Archived: Making Fuses? (hijacked, now: the rocket powered ostrich project)

[Trix Are For Kids]

I would like to know the following information about fuses: (not the electrical ones, but the kind that you light.)

1. How are fuses made?
2. What are the most high quality made out of?
3. Certain fuses are made out of different things, is it possible for fuses to be identified as a certain brand?
4. Is there a certain type of fuse that cannot be extinguished?
5. How does one make a very slow burning fuse? (Say, 30 minutes/foot?)
6. How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?

[asilentbob]

1. Which kind? There are MANY kinds.
2. Probably classified military shit.
3. Theres only a few companies in the world making visco and time fuse these days. It would be hard to identify some more than simply american, chinese, or japanese unless you travel a lot and are first hand familiar with whatever differing textures, speeds, smells, the different fuse manufacturers tend to have...
4. Time fuse has a thick non-flammable shell that stays intact while the core burns, you would have to cut it ahead of the fire to stop it. But then again... with most fuses you could cut ahead of them...
5. There is some german delay composition with a really funky name that I can't remember that is based on barium nitrate and potassium nitrate IIRC with a whole lot of charcoal, it burns very slow... There is a lead nitrate impregnated rope that maintains an ember for a really long time... Then there is incense, cigs, electronic ignition, etc...
6. The world may never know...

[Trix Are For Kids]

Alright thanks, you answered every question 10/10. Gimme your paper and I'll give you a gold star.

[nuclearrabbit]

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y24...hetto_Fuse.flv

I've been using homemade fuse for a while.

1. Generally it's a core of self sustaining burnable stuff, more than likely black powder, in a fiber wrapping. Waterproofing is done by coating the fuse in nitrocellulose lacqure.
2. http://www.tpub.com/content/misc_man...00-2770041.htm
3. Not easily but the type of fuse can normally be identified by sight.

[Trix Are For Kids]

20,000 fps? Do you have a price on that or no? I'm sure it is very expensive. What I need is something like that, except something that can't be cut, so it will probably need to be thick as hell.

[nuclearrabbit]

Hah, why do you 'need' this?

[InspiredByMe]

Originally Posted by nuclearrabbit

Hah, why do you 'need' this?

I'd like to know as well. OP it is very easy to make your own det cord...but first prove that you can handle such a thing safely.

[Trix Are For Kids]

Well basically I'm trying to have a party with fireworks and such, and I'd like to have a well-timed show. I would also like to just sit back, and light a fuse, wait a few minutes and not have to worry about running away before I get burned by a shower of sparks. I would like to make my own as I'm a cheap bastard, but I don't know the laws so I would (if the cops happen to show up) like to hide all of the stuff and if a random piece of fuse is left the cops will track it back to a local store and the store cams will show I was never there.

[000]

hoooo boy, prepare to get flamed. Detcord is probably the last thing you need, next to a rocket powered ostrich.

[nuclearrabbit]

Originally Posted by 000

a rocket powered ostrich.

You know, now that you mention it... Who's up for a trip to the zoo? And Home Depot?

[1983]

Are we talking solid propellent rockets here or compressed gas because we may need to reinforce our Ostrich...



Al

[InspiredByMe]

Hmm we could get more speed out of it if it were more aerodynamic. If we made a lightweight carbon fiber shell for the ostrich....

[asilentbob]

IBM has got the right idea. Aerodynamic drag has a higher impact on the speed of our ostrich when at higher speeds. The faster we go the more it is a hurdle to overcome.

As is I think our ostrich will be reasonably aerodynamic what with natural selection and all... BUT if we smooth it out more with some sort of fabric and padding, like a tight thin leather shell with padded areas for rudimentary safety, and protect the eyes with some sort of aerodynamic motorcycle ish helmet... I think we can go faster. IE which is more aerodynamic, fur or spandex? This adds weight however. BUT at really high speeds drag and any friction on the ground will have a larger effect on energy efficiency than the weight.

If we can test this out in a wind chamber we can verify how much it actually helps.

Now... is our ostrich going to fly too? I think that it should when at really high speeds, and just run when at lower speeds. If we add some sort of high tech carbon fiber and spring reinforced leg struts / boots onto the legs and link them with the body carbon fiber reinforcements... we should be able to take a great deal of the weight off of the ostrich's back, and it should have an easier time running, possibly even with a passenger. If we have the boots/ legs have a spring ish strut going to the ground and raising the ostrich up off the ground ever more, perhaps 1ft or so, then it should be able to run even faster once it adapts to the new way of walking/running.

