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Feedback on Shell Casing Ideas


Shellaxd

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Hello all,

 

As the title suggests, I'm looking for some feedback on some construction ideas that I have. I'm relatively new to this hobby, but not to the handling of fireworks. For some background, I have some experience participating in 1.3 shows, and used to be a member of a local club. Anyways, a local store constantly throws out 3" shrinkwrap tubes, as well as other tubes similar in diameter with much thicker walls. I've already successfully used the thicker tubes to make 3" mortars using Harry Gilliam's method on skylighter's site. The shrink tubes are a hair under 1/4" thick, and the heavy ones are approaching 3/8". To my delight, I also found a form of chipboard (not particle board) was used on some pallets, and this was a hair over 1/4." (ALL FREE!) So, using my trusty harbor freight circle cutter and a drill press, I made a few disks. I used a chop saw to cut the ends off the tubes (for a nice square edge), then cut a couple sections at 4" to start. My only worry is that this chipboard, while pretty rigid in this size, isn't nearly as strong (or thick, in the 3/8" case) as the cardboard that makes the walls. Cutting double the amount of disks for extra strength doesn't sound all that appealing, although I did also pick up some 1/8" stuff that would cut faster.

 

Why such a beefy casing? I'm hoping for a super loud report with minimal (if any) spiking or booster type powders, using some hot milled bp. I may toss in some large Ti flake I have for effect, and maybe dragon eggs or firecrackers for inserts (since I have too darned many of the things). My hope is that I'll create a relatively safe alternative to those things we aren't supposed to mention, and cheap to boot. What do you guys think?

Edited by Shellaxd
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I applaud your thriftiness! If I was in your shoes, I'd use my BP for star shells and lift and keep using the salvaged tubes as mortars or salute cores! Nothing wrong with liking a little noise!

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I applaud your thriftiness! If I was in your shoes, I'd use my BP for star shells and lift and keep using the salvaged tubes as mortars or salute cores! Nothing wrong with liking a little noise!

Thanks! To be honest, I'm just starting to spread my wings with building, and workspace is limited at the moment. I'm not really looking to make stars at this point in time. I'm also leery of getting enough supplies to make salutes. BP is a lot more lowkey, and if 1.4 is any indication, a flash break shell can be similar in loudness (if you can find one). I'm hoping my heavy construction will make up for a lack of boost if possible, but I have my doubts. At the current scale I'm at, its pretty inexpensive. I'm still working on getting supplies for that, as well as a mill. So it's all still in the works.

 

My previous experiments were made from the guts from high quality 1.4 shells, which curiously use milled powder, that is quite hot. I don't know if it is just bp, or what. The casings I used were about 2.5" OD, with 1/4" walls. These tubes were salvaged from some rolls of roofing material. I used double stacked 1/4" hardboard for disks, and the darned things stayed a solid piece, hence my move to chipboard. I screened the stars for max load, and I lifted them with cannon goex. I spiked mildly with cotton string, and wrapped with corrugated cardboard to fit the 3" gun. They were quite loud, but very labor intensive/disassembling is probably dumb. I'm gonna run out of this tubing at some point, and I don't really know where to get more (for free anyway). So I'm moving to these other ones/making my own bp.

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