5" DP colour changing, 5"willow

[fredhappy]

These were two 5"shells I've build and shot recently.I especially loved the kamuro. Downside is that imho kamuros can only be truly appreciated when windspeeds don't exceed windforce 2.( 2 beaufort).

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcJnRtUk0-Q

 

5"violet to yellow + ecka silver streamer + turquoise inner petal. Camera was on 1080P, unfortunately the colours are a bit washed out when I use fireworks preset.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlkpNu4PrYE

 

5"kamuro, soft break.

 

best

 

fred

[VikingPyrotechnics]

WOW

 

Really nice shells!

 

VP

[pyrokid]

Great work!

[psyco_1322]

Very nice shells.

[Bobosan]

Breaks look very symmetrical. Nice.

[burningRNX]

lovely shells fred, keep going.

[AdmiralDonSnider]

What did you mean with "soft break"? I felt it was perfect. Kamuros should "droop". Did you weaken the charge intentionally? Very beautiful shell.

I would be interested in the actual kamuro formula & break charge approach btw. Was it KP?

Edited April 29, 2013 by AdmiralDonSnider

[vh718]

i loved both of the shells. great quality work mate. the color changes were spot on for the double petal and he break on the kamuro was perfect, just enough so that the stars started to fall down. all in all great shells, keep it up.

[fredhappy]

#all : thank you kindly for your comments, I really appreciate.

 

#admiral: kamuros should not be broken too hard, this ruins the delicate drooping effect. I have found that in my case I like to use a little bit of booster combined with a light pasting, not nearly as much as I\d used in that 5"DP shell. The problem is that when you don't use booster and only use mcrh as a break, the kamuro will droop but will not have a nice round symmetrical burst.

 

Using a bit of booster and a light pasting gives you a round flower and the sought after drooping effect.

 

I have switched from using KP to using mcrh and a booster. I do not boost with 7/3 anymore , imho it is too sharp/reactive. I like medium speed developing flowers, not the fast openings you tend to get with 7/3.

 

I use apertura booster, a Spanish formulae that works well. Basically it is just 7/3, but the 7 units of perc is divided in 50/50 KNO3/KCLO4..so 35 KCLO4, 35KNO3 and 30 dark al. It is not a slow flash, but it is not a 7/3 booster either, it gives me the best of both worlds. A somewhat gentle booster with enough punch to do the job.

 

The formulae is just an ordinary willow formulae. This particular batch was not milled, although the separate ingredients were milled finely prior to screening the mix.

 

The titanium I've used is 0-250 microns, this size is important to get that long hang time.

 

I ve made another 4 kilo batch of kamuros, I have just finished priming the 8mm's. I ve rolled another part of that batch up to 14 mm, this should be a good size for use in 8"ers, I am very curious how these will turn out. To experiment I did mill my current batch a bit, to see if I can get a bit of a cleaner burn.

 

Kamuros are very pretty, but do need fine tuning with boost, break pasting and mill time...and there should be little to no wind when you shoot them, wind really ruins te whole effect...

[fredhappy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmYNcEax4uc

willow

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RknD7bhkdw

5"DP

 

sorry for deleting the clips, I try to keep my channel clean . When a thread has run it's course, I tend to delete the files. I am in a different hemisphere, and pyro's over here are looked upon as semi terrorists. There is zero legal possibility to practise my beloved hobby, no clubs, just bomb squad visits and a world of pain. I don't want to harm anyone and I also do not endanger any innocent bystanders when I am making stuff...think rural areas...

 

I will keep going though, I am very passionate about pyrotechnics..

[Zmuro]

I really like the willow shell. Can you share the formula of willow composition and how much titanium you added. You milled each chemical seperatly and than just screen the mix a few times. Do you find this method to give a longer tail than milling all chems together? What was the star size?

[fredhappy]

#zmuro: please consult http://www.amateurpyro.com/forums/topic/6544-formulas-priming-and-technical-pyrotechnics/page__hl__%2Bspanish+%2Bpdf

 

that PDF is a true treasuretrove. Excellent formulaes, well written priming advice etc etc. I have always wondered why I did not see much of these formulaes tested and tried out here, they are all very fresh and a bit different then the usual stuff.

 

Just try them out, they are all great.

 

For this specific batch of kamuro I've added 18% 0-250 micron titanium.

 

Milling does not make the tail that much longer, but gives a cleaner burn and therefore a shorter hangtime. There is little fallout with this method.

