what i was thinking of doing next year... instead of racks:

[Icooclast]

instead of buying racks and tubes and spending extra money. i am gonna have all these tubes from the shell kits i buy, anyway. why not just go to the lumber yard and buy wooden boards big enough to screw down 50 tubes to it and use it that way, seems cheaper than buying empty racks and tubes. anyone wanna weigh in? not as cheap as i'd think? too dangerous? something else? any CONSTRUCTIVE words are appreciated. i just don't see spending extra money where i don't have to (mainly tubes) keep in mind i'm not doing a 1.3g show, just regular old fireworks.

thanks in advance

[nayslayer]

I've bought tubes from pyroboom, and I have also just trimmed off the bottoms of the HDPE tubes from the kits and used them in the racks as well. I used a jigsaw to rough cut tube out of base, hammer off collar, and clean up bottom with dremel. I'll probably make another rack this year too. Lumber needed is 1x4, and 2x3. Two (2x3) pieced 12 inches, one 24 inches. If i remember correctly.

[upNdown]

I know the shell kits I'll be buying (Big Pro Shells) come with fiberglass tubes, as opposed to HDPE. I figure as long as I don't re-use them next year (and obviously don't load any upside-down) they'll be fine. But I guess that's a concern worth mentioning.

[jamisonlm3]

I plan on doing the same thing. As much as I'd like to have HDPE mortars, I get perfectly usable mortars with the shells I buy. I bet they'll last years and if I need to replace them, you get them with the shells.

[chriskrc]

There's nothing wrong with building racks from the tubes that come in the kits. I do it all the time. Especially if you think about it the fiberglass and hdpe tubes that come in the kits are constructed pretty well. Think about how many times those tubes will be fired in a show , once or maybe twice. They will last pretty long and hold up just fine. The only thing I would say and I do this myself with all tubes and racks , just inspect them each year before use.

[PyroJoeNEPA]

I have around 200 fiberglass tubes in racks that were salvaged from shell kits. Some of them have a very solid cement type plug in the bottom & are good to go when you knock the bottoms off. Others were really flimsy clay plugs--I bought 100 plugs for fiberglass tubes two years ago from a guy that was making them & used a bunch of them up. Knocked the old plug out & put a new one in with a couple fasteners. Some of the others have "so-so plugs [usually clay] that may be 80% good--I got a squirt bottle of liquid concrete patch at Lowes & filled out the bottom of the plugs with that. They work great.
After I knock the bottoms off if there is any excess glue or epoxy stuck on the sides of the bottom of the tubes I smooth them out with an angle grinder.[Use a mask if you do this!!]
Like chris said--inspect them each year.
One other thing--after you have used them a couple times you may notice some loose fiberglass threads around the tops---take your Bernzomatic torch & BRIEFLY pass it over the tops of the tubes--it cleans those loose strands right up!

[pyroboom]

What you are describing is called a poor man's rack.

I strongly disagree with this post and I recommend that this thread be destroyed and never brought up again.

OK. Just kidding! I have a personal attachment to HDPE mortar tubes and I'm a big fan of racks. :cool:

[displayfireworks1]

Some people will do anything to save $2.00 per mortar. LOL Its hard for some of these pyro's to throw anything away. I know I have a collection of Excalibur mortars I don't know what to do with. If you look at the wall in my recent fireworks magazine video, he has all those mortars lined up on the wall.

[PyroJoeNEPA]

Some people will do anything to save $2.00 per mortar. LOL Its hard for some of these pyro's to throw anything away.
You are 100% correct on that Dave. I don't throw anything out!! Hey, if I have 200 fiberglass tubes from shell kits---why spend $400.00 plus shipping for something that I already have??? I only use the glass tubes for mines & ball shells. Cans all go in the HDPE tubes.
Ya know, some of us old guys on Social Security gotta do what we can do!!! Pyro is an expensive hobby! :-) :-) :-)

[Capt.Rob73]

Some people will do anything to save $2.00 per mortar. LOL Its hard for some of these pyro's to throw anything away. I know I have a collection of Excalibur mortars I don't know what to do with. If you look at the wall in my recent fireworks magazine video, he has all those mortars lined up on the wall.

I can't even throw away the fireworks boxes and labels. Watch my Pyro Headquarters tour video below.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfHcpj0zses&t=2s

[yoshisbar]

Some people will do anything to save $2.00 per mortar. LOL Its hard for some of these pyro's to throw anything away. I know I have a collection of Excalibur mortars I don't know what to do with. If you look at the wall in my recent fireworks magazine video, he has all those mortars lined up on the wall.

Yes sir!! Up to 248 tubes and all FREE! 248 X $2 a mortar That is another 2 cases of shells!!

[Northern Sky]

May I suggest limiting the racks to 10 it 12 long and assembling multiple racks as needed?

They are easier to carry, store use and maintain than huge pods.

[Icooclast]

What you are describing is called a poor man's rack.

