18 replies to this topic

[DrDerekDoctors]

While I've made a few film cannister salutes, I decided I should do things properly and make a proper banger.

So I made a wood-glue bound parcel paper tube using some 18mm dowel as a guide, with 1cm wooden end-plugs and probably measuring about 12cm in total length. I used the thicker green safety fuse as I didn't have a thinner drill bit for the end and because I don't have a corning press the contents is very nicely milled meal powder rather than the proper stuff, which was merely settled by tapping the sides of the tube as I filled it rather than tamped down (as it's the spare room which makes a banger bang, right?).

Anyhoo, I tried it today with the footage ably captured by my mum.

http://www.drderekdo...irst_banger.avi

Sadly there's no sound because the conversion tool I used only kept the audio if I converted the entire sequence, which would mean you'd be treated to footage of me burning my thumb and then the grotesque motion of my gut as I leg it away to safety. But tbh, you ain't missing much as while the banger produced a VERY satisfying thump (and split the flower pot it was on in twain), the camera only caught a little "bang" instead.

I'd take a picture of the ruptured casing (which split down the side instead of ejecting the end-plugs - which I was very happy about) but it landed in the neighbours garden.

[BigBang]

Congrats on making your first salute, but if you re going to make pyro your hobby, you must take safety a bit more seriously, otherwise you will get injured. After reading thru your post, i can point out a few elementary errors you made.

Firstly if you had to run away after lighting your salute, your fuse was too short. You should never HAVE to run away from a lit firework. If you dont want to waste precious visco, you can wrap a piece of touch paper around the end, this will also give you a much longer ignition time.

Secondly, you should never put a salute on a loose surface, like a flower pot! It could easily have shattered and sent pieces everywhere.

Thirdly, you should make sure (as far as possible) that pieces of your firework dont land in other peoples gardens.

And one other tip, not to do with safety......you'll get better results if you put the fuse in the centre of the tube rather than the end, specially when using BP

Andy

P.S............how did you manage to burn your thumb lighting a salute??

[DrDerekDoctors]

Congrats on making your first salute, but if you re going to make pyro your hobby, you must take safety a bit more seriously, otherwise you will get injured. After reading thru your post, i can point out a few elementary errors you made.

Righty.

Firstly if you had to run away after lighting your salute, your fuse was too short. You should never HAVE to run away from a lit firework. If you dont want to waste precious visco, you can wrap a piece of touch paper around the end, this will also give you a much longer ignition time.

Looking at the movie there's 10 seconds from lighting to it going off, so yeah, I think I would prefer something like 30 although even with 10 seconds I could have probably walked back at a leisurely pace. I just wanted to make sure I was out of shot.

Secondly, you should never put a salute on a loose surface, like a flower pot! It could easily have shattered and sent pieces everywhere.

Indeed, it was a bad choice but somewhat of a spur of the moment one when my mum pointed out she couldn't see the firework when it was on the floor.

Thirdly, you should make sure (as far as possible) that pieces of your firework dont land in other peoples gardens.

Yeah. I did check to make sure that none of the neighbours for 2 gardens either side weren't in them. In future I'll try to find a nice remote field to test things.

And one other tip, not to do with safety......you'll get better results if you put the fuse in the centre of the tube rather than the end, specially when using BP

Yeah, I hear that but I wasn't sure that my tube would stand up to the drilling. Plus there's something nice looking about an end-fused firework.

Andy

P.S............how did you manage to burn your thumb lighting a salute??

Ah, well as I used the thicker of the two fuses and because of the crappy matches I used necessitating that I get my fingers very close to the end of said fuse, my thumb caught a fair bit of the sparks when it ignited.

[BigBang]

Thats another good reason why you should put touch paper around the end of visco!!! I have to admit that has happen to me a couple of times, but i learned from my mistakes and now all my visco has touchpaper around the end.

[broadsword]

Most of the members here are more interested in making pretty colours and devices.
We dont look for the biggest bang we can make!

This is not flame but constructive critism, im sure you will find much more satisfaction from a wheel, fountain, mine, shell.
People will "Ohhh, and arrrrr"
Not "OUCH!"

[Von Bass]

Great going! i agree with broadsword, a quick way to make it more interesting would be to add some aluminium/iron/titanium powder to the meal - it wouldn't be necessary to use finely powdered bought stuff, just try using a file! This might add a bit more of a sparkly flash to the explosion

[DrDerekDoctors]

Ah, I have some Aluminium powder I got from from a local art store so I shall try a fountain of that. Although as I say I don't have proper black powder but rather meal powder, will I still be able to compact this and achieve a fountain?

[Richard H]

We do not encourage the discussion of simple salute / report devices like this.

[fishy1]

Ah, I have some Aluminium powder I got from from a local art store so I shall try a fountain of that. Although as I say I don't have proper black powder but rather meal powder, will I still be able to compact this and achieve a fountain?

yep, sometimes BP can be too good even, and you need to slow it a bit, so yep, meal will be ok.

[Von Bass]

yep, sometimes BP can be too good even, and you need to slow it a bit, so yep, meal will be ok.

yeah, you defintaley dont want a fountain exploding on you! Slower BP is better, because it still pushes the effect into the air, but dosent blast it apart!

[Karl]

You deffinately don't want a fountain exploding on you! Pretty scary moment when you see the fountain start then for it to blow it's self to pieces! Had one do it to me a few weeks back, no idea why. But it acted like flash powder rather than fountain comp.

[DrDerekDoctors]

You deffinately don't want a fountain exploding on you! Pretty scary moment when you see the fountain start then for it to blow it's self to pieces! Had one do it to me a few weeks back, no idea why. But it acted like flash powder rather than fountain comp.

Indeed not. Righty, I shall look up some fountain comps. I've got a week off of work next week which should give me plenty of time to roll a suitable tube and let it dry. Still kinda' wary about buying kitty litter, though, I always think I'll choose the one brand which isn't bentonite clay but rather something entirely useless. Maybe I'll stick with wooden plugs for now.

Btw, sorry Richard, I didn't realise that banger discussion was verboten.

Edited by DrDerekDoctors, 15 November 2005 - 11:02 PM.

[karlfoxman]

Indeed not. Righty, I shall look up some fountain comps. I've got a week off of work next week which should give me plenty of time to roll a suitable tube and let it dry. Still kinda' wary about buying kitty litter, though, I always think I'll choose the one brand which isn't bentonite clay but rather something entirely useless. Maybe I'll stick with wooden plugs for now.

Btw, sorry Richard, I didn't realise that banger discussion was verboten.

As far as im aware any kitty litter will do. Even as it comes from the pack should be ok for a hard rammed end plug. Its the way to go, you will get very very strong end plugs using this. If your making a nozzle reduce the clumps of litter to powder.

[DrDerekDoctors]

As far as im aware any kitty litter will do. Even as it comes from the pack should be ok for a hard rammed end plug. Its the way to go, you will get very very strong end plugs using this. If your making a nozzle reduce the clumps of litter to powder.

Thanks! My other fear is that obviously there are some flash compositions which are potassium nitrate and aluminium powder based. I don't want to be inadvertantly making something like that so I suppose it's best to start with something like a pine charcoal based fountain rather than using the aluminium powder I have?

As far as I know the aluminium I have is probably not the kind which can be used to make flash (as it's the Tiranti stuff rather than the titchy tiny stuff), but I'd prefer to play it safe.

Edited by DrDerekDoctors, 15 November 2005 - 11:43 PM.

[broadsword]

Go for the cheap and nasty cat litter! Usually means your getting plain old clay not any lavender enriched compounds