51 replies to this topic

[paul]

Simply looks great! You?re right with the speed: Could be a bit faster indeed. But the effect is great, nice, sharp and "loud" bangs from the crackling stars and a nice round dense and golden tail.

Great work. Keep the videos coming

[broadsword]

Just tried viewing that vid but the link doesnt seem to work!

[Yugen-biki]

The movie is gone. I'll have it up on my pyro page some time soon probably.

Edited by Yugen-biki, 06 February 2006 - 07:40 AM.

[Creepin_pyro]

Finally got round to making a nice big wheel : )

It consisted of two stages; first was 3x 1/2" Iron filings/coarse flake Al drivers, second was 2x 1/2" Titanium drivers. Both had red to blue colour changing lances, but they didn't work properly. The red lance could be seen during the first stage, but it snuffed itself out, and the second lance only lit after a long hangfire.

I used a short core on the drivers to get the thing spinning quickly. On reflection, I don't think this was needed, and the whole thing should be slowed down to prolong burn time.

Here are some photos of this thing in action. First stage:

http://creeper.250fr...saxon/483LR.jpg

Second stage:

http://creeper.250fr...saxon/484LR.jpg
http://creeper.250fr...saxon/485LR.jpg

And the video:

http://creeper.250fr...on/Cap_1_LR.MPG

Does anyone have any experience making colour/effect pots for wheels? Every time I try them they seem to either blow themselves out, or not have enough light output to be noticed. Can't find any specific formulas, but I guess I'm looking for something very fast burning with massive wind resistance and light output. Any advice would be appreciated!

I can post specs and pre-firing photos if anyone's interested.

Edited by Creepin_pyro, 06 February 2006 - 01:34 PM.

[BigG]

It?s a good enough effort. The red lance can be seen clearly.

You did not give a spec of your wheels, but generally small wheels contain more energetic compositions and less drivers, where auxiliary effects don?t look very strong. Bigger wheels contain more drivers with less energetic compositions. The ?fire ring? still seen clearly because you have more drivers and together then fool the eye to the impression of a wheel ? but the slower pace means that colour pots and other effects look better.

In both cases, core is not needed.

I think I?ll re-write some of this thread. Wheels are so much fun, and not many seem to do anything about them?.

Edited by BigG, 06 February 2006 - 02:02 PM.

[Richard H]

Nice wheel! I think your right about your drivers, they seem to burn very fast and I would slow them down. The second stage titanium drivers seem to explode at the end of their performance. Was this intended?

As for the colour pots, try some short, squat tubes and a magnesium or magnalium based colour composition. They do not need to burn very fast, but they should burn quite steadily. The larger burning surface should stop them being extinguished quite so easily.

Interested in pre-firing pictures.

[karlfoxman]

Fantastic pictures! Once again, and lovely wheel! I am looking at making some more set pieces/wheels soon as they dont seem like they are often made by us lot. Is the problem with the lances going out because the powder is getting thrown out?? If thats the case i guess you could press them hard. Look forward to seeing the video of it as im at work at the moment. Keep up the good work!!!

[BigG]

Fantastic pictures! Once again, and lovely wheel! I am looking at making some more set pieces/wheels soon as they dont seem like they are often made by us lot. Is the problem with the lances going out because the powder is getting thrown out?? If thats the case i guess you could press them hard. Look forward to seeing the video of it as im at work at the moment. Keep up the good work!!!

Actually, strangely enough, the reason that lances go off is from the wind blowing across them. Unlike stars, lance formulas have a weak flame and designed to work in stationary conditions. One trick is to position the lance burning end with the wheel rotation direction. To have a clearly defined lance ring - move the lance as far as possible inward from the driver, those separating the ring of the lance from the ring of the driver. Finally, instead of a lance, use a ?colour pot?, which is basically a very short lance with larger diameter ? so you got bigger flame and better chance to keep the whole thing alit!

[karlfoxman]

Can you use catalyst of some sort to keep the flame from blowing out? Maybe some wire through the middle of the comp like nichrome? Maybe barking up the wrong tree.........

[BigG]

Can you use catalyst of some sort to keep the flame from blowing out? Maybe some wire through the middle of the comp like nichrome? Maybe barking up the wrong tree.........

Probably it's reinventing the wheel for somthing that works quiet regularly. working on your composion and setup is the right thing to do in such cases.

[sasman]

Now i liked that! ...the titanium stage i was impressed with.. please post a pic of it before ignition...i browsed your site .. and those dragon fire pics are realy very good..i could not find any pic of the wheel before ignition altho richard mention them?

[Amleth]

Probably it's reinventing the wheel for something that works quite regularly.

Baddum-tish!

[EnigmaticBiker]

Here are some photos of this thing in action. First stage:

http://creeper.250fr...saxon/483LR.jpg

Second stage:

http://creeper.250fr...saxon/484LR.jpg
http://creeper.250fr...saxon/485LR.jpg

And the video:

http://creeper.250fr...on/Cap_1_LR.MPG

Sounds really good but unfortunately I can't seem to load the photos.

Simon

[Creepin_pyro]

Thanks for the tips guys - I'll be trying out a few different colour pots on the next wheel. Am I right to assume they should be attached at 90deg. to the other drivers so they point towards the spectators?

I'll be slowing down the driver comps on the next one - I used 70/15/10 green mix which proved to be way too fast. I might keep the cores on the Ti drivers though - I like the way they spin up so violently : P

Here are some pre-firing photos as promised... Some side views:

http://creeper.250fr...wheelLR0629.jpg
http://creeper.250fr...wheelLR0630.jpg

And the whole thing:

http://creeper.250fr...wheelLR0628.jpg

Yes, I b*st*rdised a commercial wheel backing for my own purposes - I'm a keen recycler : ) And by the way, the Ti drivers exploding was intentional... I hand-pressed a final increment of hard-grained BP in them to obtain the effect. Totally unneccecary, but I wanted to try out the method. : P

[BigG]

Thanks for the tips guys - I'll be trying out a few different colour pots on the next wheel. Am I right to assume they should be attached at 90deg. to the other drivers so they point towards the spectators?

No, if you do that, you increase the possibility of having the lance go out. it should be attached like the driver, to rotate with the driver, so it is less effected by the wing. It will also provide a much clear and thicker ring of fire.

Attaching it toward the crowd will provide a much thiner circle of fire and increase the chance of the lance blowing out. It can and is being done for certain effects, but I think for what you are trying to do, you will be better of with the first option.