31 replies to this topic

[Phoenix]

I've just rolled 200g of Tiger Tail (as usual) in my new NASCAR Roller. Passfire members will be familiar with this contraption, but for the benefit of non-members, it's a star roller designed by Kyle Kepley, which is widely agreed to be the best ever. I won't give away the construction details, you'll have to sign up!

I was a little concerned that it might not be suited for the small batch sizes that I tend to do, but 200g on 2 teaspoons of millet worked OK, and the stars rolled up to about 5mm. They were a bit tricky to start, but were rolling very easily by the time I ran out of comp. I am sure it will be a doddle to roll them up to 10mm once they've dried and I've made some more comp. I'll start with a big load of millet next time, and just roll a bunch of cores to have handy.

Basically, this roller is everything it's cracked up to be, so don't hesitate to build one. Hats off to Passfire!

Edited by Phoenix, 20 June 2004 - 12:57 PM.

[sasman]

Im going to make one in the next month orso. .
...What size tyre did you use?.Did your tyre have those small ripples ? so that it makes the stars bounce?..Im not sure if UK tyres have ripples on the inside like those USA ones seem to have?..Did you have problems with dust when rolling?

sasman

[Phoenix]

The tyre was 56cm OD, 32cm wide hole, and 16cm thick. I would have liked to use a smaller one really, but that was all that I could get. I got two - one for sulphur and one for chlorates. They are bald ones from a car mechanic. Apparantly, tyres are expensive and difficult to get rid of, so he was very happy for me to take them for free.

Of the assortment of tyres that were in the heap at the guy's garage, all had ripples of some sort or other. However, some had a few, widely spaced ripples, wheras others had closely spaced ripples, like the one in the article. Obviously, I took the closely spaced ones.

It was a bit dusty, yes, but I spread some newspaper on the bench (mine is a bench standing version) and wore a mask, so that wasn't too much of a problem. I might do it outside next time, though.

An addition I made was a couple of extra removable rollers in between the two that the tyre sits on, so that I can sit two ball mill jars in it instead of the tyre, and loop a belt around one of them to power it. X's rotate anti-clockwise, O's idle.

O..........X...O..........X

This gives me two functions for one tool, and it doesn't take up any more space. Another reason for doing this was so that I could use the motor and bearings from my ball mill. I haven't tried it with both jars yet, as I need to buy some more dowel for the extra rollers, but I have tried one jar by moving the "permentant" idler to the "removable" idler's bearing, and it worked fine. However, I think I might be putting too much load on my 170W motor by turning two jars, so I might have to get a larger motor anyway. (Swings the tyre round fine, though). Ah well, 170W drying box, I think...

Edited by Phoenix, 06 June 2004 - 08:53 PM.

[pyrotechnist]

Hi but to get in to passfire you need to pay for login thats crap that you have to do that just to view information on building stuf but a question is it good does it tell you how to build a lot of shells and types of fireworks? Or does not do that.

[nickpatts]

passfire is far from crap,its the best bit of money I?ve spent so far,great reviews/projects/formulas to name a few.



Nick

[Phoenix]

In answer to your questions:

- Yes, Passfire is good.
- Yes, it has vast amounts of information on building numerous types of fireworks.

In my opinion, and the vast majority of other peoples' opinions, Passfire is an excellent resource, probably the best online resource, and in many ways better than books too. You do have to pay for it, but you would have to pay for any book or magazine subscription. At the moment, the initial signup cost is ?21.76, and ?13.60 to renew. This is very reasonable for what you get - most books with the same amount of information in them would cost ?60+ at least. A high quality resource like Passfire is rarely free - I'd be willing to pay for my membership to this forum too, and Richard and the staff are very generous to provide it free.

Passfire is rather like a magazine. About every month, a new issue comes out, containing detailed, illustrated instructions for a "Build This" project, for example in the current issue there are instructions for large Roman Candles, in last month's it was 1-3/4 Ball Shells.

