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Skylighter Fireworks Tips August 22, 2008 -- Issue #111 IN THIS ISSUE: Testing Stars with a Star-gun and Making a Reusable "Cake" How to Make Gold Glitter Comets 15% Off Everything at Skylighter - Ends August 29th Visit Skylighter's Project Plans

Ned just got back from the Pyrotechnics Guild International's (PGI) week long convention in Gillette, Wyoming. He won a passel of trophies. Here's Harry with Ned right after he won:



Ned's working on an article on the PGI convention for you. If you aren't a PGI member and/or have never been to a PGI convention, you are missing the Olympics of fireworks. For instance, here're a couple of strings of firecrackers, 4 million of them, being readied for one evening's festivities.



Were I you (and thank God I am not!), I would join the PGI immediately so as to be able to partake of their next convention, the 2nd week of every August. It is the most fun thing I do vertically. When I get back from one, I usually need a vacation to recover from all the fun. I am not making that up.

This week Nedski brings you two projects. First he'll show you how to use a star gun to test the performance of your stars. He'll also show you how to make a really creative repeater (or "cake") using a star gun. Check out the little fireworks display video to see a display that you can make in 10 minutes or less. And you can reuse the star gun over and over.

Ned has also included a project which shows you how to make gold glitter comets. These easy-to-make, gold glitter comets are a great project for beginners or experienced fireworks makers. They make for a beautiful show by themselves and can be used to add flair to your homemade shells and rockets.

Comets, especially glitter comets, have always been a favorite effect for me. One of my most memorable moments in fireworks was shooting 3-inch, gold glitter comets as part of a wedding display. As each comet thumped into the air I was engulfed in golden fireflies of glitter. To this day that wonderful experience sticks with me. Here's hoping your own glitter comets will leave you with such a lasting impression.

Without a doubt after reading through the articles below you'll want one of Skylighter's handy-dandy star guns of your very own. Lucky for you we'll include a really ugly one free if you are one of the first 30 people to take advantage of this week's special offer.

USING A STAR GUN
Testing Stars and Making a Reusable "Cake"

Whether you are new to fireworking or a seasoned veteran it always pays to regularly study good pyro-safety guidelines and to notice whether or not your work habits are conforming to those recommendations.

Please refer to these links:

Fireworks Safety 101 by Kyle Kepley, intro by Ned Gorski

Fireworks Safety Manual, a collection of essays by Bill Ofca



Two separate events have led me to explore this subject.

Harry emailed me and said that Skylighter had received a shipment of functional, but ugly, star testing guns. He said that he was willing to make folks a great deal on them if I could find a way to illustrate the need for them and how to put them to good use.

I said that I could easily do that, and that I had in mind a bonus, creative way to put them to use.

Additionally, a fellow pyro on Passfire.com was recently mentioning that he was having problems with some stars he had made. He related that he had ignited some of them while they were sitting on the ground, and although they had burnt all the way through, there was not much effect from them and they had left a large ash on the ground ounce they had gone out.

So, all of that came together, and this little article is the result.

Why is a Star Gun Necessary?

Well, technically it's not.

I've lit and thrown many stars to test-burn them in the air, and usually could do so without burning my fingers if I licked them first. Sometimes I'd grab the leather glove, but then sometimes I was too lazy for that move.

I have made Super Bottle-Rockets using Steve Majdali's tooling, available in the ads in the back of the PGI Bulletin. Taping a test-star atop one of these nifty little rockets is a great way to get the star way up in the air where it is ignited. But, making a rocket to test each star can become a bit too much work.

Way back when, I got the bright idea of getting a slingshot, taping a piece of visco fuse to a star, loading it all into the slingshot, firing up the visco, pulling back on the rubbers, waiting until the star just ignited, and letting 'er fly. I just knew I'd invented a new useful pyro device. Even called it my "Kentucky star gun."

I posted my "unique" invention on a pyro discussion list, and a well known fireworker responded that he'd been doing just that for years, and that he had some good welder's gloves (which covered the arm in addition to the hand), which he could sell me, and which were handy for that operation.

Darn. I'd reinvented the wheel once again. That happens a lot in hobbyist fireworking.

But, with all these devices, the idea is to test-burn a star or comet flying through the air at some distance from us.

Often color stars don't show their true colors if we are too close to them while they are burning. They'll look quite different at a distance of 100 feet. And they burn differently when flying through the air than they do sitting still.