 

Not milling the mix, but milling the ingredients seperately results in a somewhat longer hangtime, but also gives more fallout. After the main kamuro effect, there is quite a lot of lingering about of sparks. This gives a bit of a "dirty look: imo.

 

When shooting for an audience, milling is advised.

[WonderBoy]

Great shells Fred, I really liked the snappy colour change. I too use a "medium" flash for booster, I agree that it gives the best of both worlds.

 

 

WB

[AdmiralDonSnider]

 

 

#admiral: kamuros should not be broken too hard, this ruins the delicate drooping effect. I have found that in my case I like to use a little bit of booster combined with a light pasting, not nearly as much as I\d used in that 5"DP shell. The problem is that when you don't use booster and only use mcrh as a break, the kamuro will droop but will not have a nice round symmetrical burst.

 

Using a bit of booster and a light pasting gives you a round flower and the sought after drooping effect.

 

 

Could you go into more detail concerning the amount of booster and pasting layers you were using in this special 5" shell? I would also be interested in the star size as well as the ratio of core material and meal in your rice hulls. I guess it was fast ball milled powder. Thank you very much for sharing these details.

 

Yours is really an excellent example of a brocade willow shell, I have not found any commercial ones to be more beautiful. Decent work.

[fredhappy]

#wonderboy: I am glad the medium booster is working out for you too. May I ask what you boost with it? I remember seeing some cylinder shells from you, do you use it for boosting cylinders?

 

#admiral: Thank you kindly for your words, I appreciate.

 

One of the reasons these amateur brocade shells can be better then the commercial ones has to with the price of titanium. The Chinese are cheapskates when it comes to titanium. I think they only add about 5% to their brocade shells. I suspect they also mill the crap out of these mixes thus shortening hangtime.

 

The starsize for this particular shell was 11 mm. They were round rolled, and screened precisely.It took me three rolling sessions to get to this size. I dry in between sizes, then continue thus preventing long drying times. Cut/pumped stars will not give you this kind of brocade, it all starts with precision rolling ( at least for me it does).

 

Break was just ordinary MCRH 5/1. I think I ve used willow C , with the standard formulae. The booster I've used was the one mentioned in that Spanish PDF, I have dialed in all my calibres with this combination..mcrh/booster.

[Mumbles]

Fredhappy, do you have any tips for rolling compositions containing coarse metals like titanium?

 

I will sometimes boost my shells (mostly cylinder) with a medium flash as you put it. It's actually similar to the one from the spanish pdf. The people who instructed me and gave me hints while I was developing my mix are friendly with some spanish manufacturers. Perhaps that's where they originally learned from. I have seen the formula you mentioned above before. Mine is the following:

 

Potassium Nitrate: 5

Potassium Perchlorate: 2

Dark Al: 4

 

The aluminum I use is Eckart 10890, though similar things probably work well too, like Oberon 809. You can play with the ratios of nitrate to perchlorate to adjust strength. The one above gives me good results though. I just coat it onto meal coated hulls, or onto granular BP and it works well for the shells I usually make.

[fredhappy]

#mumbles: It depends on what size titanium you define as coarse metals. In general, I have no problems with 0-250 mesh titanium. Willow formulas are best made with this size titanium.

 

When I start rolling my stars, I roll the willow compo onto the cores without the metal. I screen the whole formulae without the metal 4 times (80/120 mesh sieve). Then I save some of this mix for starting up my cores. Then I screen in the metal with a 40 mesh sieve, about 3 times. This way I can save some mix without titanium. It is more labour intensive this way, but so be it.

 

I use this bit of mix to start up my cores.I keep rolling on willlow compo without metal until I hit 2/3 mm, then I switch to willow with metal. Using willow with titanium for starting up cores is a hassle. The cores are very small and tend to form bumps due to the titanium.

 

What also helps is using 50/50 water alcohol to keep things smooth and rolling. The downside is that with this amount there is less dextrine activated, thus a bit more titanium is not being picked up. This particular mix of water/alcohol does guarantee that perfect round stars are formed without bumps. When they hit like 6 or 7 mm, you can up the amount of water a bit, something like 65/35. More dextrine is activated and the titanium sticks a bit better. When the stars hit 8mm they have enough mass to pick up the titanium. I often keep using 50/50 water alcohol, I really get perfect round stars with that particular water/alcohol mix. I use very small steel balls ( 0.2/0.3mm) as cores.

