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Spolette for 2" can shell


DaMounty

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Began experimenting with spolette's today for my 2" can shells.

 

Former = 1/4" diam

spolette ID 1/4" ???

paper A4 printer paper 2" width

BP - ungranulated ball milled meal

hammer rammed 1.5"

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7fB__XW0ZE

 

Seems a little fast to me?

 

Any input greatly appreciated.

 

DaM

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Looked good to me and spit plenty of fire. If you think it is too fast, just ram one more increment and time it, maybe 1.75"

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Thanks gregh

 

I thought I read somewhere that for a 2" can shell I should be aiming for a 3 second delay. True?

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3 seconds will probably be too long for a single break 2". You'll probably want something more like 2 seconds.
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  • 6 months later...

Got some new tooling to make spolettes.

 

So much nicer than using a pencil as former and ram. Thank you Caleb!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4P4OQ7f7FQ

 

Made from A4 paper, cut 2" wide x 11" long

formed on a 5/16 former. Rammed with 1.5" powder fines. Last increment was rammed using the pointed ram.

 

...DaM

Edited by DaMounty
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That is a fast burn for 1.5", about 1"/s. Wow, are sure you ram them hard enough and get no blew by?

Can you try making a spolette with a waxed tube, just to be sure that you don't have any blew by?

 

Apart from that concern that spolette would be perfect for a 2"

Edited by schroedinger
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Put a nose with BM on it that will slow the timing down.

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If you are not certain that your BP is super hard pressed inside the spollet then just place the spollet on the top of the shell, so that it faces the sky when it's in the mortar. Don't forget to attach the fuse to the spollet. I use 1-1.5 sec for 2" shells.

Edited by Maxim
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How big were the increments. The best i ever got was 1.6sec. per inch., with Paulownia.

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How big were the increments. The best i ever got was 1.6sec. per inch., with Paulownia.

I'm trying for 1/4" increments. Experimenting with different scoops. Not quite there yet.

 

I hope I'm not getting blow by. My results have been fairly consistent. I've tested approx. 25-30 spoolettes. One thing I have changed is going from using mill dust to using window screened meal.

 

As for ramming strength I use a dead blow hammer and each increment is firmly hit 6 times. I need an awl to scratch the end. Although I believe I may have had one or two that were not tightly compacted. While burning the flame appeared to pulse???

 

...DaM

Edited by DaMounty
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Your numbers seem to fast to be proper, to me.

 

Try the following and compare... roll up a new spolette with the same length of file folder material, you should end up with a wall thickness slightly over 1/8". Ram that with 1/4" increments and see how your timing compares.

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Put a nose and BM on one and check the timing, that is what you will be using. I really don't want to say much, i asked the same question about my spoolets on fireworking and it pretty much led to a fight before that thread stopped. Some people even got called liers.

Edited by dynomike1
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I found Paul Moulder's videos to be very instructive;

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Put a nose and BM on one and check the timing, that is what you will be using. I really don't want to say much, i asked the same question about my spoolets on fireworking and it pretty much led to a fight before that thread stopped. Some people even got called liers.

 

I hope you don't take my suggestion as anything other than a suggestion, Mike. I'm not trying to start a fight.. just recommending that before he jumps forward he should double check the results with, IMO, a proper spolette tube. Last night before commenting I turned up a spolette on 11 inches of A4 paper (his method) just out of curiosity and it is comically thin for the purpose of rammed spolette manufacture. My thought is the thin tube is not allowing him to ram his powder well, hence his note about "pulse", and the resulting high speed burn.

 

I use 3/8 spolettes rammed with alcohol granulated ERC BP and average 2.45 - 2.6 (depends on batch) seconds of burn matched and nosed, but, the nosing and match only change the timing by a few frames of video so we are talking about roughly 100 milliseconds.

 

Again, not debating your powder or his, just suggesting he make sure the results are correct and not a fault in manufacture... :)

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Manila file folder paper used as spolette. Used a 1/8 Tsp for increments

 

post-19672-0-18764900-1452973100_thumb.jpg

 

Walls of spolette are much thicker and sturdier. I was able to ram with much more force.

 

post-19672-0-60904900-1452973138_thumb.jpg

 

Added some nosing and black match

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGmoIveS9hA

 

On the frame by frame I calculated 1.992 seconds. I was a little shy of 1.5"

 

Going to try a few more tonight.

 

...DaM

Edited by DaMounty
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Fred i wasn't doubten you. I was just suggesting an add on to what you said. I agree with you. But i think for a 1/4" tubing maybe it should be a 1/8" increments. The fight was some of the old folks say you cant make powder that fast and called some people linares. Da i am getting no video on the video. Since i put the nosing and BM on mine, i am getting 3.96sec. @ 1.5".

Edited by dynomike1
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That's a much better looking tube DaM. If your not doing so now, I would also encourage the habit of over-ramming and back-drilling, benefits are plenty.

 

Mike, I remember the exchange on Fireworking. I wasn't a participant but do recall its transition into a "hot" topic.

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There is 1 more thing to try. Ram one and take a box cutter and split it long ways and see if there are any gaps. If not i guess ram for the time you want. That comes out to .332sec. per 1/4", mine is .66

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Since it seems time fuse is quickly becoming unobtanium I'd like to prefect spollettes before I need them in my progression. Is there a definitive source on them? I've read articles and watched videos here and there that assume you know quite a bit already. I guess I'm asking, is there a spollettes for Dummies?
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I don't know any definitive source, OM. The video of Pauls' tut pretty much covers the basics on small tubes with sleeves and he has another video focused on the larger 3/8 version.

Paul, as far I as I know, rams his to the finished state with a tapered ram. Others, including myself, ram extra and back drill. I like back drilling for several reasons, it makes duplication easy and precise, it provides solid fire transfer to match, and if you need short timing back drilling helps maintain the strength of the powder core.

An important part is the powder, good consistent powder makes life easier and some builders purchase commercial mead-d for their spolettes. I use home powder, which means I have to test every batch for variance.

 

edit: Just wanted to add, when buying tooling, spend the extra on stainless for the 1/4" rams (Aluminum bends very easy in this size). Aluminum is fine for the 3/8.

Edited by frederick
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Spolettes are easy to make. As folks have said, the key to consistency is using the same powder for all your spolettes, ramming them to the same density and with the same increments. I also ram extra and drill the spolette back - makes precise timing much easier.

 

I use the fines from making granulated willow BP to make spolettes that burn at almost exactly 3 seconds per inch.

 

OM - just give it a try. You'll find the process simple and easy to repeat.

 

Kevin O

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Last night while rolling and ramming I came across an issue of the first inner roll of the tube coming down on itself when ramming. Has anyone had this issue? Is there a trick to eliminate this?

 

Before ramming the ram slid easily through the tube no resistance.

 

...DaM

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OldMarine what do you mean with a definitve aource for spolettes? The only commercial product i know of, that commes close to a spolette is spolette.ina.0, which is nothing else then monetti fuse in shrink tubing.

 

And why do you think timefuse is going to be banned, i heard that rumar now quite often, but also a lot that that is nonsense and the non belivers (that it get banned) usally have more and better arguments. Like lloyd just posted short time ago at passfire.

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