Sam Miller

Hello,

Sorry for my absence for the past year, been busy with my first year of Vet School!

I am however finished for the summer and keen to get back into pyro. After my last show almost pasting my fingers off I am currently building a pasting machine based on the Chinese ones. As you can imagine this is quite a task and i've been fiddling around for almost a year now in the holidays building it! It is slowly getting there though near completion and i'm down to the nitty gritty bits.

My current problem is the paper to use for pasting, obviously most people would suggest gummed paper tape but after watching videos of the Chinese machines i'm noticing that they are using normal paper with a white glue type substance as the adhesive.

My plan is to do the same with an alcohol/PVA glue mix and normal paper tape. Problem is I can not locate any normal non-gummed paper tape 25mm.

Could I use gummed paper tape and they alcohol/glue mix as well?

Or is this really not necessary and should I stick to normal gummed tape?

Thanks

Sam

Here is my pyro muscial for 2013, fired with the firing system I built (video soon).
 
 
Let me know what you all think!








Sam

Hi all,

Last year my show didn't go exactly to plan because of the standard British weather. The fast visco I was using got wet and went out in a link of shells meaning 5 shells where not fired. This year I will not let the rain ruin my show, so what are the different methods of water proofing visco?

I was thinking duct tape and hot glue to seal the un-duct-tapeable parts, is there a better method?

Thanks

Sam

I've recently made a batch of Emerald Green cut stars for 3" shells, about 3/8" cubes.
I was wondering about the strength of cut stars compared to rolled stars (my normal method) as the still seam crumbly after 2 days drying (paranoia of them all being blown blind!). Is it because they take longer to dry than rolled stars and I just need to give them a good week to dry?

Also these were made not primed and I was going to prime them in my star roller, when would be the best time to prime them? do they have to be completely dry or can they be primed after only a day left drying?

Thanks for the help!

Sam

Hi all,

I'm planning a show for the 5th (very excited as I'm building 2x30 cue firing systems to make it a well timed pyro musical) and I have alot of 3" mortar tubes to plug and waterproof. I'm used paper/cardboard silage wrap tubes which I've got off my local farmer for free! Great as he has hundreds of the things every year. The ID is 3" exactly and the OD is 4" so it has a perfect 1/2" wall. Problem is as the weather in the UK is great as always, I don't want all my mortars to be ruined when it rains! and I also need a way of pluging them!

Anyone got any suggestions?

I was thinking maybe concrete/floor leveller with a small mesh of screws in the base for the plug.

Thanks

Sam