wires. I guess someone sells it for a good price in Liuyang?

[marks265]

I know the proper way to do this involves slicing the time fuse or spollette in half with a razor and tieing the quickmatch in between the two. I on the other hand use a straight o-ring pick to make a hole in the fuse to slide the quickmatch through. Then i take some pliers and gently squeeze the body of the time fuse back down to it's close to original shape. Does anyone see anything wrong with this? It sure beats having to tie knotts in tiny pieces of string. And i've never had a fttf (failure to take fire)

 

This is exactly what I do. The powder core stays intact as well as it can be. I usually lay the time fuse on a small piece of cedar and punch through from one side and roll it over and then come in through the back side of the hole. Because the awl is tapered it of course makes a tapered hole from punching in from both ways the hole size is limited to just what you need. A simple pinch with a finger keeps it in place and it will naturally want to retract a bit. For cross match I use the 3 strand fast fuse that is wrapped in the gampi paper (or similar). It has consistent uniform size that makes this process go smoothly. I have been doing this for years.

 

Personally I have always hated the time fuse punches because they do remove a section of the powder core. They do work of course and many people do use them, but to me it is an oxymoron in practice.

 

Mark

[Pyrodood]

Edit: the stainless rod was 3/32", not 3/16" as I stated earlier.

[Jakenbake]

Thanks for the replies guys. And great information!