Fireworks

[Rubberdown]

How could you keep the direction of the rings static in relation to one another? Or any of those kinds of effect? That’s dang cool for sure.

[Mudslinger]

Guys, you know not of what you speak. The people in China and Japan CAN create fireworks, CLASS B SHOWS, that can create some amazing images in the sky. These may not be true images of fireworks in the sky, (I did not watch the entire clip), but believe me, it can be done. He has 10 years, I have over 20 in shooting COMMERCIAL shows and that was years ago and it was amazing what they created back then.

Class C is what you buy at the stands, Class B is what the shows are classified as and it is dangerous as all get out. Static electricity can set those shells off as can dropping them. Once these shells start going off, nothing stops them. Google the Buffalo Lakes show this year.


Class B shells start out at 3" diameter bombs and go up to I do not know now. the largest I shot was a 12" diameter shell! when it comes out of a tube, it shakes the ground. Licensing is required to stor and to shoot Class B shells, they cannot be stored with regular Class C fireworks.

[Rubberdown]

I was more asking the physics of how it works than saying it was fake.

[Mudslinger]

I was more asking the physics of how it works than saying it was fake.

I am not sure about the physics, but some of those are definitely shells that are and have been in use for some time!

[eradicator]

Literally watching your money go up in smoke

[double bogey]

The shells have a black powder charge in the bottom to "lift" the effects to proper height. The lift charge is lit by a fuse, that is made by pulling wet string through black powder, and then wrapping it with kraft paper. The exposed part may be the string, or common green fuse, or an electric squib. The exposed part burns fairly slowly, but once it gets under the paper, it goes something like 50' per second. The lift charge of course lifts the shell, and lights a timing fuse that insures that the shell "breaks" at the optimum point, usually at the apex of flight. The simplest are "salute" shells that just go bang. They are full of flash powder, and if one doesn't go up, you don't want to be anywhere near it when it explodes. Other shells are made where the break charge expels the balls to make whatever design the mfg has stacked them for. Different colors are made by using different metals.


The shows we mostly did were hand lit, but the last 2 we did after a 15 year hiatus were electric fired. We also put the "guns" in a trench for safety in case one blew up in the tube. The latest shows were fired off a trailer where we just had to drop shells, and wire them up (lots less work). We didn't have a program, we just used our imagination to create the best effects for what we had. We always started our show with 3 to 5 salutes going up at the same time. You knew when we started, no mistaking that many salutes going at once. The last 2 shows were 3", 4", 5", and 6". The earlier shows were all the way up to 8". It has 1/4 lb of black powder for a lift charge. Typically the shells do 100' of elevation per inch of diameter. the largest I have seen go up was a 12" also, it was at a private shoot.

The mortars are typically made from black plastic pipe, I believe polyethylene, with a wooden plug in the bottom. but I have seen paper guns a lot also. We used to do some smaller shows with steel pipe which was reloaded between firings, and hand lit. The steel wasn't going to fail like a plastic tube might after many firings. These are the most dangerous, as the tube you are reloading may have a fire still in it you cannot see.


Lots of people wanted to light the shells, but most would only do a couple before turning chicken. The blast and concussion from the mortars is incredible. During a hand lit show, you don't have time to light a fuse and run away, and you don't get to see most of the show. You may need shells going up every 6 seconds or so to make your time restraints, so you have to light one and duck, then be ready to light the next one. I always wore jeans, hardhat strapped on, one ear plug facing the guns (need an ear working so you can hear any warnings), knee and elbow pads, and gloves. Always had holes burned in clothes after. We would always have at least one low break, where the shell didn't lift high enough for one reason or another, and that means it explodes close to the ground, maybe near someone, and maybe setting something off that we didn't want to go yet.



Anyway, I never built any shells, but my description is how it was related to me.

[double bogey]

Literally watching your money go up in smoke

A typical fireworks show at country club around the metroplex ran about $15k, 2 years ago.

[Sika]

Looks like something created in FWsim, which is a fireworks simulator

[Mudslinger]

The shells have a black powder charge in the bottom to "lift" the effects to proper height. The lift charge is lit by a fuse, that is made by pulling wet string through black powder, and then wrapping it with kraft paper. The exposed part may be the string, or common green fuse, or an electric squib. The exposed part burns fairly slowly, but once it gets under the paper, it goes something like 50' per second. The lift charge of course lifts the shell, and lights a timing fuse that insures that the shell "breaks" at the optimum point, usually at the apex of flight. The simplest are "salute" shells that just go bang. They are full of flash powder, and if one doesn't go up, you don't want to be anywhere near it when it explodes. Other shells are made where the break charge expels the balls to make whatever design the mfg has stacked them for. Different colors are made by using different metals.


The shows we mostly did were hand lit, but the last 2 we did after a 15 year hiatus were electric fired. We also put the "guns" in a trench for safety in case one blew up in the tube. The latest shows were fired off a trailer where we just had to drop shells, and wire them up (lots less work). We didn't have a program, we just used our imagination to create the best effects for what we had. We always started our show with 3 to 5 salutes going up at the same time. You knew when we started, no mistaking that many salutes going at once. The last 2 shows were 3", 4", 5", and 6". The earlier shows were all the way up to 8". It has 1/4 lb of black powder for a lift charge. Typically the shells do 100' of elevation per inch of diameter. the largest I have seen go up was a 12" also, it was at a private shoot.

