Cylinder shell building videos

[Bangkokpyro]

During a 2 month period March to May this year I built 80+ cylinder shells from scratch using traditional construction techniques for a rocket festival display near to my workshop in Sakgeow Thailand where i run my Pyro Holiday School.

I made videos of almost all the work I did stage by stage for anyone interested in making cylinder shells.

 

2 videos showing the finished shells and the show itself. These were all cylinders. I don't make ball shells

 

http://youtu.be/ZubBo1mfFwg

http://youtu.be/jpG45c7IOWE

 

 

 

For anyone interested in seeing how these shells were made here are a few clips showing some of the construction.

 

 

http://youtu.be/kxw_HLy4jFY Making cut stars

http://youtu.be/tL0p3UEvkC4 Preparing pasted paper and pasting 4 and 5inch shells

http://youtu.be/LVT9yWLs3Zc How to match a spolette

http://youtu.be/VqJS1VJKPCU Rolling 4 inch shell casings

http://youtu.be/jQNVwLo_dag Cutting end discs with an Allpax gasket cutter

http://youtu.be/8-C0icDA5X8 lift and leader 5 inch multi break

 

 

These are just a few of the 50 or so clips on my youtube chanel showing different aspects of the construction.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsfbkoc1N14UC3MokDwEyyw

Edited July 7, 2014 by Bangkokpyro

[jessoman]

I frequent your videos all the time, they are extremely well done. Love your work.

If only I had the money to come over and build some shells with you!

Thanks for sharing,

Jess

[Ddizzle22]

Great videos especially the star making thank you.

[Maserface]

as I said on FW, a HUGE thank you for these videos!! Ive been late to many things because of them

[Ddizzle22]

What type stars did you show in your tutorial?

[Bobosan]

Great vids, Bangkokpyro. Perhaps they would be a good start for an APC tutorial section?

 

Mumbles?

[marks265]

Paul,

I have watched your you tube on this big project. It is a distraction in life alone to get pyro done by a dead line. But to include the making and publishing of the work and still get the day job done and what ever else pops up is truly amazing. Kudos to you!

 

Mark

[PersonGuyDude]

How have I missed your channel?! This is fantastic content! May I ask where you got your ball mill?

Edited July 9, 2014 by PersonGuyDude

[MrB]

I've watched a lot of these as time passed, and i've spent some time on his webpage as well. He's got a few things going on that i don't care for, mostly along the lines of being a lot more aggressive then i'd like with tapping, banging, and shoveling stuff.

Just a matter of personal preference, i guess, but for example, i wouldn't use my hand shovel and push it in to the composition, scraping against the working surface when screening, or collecting the mixed product. It seams to work for him, but it makes me screech through my teeth.

 

Perhaps a bit lax on the protective gear as well, but i can see heavy fire-retardant equipment, and such as being an issue in the climate he works in. I got 30c here now, it's the peak of summer, and i can hardly breath just sitting down.

Anyway, i'm hardly going to go around saying "he's unsafe" since quite clearly he's got quite a bit more experience then i do, and the level of detail in his tutorials is quite nice. But i'd hate for him to get hurt, and never finish up the website... Yeah, how about that reason of concern for a fellow humans well being. I'm kidding of course. I don't want anyone to get hurt. Least of all me, but everyone else as close seconds. Stay safe, take care.

B!

[flinters17]

Your videos are very awesome! I'm just starting out in the world of pyro so I'm trying to learn as much as I can before starting, and your videos are very clear. I also think Thailand is gorgeous so I'm jealous of that.

 

Thanks for the uploads!

[Bangkokpyro]

I'm glad so many of you enjoyed the videos and found them useful.

 

I should point out in that the seemingly harsh tamping with dowels you see being done while the shell cases

were being filled was done while using Charcoal based stars which are pretty insensitive to impact and friction.

Should you be using Chlorate stars, stars containing any sparking metals, stars containing Antimony Trisulphide or any star comp of a sensitive nature tamping the stars with a dowel or rapping the case hard on the bench to compact and consolidate the content is very dangerous and likely to cause a serious accident.

 

When making large shells esp multibreak shells it is essential to ensure the contents of each break are packed solidly with no air spaces so the result is a rigid solid cylinder that will not compress and rupture when the shell is fired from the gun.

Consolidation of Chlorate stars should only be done by patting the outside of the casing gently along with pushing down using light finger pressure to settle the stars into the most compact configuration. The use of polverone filler in most cases particularly when using large cut stars case will help ensure a solidly filled case.

When fitting large comets inside the shell case rather than trying to force the final comet into the ring

and risk an accidental ignition caused by friction I prefer to aim for a loose fit that I can tighten up using wooden spacers as practiced bt Maltese shell builders.

Edited July 19, 2014 by Bangkokpyro

[schroedinger]

If you use the chimming method, do you use wet cases, chim everything and let the casing shrink to really lock everything in place, or do you dry cases and chim a little harder?

[Bangkokpyro]

It's shim not 'chim' and no I use dry cases. Only the final wooden spacer needs force to push it into position and tighten up the ring sufficiently so that you can turn the casing upside down and shake it without the comets falling out. I use mostly Balsa wood for my spacers; it's soft, bites into the comet sides and grips well.

[raymor]

Thanks for posting those. I didn't expect to learn as much as I did from the pasting video.

[Livingston]

Thank You very much for all your tutorials! I cant wait to start build sum bad ass Cylinder shells with my new former's

 

Do you have a video making bottom shot casings?

[OblivionFall]

Man, you look like you have a whole firework factory to yourself! Definitely something I'm looking into for when I'm retired.

[MWJ]

I love to watch ALL of your videos and can't wait to see all of these too. Thank you very much.

[Nickmaslo]

These are going to help me so much in my future endeavors and projects! Thank you so much!

[dynomike1]

This is for the ones that dont have a press.

[stix]

Great tutorials, thanks for taking the time.

 

Just a question regarding the video: How to match a spolette. When the spolette is prepared for priming, the surface is scratched with a small groove half way across the diagonal in order to ensure it catches fire (makes sense). Milled BP prime is then deliberately only painted on one half of the surface, then it's dipped in coarse granulated BP, then matched.

 

Why is it that the prime is only applied to one half of the exposed surface of the spolette - ie, one side of the groove? Why not the whole lot? What is this purpose?

Edited January 8, 2018 by stix

[Wiley]

At least on inserts, part of the reason that's done is to ensure that you're not effectively changing the length of the spolettes. That would help keep timings tighter.

 

What I like to do is what TR does. Before ramming, a piece of masking tape is stuck over the end of the tube to close it off. The spolette is rammmed, and the tape is immediately removed. This leaves a nice rough, flat surface on the end of the spolette.

 

The spolette is then drilled back and the rough end is protected with a vinyl caplug until ready for priming.

 

To prime such a spolette, I just tie match over the rough end with some strong waxed linen string. That's all there is to it. Works for me, and it works for Tom, so I'll be sticking with it. Very precision timing with no secondary operations or drying time involved.