For instance, willow stars and glitter stars won't create their unique effects at all if they are just sitting on the ground burning. But put them up flying through the air, and we can begin to appreciate their effects and visualize what hundreds of them flying out of a shell-burst will look like.

And, honestly, a slingshot or hand-tossing will not get the star very far from me nor very high in the air. They will often burn me. If half of my attention is on not getting burnt. I won't really focus on noticing how the star performs.

Enter the tried and true star gun.

Using a Star Gun

My star gun has 5 tubes on it: 3/8-inch, 1/2-inch, 5/8-inch, 7/8-inch, and 1 1/8-inch inside diameters.

Using FFg or FFFg sporting grade black powder, I use lift powder loads as follows:

3/8-inch	Shallow 1/8 teaspoonful
1/2-inch	Flat 1/8 teaspoonful
5/8-inch	Heaping 1/8 teaspoonful
7/8-inch	Flat 1/4 teaspoonful
1 1/8-inch	Heaping 1/4 teaspoonful

To test a star, I determine which of the tubes will be a close fit for the star, while still allowing it to freely fall to the bottom of the tube. Occasionally it is necessary to persuade the star to get to the tube bottom with a thin wood dowel.

I insert 3 or 4 inches of Visco fuse into the tube's fuse hole, drop the correct amount of lift powder into the tube through a funnel, and insert the star.

Fire up the Visco, retreat, and prepare to observe the test star in flight.

Heck, single one-inch comets fired out of the large tube can be a little show all in themselves if it's a night when I simply must "smell the smoke" from something.

A Special Little Project Using the Star Gun

OK, that's using a star gun for what God intended it to be used for, but now let's get creative.

I got to thinking that a star gun could be used to create a small 5 shot repeater cake device, progressing from the smaller tubes up to the largest of them, and making an increasingly impressive little display in the process.

Stars in ever-increasing sizes could easily be rigged up to create such a cake.

But I have a complete assortment of Skylighter special effects fuses: falling leaves and flying fish in various effects and colors. Why not play with these a bit to see what would make the most fun and impressive little show?

I'll test these fuses one at a time to see which of them I like best, and which light best when shot, unprimed, out of the star gun.

First I insert the 4-inch piece of Visco fuse, and then dump the correct amount of black powder into the tube. Then I tip the star gun over, keeping the mouths of the tubes slightly higher than their fused ends.

I'm thinking that about 3 seconds of burn time for the special-effects fuse will be a good display duration. The burn time is shown on the Skylighter label for each fuse. In this case I'm testing red-crackling flying-fish fuse, which burns at about 1.9 seconds per inch, so I mark the bundle of fuse at 1.5 inches with a Sharpie.


Then I cut the flying-fish fuse with my anvil-cutters, and push the fuse into the tube with a wooden dowel.


With this particular fuse, ignition was very good as all the fuse lit when it came out of the star gun. The display was very nice, and the fuse burned out just before it came back down to the ground.

Warning: I do not reload the star gun in my pyro shop or anywhere else where I am around pyrotechnic devices. The star gun may still have a glowing ember in it and I don't want flaming black powder to be ejected from it, along with a star or fish-fuse inside my shop. I treat the star gun as if it could go off at any time once it has been fired once.

The rest of the special effects fuses worked as follows:

The falling leaves fuses really don't work well in this little device. They burn too long and come back to the ground before creating their signature effect.

All of the flying fish fuses worked well, but one-inch lengths worked better than the one-and-a-half inch pieces. The shorter lengths ensured that they burnt in the air rather than on the ground.

Fusing the star-gun to make it a "repeater"

The first thing I did was plan a route that the fuse would take. Then I drilled the bottoms of the star-gun tubes to allow the fuse to pass through them on that route. The center tube fuse-hole was left as-is.

The first time I constructed the repeating cake, I used fast-visco fuse as shown in the photo below.


This configuration burned a little too quickly for my tastes, and there was not much delay between the last two shots because of the short length of fuse in that section.

So, I constructed the cake again using Chinese Visco fuse, as shown here.


This configuration burned much more to my liking, and the extra fuse between the final two shots lengthened the delay between them.


Stay Green and Have Fun!
Ned

ngorski@skylighter.com

HOW TO MAKE GOLD GLITTER COMETS,
Use Them as Standalone Comets or Rising Tails on Shells

One of my favorite effects is a nice gold glitter comet.

