Paper or plastic

[nesc39]

When making aerial shells is a paper shell better than plastic? I have a feeling im going to be told PAPER because every video i have seen shows all the pros using paper. I only have seen people wrap the plastic shell with some criss cross's of reinforced packaging tape. It left many areas of the shell exposed and seeming weak. This leads me to believe that a pasted paper shell is much stronger. A stronger shell is harder to break but how does that help a shell maker? The average person isn't gonna know the difference between a perfect symmetrical shell and a mediocre shell unless they are one after another. For a beginner is it worth the extra trouble to make paper shells if the only people watching are ones that think sparklers are awesome.

[Mumbles]

A lot of people start with plastic, but most eventually convert to paper. Paper is more forgiving and more tunable, and thus allows greater control over the final product and performance by the maker. It also presents less of an ecological issue. The polystyrene most domestically produced plastic shells are made from doesn't really degrade and liters the shoot area with sharp shards of plastic.

 

Both styles of casings can be made to work just fine, they just require different methods. Most of the literature refers to paper casings though. Stronger shells will give better confinement. Proper confinement is critical for good symmetrical petals and bursts. You can paste plastic shells with pasted paper by the way. The first layer is a little tricky as it tends to slide around and not stick extremely well, but after that it's nearly identical.

 

You may be different, but I don't care what other people think of my work. For me, it's all about personal satisfaction, and I guarantee I'm far more critical of my own work that most others would be. Sure I like to show off occasionally. It doesn't matter if someone else can tell the difference between my shell and some lopsided chinese garbage shell, because I certainly can.

 

As far as if plastic shells are worth it, I'd say they are. They allow for quicker building, and will get you some experience. Just know that if (or rather when), you switch to paper, there will be a step backward in knowledge. Paper is definitely worth it for the bigger shells in my opinion. If you're just splashing the sky with color, it probably doesn't matter from a performance point of view. I prefer paper across the board personally, but that is just me. It should also be known that plastic shells don't hold up all that well as inserts, which is where I would tend to use smaller shells anyway.

[Arthur]

Plastic hemis break but never bio degrade, so the big issue is clearing up later. With paper hemis you can leave the small pieces to rot into the soil.

 

The break system is very different for paper and plastic hemis. with paper the pasting governs the hardness of the break but with plastic it's the brissance of the powder. BUT for play purposes I've seen plastic hemis glued loaded in a mortar and fired within an hour. with paper it's likely to be two days to a week before the paste has set hard to fire your shell.

[nesc39]

Thanks for the quick reply mumbles. Your like a personal coach. What is an insert, you said plastic doesn't hold up as an insert? How do people usually make shells with salutes? Just a reg flash bag? or I saw someone using 1" plastic shells as salutes inside of a bigger shell on youtube. What do the pros do as a salute in a shell.

[Mumbles]

An insert in this case is just a shell inside of another shell. If you search youtube for "shell of shells" or something similar, you'll find all sorts of videos. I'm sure other people have other experiences, but for me plastic doesn't hold up as well as paper insert shells. I've recovered a few unlit inserts, and they were somewhat melted and deformed. I've seen the same thing when using comets attached as rising effects. I've recovered melted and deformed pieces from exactly where the comet was attached.

 

Most of the better plastic shells I've seen are broken with a combination of a flash bag and black powder. Flash provides the force to break the shell evenly, black powder provides the hot expanding gases to light and propel the stars smoothly.

 

The majority of my salute inserts have been in cylinder shells where it's typical to use paper tubes for salutes. You'll probably want to stay away from salutes for a while until you get competent at shell building.