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LAN_403

Part Scavenger

Tue Jun 27 2006, 12:34PM

Registered Member #79 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 11:35AM
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 673

I'm getting my list together, what's the best bang for the buck? Your favorite storebought pyrotechnic? Any homemade ones you like? I'm planning to get together some sparkler bombs and bottle rocket batteries, but any more suggestions? I plan to take pics and vid and post them on my site after the 4th...

Thanks

Marko

Tue Jun 27 2006, 12:38PM

Registered Member #89 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 02:40PM
Location: Zadar, Croatia
Posts: 3145

what's the best bang for the buck?

Any homemade ones you like?

Is pulsing few kilojoule caps trough various stuff considered 'pyrotechnic'? :)

HV Enthusiast

Tue Jun 27 2006, 01:48PM

Registered Member #15 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068

roman candles of course . . .

The Wumpus

Tue Jun 27 2006, 11:17PM

Registered Member #325 Joined: Fri Mar 17 2006, 12:42AM
Location: Turku, Finland
Posts: 55

Thermite is pretty nice, because of the high temperature. Hard to ignite but melts just about anything. Pretty safe too as long as you know what you are doing.

Jim

Wed Jun 28 2006, 12:13AM

Dunce.
Registered Member #28 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 03:29AM
Location:
Posts: 76

Thermite is terribly overrated. Unless you have HUGE quantities, 1lb+, you can't really do anything spectacular.

...

Wed Jun 28 2006, 12:59AM

Registered Member #56 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:02AM
Location: Southern Califorina, USA
Posts: 2445

Depends on where you live... here is California we can't have anything that
1. leaves the ground
2. explodes

And in Arcadia you can't have anything that:
3. emits flames
4. is loud enough for anyone standing >20ft away to hear
5. could be in any way referred to a 'firework'

So we usually go to a friends house for the 4th

But since he is still in cali, it pretty much limits the selection to fountains... So far the best one I have found is called 'blue moon' or the like (changes every year or 2) they cost like $1-2, and have 3 tubes of stuff in them... Last about a minute

If you are in a real state or have been to one, I would have to say that they 1" mortars that shoot 4 balls at a time are pretty nice... Can get expensive depending on how close to the border of a state, but should only be a a few bucks or less a shot. besides that you can't beat the bottle rockets... The individual ones are more fun for the $, but the banks are more fun in general...

But the overall best bang for the buck that doesn't involve radioactive isotopes or other hard to get stuff... We refer to it as the 'bag bomb' You get out the old oxy/acetylene torch and get a neutral flame going. Then knock out the flame and fill a sandwich bag with the torch... Stick a piece of masking tape on it as a fuse, light the end and stand back (covering ears is a good idea too). But now that my dad broke 40 he is starting to mature and we haven't done one of those in years

scuba14c

Wed Jun 28 2006, 01:33AM

Registered Member #236 Joined: Wed Feb 22 2006, 09:59PM
Location:
Posts: 13

Buy some tannerite (or make it yourself). Make sure to detonate it remotely with a rifle.

GimpyJoe

Wed Jun 28 2006, 02:48AM

Registered Member #316 Joined: Mon Mar 13 2006, 01:30PM
Location: Marietta, GA
Posts: 212

... wrote ...

But the overall best bang for the buck that doesn't involve radioactive isotopes or other hard to get stuff... We refer to it as the 'bag bomb' You get out the old oxy/acetylene torch and get a neutral flame going. Then knock out the flame and fill a sandwich bag with the torch... Stick a piece of masking tape on it as a fuse, light the end and stand back (covering ears is a good idea too). But now that my dad broke 40 he is starting to mature and we haven't done one of those in years

I've heard stories of a neat variation on that. Take a big plastic garbage bag and fill it with hydrogen. Close it up and attach some kind of fuse to it. Now light the fuse (ever seen October Sky? The erector set thing...) and let it float up into the night.

Part Scavenger

Wed Jun 28 2006, 03:22AM

Registered Member #79 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 11:35AM
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 673

I actually filled an animal balloon with hydrogen once. It was like 4-5 feet long, and really loud when I popped it with the torch.

Actually, my favorite "bang for buck" is to take a gross or two of bottle rockets (like $2) and stick them all down in a metal can, I use an old cylinder liner from my tractor. Then put metal sparklers on top of the can, but under all the bottle rockets so that they'll catch as the sparker fires under them. I use two or three. The trick is to get them all lit quickly enough! It's really spectacular, especially at night. Sticking some "screamers" in there adds to the effect. I was surprised at the success rate too, I think I had about 10 bottle rockets that didn't go off last year.

My all time favorite firework though, is Black Cat's "Water Dynamite." Actually, it was called that the first year, now it's "Little Dynamite" IIRC. They sink and make these awesome little explosions under the water.

OTHER STUFF
Those little colored smoke bombs look awesome underwater. You have to get them going first, then kick them in the water. They'll spit up this bubbling, opaque water.

Take a coffee can, and drill a hole directly in the center of the bottom. Then jam a firecracker in the bottom most of the way in. Put that in a pan of water about 1/4" deep, and light. It goes *dink* and shoots way up in the air. I had an old friend show me this, and after a bit of tweaking, it went up like 20 ft! You can do it with a coke can too, but it usually dies sometime around the second firing, and it's too light. A small coffee can is perfect.

Just make sure not to lose a finger...

Cesiumsponge

Wed Jun 28 2006, 03:34AM

Registered Member #397 Joined: Wed Apr 19 2006, 12:56AM
Location: Western Washington
Posts: 125

I haven't screwed around since lots of cities here passed ordinances banning them so you have to go out of your way to indian reservations to obtain them, and I am too lazy to do that.

Those golfball-sized mortar things that come with the tube were always entertaining. Those bumblebee things that lift about 3-4 feet in their were fun when you taped on larger wings so they'd have much more lift and fly unpredictably.

Most bang-for-the-buck are probably the long strings/rolls of "black cats" we'd used to buy and unravel them so we could use them individually. We would do things like drill a small hole in a log and use blackcats to split them or bundle them around tree branches and blast them off...not the most efficient way of log splitting or tree pruning but it was amusing at the time. We'd have stupid contests like sticking them into a hole drilled in a plastic spray paint caps or film canisters and see who could make theirs jump highest. There were tons of situations and applications that could be made more amusing with a black cat. I still have a damn box full of those things.

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