This is also one of the easiest and most impressive beginner pyro projects. Make some homemade black powder and one of these simple projectiles, and you are ready to impress the folks around you. And you made it all yourself!

This is also the simplest and most effective rising effect to put on my aerial fireworks shells. The shell is launched out of the mortar and leaves a beautiful glittering gold tail as it ascends skyward. Just as the comet tail burns out, the shell bursts. The rising effect effectively doubles the display time of the shell, and fills the sky all the way from the ground to the starburst. A tail also helps to point the spectators' eyes at the exact spot where the shell is about to break.

Some master rocketeers put these comets on top of their rocket headings. The comet is ignited at the same time as the rocket, and leaves a beautiful glitter tail as the rocket ascends. I'll be detailing this method in a future newsletter article.

It is also very easy to pop a bunch of these little comets out using a half-inch star-plate, and put them into a small ball shell like the 4-inch plastic shells we built in Fireworks Tips #99. The combination of some color stars and these glitter comets makes a beautiful starburst.

Note: The difference between stars and comets is a subtle one. Typically comets are fired individually, and stars are shot out of a device in a cluster.

I have a favorite gold glitter formula which I have been using for years in both stand-alone comets and as shell tails. Anytime I fire something made with this formula someone is sure to ask me what it was and how they can make it, too. This glitter is a slightly modified version of the Gold Twinklers found in Ofca's Mastering Cut Stars, and in Weingart's Pyrotechnics.

This formula is relatively expensive though, because of the chemicals it uses. There is a much less expensive gold glitter formulation which does not use chemicals which cost as much, but which also produces a beautiful effect. This glitter is a slightly modified version of one called D1.

I'll be using both of these formulae in this project.

The Comet Pump

Besides the formulated glitter compound, one tool is essential for pumping comets: the comet pump.


The black individual comet pump and star plate shown in the photo are treated aluminum. The other pumps shown are aluminum, brass, and homemade, PVC-pipe-and-wood pumps.

It's simple and inexpensive to make a 3/4-inch or 1-inch homemade comet pump as shown above. Start by going to Home Depot and getting the correct size oak dowel, a length of the corresponding size of PVC plumbing pipe, and 3 hose clamps which fit the outside of the pipe. (You can buy ready-made comet pumps from Skylighter. Skylighter pumps are rugged brass or aluminum and will typically last a lifetime. They are faster and easier to use than homemade comet pumps.)

Then cut a 6-inch length of the dowel, and a 5-inch length of the pipe, preferably with either a hand miter box or a power one to insure good, square cuts.

Using a hacksaw, slice about halfway up one side of the pipe, and remove enough of that slice of pipe so that it fits the dowel snugly at the sliced end when the gap is closed.

Sand the rough edges of the pipe and dowel, and make sure one end of the dowel is nice and square and smooth. Either seal this end with polyurethane, or cover it with a disc of aluminum-foil duct tape.

Mixing the Comet Composition

The Gold Twinkler formula is as follows:

Component	Percentage	Ounces
Black powder meal	0.68	5 ounces
Atomized aluminum	0.08	0.6 ounces	(I'm using Skylighter #CH0103)
Antimony trisulfide	0.08	0.6 ounces	(either dark-pyro or chinese-needle)
Sodium oxalate	0.11	0.8 ounces
Dextrin	0.05	0.4 ounces
Total batch weight:		7.4 ounces

The D1 formula is:

Component	Percentage	Ounces
Black powder meal	0.71	5 ounces
Sulfur	0.11	0.8 ounces
Atomized aluminum	0.07	0.5 ounces	(same aluminum as above)
Sodium bicarbonate	0.07	0.5 ounces
Dextrin	0.04	0.3 ounces
Total batch weight:		7.1 ounces

I'm planning on making one batch of each formula to compare with each other. Therefore I need a total of 10 ounces of the homemade, black powder meal. This will include:

To make the BP meal, I screen the potassium nitrate through a 100 mesh screen, and then screen all the chemicals together twice through the same screen to thoroughly mix them together.

Then I add 1/2 cup of denatured alcohol to the dry chemicals to form a damp ball of putty, which I screen through my 1/4-inch screen onto kraft paper to dry overnight.

Note: Alcohol fumes are combustible. I dry these granules outdoors to prevent the fumes from collecting and igniting.


When the black powder granules are dry, I screen them again through a 12 mesh screen or a wire-mesh kitchen colander. I then have a black powder meal which ranges from fine dust up through 12 mesh granules.

