30 replies to this topic

[wjames]

With the up-coming season, i've been on the lookout for tubes ( as we all are!!!)

so, today i picked up 8 tubes...3inch ID....2 inch ID........so thats 1/2 inch walls !!!!......and they are 18 inches long........Look like rolled tubes, with a few spiral layers on the outer....

They are stupid hard ( i swung one like a baseball bat at a solid steel post..., and it didnt alter its shape !!!!)

SO, what would you go for??? i don't have tooling anywhere near that size - and given i have quite a number of them, i'm thinking some AL Fountains would be good ??

any ideas ?

[rr22]

Clarks Giant Steel Fountain

[wjames]

Clarks Giant Steel Fountain

easy enough to make???? i don't have a press at the moment, so it'd need to be done with a ruddy big hammer, and a bucket of sand !!!!

they look like they will take some serious abuse.....theyre from the centre of huge rolls of clingfilm - the kind of thing used to "wrap" pallets of boxes+parcels together.

[phildunford]

2" Mortars?

[starseeker]

2" Mortars?

Mines ?

[dr thrust]

clarkes fountains lol, ive made two of these beasties, one rammed the other pressed and have had no luck with either i followed the formula 1000g kno3, 200g red gum, 200g fillings dampened with minimal alcohol.
when it finally dried out( a few weeks) the comp refused to burn just turned whitish and bubble out moisture, over oxidised?

[jayden]

you could give them to me

[phildunford]

clarkes fountains lol, ive made two of these beasties, one rammed the other pressed and have had no luck with either i followed the formula 1000g kno3, 200g red gum, 200g fillings dampened with minimal alcohol.
when it finally dried out( a few weeks) the comp refused to burn just turned whitish and bubble out moisture, over oxidised?

Hi Chris - Bit off topic, but did you use iron filings? I used really coarse iron turnings/borings in my more or less successful one. Also used a bunch of thermite type sticks to get it going. Also very little damping - rammed with a scaffold pole and hammer...

[Mortartube]

Congreve rockets...............................................errm maybe not.

[wjames]

i was considering a MOFO rocket engine........Possibly "Rocket candy" - though i think the tube is BIT big for that.

giant fountain sounds good, i'd like to make a few of them, and use them as a centre-peice for the 5th.


Too big for my fav. fireworks.......Anyone remember last years firecrackers ?

[wjames]

Got some more - different size though.....perhaps a more usefull 2 inch OD x 1 1/2 inch id x 23 inches long.
Weight = 400g.

[Arthur Brown]

50mm tubes are useful as mortars -just plug the bottoms with wood or resin.

Using one of these as a rocket means that a tube and stick will be coming down at the end of a flight. At that scale the debris will cause damage.

[dr thrust]

Hi Chris - Bit off topic, but did you use iron filings? I used really coarse iron turnings/borings in my more or less successful one. Also used a bunch of thermite type sticks to get it going. Also very little damping - rammed with a scaffold pole and hammer...

yep, sorry kind of off topic i know, but i was using large hand rolled tubes, so i should get away with it here lol
no i have steel fillings, were i guess the metal of choice would be cast iron turnings, is this whats necessary to achieve a satisfactory "heat of reaction" to get the thing burning well?.
i even made a few test strips of comp and gave em the "old blowlamp" treatment to no avail
reading up on the matter its been suggested that you can use methylated spirit to dampen the mix and drastically speed up the drying process, again for me no banana

[Mumbles]

You could always build them up and make bottom shots.

I second the idea for fountains. It doesn't even have to be a clarks giant steel fountain. Others can be very attractive as well. I believe Lancaster gives formulas up to 2" in his book.

[wjames]

50mm tubes are useful as mortars -just plug the bottoms with wood or resin.

Using one of these as a rocket means that a tube and stick will be coming down at the end of a flight. At that scale the debris will cause damage.

I had considered that. I do have a area of around 5 sq miles which had no buildings......but even then, a 500g object at terminal velocity.......There is cows+deer in the 5sq miles.



( looks up "venison burgers")