Mini Multis

[flying fish]

This weekend I decided to start a new project: Miniature multi-break shells. Since they are small and quiet enough to be backyard-shoot-able this is something that can be improved upon on a short time scale.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGcQIuZg7Fk&list=UUww32JcO9xpgjs3lJ7yw1xg

 

I made this rapidly for immediate shooting after construction, so the paper wasn't "pasted in", just held in place with a smear of wood glue. There was only 1-1/4 inner and 1-1/4 outer turns of 30# kraft so there wasn't a whole lot protecting the top break, which flower potted.

 

I used effects fuse as the garnitures (purple falling leaves and green strobe fuse).

 

And yes, I did roll a miniature bottom shot! It was filled with coarse granulated BP (trying not to annoy the neighbors...).

 

Some ideas for the future:

-I think I will start just priming the ends of the fuse for these small shells rather than cross-matching.

-Use paste...

-double up on the final paste layer.

-After I get my 1/4" starplates I might try to make some miniature maltese-ring style shells!

-Might consider making the breaks separately and spiking together.

-I might make a lengthened DR11 mortar with a thick through-bolted plug so that I can eventually shoot some very high break-count shells.

 

Has anyone done any similar projects?

Edited March 4, 2013 by flying fish

[pyrokid]

Mini canister shells are great fun! This last fourth I dressed a few up to look like consumer items.

 

 

Here is the miniature effect that is giving me a headache these days:

 

I saw a video from Japan where a 3 inch round shell had 14 miniature shell break inserts in it.

 

7:30 is the effect

[Mumbles]

I've played with these a little. I had grand plans for domination in the best miniature shell competition at PGI. As usual, I dreamed a little too big and never entered anything.

 

7x 1/4" ID tubes fit nicely into a ring. I found the only type of insert that really works all that well is salutes. I played around with mini timed hammer shells, but the color inserts are just pitiful. I just couldn't get enough stars in them to make it look okay. I only made a few small ones, but mini rainbow shells look good. Since all you can really get out of these smaller shells are splashes of color, it's an ideal effect for this size. You can of course use hard breaks to get those italian style stutata type breaks, but I've never tried to string multiple breaks of this type together.

 

You might want to look into rinfrasciature techniques for a same day building session.

[NightHawkInLight]

Neat. I love mini fireworks.

[dan999ification]

me too, lots of fun. I made a few triple breaks ( 1.5'') that turned out ok but like mum said for small inserts salutes are most impressive if you can make em small enough to fit a few in.

I have used a kind of tourbillion/serpent, a 1/4'' tube filled with comp, no plugs to save space, pasted with one turn on one end and a strand of bm over the top of the exposed end. I managed to get them breaking quite symetricaly.

Willow/hosetail type shells, 5 or 6 3/4'' stars( i used tt ) just mixed with the break and broken softly.

 

I found that cross matching is imprortant, i had a few fails when i cut the fuse at a steep angle and primed it.

For seperate breaks it is easier to prime the fuse with bm like timed reports, to help slide the breaks together.

One idea i wanted to try was to use a time fuse for the first break and run a length of fast fuse from it through the whole stack of shells, tube with fuse, stars, disc,stars,disc, stars etc. And use different colours for each break, there is a consumer shell that uses this construction, but the breaks are threaded on the fuse instead of built around it.

 

Dan.

[nater]

I like small fireworks too, less materials, less irritation for any neighbors and less risk if something goes wrong. I have not made one into a multi break, but maybe I will now. Here is a 1.75" cylinder ready to fire as a rocket header. Inside are 3 rings of 6 1/2" cavity comets, gold glitter to blue.

 

 

I like to make bottle rockets too.

 

Edited March 4, 2013 by nater

[flying fish]

Mumbles, In my case I don't necessarily need them to be same day build-able, but I was excited to get a first test in before the weekend was over. I have a ton of those 1/4" ID tubes so it'll definitely be something to try.

 

Dan, there was another interesting method I saw on passfire for fusing piled shells, which involved side fusing each break and having the QM light all of them on its way to the lift charge. A little unconventional but it apparently worked pretty well. Seems like it would take some of the fun/challenge out of getting the serial process to work, but I'm sure it has it's own fun/challenges associated with it. As for crossmatching, I'm just trying to think of a good way to do it that would not make it difficult to assemble different breaks. Perhaps splitting the very top of the fuse and folding the blackmatch over and tying in place, more like a spolette.

 

That looks really nice Nater, what sort of string are you using? I just did 1 strand of 10 ply cotton as I wasn't concerned about break symmetry, but maybe I'll get fancy in the future.

[nater]

The string on that shell is 2 strands of 3 ply cotton twine. I originally bought it to make match, but decided to try it on a few small shells. I don't expect great symmetry from that shell and I won't be able to fire it for a few more weeks. Edited March 4, 2013 by nater

[psyco_1322]

Mini canister shells are great fun! This last fourth I dressed a few up to look like consumer items.

 

 

Here is the miniature effect that is giving me a headache these days:

 

I saw a video from Japan where a 3 inch round shell had 14 miniature shell break inserts in it.

7:30 is the effect

 

I really think they cut the video and put in another shell, when I seen that some time back I called BS. Not only do you no see any rising tail on the shell he loads, there is no way you can get 14 inserts that break like that into a 3" shell.

