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Linear Match Applicator


marks265

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Well, you've made some black match but wonder how to get it inside a paper sleeve. Try something like this:

 

 

I posted this on Passfire and wanted to show here to help others who are not associated with Passfire.

 

Mark

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I swear this was on my list of upcoming video projects. Beat me to it! Great job, very functional design.
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Mark,

 

That was awesome! Can you enlighten us as to how you get the paper to fold around? Is that just the tube that does that? What do you have coating the stirrer sticks?

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I have a good bit of explanation elsewhere. So I have below a bunch of cut and pasted articles of my posts on Passfire.

I just wanted to give an update on my project. First I want to thank everyone for their input. What I (in not so many words) wanted to do was to incase pre-made match which I mentioned at the bottom of my second post. I wanted to use 1" wide gummed tape only because it is what I had on hand. If I had 1-1/4" wide tape I would have worked with it. The tape does stick to the string. I have no match on hand so I used 2 strands of cording. As it is manufactured now it will do what I want. It would be very annoying if I were to chain with this stuff. I want it for leaders only.

With a few small changes this could go a long way. The formers are just round holes with chamfers for leading side. There is a fair amount of drag only because I used what ever I had laying around. Yes including a mouse trap! I had to keep it simple nor did I invest any money other than materials I had on hand and a couple hundred feet of tape. Small price to pay for R&D (research and development).

I could go on for a while about improvements but I think all of us can name a few without words being written. I will say however, that in my tinkering with this, instead of the mouse trap spring holding pressure to set the tape I would utilize a small flat belt opposed drive belts with adjustable spring pressure to pull the paper through. What makes this little contraption note worthy is the simplicity of the formers. I will post more pics later but for right now I made 25 yards of light duty match with this in hardly a minute or so:

 

http://pyrotechnics.no-ip.org/files/match%20case%20tool.jpg

 

I know you are gonna want some video but I'm gonna go celebrate this small victory and my birthday. So more to follow soon.

 

Mark

Ok, the video is posted to YouTube. I had issues with YouTube so I made another account and I will let the old one float off into cyber space with no great loss. About the video, I was tending to the camera and focusing on what to present. So towards the end some of the paper was not sticking. Part of the reason is that the sponge was dampened one time. I think we know that Jim W's dispenser can be utilized better. However I did not set this up for a "production" run. Another is that this design is still in its infancy. I could have baby sat it more but wanted it to play out through its entirety with no intervention. The only video editing was at the ends just to reduce file size and join the individual clips together as categorically made.

The string guide does more than a person might think. The blue piece that is glued to the wooden dowel (which is a cut up bit from a pen cap) obviously acts as an attachment clip but it also helps with the dowel to keep the tape to the bottom of the copper tube. Without it the tape would creep up the sides and start to spiral. The white "plastic die" has an even smaller hole throw the middle with a chamfered lead in. The copper pipe arches the tape and the "plastic die" forms the tube and creates the overlapping seam. Which then the spring loaded paint sticks sets up the oval tube. Now that sounds like a Rube Goldberg design! ;-)

My first attempt had a wooden block in front of the copper tube where I taped a sawzall blade loosely on its side. The tape went under it and this also kept the tape from rolling. The down side was scrapping and collecting of glue from the tape. At which time you would not want to pause the operation tooooo long!

When building something like this the use of low friction materials are best. That is why I have the yellow tape on the paint stir sticks for example. I actually cut the "plastic die back about 1/2" to help reduce drag, hence the empty space to the right of it. I was too chicken to cut back more, due to lack of material to reproduce it should it had it been a bad idea.

This should be a good start for you

Mark

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hi,

 

nice peice of ingenuity !

 

can you explain how the gummed tape curls around itself before being squashed under the moustrap, i cant quite visualise it ?

 

or is it something that naturally happens if you pull the tape through the copper tube ?

