Overkill rack

[Engineer Cat]

So I was helping my bro in law this week replace the deck posts on his deck and reinforce the joists and decided I would build a rack while I had the tools out.. I had ordered 20 tubes a month or so ago from pyroboom so they were just waiting for me to do something with them. I figured I'd bring it to the club shoot that's coming up and see how it shoots.

I already have typical fan racks so I decided to get a little extra with this one. It can be used in different configurations and if split up can be used for multiple positions as well.
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[PyroWalker]

Looks great! Also looks heavy! :)

[schmidlapp]

Great design and construction!

[displayfireworks1]

I like the mortar layout on that last picture. Can be used for an artillery shell finale to spread it out a little in the sky.

[Engineer Cat]

Looks great! Also looks heavy! :)

Yea hence the name Overkill rack. lol I'll see if my wife will let me put it on her nice scale. I'll get back to you. :)


Great design and construction!

Thanks. I did see a similar rack for sale but building it is more fun.


I like the mortar layout on that last picture. Can be used for an artillery shell finale to spread it out a little in the sky.

I like that layout as well. Hopefully I can use it at the club shoot. Since It will be my first time at a club event, I'm not sure what to expect. Such as can I put a rack out in the field? I'm assuming there will be a C line where it's cool to do that. I did read in the club bylaws they don't want you inserting initiators into any lift charge, but you can use initiators. But the bylaws also say no video of the shoots. So not sure how up to date the bylaws are but I'm sure I'll learn them at the meeting. If I can video what I shoot I'll post video of it.

[PyroJoeNEPA]

I like that layout as well. Hopefully I can use it at the club shoot. Since It will be my first time at a club event, I'm not sure what to expect. Such as can I put a rack out in the field? I'm assuming there will be a C line where it's cool to do that. I did read in the club bylaws they don't want you inserting initiators into any lift charge, but you can use initiators. But the bylaws also say no video of the shoots. So not sure how up to date the bylaws are but I'm sure I'll learn them at the meeting. If I can video what I shoot I'll post video of it.
Yes, you can use your rack in the field.
As for video, they are ok with video "on the ground--and the actual product in the air"==but not of anything showing the members or other people there.

[Engineer Cat]

Yes, you can use your rack in the field.
As for video, they are ok with video "on the ground--and the actual product in the air"==but not of anything showing the members or other people there.

Ah awesome Joe, thanks for the info.

[Firelinx]

These look great Gene!! :eek:

[Mattp]

Very nice rack,, impressive!!!

[Birdman]

I'm curious how this rack looks when fired. I've been trying to think of how I could fill the sky with nishiki shells like I saw this summer at a demo. I assume you need racks/mortars set at many different angles in order to get the coverage needed in the sky. I know with consumer shells I could never get the same exact effect as the breaks will be smaller and shorter lived. I'm thinking I could get close if I fire them faster

[Engineer Cat]

I'm curious how this rack looks when fired. I've been trying to think of how I could fill the sky with nishiki shells like I saw this summer at a demo. I assume you need racks/mortars set at many different angles in order to get the coverage needed in the sky. I know with consumer shells I could never get the same exact effect as the breaks will be smaller and shorter lived. I'm thinking I could get close if I fire them faster

I'm going to try a few different things with it at the club shoot. I plan on recording everything so I can review the videos when I get home so I can see what worked and what didn't. I saw some decent ball shells for cheap that I figure will be a good way to test different configurations without blowing my budget. If they have some nishiki's for a good price, I'll pick some up.

I know what you are talking about from the demo. That was fantastic.

