Homemade Wire Wound Igniters

[FBpyro]

Just thought I could share details of my recent project here, not sure if this would be the appropriate thread category.

Finally finished making a batch of wire-wound igniters dipped in black powder and nitrocellulose lacquer made from ping pong balls; unfortunately 5 out of the 40 I made do not work. I went and measured the resistance of each and somehow all of them have high resistances, I don't understand why because there are only a few turns of thin gauge steel wool strand between both sides of the wire. My best guess is there is additional resistance being built up in the many wraps around both ends where it makes contact with the copper wire. You'd think that it would short together at that point but something must have gone wrong.

Oh well, I went and ordered some talon igniters which I'll use instead this year, I can at least salvage the 24 gauge shooting wire I used to make these.
http://www.pyrotalk.com/bulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=2362&stc=1
http://www.pyrotalk.com/bulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=2363&stc=1

[displayfireworks1]

Some people will do anything to save 47 cents. LOL I am joking, Its fun to experiment , but when it come to igniters, i think you will find it best to just purchase them.

[FBpyro]

Dave, yeah I get your point haha, I've actually heard you say the same thing in other forums regarding homemade igniters lol. I agree it is best to purchase them, last year I used the FireWire initiators for the first time and am definetly hooked however I didn't order in time this year.

I ended up picking up some talon igniters which I'll just use this year which should arrive in time.

[adultuser]

Dave, yeah I get your point haha, I've actually heard you say the same thing in other forums regarding homemade igniters lol. I agree it is best to purchase them, last year I used the FireWire initiators for the first time and am definetly hooked however I didn't order in time this year.

I ended up picking up some talon igniters which I'll just use this year which should arrive in time.

FB, I feel your pain. I used the same method for years and just put up with the fail rate- mine was about 10-15%. I just hand lit those items after everyone left my show each year. It almost became part of the plan. It was before I found out about the continuity test bulbs lol and before I got my new firing systems with the "test" options (I was using simple homemade firing systems).
Never the less, each year's batch did tend to get better and better. My last straw was about 7 years ago when I made my last batch of about 100. Two out of the first 8 or so were bad so I just said to heck with them and put them in a box. Been hooked on Talons ever since. This past winter for kicks, I dug out my hand dipped igniters and tested the remaining 90 or so. Damn if every single one of them didn't pass the continuity test. Never the less, I'm still done with dippin', everything except for Kodiak that is, lol.

[gt95stang300]

It is something to do in the downtime between shoots, so keep at it and youll get it figured out. Practice makes perfect as they always say and it is definitely something to do to keep you busy. Have you thought about buying the ignitor chips and then just making matches from there? Thats what i plan on doing with all of my burned leads after this 4th.Im one of those types that loves busy tasks so ill make my own after i run out of my current i-match stock as its not hard just repetitive

[Kenny East]

Seen many ways to make homemade igniters... I only make them if i need a really hot ignition source... Some rocket propellants wont ignite with an ematch, fuse, or even the larger hp rocket engine igniters they sell... Ni-chrome wire is the best for bridge wire... Pretty cheap to buy, or you can scavenge some from an old hair dryer... If you're using them for basic fireworks it's so much easier to just buy them...

[FBpyro]

Iv'e tested out a few more and found some that worked however I still wouldn't rely on them to actually be used in a show, unless maybe I doubled them up for redundancy. @Adultuser yeah Iv'e used talons in the past before just had mixed success with them too, this year I think what I'll do to ensure max chance of reliability is I'll dip my visco fuses in BP pyrogen just so that the ni-chrome wire will 100% light them every time.

[Kenny East]

For best results with home brew igniters... You should soldier the bridge wire also, helps keep contact after it's dipped