My first 6 inch plastic shell

[jonybravomdp]

Was a poor aperture with BP + cereal. Next time i'll use some slow flash for booster. Sorry about the bad video.

 

http://youtu.be/E_109AH4Q9c?list=UUeO_-oFyy091xdvPVwXbvtg

 

Byee

[MrB]

A 6 inch shell shouldn't need booster...

Might be a personal preference, but i'd look to your breakcharge it self, rather then boosting it with flash.

B!

[schroedinger]

For me the shell looked quite god, what do you think you would achive with a stronger burst? If you go for the booster, you should see first test if you see a big difference with about 1g of flash wrapped inside a tiny piece of tissue. Most times that is enough and got quite a small chance of blowing blind your stars. If you cant see a good improvement in your burst with that, you most likely don't have a need for a stronger burst. Also keep in mind that D1 can look quite nice if in a dense cluster but tends to look dirty on its own

[Zumber]

try to use paper hemispheres.

you can make it at home easily,

if you use good quality bp for bursting shells also using optimum no of paper pasting layers you will certainly achieve good burst.

lancaster suggests 5 folds per 24 mm of shell diameter with japnese paper.

if you use kraft paper, no of layers to paste reduces to half of above value.

using whistle booster isnt bad idea you can use it.

pour white cement in plastic ball then cut that plastic ball when cement dries and use that globe for making hemispheres by pasting no of layers of newspapers, when you add desire layers well dry and cut it with sharp knife at equator to get exact round hemispheres.

-Swap.

[Zumber]

White cement globe.

3" of diameter

[MrB]

pour white cement in plastic ball then cut that plastic ball when cement dries and use that globe for making hemispheres by pasting no of layers of newspapers, when you add desire layers well dry and cut it with sharp knife at equator to get exact round hemispheres.

 

That works. I don't like doing so, but it does work. A "better" way is to use a pattern that minimizes weird overlapping, and gives you a uniform thickness, and a press, to help consolidate everything.

Sad part about that is it's simply more labor intensive, since you have to cut out the pattern, and find/buy or make a pressing tool to stick the stuff together. I think this is actually the "best" method, but for what ever reason, i cant find sample patterns to save my life. The idea is the same as behind the earth globes you can buy, or find the pattern for making your self online. Those turn out quite big, and perhaps isn't perfect for our needs.

 

An alternative i sort of inherited works fairly well, but in my opinion it doesn't produce quite as good hemis... making them from recycled paper mulch with a press. I use this, but the hemis aren't resistant enough to water, so pasting them makes them fall apart. I came up with a workaround that consists of putting a sheet of paper in to the lower half of the mold first, so that it acts as the outer skin.

 

Last alternative i know of, that supposedly creates great hemis, is vaccum forming paper mulch, there is some talk about it here, but the images are gone. http://www.amateurpyro.com/forums/topic/6422-vacuum-formed-hemispheres/

The hemis supposedly are next to perfect, but suffer the same flaw my pressed ones do, the darn thing doesn't stand up well towards getting wet, and the workaround i use cant be used here, you have to treat the dried hemis with something to water proof them.

 

The "best" method as far as i know is the first one, and if i could find patterns, or figure out how to make them my self, thats what i'd use with my press. It would save me from cleaning up so much of my mess after doing hemis...

B!

Edited August 22, 2014 by MrB

[Zumber]

here is few pictures of 8" hemispheres I made last year.

though it is time consuming method I prefer it.

[TYRONEEZEKIEL]

Swap, do you have a post here, or will you share how you made your hemis? I really enjoy the look of newspaper hemis. I imagine they break better too

[Zumber]

Swap, do you have a post here, or will you share how you made your hemis? I really enjoy the look of newspaper hemis. I imagine they break better too

hemispheres you are looking above was made by advertisement paper similar to Xerox or print paper, I am going to prepare newspaper hemispheres soon (I will post few pictures that time).

i cover white cement globe with thin transparent plastic paper wrapping around it ( it is necessary to avoid first layer of newspaper to stick with globe permanently), then I paste pre cutted newspaper strips on that globe using wheat paste (same as you paste your shells), after adding 25-30 layers I dry it well few hours in sun then I cut it with sharp knife.

[rogeryermaw]

that was very pretty. i don't think it needed a booster at all!