taiwanluthiers Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Does anyone have any experience with rolling stars by hand? I tried it and the stars came out looking like the moons of Mars. I used chopped up bamboo skewer as cores because I do not have any suitable steel or lead beads to work with... Do you think rice grains (not hulls) work well for rolling stars? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdmiralDonSnider Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 You want something that is fairly round as the core. I use rape seeds. Rice grains will be no good choice. Hand rolling requires some experience, especially when the cores are started. Not choosing a too small batch size is essential for ease of rolling and greatly improves star uniformity. You will easily overshoot with both solvent and powder when using only a few cores. Weight is also essential to produce even stars and pick up residues of comp. Dave Blesers video from the AFN is a good point to start. You may want to have a look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davids31 Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 (edited) Cool! I was wondering what the name of those seeds are. I saw them in a youtube video. May I ask where you get your rape seed? Edited July 21, 2012 by davids31 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graumann Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 rape seed also available from health food stores as canola. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Any small round seed should work. I really don't know what you have locally. Millet is also fairly common to use. Lead is the easiest to start with as it is quite heavy and not as prone to sticking together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davids31 Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 I can get rape seed on amazon, I was just was wondering if I could get it for a better price. http://www.amazon.com/Dwarf-Essex-Cattle-Wildlife-Pounds/dp/B004ZHV8IM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graumann Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 5lb will go a very long way, but make sure the seeds you get aren't coated as some growing stock can be, best to get feed stock if you can find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyrophury Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 The quickest way to roll by hand is to start with cut cores: . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zumber Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 The quickest way to roll by hand is to start with cut cores: .look at 7:34,i am wonderinghe just poured bp into mortor and kept the shell and shell goes to sky.....without using lift cup,also shell wasnt tight enough to mortor.....how.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 He was using good black powder? I really don't get what you're asking. You don't need to confine powder unless it's poor quality, and I'm sure the shell was properly sized. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 look at 7:34,i am wonderinghe just poured bp into mortor and kept the shell and shell goes to sky.....without using lift cup,also shell wasnt tight enough to mortor.....how.? The shell looked plenty tight to me... What was the issue again? -dag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zumber Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 He was using good black powder? I really don't get what you're asking. You don't need to confine powder unless it's poor quality, and I'm sure the shell was properly sized.the thing i wanted to ask is using only loose bp(without using lift cup in case of aerial shell and without pressing cardboard in case of cake) is it possible to fire the shell at high altitude??Once i was working with same method using commertial bp and that time my shell comes out of mortor and explodes.I used thumb rule and shell was properly fitted to mortor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 It's obviously quite possible. Perhaps you need to reevaluate the quality of your BP? It is possible. It may depend on size of the shell, and grain size of the BP to prevent it from simply popping out as opposed to firing properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zumber Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 It's obviously quite possible. Perhaps you need to reevaluate the quality of your BP? It is possible. It may depend on size of the shell, and grain size of the BP to prevent it from simply popping out as opposed to firing properly.Thanks a lot mumbles..:-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeannieh Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Could anyone help out with this? When constructing an inner petal for a saturn shell, what size stars give the most density in color. I am working on a five inch saturn shell, using large 15mm glitter stars for a ring and looking for a dense red core/inner petal to represent Saturn. So far, the inner petal either breaks too large, or too sparse. I am using a three inch newspaper inner petal. Have so far used 9-10mm stars. The ring looks great, but not pleased with the Saturn inner. Thanks for suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zumber Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Could anyone help out with this? When constructing an inner petal for a saturn shell, what size stars give the most density in color. I am working on a five inch saturn shell, using large 15mm glitter stars for a ring and looking for a dense red core/inner petal to represent Saturn. So far, the inner petal either breaks too large, or too sparse. I am using a three inch newspaper inner petal. Have so far used 9-10mm stars. The ring looks great, but not pleased with the Saturn inner. Thanks for suggestions.sorry for not having correct answer bt there is a chart on skilighter.com which represents star size vs shell diameter.If inner petal breaks too large then use slow burning burst charge.For getting instant reply you could have asked this question in pyrotechnic section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeannieh Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 sorry for not having correct answer bt there is a chart on skilighter.com which represents star size vs shell diameter.If inner petal breaks too large then use slow burning burst charge.For getting instant reply you could have asked this question in pyrotechnic section. Thanks for your help, I wrote my question here as I was not able to start a question, but only reply. I'll look for the chart and thanks again. Jeannie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zumber Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Ooops..!! I wrote skilighter by mistake, just go to www.skylighter.comand please post video of your shell if you get successed.Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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