How soon is too soon to fuse a show

[bigmike79]

I was wondering how soon is too soon to fuse a consumer show? All the product will be in a secure shed wrapped up. Any advise is appreciated! Thanks

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Great question Mike! The answer is, it depends. What are you using to fuse your cakes? Visco? Talons? E-match/Firewire Initiators? Are you transporting the cakes/effects after they're fused? If so, how far? Do you have people to help you fuse, or are you an army of one?

Hard to say without knowing those details.

I used firewire initiators this year and I fused all my cakes a few weeks before the 4th. I'm an army of one and I only transported my cakes a few houses down to my shoot site. It sill took me 9 hours to set up my show on the 4th, but everything worked out just fine.

[bigmike79]

Yeah I'm an army of one.....I'm gonna use a combination of fast fuse and initiators....I set up across the street from my house so transporting is not an issue....I figured I'd get a start so that I can get ahead of it....also I'm teaching my 2 boys about fusing and setting up so it's easier to get there attention before the day of the shoot

[MtnViewPyro]

I used all fuse and talons last year. I started doing the fusing on boards about two weeks before but the last week before I was on vacation so I was able to spend all the time I wanted in the garage. I doubt there is a correct timeframe a person should or shouldn't prepare. I'm sure most people will say do it all the day of but being a one many army, as am I, there isn't enough daylight to do all of it in one day. So I would say to do whatever you feel comfortable with and what you feel safe with.

[PYRODAN]

I start about a week ahead of time, but its going to depend on how much product you have. You could time yourself to see how long it takes you to wire up a case of product, and then extrapolate from that how much time you will need for the quantity you have. (or are going to get)

[bigmike79]

Thanks for all the suggestions... I appreciate the input

[tinymagget]

Hi B M sorry had to,,,,,,wrapped up r they unopened cakes.....anyway if your fusing technic is fool proof .....start right now what are you waiting for...I had a 164 shot ..3 color green blue red...that took 9hours to tie the fuse harness..(ya Dave clove knot) .over 24 hours total to finish.. it spent 18 months in the garage. We have Winter here. not covered, but I do foil and tape all tubes when a cake is dissected. The board was perfect looked outstanding. color change on the mark...no miss fires...So Big Mike when you get an idea for your show write it down...I have a drawing of ever custom board with a short review... get going tinymagget,, PS total effect time 17.5 seconds...I feel that 10 shots a second is just under firework puke.

[bigmike79]

Thanks for the input tiny...yeah I've been working on planning out different layouts...we don't have a real winter down here but I am just getting ideas

[Kenny East]

I usually start building chains in April... I work a lot so it's a chain or two every few days. Build a few boxes/boards about June. Chaining shells kills me every year, had over 300 consumer shells this past 4th of July. Best advice give yourself more time than you think you will need, something will always come up.

[bigmike79]

Thanks kenny