FREAKYDUTCHMEN Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 I find it's very slow to paste shells with gummed tape (70g) because it require lots of layers. It normaly takes me about 30min to paste a 4" shell. Am I the only one? Freakydutchmen, could you explain us how do you paste your shells with 80g kraft paper?Sorry vladou, missed this threat.Pyrotube.com seems to be offline, I posted 2 movies there a while ago to show how to prepare kraftpaper sheets, cutting them into strokes and how to paste a 6" ballshell.Let's see if I can put the movies on pyrobin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FREAKYDUTCHMEN Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bccJXC2dDwE This 6" took about 7 minutes, but normally I'd use 5 layers and pasting goes much faster if you do a couple at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyrojig Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 HI, and thank you for that tutorial ... It was most useful. I like your method of pasting it is nice and quick... Is it a variation of the 3-step pasting ? Do you paste on the same axis for the whole shell, or do you rotate axis and paste other layers to avoid the lemon effect buildup at the poles of the shell? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50AE Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 A note from me: Paper quality does matter for the quality of the burst and can drastically improve it. My 3" ball shells were great with 10 layers of 30 lbs virgin kraft, but the bursts with 14 layers of 40 lbs recycled kraft were inferior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FREAKYDUTCHMEN Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 This is the 3 strip method, so you don't get the poles being build up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FREAKYDUTCHMEN Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 A note from me: Paper quality does matter for the quality of the burst and can drastically improve it. My 3" ball shells were great with 10 layers of 30 lbs virgin kraft, but the bursts with 14 layers of 40 lbs recycled kraft were inferior. Those are quite a lot of layers, you use only BP on hulls I assume? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50AE Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Yes, you are correct. You could also say that the burst charges could be different when I've been trying different papers, but no. Virgin kraft had worked good for me, even with weaker burst charges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FREAKYDUTCHMEN Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Why don't you use flash? For a 3" you can use 2 or 3 layers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50AE Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 I hate the flash output light, though whistle mix could be an alternative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 I hate the flash output light, though whistle mix could be an alternative. Whistle still has some light but far less then flash. The break is not as hard either though still well beyond BP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyrojig Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 (edited) Whistle still has some light but far less then flash. The break is not as hard either though still well beyond BP. I too use whistle for my booster on shells. I make 5-1 bp- rice hulls and dust them with as much whistle as they will hold. I still feel that some of my plastic shells need more horsepower though. I could get around this by making hybrid shells, but for the sake of simplicity I have been trying to dial in a few plastic shells, that can be shot with in a few hours of manufacture. I too am a bit reluctant to use flash for the sake of my spectators , and pictures of the shells. Whats kind of strange is that I remember flash boosted shells I used to make being much brighter than a few I recently saw by another fellow pyro.'s show. I might have to try a 70/30 flash booster in lesser amt.'s to see if I can get that sharper burst I'm after with less light. I just hate the blinding light output they give. I believe that I was using dirty flash before, or the slow F. How do you manufacture your rice-hulls with whistle ? Are you coating them exclusively with whistle, or are they boosted bp burst? Edited January 14, 2011 by pyrojig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I only make BP rice hulls, I use powdered whistle as an additional booster depending on the shell. In the case of plastic ball shells, I use 1 gram of flash right on top of the passfire surrounded by BP rice hulls. This is the only way I have seen truly well rounded plastic shells break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FREAKYDUTCHMEN Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Plastic shells are meant to break hard with lots of flash, when breaks are big enough (and you need to stand far enough of course, but 200m is a pretty normal distance) that tiny little black spot doesn't matter all that much (if it's already noticable). When I watch my own shells in real or a show that is fully done with flash I don't even notice the flash bursts. I think the bright flash output is totally exaggerated, maybe because of watching youtube movies or own filmed shells or watching too close by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyrojig Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Great ... ! That helps rest a few concerns that I had. I love to capture these beauties on film... they are great when captured with a slow shutter ,..... I am guessing that the flash used by you is the common 70/30, and not dirty or nitrate flash. I have heard of up to 5g of flash being used to break shells but im sure it is the slow flash , not 70/30. I believe that the 70/30 in that amt. will blow blind stars. So is one gram about the happy medium ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonny Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Very nice guide FREAKY! It didn't look like you used very much paste, but your paper looked nice and dark. You don't break the paper? I think I'll try this method, as well as putting a layer over the seam at the beginning next time. I think I finally "get" the 3 strip method . I've been using the Ned style of pasting from Skylighter - still does 2 layers per pass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Great ... ! That helps rest a few concerns that I had. I love to capture these beauties on film... they are great when captured with a slow shutter ,..... I am guessing that the flash used by you is the common 70/30, and not dirty or nitrate flash. I have heard of up to 5g of flash being used to break shells but im sure it is the slow flash , not 70/30. I believe that the 70/30 in that amt. will blow blind stars. So is one gram about the happy medium ? I'm not really a ball shell guy so my experiences are limited but the dozen or so that I have gotten to work well had a little bag of flash sitting in the center of the shell like I said above and all that did was to make a pressure spike to shatter the shell, the coated rice hulls actually made the fire that lit the stars and no, I didn't have issues with blind stars with that small of a charge. BTW- the flash bag is not my idea, it is posted on Passfire and is attributed to Lloyd Sponenburgh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyrojig Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 (edited) Passfire is where I learned that as well. I cant remember exactly what the charge amount was suggested for 3" and 4"... Ill have to look again. Yes the flash will out perform the whistle, and I have read that the flash need not be in a flash bag or even in the center of the burst. It has been said that the hulls can be coated with it with similar results . Edited January 15, 2011 by pyrojig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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