multishot cake defect

[patsy]

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up. I recently put on a small fireworks Memorial weekend show this past weekend. This Show all containing consumer product. The Show went ok but 1 of the cakes were defective. The cake actually flowerpotted mostly at ground level as if the lift charge was not present. All cakes and mortars were all staked in place and braced correctly. Everything fired well except this one cake. This is of a concern I called up the store to let them know of this incident. No one got hurt since the spectators, buildings and trees were clear of the fallout zone.

[krayg]

What is the cake name and did all shots do the same?

[displayfireworks1]

More common than you can imagine. This is why its best to stabilize with stakes like you did. Of if shooting around kids and family be sure to keep them back. When I almost get hit by a pyrotechnic product , part of me has this weird enjoyment. Of course not everyone watching the display feels this way. It will usually hit the person that makes the most fuss about it.

[jamisonlm3]

The way cakes are made, it doesn't surprise me that you'll have a flowerpot every now and then. One did it during my short gender reveal show, but continued to shoot fine.

[RalphieJ]

More common than you can imagine. This is why its best to stabilize with stakes like you did. Of if shooting around kids and family be sure to keep them back. When I almost get hit by a pyrotechnic product , part of me has this weird enjoyment. Of course not everyone watching the display feels this way. It will usually hit the person that makes the most fuss about it.

And it never hurts to apply a couple or three turns of filament tape around your cakes. Just one cato of a large caliber device sending shells every which-a-way will make a believer out of you.

[Pyro Paul]

It sounds like you've got a lot on the ball to have taken that many precautions with consumer fireworks. I'm glad to see common sense is still alive to some degree. Several years ago, my youngest son had purchased some 200g cakes and wanted to set them off in my backyard the week of the 4th, he was setting one at a time off carrying each one out to the backyard placing it on the ground and lighting it then backing up about 30 feet. He lit one called great expectation and one of the first few shots was a cato, the next shot nailed him in the shoulder and ricocheted to hit the back wall of my building, the next few went wild shooting horizontal. That was his ah ha moment and he now works with me securing the cakes and racks for my show. We never will do that particular cake again, just gun shy of it. I mean wtf, it was only a 200 grammer. It left a bruise the size of a baseball on his right shoulder just missing his head by less than a foot. Needless to say he was done for the night...

[Kenny East]

That's why I never picked up another bamboozle cake... One blow out about 30 feet from me was enough. I use cake boxes to contain all the shots of smaller cakes, if one blows apart. Larger cakes get strapping tape and staked down, with few exceptions.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

I got a few cases of products made by "Brothers" and from a construction standpoint I can say I've never seen such crap before in my life. I don't know if I got some reject crap that fell off the boat and washed up on shore, but the cakes were damp to the touch. The tubes inside one of them were shredded on top. Another cake I cut the top off and the first tube was just laying on it's side inside the shell.

I get them trying to use the minimum amount of wrapping and such to keep costs down and weight down, but there's a safety component I don't think they get or care to get. I had to rebuild and/or reinforce most of them. Huge waste of my time. I won't be buying their junk next year. That's for sure.

[DavidthePyro]

I usually buy primarily brands I have had good experience with. 10-20% of the cakes I purchase are brands I'm not as familiar with. If all goes well, I will usually continue to increase the quantity of cakes from the brands I have good experience with. Just because they're a well known name doesn't mean much to me, especially when it comes to safety. I've found that some dominator fan cakes have very light construction. Usually perform well, but I dont get many because I am a little concerned about how strong the construction actually is.

[PYRODAN]

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up. I recently put on a small fireworks Memorial weekend show this past weekend. This Show all containing consumer product. The Show went ok but 1 of the cakes were defective. The cake actually flowerpotted mostly at ground level as if the lift charge was not present. All cakes and mortars were all staked in place and braced correctly. Everything fired well except this one cake. This is of a concern I called up the store to let them know of this incident. No one got hurt since the spectators, buildings and trees were clear of the fallout zone.

If you are going to tell us about a "dangerous" cake, imho you need to state what the product was. Some one here might have a case of them and want to investigate. I know if someone told of the experience you had and I had a case of that item, I would cut a tube out of one cake and open it up to see if there was a lift charge present. Just my opinion.

[morrison2951]

I got a few cases of products made by "Brothers" and from a construction standpoint I can say I've never seen such crap before in my life. I don't know if I got some reject crap that fell off the boat and washed up on shore, but the cakes were damp to the touch. The tubes inside one of them were shredded on top. Another cake I cut the top off and the first tube was just laying on it's side inside the shell.

I get them trying to use the minimum amount of wrapping and such to keep costs down and weight down, but there's a safety component I don't think they get or care to get. I had to rebuild and/or reinforce most of them. Huge waste of my time. I won't be buying their junk next year. That's for sure.

Wow, disappointed to hear this about Brothers. My shows are primarily Brothers, Winda and Showtime products. May have to steer clear of Brothers from now on.

