Kyoku-do

[Gunzway]

Kyoku-do (きょく-ど）is a kind of firework piece attached to a shell which displays effects on the shell’s trajectory. Numerous effects can be implemented such as tails, “small flowers” , comets, “thunder”, whistles and others. Takeo Shimizu states there are three criteria when manufacturing kyoku-do:

 

1. The pieces must be able to withstand the lift/will not break from it.

2. It must be ignited by the flame of the lifting charge.

3. Must be strong enough to not be separated from the shell when being lifted.

 

The effect ‘ascending comets’ appeals to me but a lot of kyoku-do cannot be used on small shells (as these rising effects may require them to be as big as the actual shell). Here is an image of a shell with kyoku-do made by Seymour that he should fire quite soon .

 

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb95/Gunzway/seymour_kyoku-do.jpg

 

Here’s a video of a 5” Aerial Shell with rising effects:

 

If you’re interested with different effects and more details on kyoku-do there’s some good information in “The Art, Science and Technique by Takeo Shimizu” PG.262 – 265.

 

I'll experiment with some effects that may be possible to do on small shells (such as 2"). Adding small timed salutes to the bottom of shells is quite do-able with small shells, the design would be very similar to 'small flowers'. Feel free to discuss.

[NightHawkInLight]

You gotta give us a little more to work with. You've given a good description of rising effects but haven't given details to your ideas. That doesn't leave me with much to discuss.

 

Good post anyway. I'm not sure I remember rising effects ever coming up here before.

[AdmiralDonSnider]

For small shells rising tails seem to be suitable. Something like a whistling spolette can also be considered as being a kyoku-do.

 

What I´d love to try out once is the charcoal ball effect where the whole surface of the shell is coated with a streamer comp. That´s not the kind of special effect the average fireworks lover usually sees.

 

Separating stars are great for medium and large shells. One modification is when the separating stars are shot upwards in a 45 deg angle, rather than horizontally. I´m not sure how this is realized, but assume that v-shaped (plastic?) tubes are used.

 

To give some variation to the ascending tail effect one could also use color or dragon egg matrices. In the latter case such comets would give a nice noisy way up.

[Gunzway]

Nighthawk, I don’t understand the logic of your thoughts to be honest. It really isn't logical. I'll just leave it to that. But that’s fine; I’ll post one idea right now since you evidently require them to have input on a subject.

 

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb95/Gunzway/ascending_thunder-1.jpg

Taken from "Fireworks -- The Art Science And Technique" by Takeo Shimizu.

 

The set up on my shell will be very similar to that design. Here's a dummy version I made up on a 2" shell.

 

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb95/Gunzway/IMG_0998.jpg

 

Basically the three tubes will be utilizing a spolette delay (ie. rammed black powder) and then the report composition will be put in. The tube will be subsequently sealed with a rammed paper plug/hot glue. Off that logic, I guess the loudness of each report would decrease as it goes up if I were to have them go off consecutively. Since the delay would have to increase, making less room for the flash. That's if I'm aiming to add as much flash powder as I can into each tube. I've not yet decided what I'm going to do with that, I could just make it so each have equal amounts. Not very important right now.

 

The sides of each tube will have black match coming down so it will ensure ignition. Going back to Shimizu's criteria for kyoku-do, all the of it seems to be fine. I'll hot glue the strings to the tubes to make sure even more so that they won't come off from the lift. The cotton twine could be thicker/doubled to ensure that doesn't get damaged easily. Perhaps in the dummy picture they are a bit too close together and they could be damaged when one report goes off. I'll increase the distance in-between the reports just to be on the safe side.

 

I'll have results in probably a week.

[dagabu]

Something so simple but I have never seen it before now. Thanks Gunz, I will be trying some of these soon.

[Mumbles]

Do you guys have any tips or tricks on making the log cabin ties to stack the various splitting inserts?

 

I couldn't find anything about stacking the inserts so they shoot diagonally. The long tails/stacks tend to orient the bigger shells. I wonder if some sort of rigid tower could be use to sure the comet shots in place? I know I've seen pictures of this kind of setup, but didn't know the intended effect at the time.

[Seymour]

Do you mean this kind of thing when you say "log cabin" ?

 

http://www.pyrobin.com/files/p1000709.jpg

 

This was my shell with ascending "branching comets" or whatever you want to call it.

 

I apologize for the long video with all kinds of crap. The above shell was the last one fired in the video.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=C8TO2NR_rqk&feature=related

 

 

I'm tempted to say that the comets that come off at a 45 degree angle might be doing that due to less "burst" in the insert, and/or a longer duration comet so that the effects of upwards momentum are seen visibly. However, it's not hard to use a tail to stop the shell from tumbling, and this would allow angled stacks to do that thing.

