Ground blooms and U.F.O.'s

[aquaman]

Hummers and ground blooms have been one of my favorite fireworks so I decided to do a tutorial on them.

 

Pictures are a little blurry but you'll get the idea.

 

Things you’ll need:

- paper

- glue

- 3 round pencils ( 1 for clay, 1 for propellant, and 1 3in. for the last clay plug)

- hammer

- clay

- propellant ( KNO3-6.3 , Sugar-2.7, Sulfur-1 or BP)

- drill bit (same size as fuse)

- fuse ( I stole some from a bottle rocket)

 

GROUND BLOOM

 

1) First start off by making a paper tube using the Paper Tube tutorial on this site ( It does a great job describing how to make one). I used the round pencil as the dowel rod. When making the tube don’t make it so tight so that the pencil can’t go in and out because you’ll be using one to ram the propellant in. The dimensions should be 1.5 inches long and the wall thickness should be a little thicker than a 1/16 of an inch.The Tube

 

2) Second we’ll make the first ¼ inch clay plug. Fill the tube a little more than half way with clay and ram it a couple of times with the hammer and pencil (don’t ram it so hard that splits the casing). To measure the plugs size we need to mark where the top of the casing is on the pencil. Do this with the pencil in the casing and touching the plug. Then take the pencil out and measure a ¼ inch on the casing with a ruler. After that match the marking on the pencil with the top of the casing and see if the end of the pencil matches the ¼ mark on the casing. If it does, good job. If it doesn’t, knock the plug out and either add more or less clay. Here's an example of the markings on the case Markings And here's theFinished Plug

 

3) Now you need to drill a hole for the fuse. Do this by using a devise like this (from Dan Williams site): Dan's Jig My JigThe hole should be off to the side and not in the middle.Example of Fuse Position You can place the fuse hole near the end plug or in the middle. I normally put the fuse hole near the middle but for the tutorial pictures I put it close to the end plug. Finished Fuse hole

 

4) For the propellant, I use the KNO3 and Sugar one and really don’t know how much I use. Before you pour in the propellant, insert the drill bit in backwards (to leave a space for the fuse) so that the spirals are sticking out Example. If the fuse hole is in the middle then you might want to wait and ram in some propellant before inserting the drill bit. Pour in the propellant and ram it a couple of times using the pencil and hammer. Keep pouring and ramming until there is about a little, more than a ¼ inch left of space in the tube.

 

5) Now for the second plug add clay all the way to the top and ram it with a pencil. You might need a small like 3 inch pencil because ramming the clay with a long pencil can be very hard. Keep adding and ramming clay into the tube until it is filled all the way to the top.Finished End Plug

 

6) Now you’re basically done, all you need to do is remove the drill bit by wiggling it around and inserting a fuse. I, like I said, used a fuse from a bottle rocket, but it seemed a little long so I cut it in half.Finished Hummer

 

7) Put it on the ground, light it, and stand back. It should ignite and spin with a loud buzzzzz… (that’s my favorite sound).

 

 

U.F.O.’s

 

1) Everything is the same except for the position of the fuse. Instead of it being off to the side it is in the middle and is located near the end plug. The picture shows it having wings but I have found that it doesn’t necessarily need them. Fuse Example

 

Troubleshoot:

 

1) It blew up: A) The casing was poorly made.

- Make a better thicker tube.

B ) The propellant was too powerful.

- Try making the fuse hole larger.

- Make a thicker walled tube.

 

2) A end plug shot out: A) To short off a plug.

- Make a longer plug.

B ) Poorly packed plug.

- Pack the clay as hard as possible.

 

3) It didn’t spin/fly: A) Fuse hole too big.

- Try using a smaller bit/fuse.

 

edit: I accidently back spaced and it cleared everything so I had to start over. I've been typing for 2 and a half hours so if I messed up on something please forgive me.

[Givat]

why did you give links to the pictures and didn't put them on the tutorial?

 

And if you want some better pictures, I made a tutorial for the Israeli community once and had some pictures:

 

http://pyroland.net/quest/hummer2.JPG

http://pyroland.net/quest/hummer3.JPG

http://pyroland.net/quest/hummer4.JPG

 

And A movie of a hummer:

http://pyroland.net/quest/movies/hummer.wmv

 

 

The only difference here was that I used clay and paper end plug and today I use kitty litter.

 

 

Also some pictures of what you called "UFO's"

http://pyroland.net/quest/parpar5

 

and a movie:

http://pyroland.net/quest/movies/parpar_C6.wmv

 

I found this "UFO's" need the stick for having some "spin plane" in the start. or they can just become ordinary fountains.

[aquaman]

why did you give links to the pictures and didn't put them on the tutorial?

Because if I just posted the pictures they would be way to big and I don't know how to resize them.

 

Thanks for posting those videos. I was going to post a video of the one that I made but it was to hard for me to transfer everything on the computer so I just didn't do it.

 

Edit: The U.F.O.'s don't necasarily need a wing (stick). I have a couple of commercial fireworks that shoot up in the air just like in the movie you posted and that's why I tried one without the stick and it worked fine. They go about 30 feet.

[Caleb51]

For the UFOs, what is the "Stick" position?

[aquaman]

I really don't know. Probably in the middle or on the end like the picture, but as I said I never really use one. When I first tried a hummer I didn't have the hole of to the side but right in the middle (U.F.O.) and it shot up. If you are makeing one bigger than the one I made above, I would make two and see if it needs the stick. Make one with the stick and one without. When it get a little warmer around here I test a bigger one 3/4" ID X 3.5" long.

[d4j0n]

btw, sodium silicate soaked around the nozzle should help the hole burn through problems.

 

Sticks on ufo's (I personally use the wing, but for some reason that hasn't been working lately...) should be put on the endplug opposite the ignition hole.

http://www.vk2zay.net/device.php?id=138