[patsy]

Im sorry , The 200 gram cake that failed was the Prince from sky king.
That cake was from the kings court collection which they sell 3 other cakes as well.
The other 3 cakes were the princess, jester, knight. The only one that blew apart was the Prince.
So if anyone has purchased that cake be careful. Hopefully that was the only one. I'm surprised because I never had any problems over the years with Sky King products. I called up Skyking and they are looking into it. Hopefully it's not a bad batch.

[Stormcrow]

I got a few cases of products made by "Brothers" and from a construction standpoint I can say I've never seen such crap before in my life. I don't know if I got some reject crap that fell off the boat and washed up on shore, but the cakes were damp to the touch. The tubes inside one of them were shredded on top. Another cake I cut the top off and the first tube was just laying on it's side inside the shell.

I get them trying to use the minimum amount of wrapping and such to keep costs down and weight down, but there's a safety component I don't think they get or care to get. I had to rebuild and/or reinforce most of them. Huge waste of my time. I won't be buying their junk next year. That's for sure.

just curious what cakes did you get from brothers.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

just curious what cakes did you get from brothers.

Flood Red and After Hours. After Hours is the item in question. Flood Red was only marginally better constructed. If I didn't mind re-working my entire show/script, I'd probably not use either one. But I think I have them sufficiently secure, and they're going into the center of the boards and will be secured to other cakes. So I think I'm good. It just pissed me off that they were so poorly constructed that I had to waste all kinds of extra time to make them safe to shoot.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

If you are going to tell us about a "dangerous" cake, imho you need to state what the product was.

Good call buddy. I should have named the cakes in my initial post as well. My bad.

[morrison2951]

Flood Red and After Hours. After Hours is the item in question. Flood Red was only marginally better constructed. If I didn't mind re-working my entire show/script, I'd probably not use either one. But I think I have them sufficiently secure, and they're going into the center of the boards and will be secured to other cakes. So I think I'm good. It just pissed me off that they were so poorly constructed that I had to waste all kinds of extra time to make them safe to shoot.

Those are new from Brothers I believe. I usually stick to their classic cakes such as High Falutin, Hit The Road Jack, Blond Joke and the like so hopefully there are no issues with those this year.

[RalphieJ]

I can't visualize the problem, but is it possible that they were damaged after leaving the factory?

[Jay_]

Those are new from Brothers I believe. I usually stick to their classic cakes such as High Falutin, Hit The Road Jack, Blond Joke and the like so hopefully there are no issues with those this year.

I shot 2 hit the road jacks with mjg’s on all 4 corners of them (from 300ft) on Memorial Day and they survived despite all going up in about 10 seconds. They are decent construction, but I don’t think that the Tubes are wired together like you see on firefly and blond joke. I just saw cardboard dividers and tape holding them together.

[joed2323]

Flood Red and After Hours. After Hours is the item in question. Flood Red was only marginally better constructed. If I didn't mind re-working my entire show/script, I'd probably not use either one. But I think I have them sufficiently secure, and they're going into the center of the boards and will be secured to other cakes. So I think I'm good. It just pissed me off that they were so poorly constructed that I had to waste all kinds of extra time to make them safe to shoot.

Great!

I have both of these in my show and I will be getting to these two cakes TNT to poke and match.

I will keep you posted on what I find with my cases of flood red and after hours.

[joed2323]

Great!

I have both of these in my show and I will be getting to these two cakes TNT to poke and match.

I will keep you posted on what I find with my cases of flood red and after hours.

Fortunately my case of flood red and after hours looks good.

I do have a case of dominator 25s instant crackle that looks like someone tried to play soccer with the box.
I figured I will wait to open this one till tmrw to see what the product looks like.

I'm hoping shes just a little rough on the edges....

[Rick_In_Tampa]

I don’t think that the Tubes are wired together like you see on firefly and blond joke. I just saw cardboard dividers and tape holding them together.

Bingo! That's exactly right. When you add in the moisture (the cakes were damp to the touch) and the tape falls apart and the tubes fall down. A huge mess. That's what I got.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Great!

I have both of these in my show and I will be getting to these two cakes TNT to poke and match.

I will keep you posted on what I find with my cases of flood red and after hours.

Hopefully you have better luck.

[krayg]

Hopefully you have better luck.

I cut the 4 after hours open from a case I bought. Other than the tape/glue, they seem fine and sturdy. Hopefully mine don't get wet before they go off on the 4th!

[Rick_In_Tampa]

lol.. Yeah. Best to keep your powder dry.

[morrison2951]

Those are new from Brothers I believe. I usually stick to their classic cakes such as High Falutin, Hit The Road Jack, Blond Joke and the like so hopefully there are no issues with those this year.

Happy to report that all Brothers products fired just fine and without any incident in my show this year. :cool:

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Same here. Flood Red was a big hit too. So I might have to swallow my words and get it again next year. We'll see...