1569 replies to this topic

[karlfoxman]

Those shells are good, you seem to have the hang of those Gamon cases now! They are wonderful cases and a dream to work with, you dont really need and tape on them but it wont hurt to add it. Hmm strange the glitter didnt work well, the break looks to blame to be honest, maybe the stars were damp in the middle and leached into the break? Thats one of the only causes I can think of. How do you find the fuse, nice to work with? Fits the shells perfectly, your doing well I did love the tigertail shell, I was thinking of rolling some tiger tail to blue stars as the transition is a very pleasing one!

Well done!

[sasman]

Nice Shells.... I liked the TigerTail beatuifull effect... I think the odd break on the D1 glitter shell was caused by the Lid of the gammon shell not glued on properly?.. Maxman is not using any Booster just Plain BP..So to produce bigger breaks he needs to use some more strapping tape or paste some layers of Kraft ?...

Karl what type of solvent do you recomend for glueing those gammon shells?..How long do you leave your glue on the plastic shells to dry?..If no booster is used then i beleive the glued seem must be 100% dried ..

[karlfoxman]

I use paint thinners, its Xylene, Toluene and Acetone. Its dries quickly, seems dry after only 5mins but I leave them for a good 4 hours to dry. You need to fully glue every part to seal these shells or they will not break well or even worse flower pot due to a leak on the case. Im looking forward to seeing you shells Sasman, anything on the build? I am in Malta in one week so will swap new ideas with my friends at St Josephs.

[sasman]

Not made any devices yet ..Need to finish off a Drying cabinet and a few other bits and bobs...Hopefully will be able to start making a few shells in a few weeks time..

BrightStar Excellent shell!!...Have you got any videos of your plastic shells in action..I have only ever fired Plastic shells.. Do you find any difference between Paper or Plastic?

Edited by sasman, 27 May 2007 - 07:40 PM.

[Bonny]

I tested my first 3" cannister shell this weekend. It flowerpotted at maybe 50'. I do not have time fuse so I tried using 3pcs of visco taped together.The shell was bottom fused and bottom fired.I think the fuse was pushed into the shell by the lift which was 40g of 10-20 mesh homemade BP. The shell weight was 444g. I think based on what happened, I have already learned quite a bit. The shell contained 4 -1" shells, Williams no-antimony wht glitter comets,winokur20 comets as well as some extra stars of same and tiger tail maybe.Video link below. I hope it works. Any tips/feedback appreciated so I can improve.Thanks

[pudi.dk]

Nice shell.
But the flowerpot could be because of the empty space between the 3 visco fuses.

[pyrotrev]

I would guess the problem is with your delay fuse. I've tried 2 pieces of Visco or Wasag in parallel (not for shells though) and the fire easily nips down the gap between the strands unless you are very careful to fill any voids up with a suitable filler/sealer. If you've made the casing yourself I'm sure you'd be better off with 2 or 3 separate bits of Visco through their own holes in the bottom disc, make sure you seal well round each one. Also remember that Visco consumes it's outer covering as it burns, so you will need to wrap it in something fireproof if you've any length protruding inside the casing, otherwise you delay will be shorter than you think

Edited by pyrotrev, 30 May 2007 - 12:40 PM.

[Bonny]

This is the link to my 21-1" cylinder shell barrage last weekend. There was a mix of shells including D1,salutes,tiger tails, white glitter and some colour shells. Most of the colours did not work well as the star primes that were "drying" in my garage for a week of solid rain fired blind. I think only 1 shell failed to light on lift...My family loved it though. Sorry about the horrible recording job (girlfriend), hard to follow that many shells fired at different angles. Around the middle of the set is a 1" shell filled with (6 I think)70/30 Perc/Al flash inserts made as per Caramanos2000 pic in post #11 of "A challenge to shell makers" topic. Loved that one. Shells were all lifted with 5g 10-20mesh homemadeBP.

[Caramanos2000]

Didnt want to start my own thread for this so I put it here. I want some suggestions on what star comps I could make with the chems I have. I have: 600 Mesh al, Indian Dark Al, Charcoal Airfloat, Charcoal coarse, Kno3, Cuo, Iron Oxide, KCLO4, Sulfur, Mg Flake. Probably my best bet is a simple white star, any ideas?

[paul]

You can make some more! All you need is some coarser al That given, you could do some nice:

1) D1 glitter stars
2) Firefly or crysanthemum stars with added al! Which look very nice and give kind of an twinkling effect.

What I can see from that list is: Get yourself some binders and cheap pottery supply carbonates! Having Red Gum (even pure white dextrine works...) you can make great red stars with your KClO4, a binder, some SrCo3.

BTW: As mentioned by swisher and others on rec.pyrotechnics (and tried by me...) you often can substitute KClO3 with almost the same ammount KClO4 in colour formulas... See this link for such a formula!

As a conclusion: You´re only little away from nice coloured stars. Just get a few decent binders (which are very cheap!) and strontium carbonate (which is even cheaper!)

Edited by paul, 31 May 2007 - 09:23 AM.

[Wyvern]

I just did a test of device of which many will go into my next shell, i think theyre called bees but the names vary from place to place.
The bp/magnalium mix pressed into 5/8" tubes then an off centre hole in the middle of the tube (similar to z-b*mb), in the finished product i think i will mix in a little whistle and add some fine Ti and Al to the bp to make a nice trail and maybe get a better noise.

Here is the test

[Caramanos2000]

I do have dextrin and was thinking of some carbonates. Doesnt that mean I would also need PVC to supply chlorine, I also have Boric Acid.

[Wyvern]

I do have dextrin and was thinking of some carbonates. Doesnt that mean I would also need PVC to supply chlorine, I also have Boric Acid.

Yeah you will need a chlorine donor to get the best colour out of your stars although i doubt you will need to boric acid foer most comps as they use KClO3/4 as the oxidiser and not KNO3.

[Caramanos2000]

So what are some good comps then? I allready have some pumped Bp and coarse charcoal stars drying. Tell me some other ones. I know I can get Copper Carbonate but can I get Strontium carbonate at the ceramic shop?

[Bonny]

So what are some good comps then? I allready have some pumped Bp and coarse charcoal stars drying. Tell me some other ones. I know I can get Copper Carbonate but can I get Strontium carbonate at the ceramic shop?

Ceramic shop should have Strontium carbonate and Barium carbonate as well. They also might have cryolite (used in some yellow/orange comps) as well as copper oxide and iron oxide. Try looking on the PFP database...huge list of comps. I have a hard time getting strontium nitrate, but have made nice reds with strontium carbonate, mainly using potassium chlorate as oxidizer though.