For flying... Well... the rockets should provide enough thrust, we just need some good light weight artificial wings. I'm thinking more of a glider style wing set up using light weight carbon fiber tubes for the main structure, then having light weight fire resistant fabric for filling in. If we train our ostrich to lift its legs up and tuck them in during flight and extend its neck forward, we should be able to be a bit more aerodynamic.

Any other ideas?

[Varagner]

We will need slow burning rockets on a sturdy mount, im thinking have a brace set up with some light weight carbon fiber wings.

ostrich definatly needs a spandex suit and we will need to mantain control so we will need some rc gear mounted in the brace. This will of course need to be linked to a control surface, i was thinking differential elevators so they can at as ailerons as well and a rudder of some sort to be mount on the braces tail plane.

We could also have a variable nozzle on the rockets so we can control the pressure we are applying to the brace. If we add more rockets to provide yet more thrust and a seat I could get it registered as an experimental recreational aircraft in Australia and freely fly it after 40 hours of flight time. The brace will need to be structured to apply minimum pressure to the ostrich's back at all times to prevent damage. Reins for control on the ground might also be nice.

[1983]

What about a light weight material to attach to the exsisting wings?

Something like a carbonfiber coated foam with a ridgind support system of manuverable wires to control and stabilize the ostritch in flight...

And for the rest of it how about something like serran wrap with a fireproof coating of sorts so it's flexible but arodinamic to some degree with a drag stabilized tail.

For the legs some form of wire attachment so when it hits a desired speed at take off they retract the legs until it get used to doing it on its own.

It could also be used for the neck in braced screw mounted allong the neck with a four point chassis so you can control it's neck movments as well untill it's trained as well...

Other than that the helmet idea is a good one but we'll need to make it a full face one and have the beak shut to reduce it screaming durring takoff as well as drag.

Other than that I'd have to say have a two stabge rocket motor one quick burning that expells itself after take off so a secondary engine can be used for cruising.

Al

[Trix Are For Kids]

This is why nobody takes pyros seriously. Somebody asks a question, and they go off talking about rocket powered ostriches.

We're going to need to fireproof the ostrich, you know. Also, what do you think about solar panels to power electronic equipment?

[1983]

Originally Posted by Trix Are For Kids

This is why nobody takes pyros seriously. Somebody asks a question, and they go off talking about rocket powered ostriches.

We're going to need to fireproof the ostrich, you know. Also, what do you think about solar panels to power electronic equipment?

Too bulky I'd think unless there was small ones installed in the wings... Also may be able to use a light weight wind powered fan generatore?


And they take us plenty seriously... Imagine the destructive and confusing power of such an animal device..... The world man... The world...


Al

[InspiredByMe]

Originally Posted by Frackle

Too bulky I'd think unless there was small ones installed in the wings... Also may be able to use a light weight wind powered fan generatore?


And they take us plenty seriously... Imagine the destructive and confusing power of such an animal device..... The world man... The world...


Al

I was thinking a deep cycle battery on the back or underside of the ostrich, we could install 2 windmills in each wing in a tube that goes through the wing so it is still aerodynamic. The 2 windmills would build up a lot of energy when hitting speeds +150mph and could be hooked up to capacitor that can store it until we need it for longer flights.

[1983]

Originally Posted by InspiredByMe

I was thinking a deep cycle battery on the back or underside of the ostrich, we could install 2 windmills in each wing in a tube that goes through the wing so it is still aerodynamic. The 2 windmills would build up a lot of energy when hitting speeds +150mph and could be hooked up to capacitor that can store it until we need it for longer flights.

What about save the extra battery weight and have a small nickle cadnium battey run basic electronics to start then the fans can generate a sustained current for the remainding power that is needed durring flight...

Al

[Aperson444]

Can we make it a ostrich rocket missile with a 1 KG RDX/PETN in Vaseline warhead, or a nuke, detonated by 0.5 g HMTD?

I propose that we have 4 stages, and use an APCP rokcet for the first two, something with kerosene and liquid O2 for the next. We shall target the missile for Texas or Alabama, because they are by far the most useless states in the US. Maybe Alaska.

There should also be a GPS guidance system to guide the ostrich to it's target.