Milk Crate Racks....

[Bazerk]

Ok, so I know a lot of people use milk crates for their 1.91 tubes as they fit 25 of them perfectly. I had a slight mishap with mine and I am wondering if I missed something here. My resolve is to put a piece of plywood in the bottom of the crate but does anyone have another suggestion? Scrub to 20:24 of this video and watch the milk crate in the lower right hand corner of the screen. Talk about scary shit. Ultimately, the bottom of the milk crate blew out and the tubes went flying like popcorn as the shells were leaving them. Fortunately, everything discharged in the sky, but I still didnt like it. I found one of the tubes 40 feet away, lol.


https://youtu.be/UyU1D60HTZ0

[Luke_Crankwalker]

That's crazy! Glad everything worked out OK. The company I work for uses screws through the bottoms of the Mortars for the finale racks, but we also have it all in one row, not a grid.

[beakman706]

Since this is posted under display fireworks, were you shooting 1.3 1.75" salutes or 1.4 canister shells.

[ilovecrackle]

but does anyone have another suggestion?

https://youtu.be/UyU1D60HTZ0

Yeah, build more wooden racks. :p

Those tubes bounced out from the recoil of the shells lifting and not having a solid base. The plywood at the bottom "should" resolve the bouncing issue but if you have a blow out, that milk crate rack not gonna be able to handle it as well as a wooden rack and then you'll have tubes spread out all over with lit shells in them about to fire.
Me personally, I would never consider using a milk crate rack. But that"s just me. :p
But to answer your initial question, they wooden base should resolve that "bouncing" issue you experienced.

[Bazerk]

Since this is posted under display fireworks, were you shooting 1.3 1.75" salutes or 1.4 canister shells.

They were salutes. I had done a full rack of them to test before I put them in my show and it worked perfectly. I also didn't account for the fact that they were tested on cement which obviously changed everything.

[Bazerk]

Yeah, build more wooden racks. :p

Those tubes bounced out from the recoil of the shells lifting and not having a solid base. The plywood at the bottom "should" resolve the bouncing issue but if you have a blow out, that milk crate rack not gonna be able to handle it as well as a wooden rack and then you'll have tubes spread out all over with lit shells in them about to fire.
Me personally, I would never consider using a milk crate rack. But that"s just me. :p
But to answer your initial question, they wooden base should resolve that "bouncing" issue you experienced.

I normally wouldnt use it either but time was a serious issue for me this year. I have 2 30 shot wooden racks and dint have time to build the third, thus the reason for the milk crate. Lesson learned.

[beakman706]

I have four of them and never had a problem like that. Maybe that was just a fluke that night. You might try and build a wood frame around the crate, that would give you a wood base and greater protection in case of a blow out.

[Joe woz pa]

I have about 20 milk crate racks and the same thing was happening to me
I will tell u what I did but you can't tell anyone.
Go get great stuff expanding foam in a can spray it between each gun not to much though u will have a mess. Shit works great and tubes go no where, and I believe u can get it in flame retardant.

[Joe woz pa]

1 can does about 3 crates

[rowdypgh]

I tried using milk crate rack this year also and had pretty much the same thing happen to me. Tubes flying around all over the place, bottoms broken out of the crates... In short a mess. No injuries other than a very bruised ego. *sigh*

My guess here is that the crates flex too much, I did not use plywood or anything else on the bottom of the racks. Further, there are milk crates and there are milk crates. The ones that you, ahem, borrow from an actual dairy are much sturdier that the ones you buy for home use.

Although the milk crates are very compact, I am going back to wooden racks.
- George

[Bazerk]

I tried using milk crate rack this year also and had pretty much the same thing happen to me. Tubes flying around all over the place, bottoms broken out of the crates... In short a mess. No injuries other than a very bruised ego. *sigh*

My guess here is that the crates flex too much, I did not use plywood or anything else on the bottom of the racks. Further, there are milk crates and there are milk crates. The ones that you, ahem, borrow from an actual dairy are much sturdier that the ones you buy for home use.

Although the milk crates are very compact, I am going back to wooden racks.
- George

Mine were borrowed and they were sturdy. However, I did launch 25 salutes out of it at one time. No bruised ego though as they all made it in the sky.

[Pyropug]

I have 1 1/2" pine boards in the bottom of mine after having that experience about 6 years ago. No problem since doing this.

[Npntransistor]

I would ditch them in favor of proper racks, especially if firing salutes. Image if one detonated in the tube.