Tell me what I'm doing wrong???

[MtnViewPyro]

This is a clip of my 18 shot fan rack. The timing was even worse during my show, this was done the next night. What I have is slow visco running down the left of the mortar rack then quick fuse each row. What I am wanting is 3 shots then a brief pause then another 3 and so on for entire rack. Please advise :)

https://youtu.be/ZNOkBiKFCWU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNOkBiKFCWU&feature=youtu.be

[pyrophil]

It is probably the lift charge of the first couple shells igniting the next row fuse and then each row ignites the next. Try running the fuse lower than the openings of the tubes.

[Pyro Paul]

I use aluminum tape to cover the fuse to prevent side ignition

[esgrillo]

I agree with pyrophil and paul. If you are using the superfast grey paper fuse, you need to cover any exposed fuse with tape or it will cross fire real easy. I have had it happen. Mini San Diego lmao

[FlyingDutchman]

This may help,


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfvHPeFZjKE

[MtnViewPyro]

This may help,


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfvHPeFZjKE

Is this you in the video? I've watched several of your clips if so?

[MtnViewPyro]

I agree with pyrophil and paul. If you are using the superfast grey paper fuse, you need to cover any exposed fuse with tape or it will cross fire real easy. I have had it happen. Mini San Diego lmao

Lol if only I had just a fraction of what that put up in the air in a few seconds I would have one heck of a show ;)

[MtnViewPyro]

I use aluminum tape to cover the fuse to prevent side ignition

I covered it with this during my show. Kept it from going up fast but the didn't go in volleys of 3. That was my fusing skills or lack there of lol

[MtnViewPyro]

It is probably the lift charge of the first couple shells igniting the next row fuse and then each row ignites the next. Try running the fuse lower than the openings of the tubes.

Thanks pyrophil

[Pyro Paul]

In reviewing this video you posted, they are going in flights of 3, you just didn't put in enough delay between the rows plus I suspect a little problem with your fusing causing the first and last shot to be a little off kilter. I slowed the video down to 25% speed to try and figure it out using the youtube settings. if you taped the fast fuse over the slow fuse it speeds up the slow fuse until the delay may not be noticeable. Does anyone else agree?

[MtnViewPyro]

In reviewing this video you posted, they are going in flights of 3, you just didn't put in enough delay between the rows plus I suspect a little problem with your fusing causing the first and last shot to be a little off kilter. I slowed the video down to 25% speed to try and figure it out using the youtube settings. if you taped the fast fuse over the slow fuse it speeds up the slow fuse until the delay may not be noticeable. Does anyone else agree?

Yeah I used fast fuse for the 3 shells in a row and then ran a slow fuse down the left side. Would a small loop (not touching in the circle of course) on the slow fuse to add extra space work?

[Pyro Paul]

I'd use that method tong po pyro used in the video that flying dutchman posted below with the sort of knot. I've never done it like that but it makes sense, plus you need to do a little math to figure with the rate of burn your slower fuse is how much it would take for the desired delay and leave that much between where your fast fuse touches it for each flight. If you're not sure of the rate of burn cut off a foot of the slower fuse and get your stopwatch out. A ruler to measure is not out of the question either, it won't be precise but it will get you close enough to get the desired effect your after. an artillery shell fuse should run around 4 seconds with about a 3 second lift on average. If in doubt I always fire some off to test, not everything has the same rate of burn and fuse doesn't always burn steady so it takes a little luck as well. The green visco used to run about 30 seconds per foot so 2.5 seconds for every inch, I used to use it to fuse an entire show and let me tell you, it can be frustrating.

[Kenny East]

The slow fuse ran down the side as a runner fuse could be looped down away from the fast fuse that you used to chain your 3 shots with... Just make sure you tape the loop down good so it doesn't spring up while burning... I add loops of visco fuse in some of my cake boxes to try to fire only two or three cakes at a time... Same idea, could also just run the slower fuse down between your tube and rack and bring it back up to the next chain to add some delay. Get some foil HVAC tape to cover each row, may prevent cross firing.

[Mattp]

Are your tubes are close enough where the fuses of the 3 shots can touch each other..?? if so i feel another option would be to just use the one slower speed fuse across the center of the rack hitting each set of 3 at the same time.. or chain the shell fuses on each set of 3 together.. and run the slower fuse on the side

[FlyingDutchman]

Is this you in the video? I've watched several of your clips if so?

Nope not me but, I watch his videos also.

[joewad]

Is this you in the video? I've watched several of your clips if so?

Or like me I cut the canister fuses off just to give me an inch extra to magic tape to the slower 30-40sec a foot lead fuse. Scissors work faster than tieing a knot then taping.

