Poking NOABs

[barehm]

I'm poking my cakes to use MJG with my newly acquired Cobra system. For the most part, it was easy to feel that I was in the right spot... except for a few NOABs. I poked in above the fuse, to the sides of the fuse, etc and it just feels like empty space. The fuse is not lose in there - tugging on it doesn't move it at all like most of the other cakes. I did see a bit of black powder residue on my awl, but I'm concerned that if I stuff an MJG initiator in there, it won't go off when I trigger my cue.

My options
1) stick in the MJG and hope for the best
2) use a Visco clip to attach to the shortened fuse on the cake
3) jam something combustible in the void to try and make it light better?

I don't really want to try and disassemble the first mortar itself to get at the shell, but I suppose that's an option.

What do you guys do when you have trouble finding the lift charge?

[Arles]

There was a recent thread on this with a little information...
http://www.pyrotalk.com/bulletin/showthread.php?7242-Question(s)-about-poking-cakes&highlight=Poking+NOAB

I'm still on the fence myself between poking and using an ignitor to visco clip.

[WithReport]

Note, not all NOABs are built the same. I shared some info on a teardown I did on a item that failed to fire here:

http://www.pyrotalk.com/bulletin/showthread.php?8642-Final-Rack-9-on-a-board-Refuse&highlight=noab+poke

I like you option 3 - that is essentially my approach gong forward. I add some black match or extra fuse. And try to make sure the igniter is pointing down towards the bottom of the tube.

[Jay_]

cut a big hole in the cardboard at the base so you can see inside. Find the internal fuse, and poke just barely above the level where the internal fuse goes through the first tube. Dont sweat having a couple holes in the first tube. If you want you can leave the MJG in there and tape it, then poke a new hole that gets you into the crunchy. Worst case the first shot will not go quite as high as the rest, but I have done it several times when I missed the first time.

If you arent getting any crunch or any clay, you are probably just getting cardboard. Is it a big fireworks triple 9 by chance? I have poked several hundred cakes and its the only one that I have ever missed on.

[barehm]

They're Magnus 9 shot cakes - I had trouble with all 3 that I poke. Pyro Envy, Own It, Lucky one. they're 9 shots, but wrapped just like a 'typical' 500 gram cake.

[Engineer Cat]

@jay_ has the answer. It sounds like you are trying to poke where the fuse enters the "box" of the cake. If you cut a hole in the box around the fuse you will see where the fuse actually goes into the first tube and usually it's lower then where you see it coming out of the box.

Read the link @Arles posted. It explains this in more detail.

[barehm]

Just to clarify, I'm definitely not in the box of the cake - I poked 100 or so other cakes and always peeled everything back to thick cardboard tube itself. it's just that the tube is basically empty where the fuse enters the tube. I'm guessing it actually bends [I]up[I] at some point to poke the bottom of a shell. Maybe I'll do some more surgery on it Friday night and get a picture. Or maybe I'll get lazy, attach a visco clip and drink a cold one. :)

Perhaps I shouldn't have described these cakes as NOABs - they don't look like typical (9) tubes on a board with lots of space between. I think they're just 9 tubes tied together in close proximity.
http://www.magnusfireworks.com/pd.jsp?id=175

[PyroFL]

We have 25 where firing off for the 4th and some we were looking to make into single shots that we control when each 1 goes off.

Here is what we found after cutting open 5 different brands

Your best off to cut the fuse 1 1/2? long and add your mjg to it. We tested each fuse and it came out to around 2 seconds per inch.

We set the cobra up at 7.25 second with left time. 2.25 left plus 5 seconds for fuse

58065806

[MontanaMike]

From reading previous advice on this topic, my most recent solution for these has been: Find where the fuse enters the first tube. Poke the cake right above the fuse like usual. Then take a piece of quick-fuse (white or yellow) and shove it in the hole as far as it'll go. Leave about an inch or so sticking out. Tape the quickfuse to the visco (make sure the quickfuse extends out past the end of the visco) and then put the MJG or Talon onto the quickfuse. This way, the fire from the quickfuse should ignite the cake with only a half-second or so delay; and if that fails, hopefully the fire from it will ignite the visco and the cake will still go off, if a little late.