The mortars are typically made from black plastic pipe, I believe polyethylene, with a wooden plug in the bottom. but I have seen paper guns a lot also. We used to do some smaller shows with steel pipe which was reloaded between firings, and hand lit. The steel wasn't going to fail like a plastic tube might after many firings. These are the most dangerous, as the tube you are reloading may have a fire still in it you cannot see.


Lots of people wanted to light the shells, but most would only do a couple before turning chicken. The blast and concussion from the mortars is incredible. During a hand lit show, you don't have time to light a fuse and run away, and you don't get to see most of the show. You may need shells going up every 6 seconds or so to make your time restraints, so you have to light one and duck, then be ready to light the next one. I always wore jeans, hardhat strapped on, one ear plug facing the guns (need an ear working so you can hear any warnings), knee and elbow pads, and gloves. Always had holes burned in clothes after. We would always have at least one low break, where the shell didn't lift high enough for one reason or another, and that means it explodes close to the ground, maybe near someone, and maybe setting something off that we didn't want to go yet.



Anyway, I never built any shells, but my description is corrchow it was related to me.

100% correct! One of the reasons I wear hearing aids is not wearing any or proper hearing suppression while doing this or guiding hunters!
All the shows I shot were by hand.
Double Bogey, we need to meet and have seceral drinks and hash tales of fireworks shows!

Who did you shoot for? Me it as a company out f Tulsa OK. Will think f the name shortly.

Most f you guys would short your drawers doing this!

[Mudslinger]

9 3”silver salutes wired together will get everyones attention to start a show! Pure 3” bombs with no color but a bright white flash snd a sonic boom that can be heard forever thru a house windows and you body. I have friends that can back this up as probably Double Bogey can.

[double bogey]

We shot for Atlas out of Ft. Worth. They sold to the new company which I cant remember the name of, and someone there contacted us to see if we wanted to do any more. We helped them do a shoot they did every weekend to get back up to speed, then did 2 country clubs on the next 3rd and 4th that came up. Much nicer than the old operation, they supplied a trailer with all the guns mounted, and a diesel truck to pull it, and a small bobtail truck to haul everything else. None of us have a cdl with hazmat, so they delivered the shells on the day of the shoot with plenty of time to load, and plenty of squibs, and other accessories.

When we did it for Atlas, we had to supply all our haul vehicles, and move all the guns to the trenches, and break it all down. Too much work. And got paid the same. We decided it was still too much work on a holiday. That and my physical condition has deteriorated dealing with cancer. We ended up paying most of the money to the guys we got to help us, so no real money in it. As we have gotten old, while shooting fireworks is a lot of fun, the work involved isn't. The best times I have had, was where we went somewhere way in the country with the fireworks people, and shot what we wanted, when we wanted. No permits and whatnot, but the fireworks people could get away with it, as it was their business, so they were insured, and for them it was a test session. We blew up stuff I wont even talk about here. Before 911 and Oklahoma City we did a lot more personally with fireworks that I wouldn't want to get caught with today.

They have an annual convention somewhere in the country every year, and its like a week of everyone showing off the best fireworks they got. All the mfg's are there. One year it was an hour and a half from Yellowstone, and I couldn't go.

[Jon B]

I am going with the computer generated folks.

That's the first time the internet ever lied to me....

[Mudslinger]

We shot for Atlas out of Ft. Worth. They sold to the new company which I cant remember the name of, and someone there contacted us to see if we wanted to do any more. We helped them do a shoot they did every weekend to get back up to speed, then did 2 country clubs on the next 3rd and 4th that came up. Much nicer than the old operation, they supplied a trailer with all the guns mounted, and a diesel truck to pull it, and a small bobtail truck to haul everything else. None of us have a cdl with hazmat, so they delivered the shells on the day of the shoot with plenty of time to load, and plenty of squibs, and other accessories.

When we did it for Atlas, we had to supply all our haul vehicles, and move all the guns to the trenches, and break it all down. Too much work. And got paid the same. We decided it was still too much work on a holiday. That and my physical condition has deteriorated dealing with cancer. We ended up paying most of the money to the guys we got to help us, so no real money in it. As we have gotten old, while shooting fireworks is a lot of fun, the work involved isn't. The best times I have had, was where we went somewhere way in the country with the fireworks people, and shot what we wanted, when we wanted. No permits and whatnot, but the fireworks people could get away with it, as it was their business, so they were insured, and for them it was a test session. We blew up stuff I wont even talk about here. Before 911 and Oklahoma City we did a lot more personally with fireworks that I wouldn't want to get caught with today.

They have an annual convention somewhere in the country every year, and its like a week of everyone showing off the best fireworks they got. All the mfg's are there. One year it was an hour and a half from Yellowstone, and I couldn't go.

Atlas Enterprises, Tad Trout, now with TNT and Royce who you probably dealt with. Know them well.

[Mudslinger]

Tad is actually my wife's boss in Cali and is employed by American Promotional Events which is TNT Fireworks, Terry Anderson is the owner of a huge corp in TNT!

[Traildust]

I got a real video of bigfoot too.