74 replies to this topic

[Arthur Brown]

draw the finished thread off the machine with a capstan winch of known diameter. Then wind the product up on a spool with a slipping clutch -probably magnetic.

[JamesH]

Thats exactly what I had in mind, the clutch I have is an adjustable friction type.
What I need to work out is the correct ratio between draw and spin rate, i.e how many revolutions of the spool plates per 1cm or inch of fuse drawn through the machine. Any advice is much appreciated.

[icarus]

pyroforum.nl english section has a superb selection of photographs and an excellent write up on visco machines showing many working examples

[mike_smith919]

Hi all,

I have ordered parts to make a visco machine, and will keep you all updated on my progress.

If anyone want's a copy of the plans i'm building from PM me and i will e-mail them to you.

I dont seem to be able to find and NC laquer, I have heard about dissolving ping pong balls in acetone but would like to know if there is an easier way of making it or if anyone knows of a supplier.

Cheers,

Mike.

[bigtonyicu]

Hi all,

I have ordered parts to make a visco machine, and will keep you all updated on my progress.

If anyone want's a copy of the plans i'm building from PM me and i will e-mail them to you.

I dont seem to be able to find and NC laquer, I have heard about dissolving ping pong balls in acetone but would like to know if there is an easier way of making it or if anyone knows of a supplier.

Cheers,

Mike.

Hi Mike,

For your NC lacquer, you may try contacting your local hobby shop, the often sell NC FLakes (it's used to make R/C airplane fabric air tight, for those who insist on using cloth instead of monocoat) it's however becoming rare (people are getting lazy and they don't want to fumes), but if you can get it stock up on it, it's much cheaper then pingpong ball, since it's dry it has an indefenite shelflife, it has no colour so it's easy to dye. Just disolve in acetone when ready to use (since the flakes are very thin, it desolves very fast), my recomendation is 1:8 (NC flakes to acetone) it's very thin but it does a great job soaking in between the theards to make your visco nice and solide, the down side is you normally have to do 2 layers, but since it's so thin I can usualy do the 2 coats in less time then one thick one (no need to let the first layer dry completly; I do the second as soon as it starts becoming tacky about 3-4 mins in the hot sun). be sure to do this outside (the coating) the fumes are verry stong and highly flamable.

My set up is much like one found on a youtube video (I'll post the link later, I can't access the site from work). Basicly it's 2 shafts about 100 feet apart, the uncoated fuse enters the NC Lacquer bath exits throught a small hole travels to the far shaft arround a 6" pulley then comes back to the bath (arround an other 6 in pulley in the NC bath) then back to the far shaft, then back to the starting shaft (not going in the lacquer this time) then one more round trip to dry. Then gets rolled on a spoll back on the starting side (boy I wish I had a picture of my set up, easier to show then to explain) I make in 1 day my supply for a year. The fuse is pulled by the finished pulley connected to a small dc motor (brushless & sealed) and a variable speed drive depending on the tempreture and humidity the fuse travels arround 9-15"/second (total travel time is arround 12 mins). (wow thats more info then what you asked for but there's no such thing as too much info)

[bigtonyicu]

Hi everyone, this is the video I was talking about, it's part 7 of a seven part fuse making (in china) video
http://www.youtube.c...feature=related,

I don't know who this guy is but he has several great video... including one on a tube rolling machine... now I need to figure out how to make my one... (next winter's project)

[kelly]

I just completed my Visco fuse machine and gave it a dry run (no powder) tonight. My question is, is the top group of strings supposed to wrap around the conical and then (being pulled down by the take up reel) close on the powder, or does the powder simply fall into the cone created by the strings and get closed by the rotation of the spinneret? The reason I'm asking is that the first method appears to be a more efficient and less wasteful than the second method, as the second allows for a large portion of the powder to fall where it may, making a fair mess and potential danger from spillage.

[Pyrogeorge]

can you upload some photos from your visco machine?

[kelly]

can you upload some photos from your visco machine?

I'm not sure if I can as I'm not very computer literate, I'll have a go when my daughter comes home from university. I'm sure she can tell me how to do it, anyway I hope she can!

[knackers]

I just completed my Visco fuse machine and gave it a dry run (no powder) tonight. My question is, is the top group of strings supposed to wrap around the conical and then (being pulled down by the take up reel) close on the powder, or does the powder simply fall into the cone created by the strings and get closed by the rotation of the spinneret? The reason I'm asking is that the first method appears to be a more efficient and less wasteful than the second method, as the second allows for a large portion of the powder to fall where it may, making a fair mess and potential danger from spillage.

it looks to me the primary reel is spun around the hopper nozzle, so the bp is being fed into the primary winding at "x" depth, whilst being pulled by the take up reel, it also sounds more of a logical method than just letting the BP fall from "x" hight ,as the primary windings will be almost closed tight before the BP is in,

got any updates ? how about your pictures ?

[kelly]

it looks to me the primary reel is spun around the hopper nozzle, so the bp is being fed into the primary winding at "x" depth, whilst being pulled by the take up reel, it also sounds more of a logical method than just letting the BP fall from "x" hight ,as the primary windings will be almost closed tight before the BP is in,

got any updates ? how about your pictures ?

phill 63
Your analysis of the machine falls in line with my own, after several viewings of the various machines on youtube. I've had a few runs, but at present I'm not satisified with the powder flow or pick up. I'm using an 8:1, spining to take up, ratio and get very nice string, about 4M per minute, but not fuse. Regards the photos I'm still waiting for my daughter to come home from Uni, but things are not good, my father in the States is ill and may not make it past Sept.. So the photos are on a low priority at the moment. I"ll try to do what I can as soon as I find time.

[icarus]

i went a different route to produce fuse . I exude a KClO3 dextrose and silicon sealant mix onto a polythene sheet from a motorised syringe. It forms a reasonably waterproof + wind proof fuse but it has to be tape covered . If this was put through a visco machine and nitrocellulose dipped it would be a superb pro quality fuse

[Pyrogeorge]

kelly got any updates?

[Pyrogeorge]

nothing yet?

[ToFe]

Has anyone else tried and succeed or failed at making a visco fuse making machine recently?
There is a good video tutorial by Erniz so I might have a go, I can't really disguise its purpose though if anyone was to come a knocking.

I don't really like buying anything for pyro much prefer to make it more fun!