To complete the compositions, I split my meal powder batch into two, 5 ounce halves. I then weigh out the rest of my individual ingredients. I don't screen the aluminum or antimony trisulfide, but I do screen the rest of the ingredients for each batch through my 100 mesh screen.

Then I put all the ingredients for each batch into a plastic tub, attach the lid, and shake vigorously to thoroughly mix the ingredients.

Using a small, trigger-operated, garden spray-bottle, I add just enough water to knock the dust down and start to make the composition not quite as free-flowing. I work the water into the powder with gloved hands and by capping the plastic tub and shaking it. Each batch took 0.35 ounces of the water, which is about 5% by weight.

Note: It is a good idea to used bottled, distilled water to dampen compositions containing aluminum and potassium nitrate. This helps to prevent reactions between the two chemicals. One person's tap water might be fine to use, and another's might cause problems.

Ramming Glitter Comets

Now it's time to make some comets. I place my comet pump sleeve on my aluminum ramming puck after making sure that the hose clamps are tightened. I place a funnel in the mouth of the sleeve and introduce a weighed amount of the glitter composition into the sleeve.

Then I put the comet pump ram into the sleeve, place the whole shebang on my 6x6x36 ramming post, and I whack the ram with 8-12 blows with my rawhide mallet. At a certain point, the comet will start to feel solidly consolidated.

It's just a matter of slightly loosening the hose clamps, and gently ejecting the comets from the pump sleeve with the ram. I then dry them for a couple of days in a well ventilated, warm area, or overnight in my drying chamber.


One of the things I want to record is how much composition it takes to form different length comets with the 3/4-inch and the 1-inch pumps. Those results are as follows for both formulae:

1-inch comets
0.4 ounce	1/2-inch long
0.5 ounce	5/8-inch long
0.6 ounce	3/4-inch long
0.7 ounce	1-inch long

3/4-inch comets
0.2 ounce	7/16-inch long
0.3 ounce	5/8-inch long
0.35 ounce	3/4-inch long
0.4 ounce	13/16-inch long

For stand alone comets, I'll press them as long as they are in diameter. For rising shell tails, I'll press them long enough so that they burn out just as the shell breaks (duration of shell timing fuse). I'll be determining the burn time of each length comet in a minute.

Priming the Comets

Many folks would say that these comets do not need any priming because they are mostly made of BP meal, which ignites very well all on its own.

But, often pumped stars and comets have a very smooth surface, and I've learned the hard way to avoid assuming they'll light without priming. They might, and they might not. So I prime everything.

Scratch Mix BP Prime Formula

Component	Percentage	Ounces
Potassium nitrate	0.75	7.5 ounces
Airfloat charcoal	0.15	1.5 ounces
Sulfur	0.10	1 ounce
Dextrin	+0.05	0.5 ounce
Total batch weight:		10.5 ounces

I screen the potassium nitrate through the 100 mesh screen, and then screen all the chemicals together through the 100 mesh screen twice to thoroughly incorporate them. Then I put them into a plastic tub, with a lid, and shake them a bit to really mix them well.

Depending on how many comets I plan on priming, I'll take a few tablespoons-full of the dry prime comp, put it in a paper cup, and add enough water to make a thick syrup, like honey. After stirring this a bit with a wooden stick, I use a brush to coat one end of each comet. Then I dunk that end into some FFg sporting grade black powder, or some more of the homemade black powder meal. What I want is a rough, granular surface that will more easily take fire.

I allow the primed comets to dry overnight outdoors, or for a couple of hours in the drying box.

Installing the Comets on an Aerial Shell or Rocket Header

It is easy to hot-glue one of these comets onto a plastic or paper shell or header. Just put a healthy blob of the glue onto the bottom of the comet, and press it onto the device. Then apply more glue which laps up onto the side of the comet, and helps hold it in place during lift.

A more traditional way of installing rising tails on paper ball shells is to wrap the comet with a couple of turns of thin pasted kraft paper or moistened gummed tape. Have half of the strip lap onto the side of the comet, and half hanging off the bottom of it. Slice the overhang paper with scissors about every half inch and fold out the tabs. Apply Elmer's or wood glue to the bottom of the comet and to the tabs, and press in place on the top of the shell.

I like to cover the shell's rising tail with a disc of tissue paper, tied on with a bit of string. This dresses the shell up, and keeps the comet's prime layer from rubbing against anything during transport. These comet tails will ignite when the shell's lift gasses flow around them before the shell leaves the mortar.

