Occasional Happiness

[mormanman]

That looks a lot like al's Saturn. LOOK.

[crazyboy25]

Yeah it does but he was going for a double petal with ring, similar to mine but I usually think of a Saturn shell as what he achieved not what he wanted to achieve.

[mormanman]

Oh ok, and I'm about to put up some pictures of my stuff. 4" first and edit this post accordingly.

4" shell of shells top view

http://i34.tinypic.com/33w1co2.jpg

 

4" shell of shells side view

http://i36.tinypic.com/2rwrclw.jpg

 

2" shells D1

http://i37.tinypic.com/xpc2om.jpg

 

3" shells D1

http://i37.tinypic.com/24oo9xv.jpg

 

2" D1 starmines

http://i33.tinypic.com/73fggo.jpg

 

Double fountain TT to D1 top view

http://i33.tinypic.com/4in97r.jpg

 

Double fountain TT to D1 side view

http://i35.tinypic.com/2vd1tfo.jpg

 

Resizing them right now. Edit later.

 

Edit++++

Resized

[Gottagotomoz]

Today I went over to my neighbors house, who had recently passed away (he was well into his 90's) to help clean up the house and what not. Amongst all the trash was a box labeled glassware, so I checked it out, and it was packed with Pyrex beakers, graduated cylinders, loads of test tubes, and some other misc stuff. Since it was going to be thrown out, I took it home, and cleaned it all out. Score!

[mormanman]

Today I went over to my neighbors house, who had recently passed away (he was well into his 90's) to help clean up the house and what not. Amongst all the trash was a box labeled glassware, so I checked it out, and it was packed with Pyrex beakers, graduated cylinders, loads of test tubes, and some other misc stuff. Since it was going to be thrown out, I took it home, and cleaned it all out. Score!

Thats one way to look at a death of someone. Sucks he died, nice find though.

[jacob]

Nice stuff mormanman, hope it all works right, glad to know I'm not the only one that uses gobs of masking tape

[flying fish]

Those long/thin comets look fragile to me...but of coarse I could be wrong. Have you done them like that before? Looks like some good stuff in any case!

[Gottagotomoz]

Haha, thanks Mormanman. I mean it definitely does suck he's gone, but at least he had a good amount of years on him. He was by far the most intelligent person I have ever known too. May he rest in peace.

 

Well, I'm off to play with my new glassware.

 

By the way Mormanman, nice work over there!

[mormanman]

Thank you all for all those nice things you said. LOL.

I've tried the comet before and they works great. I don't have my crossette or comets up there b/c they're already load but still.

I wish I was HE again.

[Bonny]

I received my crossette pump from wolter yesterday Can't wait to try it out.

[mormanman]

Pyrotubes just emailed me back. Finally.

[Mumbles]

What size did you end up getting bonny? I have a 3/4" and I love it. Given my direction I was headed with shells, I probably should have gone 1", but oh well. Great for 3" shells, and a bit cumbersome for 4" though still nice. Some day I'll get ambitious and a 5 or 6" shell full of 3/4" crossettes will grace they sky. Oh man, my retinas are excited already.

[Bonny]

What size did you end up getting bonny? I have a 3/4" and I love it. Given my direction I was headed with shells, I probably should have gone 1", but oh well. Great for 3" shells, and a bit cumbersome for 4" though still nice. Some day I'll get ambitious and a 5 or 6" shell full of 3/4" crossettes will grace they sky. Oh man, my retinas are excited already.

 

 

I got the 3/4", and glad to hear you're happy with it. i'm still only building 3" as my largets, so it should be great. I have some 5" hemi's but no mortar as of yet.

Both of my ball mill jars cracked this weekend, nice airfloat charcoal mess on the floor As I couldn't finish milling my charcoal to get started making some crossettes, I just sifted the (pine) charcoal to -100 mesh (love that shaker machine). I will be making my first crossettes this week. I may try Fish gold glitter or a Winokur glitter.

What do you use to break your crossettes?

[TheSidewinder]

This is a guess, but I'm betting he uses "Dark Break". Some folks (mistakenly) call it "Dark Flash".

 

It's what Jim Freeman uses exclusively to break his crossettes, and if you've seen his in action you know how good they look.

