willlow

[craig]

 

 

i want to no how to make the shells with the willow and colours on the ends and

 

 

 

what chemicals i need for these on the 2nd video please on these bit in the video 4.55 5.30 5.53 6.13

and do i need a ball mill any one fancy helping me out need a site were u can get the stuff from if any 1 no's in the uk please

 

 

and on this 1 were it get in to the video on the 24 bit how could i make this on a smaller shell like a 5 inch say and does any 1 no how to make colour changeing stars any help please would be a great start

[craig]

 

any chance any 1 can help me on the white stars 2 like this as well as the 1s up the page please

[Seymour]

We already are helping you: the answers to all your questions have already been answered in these forums, often in some detail. If you spend a while reading you'll find numerous tips for all the topics, like colour changing stars.

 

This will also help us to help you, because members don't actually have the time to answer every question every interested person has, even if we tried. Unless you started offering tutoring fees, people won't be too interested in spoon feeding you.

 

In regards to the shell at 24 seconds in your fourth video, It is certainly achievable to get that effect in a five, though the effect's Majesty will be greatly diminished. You'll want to use any one of the successful double petal shell techniques that members discuss in the forum. An outer petal of a high titanium or ferrotitanium gold is the choice for the outer petal. The formulas "slow gold" and "blonde streamer" come to mind. For the inner petal you'll want an aqua formula, so you'll want Barium nitrate, Potassium perchlorate, Copper oxide, Parlon and Magnalium. You'll need a few of those for other colours too.

 

The white stars (what we'd usually call silver) are probably based on Potassium perchlorate and Aluminium, with a good organic fuel, like Red Gum or Resinox, and possibly with mixed grades of Aluminium to give the tail better texture.

 

The other stars you liked in the firework test videos are also all the brocade type Ti or FeTi formulas. That is Charcoal and Potassium nitrate in almost equal quantities, or with a charcoal excess, 8-12% Sulfur, 5% Binder, and the added metal 7-25%, with more metal generally being prettier, and more expensive.

 

 

To get the best effect you will want a ball mill. With firework making in general, you're not going to get too far without a mill There are places to buy them in the UK, but many people make them.

 

Colour changing stars are easy, once you are accomplished at rolling stars. All you do is roll for a while using mix A, and then Switch to Mix B for a bit, before finishing off with Mix C. The hard part is getting them uniform, made much easier with sizing screens, and possibly the most important thing is making sure that you don't roll two mixes with incompatible chemicals in to the same star.

 

If you put in the research, you will no how to make the shells with the willow and colours on the ends.

 

Also, this post probably would be more suited to the "Newbie Questions" section.

Edited October 25, 2011 by Seymour

[Arthur]

Craig. The style of your English makes me wonder about your craft and chemistry skills. Trying to make a large shell of shells with colour changing effects and multibreaks is a project that would challenge a skilled shell builder and cost a LOT of money. Til you can show due diligence and competence with really tiny effects please don't try to attempt big projects.

 

Have you a place where you can actually test your product with a really LARGE safety distance. In the UK it's hard to find a site for tests with sufficient safety distance.

Edited October 25, 2011 by Arthur

[craig]

my grandma has more then

2 acres of land to use my stuff on but i need a ball mill first which i will get just waiting on a chap to update his site he does chemical on it for what i need i am deslexic so spelling full stops and what not im crap with

[Mumbles]

Dyslexia doesn't cause someone to use zero capitalization, numbers instead of words, and "no" in place of "know".

 

We've been over this with other people. Personal struggles aside, decent spelling and grammar go a long way toward having people fully understand what you're saying and taking you seriously.

[Peret]

Yep, I figure you for a youngster. Nothing wrong with that of course, but if you want to be taken seriously, use proper English, not phonespeak.

 

There's a very long learning curve to climb before you can achieve what you want. A shell is a great deal more than just stars, there are lots of processes involved, and every one of them has to be mastered separately before you can put them together and fire a shell like that without killing yourself. It's not easy. Of the thousands of people who show up at pyro conventions in the US, not counting professionals in the trade, only a few hundred have ever made a shell; a much smaller number ever made one from scratch with home-made stars, lift and burst; and very few indeed ever made a shell bigger than five inches.

 

For a start, you have to be able to make decent black powder, since in the UK you can't just go down to the gun shop and buy it. That should be your first task.

[Arthur]

Remember also that in the UK large mortar tubes are not retail items! Of the few places that sell them most will refuse to sell to you if you are not a known fireworker. A 16" mortar is a GRP construction 6ft high 2" wall thickness and a two man carry. To fire test shells your mortar needs to be buried in soft earth.

 

First project is good BP, second project is some small willow stars, then look for some hemis and paste them into a three or four inch shell - whatever you can get hemis and mortars for-. Be satisfied with safe forward progress. Remember that a 6" shell weighs just over 1kilo but a 16" shell weighs about 25-23Kilos according to the contents.

[ChrisNZ]

What you want to do, and what I suggest you should do is what I did when I 'started' pyro..

 

One Easy Step To Starting Pyro:

Read everything on the forums under any of the categories you're interested in, not just the threads that ave pretty pictures and cool videos. Take notes, or bookmark threads that contain information that you find valuable.

 

Before I ever posted here I had about three pages of notes in a Word file, even basic things. I had ratios, terms, methods whatever I could find that seemed like a good (and basic) place to start. And it helped!

 

Yes, that's a lot of reading. I know. But it's also A LOT of information and (really want to make a point with this one) just about every question you have or could ever have when starting with pyro has been asked at least once before and has been answered many times by many very experienced and knowledgeable members.

 

^{I just typed and deleted about fifty lines of dribble that I realise could have been offensive. Turns out I'm in a nice mood today.}

 

^{As for grammar, spelling, capital letters and punctuation while it seems slow and horrible to type it out, it will get you better results. For even a mild attempt at tidy-typing can show us that you're educated and hold some level of intelligence, which is required as you'll be working with numbers and dangerous materials, it all burns and accidents do happen.. Mainly though, if you take the time to type a well thought out and formatted post it's a heck of a lot easier for us to read and therefore help you. Help us to help you!}