Test Firing the Two Different Gold Glitter Comets

To test fire the 3/4-inch and 1-inch comets made with the two different formulae, I shot them out of a star gun which has 7/8-inch and 1-1/8-inch tubes. I also tested some of the 1-inch comets out of a small paper mortar made with base #PL3002 and tube #TU2123.


Using commercial FFFg black powder, I had to use a flat 1/4 teaspoonful for the 3/4-inch comets, and a flat 1/2 teaspoonful for the one inchers.

With my homemade red-gum granulated BP, I had to use a heaping 1/4 teaspoonful, and a heaping 1/2 teaspoonful respectively.

I installed 3-inches of visco fuse, the BP lift powder, and then dropped the comets in. If I was making these babies for a display, and they were going to be boxed and transported, I'd use a layer of tissue paper between the comet and the BP, and a layer of tissue pressed in above the comet to hold everything in place until firing.

Test Results

Both of the formulae resulted in beautiful comets, and the one-inchers would make a very nice addition to any display. I have to say I like the Gold Twinkler a bit better than the D1. The GT creates very golden, long hanging, large glitter, whereas the D1's glitter is a bit more pale, and does not hang quite as long.

But either one is very beautiful, and the economics of the D1 formula make it quite attractive to produce.

In order to have a rising tail on a shell that lasts as long as the shell's ascent before burst, I measured the burn times of various lengths of comets with the star gun and a stopwatch. I wrapped the comets with aluminum foil duct tape to simulate the amount of the comet surface that would be exposed and burning if it was attached to a shell.


The burn times were as follows, along with the size of the shell to use them on:

1/2-inch long	2.5 to 3 seconds	3-inch to 6-inch shells
5/8-inch long	4.3 seconds	8-inch to 10-inch shells
3/4-inch long	4.5 seconds	8-inch to 10-inch shells
1-inch long	5 seconds.	10-inch shells

For tails on 12-inch shells, I'd use 1.25-inch to 1.5-inch long comets.

Shell rising comet tails can vary from 3/4-inch to 2.5-inch in diameter or larger, depending on the size of the shell.

Conclusion

The one thing I'd add about these beautiful gold glitter comets is that my wife, Molly, who is not passionate about fireworks--especially really loud ones--has always loved gold glitter effects. That's reason enough for me to use a lot of gold glitter in my fireworking.

Bonus Round

It is easy to make a brilliant Silver Titanium Spark comet using the methods described above.

Component	Percentage	Ounces
Black powder meal	0.68	5 ounces
Spherical titanium	0.27	2 ounces
Dextrin	0.05	0.4 ounces
Total batch weight:		7.4 ounces

Fine Ti will give a short, bushy tail. Coarse Ti will produce a longer tail filled with larger sparks.

These titanium comets produce an effect which contrasts nicely with the glitter ones.

Stay Green,

Ned
ngorski@skylighter.com



The Fourth of July has come and gone, so now is the time to get started on your next fireworks projects. If you have been following Ned Gorski's weekly projects, you already know that some of his projects take time and you may need a lot of items that you don't already have in your kitbag.

Whatever you need--books, videos, chemicals, tools, or anything else--use this sale to save yourself a bunch.

Early Bird Special. Order before midnight Monday, August 25, 2008 and get one really, really ugly star gun worth $48.24 free.



We only have 30 of these ugly star guns. They were made by an incredibly angry Chinaman whose wife had left him for a young star roller at the Won Hong Lo Fireworks Company. As she was walking out the door, she stood with her hands on her hips and said, "I hate you. You don't know notheeng about quarity control."

We have to agree. But we don't know what happened to him after he made the 30 star guns we have in stock. So I am not sure if we will ever get these ugly guns again. That automatically makes them collectors' items.

And you can get your's fer free, by jumping right now. And they only go to the first people who order, so I cannot guarantee that you will get one.

So don't miss this chance to get anything you want from Skylighter for 15% off, and pick up a free star gun worth $48.24 just for placing your order by midnight this coming Monday.

To get 15% off and a Early-Bird Bonus click here.

Note: You must enter the promo code during checkout. If you take advantage of the early bird special, you will not see the free star gun in your shopping cart (because it's far too ugly). We will add your freebie once we receive your order. Also, shipping costs will be higher than what you see in your shopping cart, because the weight of the free star gun will not have been calculated there. Skylighter can not guarantee your star-gun will be as ugly as the one in the picture.