1569 replies to this topic

[aapua]

Today we shot 3 shells.

I?d like to share one of them with you It?s the 3" crysanthemum peony shell from the picture earlier in this thread.

http://www.kkpaul.rp...zoll_willow.wmv There it is.

The lift (15g of obviously relatively weak CIA blackpowder) wasn?t strong enough (don?t know why, worked great in the past...) so the shell lwas lifted to about 30m I think

But anyway the effect is great for such a small shell with 8layers pasted and only blackpowder as the breakcharge.

greets,

paul

ps: Here?s the video of my poor spiderweb shell. There were more sparks but anyway it looks weird

http://www.kkpaul.rp...derweb_poor.wmv

The first is not bad at all, just it seems to me the delay was a bit too short... The second was... "nice"..., interesting anyway. I should say, when playing with the new compositions and technologies, many-many my experiments ended like was your 2nd movie... :-)

[Yugen-biki]

paul

The first shell was very nice. And I have to agree with you that the break was good for useing 8 layers af paper and BP burst.

This is my thoughts, you don't need to think like I do:
I don't agree with aapua that the delay was to short. I time it to about 3 seconds. I would have used more lift (like 20g) or more likely, cut the fuse to about 1,5-2 seconds. (small shells don't need to go very high up or they will apper smaller)

The second spider web shell needs a stronger burst in my oppinion. More layers of paper and maby KP and some booster (0,5-1g flash); (I use H3 for small shells, but the KClO3+S problem may be annoying with stars of this kind).
This shell has potentials to be very beautiful.

Over all nice work!

[Pretty green flames]

really nice shells paul.

The first one was nice, but my fave is the spiderweb shell.
That dense break is just beautiful, it give the impression that the sky is burning.

Love it!

[paul]

Thanks for all your replies

Yugen-biki, youre completely right! Both shells have had a 15g bp lift. But the spiderwebshell got much higher. I don?t know why the blackpowder was so different. The spiderwebshell was fired with blackpowder I made a fews weeks ago....

Next time I?m going to use better charcoal for that.

Pretty green flames: I liked the break best, too. And there were much more long lasting sparks in the sky BUT the Ixus Cam did?nt get it very well....

But anyway. thanks for your comments on that.

[Flashy]

I didn't want to start a new thread for this question and seen as it relates to spherical shells i thought i'd put it here.

What length tube do you all use for mortars. I'm sure i read somewhere that a mortar tube should be 6 times the length of the diameter of the tube. Therefore making a 3 inch mortar 18 inches long.

I'm having some mortar racks made up at work as i found a great source of disposable tubes. A printer we have at work that uses reels of paper. The tubes are 3 inch diameter and 36 inches long. The wall thickness is about 1/4 inch, my intial tests look good for these tubes. After launching a 65g "mock up" shell 7 times there is no damage to the inside of the tube and there is no signs of deformation showing.

[Yugen-biki]

I use 60cm long tubes for 3" and 70cm for 4" sperical shells. But I'm sure you can use a tube taht is +-20cm that length. (1inch=2,5cm)

[paul]

Yep, for me it?s the same. For 3" I use my pretty thick walled 60cm long mortar...

Just works fine.

Edited by paul, 08 March 2005 - 05:17 PM.

[Pretty green flames]

I use 30cm of pure tube (other 5cm is clay plug) for 2'' shells.

Haven't gotten around to anyrhing bigger......YET!

[Flashy]

I use 30cm of pure tube (other 5cm is clay plug) for 2'' shells.

Haven't gotten around to anyrhing bigger......YET! 

Well my tubes are 50cm long now, I got into work and someone had already cut them for me. I've now managed to get some tube like yours paul. Its over 1/2 inch wall thickness and around 60cm long. So i'm having two racks of three tubes with the thinner wall tubes, and one rack with three of the thick tubes for shells that i want to lift REALLY high.

Sorry for mixing my units (inches, cm) it comes from working on american projects then english projects. I just can't help it anymore.

[paul]

Yes, I think you could shoot with say 100g lift BUT personally I wouldn?t even use 40g, because the effect of a 3" shell will look too small in such hights...

[Flashy]

Yes, I think you could shoot with say 100g lift BUT personally I wouldn?t even use 40g, because the effect of a 3" shell will look too small in such hights...

But an aerial salute can look (sound i suppose) good at such a height, that was my intial thinking anyway.

[ProfHawking]

A 3" aerial salute!? that must be stupidly big.
how much flash are you intending to use? and what would happen if it goes off in the tube, even with 1/2 wall, due to the 100g lift?

dont want to sound like a spoilsport, but if i understand correctly what you want to do it sounds a bit dodgey to me :S

[paul]

This "100g" comes from me I meant this because we talked about the wall thickness of the mortar tube before. I only supposed these tubes COULD stand this pressure.

I think neither he or me was intended to do such things..... not with 100g lift

[Flashy]

A 3" aerial salute!? that must be stupidly big.
how much flash are you intending to use? and what would happen if it goes off in the tube, even with 1/2 wall, due to the 100g lift?

dont want to sound like a spoilsport, but if i understand correctly what you want to do it sounds a bit dodgey to me :S

Who said anything about flash. Good black powder can produce an excellent salute. A very strong shell padded out with loose tissue or similar then the remaining space filled with fast burning BP should give a great salute. Also if your launch site is suitable there should be no problem with a failure as you will be a safe distance away and so will all surrounding objects that could cause danger.

[ProfHawking]

fair enough then, good luck to you. I agree that a proper site even if u blew up your tube it wouldnt matter, but seems such a shame! i'd cherish a nice 1/2" walled tube
ive never tried a salute with anything other than flash, and i only have made tiny ones. Maybe ill try a shell as you discribe sometime. lord knows ive got enough hemis! i went a bit mad when i ordered