 

dave

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When you gear up for production runs, how many strands of match do you plan to fit inside of there?
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In the past I have always made my match with 2 larger strands of match. I will be doing the same for an initial trial run. Mostly I use it for leaders and have done some chain matching. I have been using the "Peaches and Cream" from Wally World for "string". I hope to stick with the same on the first run. My first gut feeling is that the larger match may be better for the gummed tape. But seriously on the other hand I do not think it means a hill of beans when people talk about confined match vs loose match within the casing. I lit a sample of my 2 strand which fit loose in a fairly rigid pipe for a demonstration to someone. Well my wife was also there and she got bit from it. Was not a good situation.

 

 

I got really, really. really carried away today because I made 2 black match drying frames 30 X 60 inches. I will add pics in my gallery maybe tomorrow. I need to decide on my slurry dispenser right now. When I get that built I will just need the weather to behave.

 

One last additional thought that may answer your question a tad more. Basically I am guessing that I will be able to use most match configurations that we have all come to know except for any match that is molded into a ribbon of many strands into one strand. It will be too wide of a profile for the size tape I am using I suspect. There is no doubt that what ever I do the strands of match will be much more confined than what we are accustom to. If I find that I am making fire crackers on a string I think I will be able to adjust. As I all ready have things in mind to try.

 

Mark

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  • 3 weeks later...

I made my first match with this new former and it worked pretty good. I may have mentioned to some that I have tried 5 strands but that was wrong. I made 3 and 4 strand q-match and it did not take long at all. I would not try 5 strands.

 

Here ya go.

 

 

Mark

Edited by marks265
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  • 2 weeks later...

I know people have been chomping at the bit for this to come to light. It seems as though this piece of wonder has fell into some good timing for many reasons. One of the reasons is that my club, WPAG, has been working on a "Learning Resources Page." Guess who's article is there as well as other great articles?

 

http://www.wpag.us/learn.htm

 

Enjoy peoples!

 

Mark

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  • 7 months later...
I have been wanting to make a quick match machine and this looks really simple, only just found this thread the other day. You've done well mark! Thanks for showing this.
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great machine best i have seen remember seeing this when you first made it got it all tweaked,mate you gotta get a better cutter for that bm,lol!10 stars
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Thanks for the great reviews guys. That contraption has made a lot of match already and will get an upgrade this next year I hope.

 

Mark

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Thanks for the great reviews guys. That contraption has made a lot of match already and will get an upgrade this next year I hope.

 

Mark

 

Is it alright if we copy the machine Mark?

 

-dag

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I encourage any copying or modifying. It will happen anyway and I cannot enforce it. There is one person in particle who has done so and never gave any credit to me. I thought that was pretty crappy but oh well. So go ahead and enjoy!

 

Mark

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I encourage any copying or modifying. It will happen anyway and I cannot enforce it. There is one person in particle who has done so and never gave any credit to me. I thought that was pretty crappy but oh well. So go ahead and enjoy!

 

Mark

 

Thanks Mark, I'll give you credit if it works and I'll blame it on MMDC if it doesn't. ;)

 

-dag

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I encourage any copying or modifying. It will happen anyway and I cannot enforce it. There is one person in particle who has done so and never gave any credit to me. I thought that was pretty crappy but oh well. So go ahead and enjoy!

 

Mark

 

already on the production line! Calling it Marks QM-10!The 10 says its the tenth try,like wd-40 it failed 39 times 40 hit its mark

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Made some black match today and made my own quick match! :lol:

 

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/8053/20111210132217.jpg

 

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/8990/20111210132150.jpg

 

Thanks for the Idea mark!

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Good job TBP, it sure beats rolling and match pipes and assembling them for longer match. If you find a way to fixture the copper pipe or have someone else hold it you would have your hands free to apply pressure to the tape to set the seam. I've found that if the tape is too wet the seam will open up on occasion. Either way, you just saved yourself a few bucks. Just remember that it will not be as strong as commercial match and that larger shells will be a problem.wink2.gif

 

Mark

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