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Roman Candle Star Pump


Draco_Aster

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http://www.wolterpyrotools.com/pyrotools/candles.html

 

Can anybody here work out how these work exactly? I can see the two inner parts of the pump, but they don't look lined up correctly. The center pin looks like it is pushed out too far to pump one star. Is it tapped onto the outer pump at the handle end so that it screws in and out depending on star length?

 

I'm considering making one of these. I have an old lathe at home but I'm a big newbie to machining. Rocket tooling was my 1st thought to make as I already have a pyrotooling 3/4" kit and was going to make a 1/2" kit by scaling down, but this seems like something I would put to better use.

 

Any ideas, plans or experiences on making these would be much appreciated.

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I suspect that the center pin is mobile. If it were not, it would be incredibly difficult to get the perfect amount of comp in the press to compress the mixture and maintain a center hole. No one would take the time to screw the center pin back every star they made. I'm not confident in it's use though. I would think that with the second "rammer" in the middle, it would be very difficult to compress the tool itself to consolidate the composition into a single pellet. Using a collar such as a piece of pipe to compress this with an arbor press would be the best way to go about it I would imaine.
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Ah, so you would place pipe around the center rammer and press the outer. I'm thinking there would still need to be a bit of pressure on the center pin to stop it moving? What makes sure it stays in the center of the star?

 

I'm going to go and get a 'U' press today, Ithink that will do for my 1Lb ers, stars and rockets.

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I would imagine that you stick the pin out past the end, and charge the pump like normal by dipping it into a bucket of moist comp. Then you put it on the arbor press, where the pin will be retracted to an even level. Then the outer rammer would be pressed to compact the comp.

 

I would think the best way to do this would be to have the pin on spring inside the rammer, but I would imagine that it would cause cleaning issues and such. The absolute best way would be to have a stationary pin. This either requires a spring, or a a modified pump.

 

You could possibly do this like a rocket, where the pin is attached to a plate, and the rammer is hollow and compresses around it. The problem is, I don't know if the star would stay in the tube, or on the spindle. If it stays in the tube, then you're fine, but if it stays on the spindle it causes a new set of problems.

 

The best method involves a modified pressing plate. Make something identical to that device. Drill a hole the OD of your pin in a sheet of metal(I don't think wood would stand up to the pressure). Put the pin in the hole, and press away like usual. No special tube needed to compress the device, it's easy, you don't need 2 rammers(something else I was toying with), and the designs are right there in front of you.

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