TYRONEEZEKIEL Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 (edited) So there are a lot of things very new about this shell1. First time using quick match 2. First time top fusing 3. First time using lift cup 4. New time fuse. Fancy Pyropro stuff. 5. Continuous strip pasting. So fellas, tell me what you think I could do to improve my shell building from what you can see. Sorry for the subpar video. You can hear some stars hit the tin roof indicating blind stars. I did a gradual step prime by slowly adding the prime to the comp mix scoop by scoop until I saw only using prime. I use the Igniter prime firms, but I can't seem to get them to stay lit. All my colored stars seem to have this same percentage of ignition. Maybe less. I'm waiting for star screens to come in the mail, so don't pay attention to star timing. Sorry for rambling, let me know what you think guys. Thanks Edited December 23, 2013 by TYRONEEZEKIEL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niladmirari Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Hi TYRONEEZEKIEL. What bursting charge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYRONEEZEKIEL Posted December 23, 2013 Author Share Posted December 23, 2013 5.5/1 Hot BP on rice hulls. With about 3g total 70/30 sprinkled across the hemis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HissingRDX Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Beautiful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chemtech89 Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 I think the shell looks really good. At this point I was suggest working on your priming techniques. Its hard to tell I the video but it looks like you didn't have excellent star ignition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYRONEEZEKIEL Posted December 23, 2013 Author Share Posted December 23, 2013 I just can't seem to get prime to work. No matter what I do. I've tried literally everything under the sun. Something is just not working. Thanks. It is a big concern of mine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYRONEEZEKIEL Posted December 23, 2013 Author Share Posted December 23, 2013 I just can't seem to get prime to work. No matter what I do. I've tried literally everything under the sun. Something is just not working. Thanks. It is a big concern of mine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyrokid Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 I would scale back the flash break a little bit. It sounded heavy to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyco_1322 Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 I'd agree, back off the flash a bit and you will probably see more stars lighting. I'd also suggest getting some Fence Post Prime made, just a layer of it on the outside of a colored stars should light them easy, no step priming. Was this a ball shell? There is not really much reason to top fuse a ball shell. Some people do it with larger calibler shells, or if they use spolettes on the ball shell. Top fusing is more a practice for cylinder shells. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlaMtnBkr Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Have you cut a star in half to see how thick your prime layer is? You can step prime but it still needs to have a pretty good layer on it. Also, what are you using as a prime? What is the final layer? What formulas are you using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYRONEEZEKIEL Posted December 24, 2013 Author Share Posted December 24, 2013 By top fusing I mean using a leader through the top of the mortar going underneath the shell into the lift cup rather than drilling a hole in the mortar for side fusing. I'm using Igniter prime, I'll get the formula shortly. I do have about 1mm or so on my stars after the step prime. I have thought about backing the flash off, or using a dirty slow flash formula, but I was reading other posts on 4" shells, and 3.5g-4g seems to be ordinary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYRONEEZEKIEL Posted December 24, 2013 Author Share Posted December 24, 2013 Now that I think about it, the flash does seem pretty overt. Could it be because my mcrh are hot enough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlaMtnBkr Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 (edited) I use 5g of flash in a flash bag without problems in 4" ball shells.. Have you tried charcoal or glitter stars and if so do you have similar problems? Some hot primes can be as hard to light as some stars but are required for really high metal content stars. Without knowing your formulas it's hard to say what the problem is. I would suggest putting a BP layer on the outside and depending on which prime you are using you may even need to step prime on. Since you are calling it igniter prime I have a feeling it might not be the easiest lighting prime an intended for stars that need a really hot prime. Edited December 24, 2013 by FlaMtnBkr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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