[MtnViewPyro]

Are your tubes are close enough where the fuses of the 3 shots can touch each other..?? if so i feel another option would be to just use the one slower speed fuse across the center of the rack hitting each set of 3 at the same time.. or chain the shell fuses on each set of 3 together.. and run the slower fuse on the side

Yeah some of the fuses will touch if I do not cut them down some.

[MtnViewPyro]

Thank you all for the advice. I will put them to use in a few days (its so hot outside right now) and post a video of results. Will use some hellcat cans :)

[FBpyro]

I used the paper fast fuse for the first time this year and I did have problems with it igniting from other cakes and shells around, so as other people have mentioned maybe some tape or foil to prevent accidental ignition.

[esgrillo]

I used the paper fast fuse for the first time this year and I did have problems with it igniting from other cakes and shells around, so as other people have mentioned maybe some tape or foil to prevent accidental ignition.

yes, use the grey paper fuse all the time. Learned the hard way, you need to run at least some packing tape or similar on all exposed grey fuse to prevent cross igniting

[PyroDre]

here's how i fuse my milk crate racks... drill a hole and fuse through the hole. works with any speed fuse

http://i64.tinypic.com/2l8dqac.jpg

[Rick_In_Tampa]

here's how i fuse my milk crate racks... drill a hole and fuse through the hole. works with any speed fuse

http://i64.tinypic.com/2l8dqac.jpg

The pic is not showing up.

[PyroDre]

it's not? ughhh........

[chriskrc]

here's how i fuse my milk crate racks... drill a hole and fuse through the hole. works with any speed fuse

http://i64.tinypic.com/2l8dqac.jpg

That's a pretty good idea

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Ok. I see the pic now. Sorry about the confusion.

So... It looks pretty and I'm sure it works great if you want to chain each mortar to one another. Although, I'm guessing it's still labor intensive trying to work inside each tube.

But what if you want to speed up your mortars by fusing them to a faster burning fuse?? How would your method work then?

I'm not trying to poo poo on your idea, I'm just trying to figure out what you gain by doing it that way. I also use milk crates and I wired 8 of them (200 mortars) this year for my finale, and I can't imagine trying to wire them to fast fuse through a hole in each tube like that. Next year I plan on adding another 200 tubes. My buddy has 1K tubes! That would be a ton of extra work for reasons I still don't understand.

Again... PLEASE don't interpret my comments as a slam on your method or idea!! It looks really clean and neat and I can see how it would make covering them with foil easy. I just don't see the practical application for me is all. Just my $0.02 for what it's worth.

I'll attach a pic of some of my crates so you can see how I do it with fast fuse.

http://www.pyrotalk.com/bulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=2494&stc=1

(I still cover them with foil before the show so I have no crossfire accidents.)

[PyroDre]

Ok. I see the pic now. Sorry about the confusion.

So... It looks pretty and I'm sure it works great if you want to chain each mortar to one another. Although, I'm guessing it's still labor intensive trying to work inside each tube.

But what if you want to speed up your mortars by fusing them to a faster burning fuse?? How would your method work then?

I'm not trying to poo poo on your idea, I'm just trying to figure out what you gain by doing it that way. I also use milk crates and I wired 8 of them (200 mortars) this year for my finale, and I can't imagine trying to wire them to fast fuse through a hole in each tube like that. Next year I plan on adding another 200 tubes. My buddy has 1K tubes! That would be a ton of extra work for reasons I still don't understand.

Again... PLEASE don't interpret my comments as a slam on your method or idea!! It looks really clean and neat and I can see how it would make covering them with foil easy. I just don't see the practical application for me is all. Just my $0.02 for what it's worth.

I'll attach a pic of some of my crates so you can see how I do it with fast fuse.

http://www.pyrotalk.com/bulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=2494&stc=1

(I still cover them with foil before the show so I have no crossfire accidents.)
no problem. well there is no problem working inside the tube because the fuses are long just tape them to the visco and stuff them back down in the tube. The major gain is absolutely no cross fire. I've cued a row of 5 to different cues with no problem.

i actually used both methods...I've fused with the method on your pic for the finale because it didn't matter if they all went off a the same time.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Ahhhh I see. So you shoot different strings from within the same crate! Now I get it. I've never done that before. I can see where that would make sense to do then.

[MtnViewPyro]

Attached below is a video of my progress. I used the knot technique suggested earlier. Almost perfect.

https://youtu.be/guM8pTEjmFY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guM8pTEjmFY&feature=youtu.be

[PYRODAN]

You could pull the fuse from the shells and replace with 1 sec/ft. fuse. Bunch the 3 together on 30 sec/ft. leader fuse and put more fuse between you groups of 3. You will have to do the math on how long to make the fuse based on the actual burn rate of the fuse you have. Or, just fire electrically then you will have exact control of you firing. Just depends on what you want to do.