 

In my setup, I used a sturdy hemp cord, anchored within the shell's pasting to use as a "spine", and then.. without knowing exactly what I did, I lashed it all on with pasted hemp twine. I guess those of us who are good at lashing will find this easy... I can see it being a bit hard for those who are less handy with cordage.

Edited September 18, 2010 by Seymour

[Seymour]

 

Not exactly perfect shells or rising effects, but certainly appropriate for this thread.

Edited September 25, 2010 by Seymour

[Twotails]

Im gonna have to try this with the small ball shells i'll be getting. I was thinking of one of two things:

 

Fill the shells with microstars, DE's or diffrent colored ones

 

Or

 

Ti/other metal salutes, alternating FeTi with Ti or Mg/Al to go from orange/silver sparks, to bright silver sparks.

Or maby a daytime shell, using smoke shells for rising effect....

has anyone tried using smokes as rising effect? i'd like to find out if they would work, or it would be a waste, there gonna be plastic shells, heavly pasted with gum tape/stapping tape.

[Mumbles]

Why not try it and let us know how it all works?

[Ralph]

 

Or maby a daytime shell, using smoke shells for rising effect....

 

 

 

I have for a smoke shell I made (red iron oxide smoke particles)

 

I had my smoke shell and underneath that I had a compartment made of 1 turn of thin recycled paper above the lift so that it would tear open upon lift it worked rather well have a solid trail till the break on the shell went throwing a nice cloud up

[DutchGreed]

hmm how do you launch the shell?

 

hmm.. looking at the shell i'd say the ball shell has a normal lift charge on it running from beneath the shell up to the tail, and the tail will burn down the adds (the same fuse that lights the add's) runs into the shell and ignites the actuall shell itself?

thoo i see 2 probs here =/ 1st:

If it has a normal lift charge wont the shell twist/roll/all arround in the mortar destroying the tail ?

and second.. if i'm totally wrong how do you than launch the shell? cause i'm planning to make som shells with this cant of effect.. (i'm pritty newb in making fireworks (: )

[MrB]

hmm.. looking at the shell i'd say the ball shell has a normal lift charge on it running from beneath the shell up to the tail, and the tail will burn down the adds (the same fuse that lights the add's) runs into the shell and ignites the actuall shell itself?

Not sure which shell your thinking of, there are a few on picture, in Youtube clips, and so on. Anyway, the "added fun" should be lit by the flames passing around the shell in the mortar. Remember, we aren't firring cannons, we want a bit of sloppiness, a loose fit, that guides the shell smoothly up the mortar.

 

If it has a normal lift charge wont the shell twist/roll/all arround in the mortar destroying the tail ?

The expanding gazes that push the shell out of the mortar leaks around the shell as i said above, these help keeping the "tail" centered, and ideally it shouldn't ever touch the sides of the mortar. That said, some care should be taken making the darn thing somewhat able to withstand forces, it's after all going to be accelerating fairly fast.

 

 

Forgive my poor English.

B!

[Jwdrummer5]

Ok I submitted the following to the competition thread. I had been reading this thread over for a while and thought it appropriate to add the following:

 

 

Thanks for the Kind words Warthog, I have only just began to apply myself in Kyoku-do (i dont even know how to pronounce it correctly, and apparently i've been spelling it wrong too). I would like to offer as much info as i can about the effects and the method. But i haven't really experimented enough to be any authority on the subject. But I will try to explain what i have found to be helpful if not key.

 

Kyoko-do has been partially described on pyroguide. But it seems that that information is limited to rising comets, FYI a rising comet is any star that can be attached to a shell which burns on the way to the shell's apogee, thus providing a visual tail to follow the shell with. I would like to note that although i have had limited experience with rising effects, the preferred method is to form a comet that can be glued and taped onto the top of the shell, some use cylindrical pumped stars with Titanium or iron added to provide a long lasting tail. I on the other hand use a lightly dampened comp that can be wetted and bound with dextrin, I gently press the comp into a small dixie paper cup to a depth of approximately 1/2" depending on the burn speed of your comp. (1/2" is good to start with no matter the comp. when the rising star is dry i use scissors and cut the top of the cup all the way down to the comp making (Petals) of the cup that can be folded back and used to secure the star to the shell.Glue the now bottom of the star and the opened petals with hot glue to the shell. i then use a razor blade to expose MOST of the now top of the star. i never cut the bottom of the cup all the way off because i believe the small edge helps secure the star. then i use an appropriate prime usually consisting of Nitrocellulose lacquer mixed with meal powder with 10% atomized aluminum to ignite hotter comps. while still wet i dip the slurry into 2FG or equivalent. ****Disclaimer**** As with all compositions, be aware of compatibilities before attempting to use certain compositions.****

A rising star is my minimum rising effect, I find it necessary to be able to track the shell to it's apogee.

