9 replies to this topic

[manks]

Hi folks, youve obviously guessed im a newbie. im after some basic advice please.
When ever ive done fireworks for the family, ive always left set off rockets one at a time. i'd like to set a load off simultaneously, perhaps with visco fuse, is this easy?
any advice appreciated.

[dogsbody]

if you have them in a rack / tubes reasonably close together and your using a port fire, just move from one to the next quickly, easiest way! you cant gaurantee the timing on the visco so may not lift simultaeously any way

[dr thrust]

this is something ive done many times myself at family bonfire parties, way way before i joined the forums, i made a basic 2x2 timber frame two legs with cross members fixed about 18 inches apart with holes drilled in it, spacing the rockets about 3 to 4 inches apart.
the rockets then placed in the rack, there fuses then linked to a long length of visco, usually each rocket tied to the visco with a piece of string
that's the easy part!, its then all down to timing.. i found that lighting the visco at one end left me with a slow volley of rockets one after another,where if you light a central point in the length of the visco the fuse burns outwards doubling the rockets going up.
there are over options as well, they make a fast burning visco, and the racks holes in the top and bottom cross members can be slightly offset to create a slight angle to give you a fan volley to spreed out the rockets in the sky as apposed to them going off in the same spot,phew! chris

Edited by chris m, 06 August 2010 - 10:53 PM.

[martyn]

A very simple way albeit involving a bit more cost would be to use these or something similar.
You don't necessarily need a proper firing system - a battery of 6v or more should be ok.

[Arthur Brown]

What are you using to light the fuse on the rockets? If you have a small lighter then each fuse takes a few seconds and the resultant volley is spaced by that few seconds. If you have a bigger blowtorch then the visco on each rocket takes fire so much quicker that the volley can be that much faster.

If you have paid big money for big rockets, space them sufficiently that they can be seen! With some of the big rockets costing £20 - 30 each then they need to be displayed well to be worth the money.

[dr thrust]

manks, after the launch, keep the rack to entertain the bonfire party !

[manks]

Thanks folk's!
I'm wanting to fuse some roman candles in a fan effect and have already started putting a rack together, im wanting the effect to go from left to right, left, right etc, which would be the best fuse and best method of fusing this?

[pyrotrev]

It'll depend a bit on the timing between shots on your candles - have you timed one??

[Creepin_pyro]

Thanks folk's!
I'm wanting to fuse some roman candles in a fan effect and have already started putting a rack together, im wanting the effect to go from left to right, left, right etc, which would be the best fuse and best method of fusing this?

Unless they're single shot candles you are at the mercy of the somewhat random timing of multi-shot candles. In commercial displays this is achieved using either a pre-made fan cake, or single shot candles/comets in a fan rack linked to a firing system. You might have to rethink what you're trying to achieve here.

[Atom Fireworks]

Answers to your questions,

Question 1 which ways the best to set off multiple rockets at one ?

Answer, theres many ways to do it from electronic firing to simly running a blow torch past a rack of them. My idea though not tested yet is to pull the fuses out of the rockets and insert as many strands of black match as possible and glue them in place, then get a a tube that you can fit as many rockets as you want to fire at once in, then cut out 2 wooden discs and drill holes through them and glue the disks in the tube. You can then load the rockets in and use 1 piece of visco to ignite the first fuse, the launch of the first rocket should passfire to the rest and wahay you have a neat little rocket volley, you can then store this volley tube for many years and it wont get damaged easily or be a hassle to store.

Question 2, how to make the roman candles fire left to right.

Answer, the simple answer is you cant really do this with multishot roman candles of consumer quality, the fusing in the candles is not perfect and one candle to the next wont fire at the same times it only takes a split second to ruin your effect, if one shot is delayed by that half a second. Your best bet is buy a cake thats fanned allready for that effect.

Just my 2 pennies worth mate, be safe watever you do and if you do set the candles up as a fan be sure to fix them properly so they do not fall over.