Using Firewire Initiators - newbie questions

[MontanaMike]

Hey guys, I'm planning to jump into the Firewire Initiators camp this year. Once you have your brass awl and you poke the hole where the main fuse goes into the first tube of a cake, are there any "pitfalls" to be found from there? Or is it pretty much an idiot-proof situation?

Has anyone used those Quickfire Clips on consumer fireworks? I'd think those would work real well for putting an Initiator into a canister shell - would be a timesaver, if the reliability is the same.

Anyway, just looking for mistakes to watch out for. Any tips would be appreciated. (And, apologies if this has already been covered. I looked around but didn't really see anything on it.)

[PYRODAN]

Make sure you get into the lift charge powder, and not into the clay plug at the bottom of the tube. Also on the bigger multi shot cakes with small tubes it can be hard to get a good hole for the initiator.

[djsmurf]

There is a rather specific crunch sound when you poke into the lift charge if that's any help. Not really idiot-proof as you want to make sure you don't loose lift out of the hole or shove the Initiator in an set it off. The Quickfire clips just seem like a time consuming process to use, as you can simply ematch the canister shell. A match into a lift is less likely to misfire. Not really needed but I leave fuse on the cakes and shells I match so if something does not fire I can still light it later if needed.

[Pyropug]

Pretty simple, I poke hole near fuse and up a tad higher, I then insert with shroud back, since hole is usually to small, Tape wire to tube and cake, then good to go.

[Pyropug]

P.s. I wouldn't bother matching consumer shells, thier breaks are not all that spectaclular. I just fast fuse them together cover with foil for finale. If having mines and comets then I'd match them up

[esgrillo]

Mike I use a combination of firewire and talon. Agree on the comment about shells, dont bother with firewire. Just daisy chain with whatever fuse you want and use talon. For items like mines, I would strongly suggest using a pro-line like 76 offers. They already have ports in them for firewire and are all 1.4. (they also have a fuse) You can save a ton of time using that brand or similar. They will take a firewire as is, not screwing around with digging a hole in the area for the charge. Their proline cakes also have a hidden port built in that you can use for firewire. I have not used that feature yet but Reed S has a video of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRxislk-yLQ

[MontanaMike]

Thanks all for the replies. I get most of my fireworks from wfboom. I wonder if any of their manufacturers are going to start putting e-match ports on their product? That's a fantastic idea.

[displayfireworks1]

Have you looked over some of the videos I have about electric match and fusing. Here is a link to the page of pyrotalk that contains the videos.
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http://www.pyrotalk.com/fireworks-projects.php

[MontanaMike]

Yep, I'm slowly working my way through a lot of the videos.