 

Moving on to other rising effects, Such as with my 10" shell above. I have found some information that has lead me to try and attach other parasite shells to the top of another shell. I will take this moment to mention that when a rising star or rising shell is attached to another shell, in order to ignite the effect, shell or star, all that is needed is to prime the effect. I had previously thought that a rising star had to be attached to the shell inside the lift cup, or that special measures had to be taken to properly ignite the rising effect. However after some experiments, I have proved to myself that as long as the rising effect is somewhere in the mortar, and that it is primed, it will be ignited. One way i have proved this is by simply dumping other parasite shells/stars into mortar on top of a "Host" shell. at this last Winter blast i was given a number of 2" shells with lift cups removed. i used these by simply dropping many of them into a mortar on top of mine and other members shells, we all thought it was cool, especially with the larger shells, the smaller shells tend to fall to the sides of the mortar and thus present as a bouquet of shells that burst at approximately the same height/time.One member identified this effect as being called "ONIONS" As far as adding lift to the "Host" shell, i have found this unnecessary. In fact i have recently read something that explained what percentage of parasite shells can be lifted by a host shell. I don't know the source though. So until you experiment, don't overdo it.

 

So moving on to the rising shells, there may be many ways to accomplish this, but i will tell you how i did it. After i had completed my shell, i attached the rope that is used to lower the shell into the mortar. i left the rope a little long, (i had never used a 10" mortar before and didn't know the length needed anyway) after securing the rope with hot glue and strapping tape, i then proceeded to attach my rising shells, first was a 4" commercial shell, i simply removed the lift cup along with lift, and used its string loop on top of the shell to tie it onto the host shell. i then did the same with the (2) 3" Shells and the 1.75" shell no additional priming was used to ensure ignition. I did however tie the parasite shells as close as i could to the host shell. After all parasite shells were attached i then attached the rising comets as described above. After all was attached i then weighed the shell and used 10% GOEX 2FA to lift the shell, I also dropped in a number of red/ blue/ magenta/ and white stars into the lift BUCKET, which was a paper paint bucket given to me by another member.

 

How did i time the Rising shells you ask? I didn't need to, all the shells had their own timing fuse in tact and were already primed. i figured that the (2) 3" shells had only a slight possibility of bursting exactly at the same time, since even the best commercial shells vary in timing from shell to shell. I have however used a different method when using rising shells of all the same size. At Winter Blast 22 I attached (3) 1.4g (1.75") shells to the top of a 6" shell. to adjust the timing i securely taped over the existing time fuse on the shells. i then used an awl to poke into the shell. ***(this method or others is not recommended since using a steel awl can ignite the contents of the shell)*** i then used visco with a consistent, known burn speed as my new time fuse, i simply wrapped the appropriate length of the fuse with a number of turns of masking tape. each rising shell had a different length of visco that was wrapped. The length of taped visco will vary depending on burn speed of your visco. I then stuck the new Visco time fuse into the punched hole and glued into place. afterward as with all timing fuses i primed with a mixture of Nitrocellulose lacquer and black powder and atomized aluminum, and then dipped the still wet slurry into some 2FG or equivalent. So far i have had 1 out of 1 shells successfully launch this way. obviously more testing is needed, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

Just a word on priming time fuse. i have spent much time ensuring that my time fuses are adequately primed and cross matched. But i have since changed my method. After seeing some commercial shells with the time fuse simply primed, and after seeing a fellow member of WPA simply prime their razor cut time fuse, i have done the same and had 100% success. Of the 30 or so shells that i have made this way, they have all properly ignited and burst at the right height. I do not have a Chinese time fuse cutter, but have plans to make one. So i cut my time fuse by marking on the fuse the length needed (approx 1" of 2.7 sec red/white fuse for a 3" shell) i then tap a razor blade through the fuse with a mallet or hammer. I have marks on my work bench that show appropriate lengths which i can use to cut many at a time which i promptly prime both sides, to prevent any powder falling out. i then re-dip one side and then dip into 2FG. The inside is simply dipped into a 70/30 NCL/BP slurry, Not dipped into 2FG. I do this to ensure that no powder falls out and believe that the prime may slow down the end of the burn thus preventing a problem that has said that un-cross matched time fuse (on the inside) burns so fast that it may not ignite a flash bag if used. (i doubt that is really an issue) Since my method is not a time proven method, I did however use a second time fuse in my 10" shell that was cross matched at both ends.

Since I am shooting all my shells on a closed club site, with little fear of an unexploded shell being found by the general public, i will continue to time my shells with this method.

 

 

 

 

Well that's the way i do it. It seems to work well for me

Hope this rant helps someone to make amazing shells.

-Tim

This post has been edited by Jwdrummer5: 25 February 2012 - 09:56 PM

Edited February 27, 2012 by Jwdrummer5