I fail at non-HE pyrotechnics and i've got a video to proove it.

[psychomanthis]

Normally i focus on HE's as to get more bang for my buck, plus i prefer synthesising my HE of choice over simply mixing chemicals.

However, the other day i was bored so i decided to try and make a piece of fireworks. I started out by making my BP, and then rolled me some stars. Red ones with SrCO3, and green ones with BaCl. So far so good i thought to myself. While my stars were drying i got some thick cardboard tubing which i quickly converted to a one inch FP based cylindrical salute shell without a lift charge.

I wanted to make a starmine + aerial salute so once again i got some thick cardboard tubing, i plugged it on one end and made a small hole into which i inserted a length of visco fuse. Then i poured some red clay powder into my launch tube as to prevent pressure from leaving through the fuse hole. After which a layer of blackpowder was added as lift charge for both my cylindrical shell and stars. When everything was ready i put it all together.

I figured the combustion of my lift charge would ignite my shell's time fuse and the upwards pressure would launch my stars and shell up into the sky.

Anyway this is how it looked after it was finished, not pretty but functional:



In the end it didn't function as well as i would have hoped. My stars were only launched about a yard into the sky however my shell went a bit further. Unfortunatly though my time fuse burned a little too slow so the shell came back to the ground and then went off lol

Here's the video if you'd like to see:

View My Video


Anyone with more experience with LE devices have any tips for me for future reference? Anyway thanks for reading i hope you enjoyed my little story and failure lol i'll have to try harder the next time

[K-9]

The best way to improve is to try and try again. You learn along the way what works and what doesn't, how much powder to use to get your desired lift, which configurations work and which don't etc. Keep experimenting and you'll see how to make it work better. When you try and it doesn't work it's not a failure but a learning experience. And LE's can be so much more complicated to get working properly than HE's because there are so many different components that have t work in sync.

[psychomanthis]

Originally Posted by K-9

The best way to improve is to try and try again. You learn along the way what works and what doesn't, how much powder to use to get your desired lift, which configurations work and which don't etc. Keep experimenting and you'll see how to make it work better. When you try and it doesn't work it's not a failure but a learning experience. And LE's can be so much more complicated to get working properly than HE's because there are so many different components that have t work in sync.

Thank you for the kind words doc

[InspiredByMe]

What K9 said.

Also if you really want to get into it you can try going to a PGI event or something and pick up a lot of knowledge from people that have been doing it for a long time. Not to mention the amazing deals on chems you can get at a PGI event.

[Captain Falcon]

That was pretty much a failure, yeah.

[psychomanthis]

Originally Posted by InspiredByMe

What K9 said.

Also if you really want to get into it you can try going to a PGI event or something and pick up a lot of knowledge from people that have been doing it for a long time. Not to mention the amazing deals on chems you can get at a PGI event.

Unfortunatly there is no such thing as a PGI event here in The Netherlands. Pyrotechnics as a hobby is outlawed here. We also can't have cakes that contain more than 500g of powder in total, shells are illegal to posses and our firecrackers may only be BP based. Lots of us go to belgium to get the good stuff around new years because the laws aren't as retarded over there.

Originally Posted by Captain Falcon

That was pretty much a failure, yeah.

Thank you Captain Obvious

[Captain Falcon]

.

[Synopix]

haha, need MOAR POWDRE NAO!