259 replies to this topic

[Bonny]

Cool, hope to se a video of the silver cascade up in the air.

I hope they work. I miscalculated my amounts needed for the step prime, ran out of comp and made a nasty mess trying to do a slurry prime. I think they are the ugliest stars I've ever seen. I'll probably have to do the final layer using NC/BP slurry prime and hope it's hot enough to get the going.

[David]

Some very limited and low quality July 4th footage from my You Tube channel!

July 4th Videos

The Men shun colour/flash ones are quite nice when they light up the trees!

[ultrabuf]

This is basically a copy of my post at APC but whatever. All my stuff worked to varying degrees, but my camera skills seemed to be lacking so not everything shows up well. Some you cant even see at all, but you can hear it functioning. Anyway, read the descriptions and if you have any other questions about anything just shoot. I think my greatest dissapointment was the inner petal of my 4" double petal not lighting. No one cared though, as you can tell from the vid.






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnFfGgiY39g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdkxw51GC44
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWmpjEfmY-4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ir25Vv-rrQ

I have a picture of the multishot rack after it fired, the front row of mine mortars got ripped off the base.
http://i231.photobuc...trackdamage.jpg

And I have a bunch of construction pics and whatnot in this album:
http://s231.photobuc...u...th of July/

Enjoy! Comments and criticizm welcomed.

Edited by ultrabuf, 09 July 2008 - 03:47 AM.

[Pyrogeorge]

Small comet

[Vic]

In celebration of joining UKPS, and in spite of being an infrequent poster, I thought you would like to see my efforts to make a reversing wheel. It's based on the Passfire Two Stage Stick Wheel. I would be grateful for any advice particularly regarding the absence of titanium sparks when the wheel reaches full speed. To my mind centrifugal force is somehow stopping the sparks from ejecting. I did note that the casings continued to burn through on the outer most sides after wheel came to rest even though they were high quality NEPT tubes and hand made ones on the second drives.

Here's the link. Please enjoy the video, and I eagerly await your comments and advice.


Regards,
Vic.

[digger]

In celebration of joining UKPS, and in spite of being an infrequent poster, I thought you would like to see my efforts to make a reversing wheel. It's based on the Passfire Two Stage Stick Wheel. I would be grateful for any advice particularly regarding the absence of titanium sparks when the wheel reaches full speed. To my mind centrifugal force is somehow stopping the sparks from ejecting. I did note that the casings continued to burn through on the outer most sides after wheel came to rest even though they were high quality NEPT tubes and hand made ones on the second drives.

Here's the link. Please enjoy the video, and I eagerly await your comments and advice.


Regards,
Vic.

Even still a great looking wheel.

Do you have any pre fire pictures? What were the compositions used in the drivers?

[Vic]

http://i271.photobuc...un/DSC05337.jpg

Hope that is helpful as a pre fire picture.

And the compositions...

Purple driver forumula:
Red Gum 10
Parlon 20
Magnalium 20
Titanium 15
Strontium Nitrate 25
Copper(II) oxide 10
Potassium Perchlorate 25

^Credit to John Glasswick

Black Powder Tourbillion Fomula (Second):
Meal 35
Potassium Nitrate 45
Charcoal AF 15
Sulfur 5
Titanium 10

^Credit to Ronald Lancaster

Hope this helps.
Regards,
Vic.

[Sorry for the multiple edits. I seem to be doing a good job of repeatedly missing things ]

Edited by fflach, 17 July 2008 - 10:04 PM.

[dr thrust]

just checked out the vid( and give it five stars) great job how long to build? and did you enjoy building it

[seymour]

As you or your friend said at the end of the video "Wicked!" All the drivers were obviously very well made as they burned out in unison every time. Well done

I did notice though, there are not all that many sparks during the purple stage for 15% Ti...

[digger]

Just a couple of extra questions. What type of Ti were you using? What was the choke size? What was the ID of the tubes? and finally what was the internal shape of the nozzle flat or conical?

[pyromaniac303]

I had similar problems adding titanium to red gum based star comps, they seemed to give almost no sparks, its very odd. Almost like the titanium is being encapsulated by one of the combustion products or reacting to form something on the surface of the titanium which prevents ignition. I still have not found an explanation for this, but as this is a tried and tested driver comp your using, it may be some peculiarity we both have with our ingredients.

Did you use a spindle and rammer method, or did you drill the nozzle? I find spark ejection problems occur with flat-rammers, and with drilled nozzles. The most effective way (if you have access to a lathe) is to ram the nozzle with a pointed rammer, then swap to a normal flat rammer to fill in the comp, this 'funnels' all the sparks out through the nozzle. This becomes very important with microstar fountains too.

It was an excellent wheel though, well done!

[Vic]

Thank you all for your kind comments.

With everything to hand, the wheel took around an hour and a half to make. It was very enjoyable to make, which made time less of an issue as I was immersed in the build.

Now onto the details...

The titanium used was sponge, between 40 and 80 mesh. The choke size was a third of the diameter of the tubes, which had an internal diameter of 3/4" and 1/2".


The internal shape of the nozzle was achieved with tooling from Wolter: http://www.wolterpyr...g?1216367984453

The drivers were made using a press.

Once again, thank you all for your comments.
Regards,
Vic.

Edited by fflach, 20 July 2008 - 09:02 PM.

[Bonny]

[quote name='pyromaniac303' date='Jul 17 2008, 10:45 PM' post='46538']
I had similar problems adding titanium to red gum based star comps, they seemed to give almost no sparks, its very odd. Almost like the titanium is being encapsulated by one of the combustion products or reacting to form something on the surface of the titanium which prevents ignition. I still have not found an explanation for this, but as this is a tried and tested driver comp your using, it may be some peculiarity we both have with our ingredients.


I've also had the same problem with the glasswick gerb formulas used as drivers. I mostly use Ti flakes and curls (machine shop shavings) but have noticed a lack of sparks.
When I make my nozzles I ram the clay and then use a drill bit the size of the ID of the tube to add an angle to the inside of the nozzle before pressing in the comp.

[BrightStar]

Well done fflach - that was a really professional looking wheel. It's always nice to see someone taking care in the construction.

I've also had the same problem with the glasswick gerb formulas used as drivers. I mostly use Ti flakes and curls (machine shop shavings) but have noticed a lack of sparks.

Likewise with me, using 20-60 mesh Fe-Ti in Glasswick Red gerbs (flat, drilled clay chokes). They gave an initial burst of gold sparks, then barely any sparks at all for the rest of the burn.

I wonder what's going on here? Maybe it's just that they burn so hot?

Edited by BrightStar, 18 July 2008 - 02:15 PM.

[portfire]

Well done fflach - that was a really professional looking wheel. It's always nice to see someone taking care in the construction.

I'll second that!! Very well done fflach, great wheel. BrightStar's right, I think we need to try and keep things traditional where possible, and you've done a great job there fflach. I hate seeing duct tape and the like, lets keep it real people are those clove hitch knots holding the QM in place....they better be.....He says holding his fist up

Anyway. I too have this problem. Here is a vid of a recent wheel using Lancaster's 'B' Silver Driver comp.

http://video.google....698018066026240

despite the fact that both drivers should have ignited together, (and the second one snapping off as it ignited) I think it must be something to do with when the wheel gains momentum, as you can see they where lovely Ti sparks at the start, and when the wheel speeds up, there none existent, but as the other driver ignites (and comes off) there back. This is why I've posted this failed wheel as it may shed some light on the matter. IMO it could be something to do with the speed at which the wheel is rotating.