Cakes (the Official Thread)

I had another thought with the timing. Has anyone tried electrically firing a cake. Could make for very good timing.

I had another thought with the timing. Has anyone tried electrically firing a cake. Could make for very good timing.

Some big Cat4 cakes now come with a separate quickmatch leader for each row, the advantage being that if you set up more than one accross a front you can keep them in perfect synch.

I remember watching the Dubai Atlantis opening with the 'waves of fire' running out along the arms of the island in unison and thinking that this might have been one of the techniques used.

Edited by BrightStar, 02 June 2010 - 02:54 PM.

i was thinking something like this, with a 5 bit multiplexer and control it with a pic. i think its and interesting way of getting 100 cues. although i probably wouldn't need 100 ques, just separate ques for the tubes on the fan's and single Que for all fire rows. so id probably only need about 55 ques, but you get the point.

I'm sure someone will point it out, so i will first i know i have got the transistor on the wrong way round for the -ve side.

It's more likely that you'd put a multiplexed firing connector on something like a comet fan rack than a cake, due to the high costs and safety issues involved.

Small single shot comets are availble commercially, similar to the individual tubes in a barrage. They allow for shot by shot timing with great precision, at the extra cost of an e-match and firing system channel per tube. Pre-wired looms of e-matches are available on a single connector for this purpose.

PS: The circuit you've illustrated is basically a 'diode multiplex' as used by MLE and others(though you forgot the diodes )

why does it need diodes?

i was looking to have a comet fan in the cake. i was thinking of having 2 fans left to right and right to left, then an all fire row and repeat.

how much for an ematch loom?

i was going to ask if anyone had access to commercial ematches as the only ones Ive found that are pre-dipped are not far off £1 each, plus theres the old favorite request of QM, just down to does anyone think my contributions to the forum have earned me the right to be trusted to buy some yet. lol