 

The really coarse titanium, in for instance the 250-450+mesh range, is difficult. I have to confess this also gives me headaches. I have made it a habit to add 5 or 6% extra to compensate for the titanium being lost and swirled at the back of my rolling drum. When I finish rolling, I wash out my drum and recollect the titanium that wasn't picked up. For a formulae asking for 20% really coarse stuff I add about 26%. With all the stuff that is not picked up I generally hit that required 20% quite accurately. Sponge is worse than granular, flake is the easiest to roll on.

 

Your booster looks fine and is more or less comparable with the Spanish booster. I like it a lot. I use cheap indian000, that works just fine for me. I am curious how this booster works in cylinder shells, I have very little experience with those.

 

I hope this helps a bit.

 

best

 

fred

Edited May 17, 2013 by fredhappy

[WonderBoy]

Fred, I have been using Mumble's medium flash in my cylinder and ball shells. I use bright flake Al (325 mesh). In collaboration with Mum, psyco, and others, we have been working on "ballmill-less" shells. I have posted this video before, it is a rinfasciatured 4" two break with bottom shot. I used polverone (granulated green mix) as the burst medium with 5g of Mum's flash per break.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=fxEBXbmXdMs&NR=1

 

 

WB

[fredhappy]

#wonderboy; That idea had crossed my mind too. Making shells exclusively using a sieve, no ballmill . Those cylinders are very cool, especially multi breaks. As far as I can judge the greenpower+medium booster does the job ok. I have noticed that high quality willow charcoal can yield some very potent greenmix. For optimal performance the KNO3 needs to be extremely fine, so I m afraid you'd have to "cheat"a bit with a ballmill.

 

Cool clip, keep up the good work ....

Edited May 17, 2013 by fredhappy

[Seymour]

Fred, I agree with the others that the burst on your Brocade type was perfect. These shells are so good looking it's hard no to make hem again and again, and with the pretty much perfection of all the aspects I can see you've made use of the repetitions.

 

I admire the detail you go through with the star rolling to make it work more efficiently, and the removal of the metal from the core will reduce fallout too. The Titanium you have, 0-250 mesh, is a huge range. What is the real coarsest level? I'm assuming it all passes 40 mesh due to the choice of the screen for mixing it in, though I consider 40 mesh to be on the coarse side, if great for larger shells.

 

Also what size was the inner petal of the other shell?

 

 

While not necessarily true greenmix, I have a lot of experience with barely milled BP (one hour milled). Boosted it went off much like regular BP boosted.

 

How much do you follow the rules... I guess a good blender would sort me out, but at the moment the only way I have to make half of my chemicals powders is the mill. I guess I'm out.

 

WB, was there as little light from the flash booster as it appeared in the video? It's enough to convince me that the price of dark flake is too high, only the mess of bright flake is a persuasive argument too.

[fredhappy]

seymour: Thank you for your kind words. Coming from a professional like you they make me extra proud.

 

I love kamuros. I know how to make them. I have a big batch of 14 mm's primed and dried to use in 8"shells, I am very curious how a large shell with these stars will look.

 

The downside to this particular effect is windspeed. These kamuro shells look like sh*t when windspeeds exceed 2 beaufort, 3 is hardly do able. The whole effect is ruined, and you get left with a dirty looking cloud of sparks . I had made scores of kamuros shells this NYE, but since windspeeds were up to 6 I did not shoot them. So, when the circumstances are perfect, I like to shoot them.

 

0-250 mesh is just a specified size. I simply follow the formulae, I like this size titanium, it lingers very beautiful , of course taking into acount the issues with wind.

 

For screening metals I use a 40 mesh screen, it suits me well. It also cuts down on friction, something I never feel very easy experiencing when I am screening C based mixes with titanium. I work carefully and concentrate when I screen stuff. I take it slow.

 

Screening of compos I do with a 120 mesh screen . This mesh size gives me a super integrated mixture.Screening a mix 3 times is sufficient with this mesh size.

 

Inner petal stars were 6mm turqoise stars if I remember correctly. Although the colour change on that DP was ok, I could have done better. The yellow cores were very slightly egg shaped, and for my eyes the yellow transition was a bit messy. Everything should burn out at the exact same moment, no core should linger even for 1/4 th of a second imo. But these are small details. I am a perfectionist with my round stars and not easily satisfied with my own work. There is always room for perfection. I look at the japanese and try to achieve their results, that's always my goal.