 

Here is a video of some mini draw outs I made for PGI, took last place since the first bottom shot (I think) hit the ground. I need to use some hotter lift on these things, and get them up there farther. The shells that won the category were basically 10g salutes with about 5 stars in them, no idea how that wins, but sure does seem like it proves that the judging is rigged.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI5SY-hvYpQ&feature=share&list=UUgI5uZb74PKA0zaw9YUkYxg

 

 

A picture of the draw outs, built just as if they were full sized shells. I think the casings were rolled with 3 turns of paper.

http://www.amateurpyro.com/forums/uploads/1339888350/gallery_1558_12_315809.jpg

Edited March 4, 2013 by psyco_1322

[nater]

Well, I cut a bunch of small discs so maybe I will attempt a 1.5" R-W-B-BS on a rocket some time this summer.

[WonderBoy]

Mini multibreaks are fun. They present some interesting challenges.

 

Psyco, It really is too bad those shells didn't have a bit more lift, they would have won for sure. It is especially frustrating though that you were penalized so heavily for a bounced bottom shot, when in another competition, a competitor had a bottom shot come down unlit and received 1st place.

 

I made a 1.5" two break, purple to timed reports. I needed to add some booster to the second break, it didn't have a powerful enough burst.

 

http://www.amateurpy..._98_132284.jpeg

 

 

http://youtu.be/FHjR91fAqRE

 

 

 

WB

 

edit: For some reason it won't let me resize photos when I try to insert them, is there a trick to this? I resize it using the "white boxes", then when I preview post, the image is huge again.

Edited March 5, 2013 by WonderBoy

[pyroman2498]

mini shells are quite fun to build, but iv never got any of my multi brakes to work.......iv watch so many videos an tried so many things but the second time fuse never wants to light, or i always have one flower pot. but i can make great mini single break shells. i guesses i got to keep trying till i get my multi brakes to work.

[Mumbles]

Have you tried reading and following the directions in Fulcanelli? It's basically the bible as far as traditional cylinder and multibreak shells go.

[pyroman2498]

nope, but i will give it a look an see if I can get a good multi brake after reading it. Thanks for pointing that out.

[dan999ification]

@ flying fish: ive considered fusing like that a few times, never seen it done though.

The method you described better than me is how i prime the time fuse ( for this job and timed reports) small slit, pull a strand of bm into it, tie off. I found that using a section of 1/4'' tube around the time fuse allows you to extend the fuse into the shell, giving more workable length, plus after the fuse has been primed with a few strands of bm it is the same od as the tube giving a nice sliding fit, just need an 8mm hole in the discs.

 

Next time i attempt a small multi break i will be using spollettes, it seemed easier using time fuse but i dont think it is now.

 

Dan.

[psyco_1322]

There is a trick to getting "cross matched" time fuse into small holes. The trick is to not cross match the fuse.... funny right? No but really, slit the fuse open, as if you were going to cross match like normal, and instead of putting the black match side ways, put it in the slit so it sticks out the end of the fuse. It should look like a piece of time fuse with black match poking out the end. To hold the slit together, use a piece of good tape, or a strip of glued paper/gummed tape.

[pyroman2498]

Thanks Psyco , i always thought to cross match with the BM Sideways, i use spollettes cause there much cheaper an i can make them fast , but recently iv been thinking to move to Time fuse because it will be faster to cut the fuse then to ram a spollette , but i wont stop using spollettes cause in my single brakes iv never had them fail, its only my multi brakes that they fail. Iv been told i spike my shells to hard, but im not sure if that is true.

 

Anyways thanks for the info , ill defiantly use that trick when i get the time fuse in the mail in a month or two for the 4th of july building spree

 

~Steven

[flying fish]

That is a great idea Psyco! I've done something similar once for a different project, I'm not sure why I didn't think of it here. I will build my next one that way and see what happens.

[Bcorso85]

Pyrokid,

 

I dont know if you figured out how to make the 3 inch multi break, as in the video you posted. I have a suggestion if you haven't. What if they are thunder strings. As described on the best of AFN volume 4, page 100. Maybe tweaked a little bit, but the general concept. I'm thinking about playing around with a small shell of shells soon. I will start with a modified thunder string and play around from there. A medium break charge for the main shell, and strong stars cut and flash broken as inserts.

 

Let me know if you have any advice or if you figured it out yet.

Ben

[TritonPyro]

Psyco, I use the stripped out copper wire from spent e match to tie a split time fuse together. It works great and a 1 m length will last ages.

[dan999ification]

You want some kind of bio-degradable material, cotton, hemp, I use fishing braid, stay green

 

Dan.

[flying fish]

Just bought 4 3' DR11 tubes from pyroboom with plugs separate. I'm hoping this will allow me to give these a gentler lift with 2FA and still obtain a good height. I'm building a timed spider shell and I think I'll use the leftover insert stars for this mini-multi project. Edited April 4, 2013 by flying fish

[Mia]

You want some kind of bio-degradable material, cotton, hemp, I use fishing braid, stay green

 

Dan.

Stay green? Do you have a clue about what a shell can pump in the environment? I hardly think a 22 gauge copper wire would have no were near an impact.

[dan999ification]

The point is, no need to add to it by littering the place with coils of wire, foil, epoxy or anything else you can stick on that wont rot or can't be eaten by the wildlife it may harm. I'm no purist and I'm not joining green peace but let's not make it worse, where I come from we leave nothing but footprints.

 

Most would agree I'm sure.

 

Dan.