I strongly disagree with this post and I recommend that this thread be destroyed and never brought up again.

OK. Just kidding! I have a personal attachment to HDPE mortar tubes and I'm a big fan of racks. :cool:

man, you had me worried. please don't do that to me. i have issues with paranoia. don't get me wrong, it was a good joke, but usually i worry easily. and i don't like making people mad


Some people will do anything to save $2.00 per mortar. LOL Its hard for some of these pyro's to throw anything away. I know I have a collection of Excalibur mortars I don't know what to do with. If you look at the wall in my recent fireworks magazine video, he has all those mortars lined up on the wall.

considering what i'd need it'd cost me a min. of $400 for it and that's without the racks. and i may need more than that us people with low income need to save as much as possible. so, i agree with pyrojoe. lol.

[Icooclast]

May I suggest limiting the racks to 10 it 12 long and assembling multiple racks as needed?

They are easier to carry, store use and maintain than huge pods.

i've seen a rack on bigfireworks' site that can hold 50 tubes. and that's what i was shooting for, but would it be too heavy?

[nayslayer]

It would be pretty heavy and tube position are set. You have some versatility(fan rack), lighter and can be stored easier.

[Icooclast]

It would be pretty heavy and tube position are set. You have some versatility(fan rack), lighter and can be stored easier.

so, it would be better to just make 5 boards that have 10 tubes on them for example? so, they'd be easier to move? any other ideas? because this is a great one, imo.

[PyroJoeNEPA]

so, it would be better to just make 5 boards that have 10 tubes on them for example? so, they'd be easier to move? any other ideas? because this is a great one, imo.

Knock the bases off--see my earlier post--ant put them in racks of 10. That way you can arrange them in any configuration you like. Also, much easier to store and transport.

[BhadDawg]

First time poster here, Just wanted to chime in on the mortar racks discussion. I wish this forum had been around 15 or more years ago when I set out to build my first mortar rack.
I have had some failures and success with building them myself. Building the 1.4 racks I was able to go to a large pipe supply yard and find some 40' sections of HDPE that had the correct ID, which was 1.89 if I remember correctly. We cut the HDPE in approx 17" pieces in order to come out with all the same lengths of pipe out of each section. We ordered a plug cutter for wood, I think the diameter plug it cuts is 1 15/16" which makes for a tight fit in the tubes. We used seasoned pine 2x4 which made for a 1 3/4' thick plug and little shrinkage since the wood was already mostly dried or "seasoned" as some call it.

Before driving the plugs in, we set our tubes into a tub of heated water, not boiling, just heated to around a 120*, about 4-6" deep and let the tubes set for about 20-30 minutes and then begin removing them one at a time and driving the plugs in. The heated HDPE seems to be just pliable enough that the plugs drive right in. We then use the OD of the tubes to get a measurement to rip a 8' long 2 x 4 into the correct width to use for the bottom piece in the rack. we then use 3/4 inch plywood and rip it into 8" and 4" wide pieces at 8' long. At this point you can either use the full eight foot to fit as many as 38 tubes in a 8' rack, or as many as 19 into a 4' rack. Once all of my tubes are place into the rack, I then use a long deck screw to go through the side of the box and into the tube and through the wood plug. Make sure you turn your tube so that you are putting the screw through the plug across the plugs grain to prevent the plug from splitting. This not only secures the plug, but secures the tube into the rack.
This method puts all of the tubes pressed against each other, if you want space between them, you will have to make spacers to go in between each one and this will cut down on the number of tubes per rack.
This was definitely a poor boy venture, but we did eventually succeed through trial and error, to end up with 24 8' long racks, for a total of 912 tubes, and yes, the racks are really too heavy in the 8' style.

I will post some pics of the two different designs we tried when i get a chance to go by our shed where the racks are stored. We have been using these two to three times a year with the only two failures coming from a canister shell loaded upside down.

[jamisonlm3]

Sounds intersting, I can't wait to see photos.

[Cerus]

The only problem with using the tube you get with the shells is you always have more shells than tubes. I don't reload during a show but some do. I built my racks last year and saved a ton over buying them premade. If you're even remotely handy you can do it with basic tools. Tubes are cheap or you can buy the HDPE and make your own. I got the collars off my xcal tubes, routed off the base and added them to my pyrboom tubes.

Small racks are definitely easier to work with.

[adultuser]

Okay, so I'm going to apologize in advance for my artwork, or lack thereof.
But, I've made a 50+ tube rack and they are way too heavy.
Here is an idea that has proven to be actually great for me.
You make your standard 10 or so shot racks individually. At the end of each, you attach an eye ring.
You can then attach as many racks as you want. You simply run a piece of rebar or pipe through as many racks placed side by side as you want. When moving them, you are simply moving one 10 shot rack at a time. This year you may want to have a 30 shot rack next year it might be 50 and so on.
I'm trying to attach a sketch to better illustrate, so let's see if my limited pre-war technology works....
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