 

I am sure the meal can do without vigorous milling, but personally I want it to be as potent as possible. I have a good mill, designed especially for blackpowder milling, not some make do solution such as those rock tumblers are. I have used a rock tumbler myself, they do work for small batches. Please do not interpretet my words as looking down on owners of rock tumblers, they do work, but not for substantial batches for use in large shells. I spend thousands of dollars on my hobby every year, and always try to buy the best equipment/chemicals I can get my hands on.

 

Bright flake is so messy, I have used it only once. I chucked the remain away. I looked like the tin man from the wizzard of oz when I'd finished working with it...absolute swagger that stuff is....yuk..

 

Also, on a personal note. I find that using super reactive dark al is also unnecesary for most aplications. All it does is making flash mixes more sensitive/prone to accidental ignition. Indian dark is more then potent enough to get the job done and is also much more cheaper. The stuff gives of an almighty bang when used in salutes, it sounds fine to my ears.

 

I appeciate all kinds of comments on my threads. I am not looking for compliments , I like an on topic discussion in regard to my stuff and am very interested in hearing opinions from my colleagues.

 

nice hearing from you, be safe, let's stay in touch.

 

best

 

fred

Edited May 23, 2013 by fredhappy

[Seymour]

Perhaps I should have been more specific, I was intending to ask what ratio the petal was to the full shell as measured by the stars in the shell. I've not got a lot of experience with double petals, with only one case that I'm reasonably happy with. The rest were too wide or too small to be distinguished from a pistil at the center of the shell.

 

For the one shell that I was relatively happy with the main petal was in 10" hemmies and were 20mm brocade stars, and the purple to green 14mm stars were arranged on the outside of a 5" hemmie or the inside of a six, with all internal hemispheres used just for positioning stars and were not in the shell after loading.

 

I appeciate all kinds of comments on my threads. I am not looking for compliments , I like an on topic discussion in regard to my stuff and am very interested in hearing opinions from my colleagues.

 

I don't intend not to be critical, I understand that criticism is constructive, but by the time I got to this video there was really not a lot I could add that had not been said by someone else. Like, back to the petal sizing, I think your inner petal was quite large in proportion to the main petal, but not too much so, it worked really well! Of course a smaller petal would look really good too, but would have been a different effect.

 

I think there could be room for a pistil in there if you have the petals like you have it, though I tend to try to put too much in and this can be a dangerous road resulting in compromising burst strength and symmetry. You might want to take that consideration with a pinch of salt (or just a few extra pinches of vitamin booster).

 

seymour: Thank you for your kind words. Coming from a professional like you they make me extra proud.

 

Ha ha, well, I'll try not to talk myself down too much or you might feel less proud, but I'm rather flattered that you think my words mean so much. I may have got a job in the industry, which has no doubt given me a great opportunity to learn and do a lot of pyro, but most of that is really quite basic construction techniques due to economics.

 

In the true art of pyrotechnics pure in the hobby world, free of the constraints of profit, I don't really feel like a beginner, but I think a lot of members here have taken it to a level of accuracy and craftsmanship that I have not, but approve of, admire and strive to match. That includes you.

 

I believe we're both relatively young (I'm 24) and of course there are many members still here on this forum, and many more in the global pyro world that have taken this skill and ambition to levels I am motivated by a dream to achieve before I die. I get the feeling you share this dream.

 

I look at the japanese and try to achieve their results, that's always my goal.

 

Exactly!

 

Also, on a personal note. I find that using super reactive dark al is also unnecesary for most aplications. All it does is making flash mixes more sensitive/prone to accidental ignition. Indian dark is more then potent enough to get the job done and is also much more cheaper. The stuff gives of an almighty bang when used in salutes, it sounds fine to my ears.

 

I've used Eckhart 5413 and some Indian dark I got off ebay. The Indian was darker than the German, but had a few flecks of larger flakes. Basically I have found the two to be the same, not that I had done any tests to prove it. Both lit reliably and went bang really loud, perhaps with ever so slightly less confinement in small quantities (500mg in a straw sized tissue tube, open ended was a good report).

 

I've yet to try any Aluminium more reactive than those two, and in a practical sense I don't really want to either!

[PyroThrills]

Videos only say "this video does not exist", sorry if its somekind of noob error.