1569 replies to this topic

[portfire]

Found these, short, but interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/user/njfire

Haha, i made the thread 100 pages

Edited by portfire, 02 April 2008 - 11:05 AM.

[dr thrust]

bah! 100 pages portfire, but interesting video so a palm shell is just one hemi capped off with nice big stars in it ? ive got to try this

[pyromaniac303]

bah! 100 pages portfire, but interesting video so a palm shell is just one hemi capped off with nice big stars in it ? ive got to try this

No he was just showing only one of 2 hemis! Think that video was a highly shortened version that missed out most of the details.

Oh and heres my attempt at a small palm shell: 3" Titanium/crackling palm shell

I think next time I will use at least 20 or 25mm comets, and less of them. You also hear how surprised my dad was that it worked...

[pyrotrev]

Yeah, less is more when it comes to palm shells IMHO too: I would reckon 12....16 stars tops is best, the best 4" I've seen maybe had only 8 or 10, but big long fat buggers.

[ridley]

I built and tested my first cylindrical shells yesterday, 2" ones.

Whilst pretty it wasnt a great success, I think I might have used a tad too much lift (I was using BP coat rice hulls which has worked fine with 2" hemis) and maybe the shell wasnt strong enough.



I will just have to try again.

Ridley

[marble]

Epoxied a small shell together tonight (2"), was a bit weary but after plenty of testing to make sure it didn't react with anything or get to hot while curing it has turned out well. Will try and shoot it tomorrow, looking to see what the break is like on it.

[Pretty green flames]

I need a bit of help, can anyone give any advice on how to construct the following type of shell.

(lower half of the screen)

They seem to be flash broken (heavy flash bag most likely) + a silver streamer. Also, the breaks seem to be flat-ish and the stars have different burn times, some stay towards the center others travel further out creating an interesting effect, i'd really appreciate if anyone could shed some light on this.

This actually reminds me of consumer cake inserts, they brake in a similar way so i'm wondering if this may be the big brother of the humble cake insert.

Thanks in advance

[marble]

To be honest they look like my rushed shells, diffrent sized stars quickly lumped in as best as possible with a decent sprinkle of flash and bp.

[Pretty green flames]

I see, does anyone have an estimate on how big these shells were, 4-6"? Anyone?

[paul]

I´d say 6"-8" with heavy comets like 1" or above...

[seymour]

I would have picked 2" + 'shatter crossettes'. Just a crossette with a round, rather than square cavity, and a liberal flash charge.

[Pretty green flames]

I would have picked 2" + 'shatter crossettes'. Just a crossette with a round, rather than square cavity, and a liberal flash charge.

Oh wow, crossettes never came to mind, this is a pretty good idea Seymour, thanks.

[seymour]

I have started making my first eight inch shell. I have been lazy in the past and have never taken any pre fire pics, or video's of my creations, however I plan on sharing my stuff in the future.

Here is the loaded hemmies
http://www.flickr.co...N06/2512551037/

It is made with homemade hemispheres, which explains the lack of good looks. Burst is about one kilo of meal on puffed rice, with a gram of 7/3 flash using Indian dark flake in each hemmie. The stars are a silver glitter, which I decided to test fate by rolling them, besides, I am quite happy with a silver streamer instead. I rolled them in a tire, and must have used way too much water (with glitter stars, perfect hah!) and they turned into almonds...

Almonds:
http://www.flickr.co...N06/2513401216/

[dr thrust]

great, thanks for sharing your work with us, what was the biggest shell you have constructed before this eight inch monster? and how did you form your hemis, and did you come across any problems in the construction? chris

[Mumbles]

There is a very nice palm shell in this video.

http://www.secac.com...ball-shell.html

Actually, palm shells are often made with only one hemisphere. I prefer to either use two, or use clay in the other side, something significantly heavier than the composition side. If filling only one side, you really have to be using bigger shells. The heavier side orients the shell so you don't have a sideways breaking palm tree. In small shells, there just isn't enough time to orient itself. A rope or ribbon would do the same thing. You want fast burning tailed stars. I am partial to blonde streamer and spider star mixes. Another trick that may not be mentioned in that preview of the video is to use cored comets. Twice the surface area burning at once.

As a side note, I randomly ran into the guy who made the palm tree video at my school once. He was putting on a show for homecoming.