1569 replies to this topic

[dr thrust]

thanks for the link, nice example of a palm shell , and so thanks for your answer on the construction of the shells with the stars only being in one half of the shell, i guess timing is important or you'd have a upside down non palm on its way down ?? interesting videos and amazing shells, i particularly enjoyed the rocket section where even 2", 3" shells were top notch containing many different effects in one shell ,a pleasure to watch and very inspiring

[Pretty green flames]

I must say, those Level 4 rockets are the best I've ever seen and they are really an inspiration. I think i'm going to revive my 20mm rocket tooling, If i ever make rockets that are half as good as those seen at the 2006 PGI clip, i'll be a happy man.

Simply amazing stuff.

[seymour]

Indeed, all the categories are great. I have wanted to see PGI competition firework video's (other than what's on youtube) for some time. Thanks Mumbles!

[dr thrust]

just watched the "judges challenge" section and enjoyed my first viewing and maybe only ever?, liquid fire rocket, which weingart goes into detail of the construction , firing, these having to be loaded up with the phosphorus heading at the very last moment! never thought id ever see one especially with the dangerous nature of of the heading

[Mumbles]

Yeah, I was really excited to see the phosphorus rocket. In the description, they wanted to see a unique and unusual effect or device no one has seen in a while. They have some suggestions. 36" shell, phosphorus rocket, devils wheel, and granite stars. I personally didn't think granite stars were that unusual as so many amateurs have made them due to the cheapness of zinc. I believe the devils wheel won. I personally didn't find it that impressive. Though the fact that he actually made it, and function as it was supposed to is pretty cool. I might have just been too far away to enjoy it though.

When done correctly, I think the lampare pistil shell is just amazing. They are truely works of art. There is another guy who makes them, besides the guy who competed with them that makes just beautiful shells.

Hopefully they will put up the 2007 preview videos soon. The judges challenge was actually palm tree shells and rockets. Personally, I think making them out of rockets would be the easiest. Add some 80 and 36 mesh charcoal to the tail, and it will already be oriented correctly, so you're good to go. I believe it was palm trees anyway. I saw something about creating patterns and designs not normally seen, but I think they narrowed it down to palm trees.

[Pretty green flames]

I have a question. How to orient a round shell so the fused part stays turned towards the ground during the whole flight?
I want the spolette pointing towards the ground when the shell breaks as i will be only filling the non-fused half with stars.

Any ideas? I've thought of filling the fused part partially with some heavy material (bentonite for example) but i'm not sure if it would work.

I'm open to ideas.

Thanks, PGF

[GalFisk]

Some sort of tail maybe, to keep it aligned with drag? The easiest would probably be to just put the shell on top of a rocket though.

[cooperman435]

A streamer is the recognised method I believe. Justa fir retardent ribbon attatched to the part of the shell you want down most at burst.

One thing to remember though is that it will only work on a larger shell, the time needed to right its self in flight not being sufficient on smaller shells. It must also break just before apache as after that the shell isnt trailing its streamer anymore but turning to come back down.

Im not sure that half filling the other hemi of a shell with a dense medium would work as all the shell will be effectively weightless during flight and gravity would only act upon it during its apache untill terminal velocity had been reached on the way down. But if Im wrong Im sure someone can correct me.

[Bonny]

I've pretty much finished a 3-1/2" (roughly) cannister shell with scatter star insert shells. I loosely following the design on passfire. The shell was made from a pc of 3"ID 1/16 wall spiral wound tube. My question is will 3 vertical layers and 1 horizontal layer of fiberglass re-enforced tape (and 2 layers of 50lb paper outer wrap) be strong enough? The shelll weighs 450g and will be lifted with 50g -4+10 BP. The shell is very solid with the 2 layers of insert shells and filled with rough powder.

[cooperman435]

It would be easier, stronger and more fire resistant to just wrap in craft paper after spiking surely?

[Bonny]

It would be easier, stronger and more fire resistant to just wrap in craft paper after spiking surely?

After gluing the end plug into the top, it was wrapped with 1 layer of 50lb paper, with the ends folded and glued. It was then spiked with the tape and then covered again with another layer of 50lb paper with ends folded in and then paper circles glued over each end.
It is bottom fused with 1/4" time fuse crossmatched with a blob of BP/NC slurry to hold crossmatch in place.

[Mumbles]

Not many have experience with spiking canister shells with fiberglass tape. The few I do know that have done it, do it in a traditional-esque manner with thin tape, and as many verticals as would normally be done with string. They said that they were getting poor breaks and multiple flower pots as well. I suspect it was because the tape wasn't compressing the shell as much as string does. It should be noted that they said the shells started breaking like normal once they started using machine rolled thicker wall canisters instead of handrolled canisters.

[Bonny]

Not many have experience with spiking canister shells with fiberglass tape. The few I do know that have done it, do it in a traditional-esque manner with thin tape, and as many verticals as would normally be done with string. They said that they were getting poor breaks and multiple flower pots as well. I suspect it was because the tape wasn't compressing the shell as much as string does. It should be noted that they said the shells started breaking like normal once they started using machine rolled thicker wall canisters instead of handrolled canisters.

The cannister I used was spiral wound 3" ID with .070" wall thickness, which I have an unlimited supply at work...
I fired the shell on Sat night. It survived the lift charge which was my biggest worry. It did get up quite high before flower potting. I guess it needed more vertical spiking. The reason I don't use string is because the shell is an oddball size and I only have 1 steel mortar to use, and with string it won't fit. I will post video hopefully tonight. The cameraman had too many beers so most of the vids are crappy... I think most of the scatter shells went off though.
Here's the vid:

Edited by Bonny, 02 June 2008 - 10:33 PM.

[Bonny]

Here's are first 3" ball shells... I had a lot of blind stars and the camera was not focused very well by my (drunk) cousin. Both the Tigertail and the rainbow shell (mix of veline stars) had a Shimizu willow +10% Ti rising comet. The shells weighed about 130-150g and were lifted with about 16-18g of -4+10 pressed and corned willow BP. The hemi's were made using the pyroguide tutorial and the shells were pasted with 8 or 9 layers of 40lb paper. The burst was 4:1 BP coated vermiculite with a teaspoon of whistle per shell.

[Sambo]

My order from Pyro Direct arrived this morning, it took 15 days in all - not bad really. The packaging was very good, no broken casings from shipping etc. I ordered 20 - 6", 4 - 8", 2 - 12" and 25 - 1.75" for rising effects on the 8" and 12", the total for this was $110 about £60, $42 being shipping. Here's a pic. Overall i would recommend them as a good supplier.

Edited by Sambo, 09 September 2008 - 12:18 PM.