152 replies to this topic

[Stuart]

Oh no, it isnt me who made it, it is lord_dranack. Thanks anyway

[adamw]

Here is a Chinese one that can be had for the paltry sum of ?150 (+ shipping)



I'll bring one back next time...

[The_Djinn]

Wonder what explanation we could give cutoms and excise for wanting to bring one of these into the country ?

I bet the members on here could come up with some novel ideas.
Lord Dranack, take a peek at the feeder shut near the top.. thats all that your mechano set is missing.. apart from that they are practicaly the same.

Sorry Adamw, how many did you say you could fit in your bag ?

Mark

[alany]

Here is a Chinese one that can be had for the paltry sum of ?150 (+ shipping)

That's not a bad price, where do I pay, I'll buy it now!

[Rhodri]

Ah yes! But what we don't realise is that the black panel on the floor at the back is to allow a fork lift truck to move through.

Scale in pictures is so difficult to judge!

[lord_dranack]

I'll have a go at rigging up a feeder shoot some time soon. The biggest problem I think will be the hole in the bottom- too big and all the powder will fall out, too small and it will come off the thread.
Possibly soaking the thread in shellac in alcohol will help it stick better if I use granulated powder.
when I first made blackmatch I attempted it with dry comp. with little sucess. However I will revisit that method for use with the machine...

Adamw, just out of interest, where did you see the advert for the visco rig?

Edited by lord_dranack, 30 January 2004 - 03:04 PM.

[pyrotechnist]

I know this is not a pyrotechnic question but I am just wondering lord_dranack were do you bye you mechano from? I would like to build one of these machines to thinking of it.

[adamw]

Cant remember, some random Chinese source. Easy to buy if you can arrange shipping (thats the expensive bit). Mills, star rollers, presses and hemisphere machines are all available too.

The inital price quoted is excluding the motor. And they are new too. That picture is of one in use at a factory.

[lord_dranack]

I'll bet the shipping for most of those things would be somewhat more than the cost of the item!

As to mechano, to get all the parts I used, you would probably need a specalist parts dealer (try the internet?). The cost of buying then would be quite large also. I only used them as it was what I had lying around the house- I think most of it came from a friend of my Dad!

[The_Djinn]

Have a look at this LINK there are various machines for sale. The top two are fuse machines.

Mark

PS: See Lord Dranack, even the Chinese know how to use mechano

Edited by The_Djinn, 31 January 2004 - 04:56 PM.

[pyrotechnist]

I have now found a good meccano place that sells all the metal and plastic pieces of the old type meccano if you need more meccano lord_dranack go to here and any one else making a machine or model to go here to. I am trying this stuff out cause I think meccano is perfect for making machines and moving model parts or ball mills cause they have metal sheets which are flexible and could be used as a shield for something to protect you and I am going to bye from them they sell most parts for ?1.00 and onwards check it out.

her it is http://secure.meccanoshop.co.uk/ I know this is not about fireworks but encase any one wants to make there own visco rig to bye some of this stuff.

Edited by pyrotechnist, 02 February 2004 - 04:42 PM.

[Loci]

Perhaps we could get a parts list for what we wound need to build on of these fab machines?

[pyrotechnist]

It comes to quite a bit of money but not to much hi am going to go to toys r us to get a meccano kit and bye some certain parts from there.

[adamw]

There is also a real-world 'adult' type of Meccano (or Erector-set as the US folk would call it heheh) used in engineering, DIY and so on called 'Dexian' (cheers RichH). That is for the framework only. I think Meccano gears are still probably your best bet. Look on the old Bay of E (www.ebay.co.uk) - there is buckets of the stuff on there.

[lord_dranack]

Perhaps we could get a parts list for what we wound need to build on of these fab machines?

If people want, I can make a parts list. However, it will take some time as I am quite busy at the moment. Also a machine like I made can be made in numerous ways, probably much more simply that I did!
If you are buying mechano, I found that their motors were too weak to power the machine.
The main problem I had was the lack of any bearings in mechano to suspend the rotating cylander.
I'll have to look on ebay sometime as I was looking for some dexian for a ball mill!