[PyroWalker]

I'm curious how this rack looks when fired. I've been trying to think of how I could fill the sky with nishiki shells like I saw this summer at a demo. I assume you need racks/mortars set at many different angles in order to get the coverage needed in the sky. I know with consumer shells I could never get the same exact effect as the breaks will be smaller and shorter lived. I'm thinking I could get close if I fire them faster

I love a full nishiki willow finale! Mine usually run 30 seconds, building each 5 seconds with more and more shells. For my backyard shooting space, I usually have chains made that I shoot from 3 positions 60ft apart, with each position having a 40 degree fan with 3 shells (-20 degrees, 0 degrees, and +20 degrees). I will shoot sets of 9 about every 2 seconds until the end, with about 60 shells in the last 10 seconds. I also have 3 main cake positions that will shoot willow shell cakes for the duration. I personally use 2 Willow Explosion cakes at each position, 1 Dominator Pro Nishiki cake (1.4 Pro, not their consumer pro label) at each position, 2 Silver and Gold (Tako Brand) at each position, and if I can get my hands on them 1-2 '76 Proline Nishiki cakes at each position. All of the cakes have a duration of 22-25 seconds, so I also use these to build. The Willow Explosion is a favorite because it has 2 separate rows that burst with great timing to give the punctuation to a finale. I will throw in a few Willow Forest by Sky Bacon 200g cakes to have the willow mine effect from ground to lower sky. Finally, I will use Raccoon's Mischievious zipper/fan cake to give the glitter ground to sky effect from the center position. It is a lot in the last 30 seconds, but the crowd literally stands there with their mouths open. I wish I had good quality video from this past 4th of July, but we had ZERO wind and 78% humidity so the smoke just killed the video. It was fabulous in person.

[Birdman]

I know what you are talking about from the demo. That was fantastic.

I figured you would know what I was talking about :)


I love a full nishiki willow finale! Mine usually run 30 seconds, building each 5 seconds with more and more shells. For my backyard shooting space, I usually have chains made that I shoot from 3 positions 60ft apart, with each position having a 40 degree fan with 3 shells (-20 degrees, 0 degrees, and +20 degrees). I will shoot sets of 9 about every 2 seconds until the end, with about 60 shells in the last 10 seconds. I also have 3 main cake positions that will shoot willow shell cakes for the duration. I personally use 2 Willow Explosion cakes at each position, 1 Dominator Pro Nishiki cake (1.4 Pro, not their consumer pro label) at each position, 2 Silver and Gold (Tako Brand) at each position, and if I can get my hands on them 1-2 '76 Proline Nishiki cakes at each position. All of the cakes have a duration of 22-25 seconds, so I also use these to build. The Willow Explosion is a favorite because it has 2 separate rows that burst with great timing to give the punctuation to a finale. I will throw in a few Willow Forest by Sky Bacon 200g cakes to have the willow mine effect from ground to lower sky. Finally, I will use Raccoon's Mischievious zipper/fan cake to give the glitter ground to sky effect from the center position. It is a lot in the last 30 seconds, but the crowd literally stands there with their mouths open. I wish I had good quality video from this past 4th of July, but we had ZERO wind and 78% humidity so the smoke just killed the video. It was fabulous in person.

That sounds like a lot going on. I'll have to break it down a little better when I have more time so I can better visualize it in my head but it sounds like this can be done with a combination of cakes and shells. Thanks for sharing as this does give me an avenue I was overlooking.

[Jabez]

Thanks for sharing! I am getting ready to finally buy tubes and expand my rack collection and have been brainstorming about design.

I was thinking 5 tubes with thick spacers just like your design except I would put a spacer between the end board and the adjacent tube. Also wondering about using boards for the sides since most bought racks use mdf or plywood?

Then I would take each 5 shot rack and create a 25 shot fan rack by attaching the ends with a piece of plywood or boards like the side pieces. Worriesd it will get heavy though.

[Engineer Cat]

Sounds good. Yea it might get a little heavy. I have some racks that have 6 tubes and I'll put two together in a vshape and just throw a 2x4 across the bottom and the top in the field so they can be carried out individually so you don't need two people to lug a heavy rack. I've used both for side pieces on different racks. Depends on what wood I have around.