 

If you're on Passfire, the "Dark Report B" is very close to what he uses, but the ratio he gave us at a seminar was 12/4/3 rather than 4/1/1

 

I'll forego listing the ingredients here, since it's not a comp that newbies should be handling, but you can PM for it if you want to.

 

He also uses genuine Thermalite as the passfire igniter within them, but IIRC he said the generic Brazilian stuff works just as well. Can't recall the exact name. Manticore? Something like that. I know many folks use other igniter materials. I'll let them chime in.

 

Crossettes are on my list of "God, I want to do that someday!"

[Bonny]

This is a guess, but I'm betting he uses "Dark Break". Some folks (mistakenly) call it "Dark Flash".

 

It's what Jim Freeman uses exclusively to break his crossettes, and if you've seen his in action you know how good they look.

 

If you're on Passfire, the "Dark Report B" is very close to what he uses, but the ratio he gave us at a seminar was 12/4/3 rather than 4/1/1

 

I'll forego listing the ingredients here, since it's not a comp that newbies should be handling, but you can PM for it if you want to.

 

He also uses genuine Thermalite as the passfire igniter within them, but IIRC he said the generic Brazilian stuff works just as well. Can't recall the exact name. Manticore? Something like that. I know many folks use other igniter materials. I'll let them chime in.

 

Crossettes are on my list of "God, I want to do that someday!"

 

 

HMMM, missing pretty much everything needed for that comp, as well as the thermalite.

I think I may have to try granulated whistle, but I read it may not be strong enough for small crossettes. Otherwise I'll have to try granulated BP and some 70/30...

[TheSidewinder]

Actually, 70/30 works perfectly all by itself.

 

The perfectionists don't like the additional light it adds when it fires, but only the most discriminating (read: anal retentive, lol) viewers would notice it.

[Frozentech]

Actually, 70/30 works perfectly all by itself.

 

The perfectionists don't like the additional light it adds when it fires, but only the most discriminating (read: anal retentive, lol) viewers would notice it.

 

I had pretty poor results with 70/30 for breaking 3/4" crossettes. I can't find my notes on the tests I ran, but I recall the success rate with *loose* 70/30 in them was only about 20-30%. Most of the time they jetted. The use of Thermolite seems to be the trick for comets where the break comp is loose in the cavity. I settled on using a dark report break comp in small rolled shots, since I didn't have any thermolite or manticore fuse. Once I got a system down for making the rolled shots, it wasn't too much extra trouble, and they work, almost 100%. (never noticed any fail in a shell since )

[Bonny]

I had pretty poor results with 70/30 for breaking 3/4" crossettes. I can't find my notes on the tests I ran, but I recall the success rate with *loose* 70/30 in them was only about 20-30%. Most of the time they jetted. The use of Thermolite seems to be the trick for comets where the break comp is loose in the cavity. I settled on using a dark report break comp in small rolled shots, since I didn't have any thermolite or manticore fuse. Once I got a system down for making the rolled shots, it wasn't too much extra trouble, and they work, almost 100%. (never noticed any fail in a shell since )

 

 

I wonder if 70/30 coated vermiculite or something might work? Or a mex of granulated BP or whistle with some 70/30 as a booster? making rolled shots seems like a lot of extra work that MIGHT be avoided.

[TheSidewinder]

I had pretty poor results with 70/30 for breaking 3/4" crossettes. I can't find my notes on the tests I ran, but I recall the success rate with *loose* 70/30 in them was only about 20-30%. Most of the time they jetted. The use of Thermolite seems to be the trick for comets where the break comp is loose in the cavity. I settled on using a dark report break comp in small rolled shots, since I didn't have any thermolite or manticore fuse. Once I got a system down for making the rolled shots, it wasn't too much extra trouble, and they work, almost 100%. (never noticed any fail in a shell since )

 

Huh.... Well, that's good to know.

 

You aren't the first I've heard say that loose 70/30 gave problems, but you're one of a only a VERY few whom I've heard say it. And I VAGUELY recall Jim Freeman saying something about "needing" Thermalite for 70/30, but I can't be sure about that.

