52 replies to this topic

[Richard H]

Those little gas lighters are okay, but the platinum element will soon wear out with all the acidic residue you get from lighting BP type comps.

For lighting fireworks I use a portfire or a chefs blowtorch.

[karlfoxman]

at my work (maplin) we sell a great hand held blow flame torch. it uses a ligher and never fails me.

Edited by karlfoxman, 03 July 2005 - 06:36 PM.

[karlfoxman]

portfires are tubes filled with slow burning comp, mainly green i think. they burn for about 5mins or so and you hold them at one end. mini fountain i guess but made for lighting fireworks.

[karlfoxman]

dont tell but i have a couple of my 4 inch mortars in the warehouse as we speak, aint taken them home yet!! ha ha! we sell string too! ever been to the cambridge one? the lighters are real good for pyro!

[The_Djinn]

I use FireLite

[karlfoxman]

firelite? not fire lighters? ha ha

[karlfoxman]

nah i work at the little one. if you see mark (the tall bald one) he is the manager of that store. i know all the guys there and the two girls. i work in the st andrews st store. small world huh!

[Phoenix]

I have tried using a mini blowtorch and a jet flame lighter. Both suffered from the same problem: if the electrode of the piezo ignitor got at all damp, it would stop working (until it was dry). Since fuses spray slag and smoke when they ignite, this invariably builds up on the business end of the lighter, where the ignitor is. Since this slag is hydroscopic, it causes this to become damp (and may itself intefere with the action of the ignitor). If I thoroughly washed and dried the burner then it would work the next time I came to use it, but if I were to light a fuse with it, then try to use it again half an hour later, it would sometimes have become damp enough to stop working by then. It was also far too easy for it to get damp and pack up (rain, damp air). This was not such a problem in the summer, but when it got cold a damp could be really irritating. Both of these eventually died (broken piezo and gas leak), but this wasn't really related to using them to light fireworks.

I have found normal plastic lighters with a "flint" and steel ignitor to be far more reliable, if harder to use for their lack of a hot, pointable, windproof flame. My solution is to use one of these when just doing a few items or testing something, and use a portfire for a larger display (not that I do very many "displays" of more that three or for items). In the case of just testing a few items, where timing isn't an issue, I can wait for a drop in the wind to light the fuse. If it's too windy to use a normal lighter like this, it's probably too windy to be setting off fireworks.

BTW, if anyone ever comes across as jet flame lighter with a "flint" and steel ignitor, I'd love to know about it. I've never seen one.

[alany]

I use a piezo ignition butane torch for casual work, as long as you hold it carefully at 90 degrees to the fuses most of the molten dross will miss it or land on unimportant parts. Fortunately its expansion flare shrouds the spark gap fairly well, so it is quite robust. I've brazed with it and had no problems with flux getting into the gap and preventing ignition. When I remember I give it a clean after use and its fine. If it gets wet it will give you a shock rather than igniting which is quite annoying. However its big problem is that the hot and fairly wind-proof flame puts out very little light, so hunting around for a fuse with it is next to impossible. If you richen-up the mixture to make it more luminous it blows out too easily and doesn't have the penetrating heat of the lean blue cone flame.

For hand-fired displays I *always* use a portfire. Portfires burn hotter and with much dross, they also put out more light, which is all good for the purpose. You've just got to be careful you don't let the dross fall on your feet or clothes, and you develop a natural instinct to hold it down wind so you don't get a face full of smoke. The colour composition based ones produce almost no liquid dross, but tend to chimney really badly and smell far worse, you are always knocking them against your boot to remove the ash pipe. Not sure which I prefer, conventional or coloured portfires. I think my favourite is a white lance comp based one, but the antimony trisulfide is expensive and the smoke is probably more toxic than a KNO3/S/meal one. I've also had problems sustaining combustion with the conventional composition if it is made too narrow or held vertically downwards.

Those catalyst jet lighters are OK, better than a conventional cigarette lighter for sure, but they have crappy butane capacity and your hand is *far* too close to the business end for lighting fuses IMO. They do tend to put out more long-wave light because of the incadescent catalyst foil/wool, but still not enough to work with. With the torch I use you can hold the base and be almost a foot from the flame, even that isn't enough at times, you still need a glove or have to put up with the odd tiny pin-pr**k burn. Piped match is the worst, it can spit a long way and in odd directions, especially as it kinks over the lip of the mortar, best to always use a delay fuse so you can get away.

I've never tried a propane brazing torch with piezo ignition, but a lot of US pyros use them. They have a bigger, hot flame and a nice long neck and tank to extend the danger away from you. But I suspect lugging them around all night is more of a workout for the wrist.

[BigBang]

Ive always used jet flame lighters, i find them reliable, especially when windy. But i went through quite a few, coz of the crap thrown off by the visco, until i found a way around that.

I now wrap a piece of touch paper around the end of the fuse. This has several advantages.........it saves on the amount of precious visco you need to use, lights much easier and stop ones lighter getting ruined - Job done!!