It will also have a "Tool Tip," giving similarly detailed instructions for a tool, such as the NASCAR Roller, or a press. Usually, this will be linked to the issue's "Build This" project. There will also usually be some accompanying theory relating to each project too.

There will also be something related to commercially made fireworks, like an autopsy of one (I personally find these very interesting) or a review of a consumer firework.

Recently you also get "Accident Analysis" which is good to learn from.

There are also various other articles in some issues, such as photos from the PGI Convention, and "Letter from the Editor".

For your $40, you will gain access to the site for however long it takes for 12 issues to come out (usually a year) and also every single other previous issue of Passfire that there has been. As well as this, it has a large database of formulas, which you can search easily. There are also numerous calculators for working out things like how fast a ball mill jar should turn. The site does have a forum, though it isn't as active or as easy to use as this one.

You can sign up for a (week long?) guest account, to gain limited access to the site, and you can see what you'll get for you money. In short, you really will not regret subscribing to Passfire.

EDIT: Spelling

Edited by Phoenix, 07 June 2004 - 05:01 PM.

[The_Djinn]

Anyone stating that Passfire is c**p obviously has not even bothered to have a peek at the wealth of information available on the site. Even under the guest account you would be amazed at what info there is so imagine how much more you get with a full account. I would hate to think how many books etc. you would have to purchase to accumulate all the info on passfire but I gaurantee it would work out more that the subscription.
As for the forum, I prefer BPS by far, not only from ease of use and speed but there tends to be more open discussion here.

The NASCAR star roller is nice but a little tip for anyone wanting to do small amounts, pop around to your local indoor go-kart track and ask for an old front or rear tyre. Generaly the rear tyre is best and fits very nicely onto most ball mill rollers. At the end of the day your ball mill rollers end up serving a dual purpose. If you like the way the star roller works, nick your dads spare out of the boot when he is not looking and build the full size star roller .

Mark

[Phoenix]

I was considering building a small version like that, with a Mini or a trailer tyre, but I decided to go for the larger size as I though it would probably work OK for smaller batches, and I have a workshop exclusively for fireworks, so whilst I didn't want it any bigger than it had to be, I have enough room to keep it. That way, if I do some day want to roll several kilos of stars, I can do, but I can equally well roll only a few hundred grams. However, if you know that you are never going to need to roll more than a couple of hundred grams at once, then you would be better off with a miniature version, as the full size one is pretty large, and whilst one tire can permentantly sit on the the roller, if you have another for chlorates that has to go somewhere else too. A smaller one would also be easier to use with small batches.

BTW: To be fair, he didn't actually say that Passfire is crap, he said that having to pay is crap, though I think it's really only fair as a lot of money must be invested into the site and development of the projects.

Edited by Phoenix, 07 June 2004 - 05:05 PM.

[Matt]

You dont seem to value your information very much pyrotechnist.

Dont be so tight fisted....

[pyrotechnist]

Hmm it is good but I think it is a bit dear for me to pay for. I am very great full for info but paying for it at times is pretty lame. I have got very good info from my friend of mine were I got my tools from about rocket making and very good tricks on how to get a perfect flight well getting it up nicely. So the best things in life are free and why pay for info, which lasts for a year only a book for a lifetime that?s the difference, and you can always read it again and again with Passfire you can't without having to pay for it. But passfire look very good and I would like to join but paying is not to good I will think about it first things first buying my tools from Wolters pyro tools.

[Richard H]

Passfire is brilliant. Take my word for it. You did realise you can save web pages didn't you?

[pyrotechnist]

Lol yer i did but you don't have it for life its a computer and web page computers are machines books arn't books more reliable.

[Richard H]

You did realise you can print web pages, didn't you?

PLEASE use Spelling,Punctuation, and Grammer BEFORE you post.

[lord_dranack]

arn't books more reliable.

It depends on the book! (think about a certan 'cookbook' and how 'reliable' that is)

[pyrotechnist]

Yer i do lol but still information i have to pay for every month.