 

Rolling your own "mini-shots" is something I had heard about, though never saw done. Care to elaborate and/or make a short tutorial on it?

 

With pics, of course.

[Frozentech]

Huh.... Well, that's good to know.

 

You aren't the first I've heard say that loose 70/30 gave problems, but you're one of a only a VERY few whom I've heard say it. And I VAGUELY recall Jim Freeman saying something about "needing" Thermalite for 70/30, but I can't be sure about that.

 

Rolling your own "mini-shots" is something I had heard about, though never saw done. Care to elaborate and/or make a short tutorial on it?

 

With pics, of course.

 

OK, I can elaborate a bit. I roll 2 wraps of 30# recycled kraft on a small (3/16") brass tube, using diluted PVA wood glue, then let that dry. I cut the tube into 3/4" lengths.

http://www.apcforum.net/forums/uploads/1217005379/gallery_31_1_18294.png

 

I use the point of a nail to fold in one end of each tube. I cut pieces of fast visco to 1/2" long, with a sharp angle to the cuts.

 

http://www.apcforum.net/forums/uploads/1217005379/gallery_31_1_18330.png

 

 

 

Then I fill the tubes with a measured amount of dark report comp, using a scoop I made from soda can aluminum. This goes faster using a board drilled out with a few dozen holes to hold the shots while they are filled and fused, but it's not much trouble even without. Drop in a piece of the fast visco, and crimp down around the fuse with the point of a nail.

 

assembling a rolled shot

 

The final shot is shorter and a bit thinner than a commerial 1.4g firecracker.

 

http://www.apcforum.net/forums/uploads/1217005379/gallery_31_1_66768.png

The exact amount of break comp has to be determined by experiment with the comet comp, pressing pressure, and crossette finishing methods all as variables.

 

Here is a short video of a single rolled shot being tested. rolled shot test

 

The shots are inserted into the comet cavity, with the sharp cut end of the fast visco pushing down into the pinhole, then the comet is capped with a chipboard disk, and the comet wrapped as usual.

 

 

[Frozentech]

I wonder if 70/30 coated vermiculite or something might work? Or a mex of granulated BP or whistle with some 70/30 as a booster? making rolled shots seems like a lot of extra work that MIGHT be avoided.

 

Sure, there are other ways. Granulated whistle mix works from what I hear. The rolled shots aren't much work tho, I can crank one out in a few seconds. You spend 10 minutes per comet at least in pressing, assembling, wrapping, etc.. .not mention the time spent assembling the shell, an extra few minutes to ensure 100% results works for me.

[Mumbles]

I am also working on dialing in the break. In the best of AFN 5 there are a few formulas for imitation thermalite. Basically dark flash on a string, though a perchlorate based one is given too. I still haven't gotten around to trying it out in a crossette, but it burns pretty hot and throws some sparks around, so I think it might do the trick. I do have a bit of real thermalite, but I'd prefer to save it.

 

What I have been using in the past in granulated whistle with 1-2% Copper Oxychloride catalyst in the whistle. It really seems to add a little extra oomph to them to get them to break real nice.

 

I've tried 70-30 before and just got jetting. This was with real thermalite too. I must have been doing something wrong. I probably should have properly pasted them in instead of using masking tape. It was a bit of a tester, so I was in a hurry. I find the flash only distracting with soft charcoal streamer comps. With glitters and flitter type comets, you'll probably never notice it except on tape.

 

I may give rolled shots a try sometime soon here too. Probably with a dark break of sorts. I'm a little scared to mix it up, but 5 or 10g all that is really required.

[Frozentech]

I may give rolled shots a try sometime soon here too. Probably with a dark break of sorts. I'm a little scared to mix it up, but 5 or 10g all that is really required.

 

Good point. I only work with 5 grams at a time of the dark report comp, thats enough to make shots for a 4" crossette canister shell.

[Bonny]

I pumped my first crossettes today . I pumped 21 fish gold glitter comets. Once dry I'll try and decide what to try as a break. I have some whistle with iron oxide as a catylist that I may granulate. What size should I granulate, 20 mesh screen?

[TheSidewinder]

20 mesh should be fine.

 

Are you going to try the little rolled shots that Frozentech uses?