Archive for the ‘pyro’ Category

Our good friend Dave from PyroTalk in the USA has just released another awesome video.

Dave is given exclusive access and takes us around the Phantom Fireworks USA warehouse.

As you will see, the Americans do things a little differently compared to us in the UK.

Check out the video below.

Many thanks for this Dave

And here’s a sneak peek of one of our underground bunkers

I bet you’re all thinking WTF is that above picture all about !

Well, before I tell you, let me give you a brief reminder (and apologies if you already know this) of what kind of work goes into making a cake / barrage.

1. Roll the tubes

Step 1 involves rolling the tubes. Many years ago this was done by hand, but in the past 10 years or so, machines have been introduced to roll the tubes, just like below.

2. Dry the tubes

Once the tubes have been rolled and cut to size they are then left outside to dry. Depending on the time of the year, sometimes the tubes are placed in a ‘drying room’  due to the rainy season or damp weather. Having strong tubes is crucial – more info here.

Ideally, the tubes that are dried naturally tend to be much stronger.

3. The bung

Step 3 involves ‘breaking down’ the ‘red China earth’ into a fine powder as shown in the video below.

Machines (video below) are then used to turn the fine red powder into a clay bung (sometimes these are made from plastic to keep the weight down) to one end of the tube. This acts as a solid base for the firework to recoil against and forces the effect to go upwards.

4. Insert the lift charge and effect chamber into the tube

Once the tubes have been rolled, dried, and bunged at one end, the next process is to insert the lift-charge and the effects. This could be stars, whistles etc.

5. Linking the tubes together

Once you have all the tubes loaded with the different effects, the next job is to link them all together, using glue, tape, visco fuse, paper and loads of patience.

6. Insert Cardboard disc

This is where you add a cardboard disc inside the tubes to stop any composition from falling out and it also helps to contain the energy inside the tube once it starts its chemical reaction.

7. Add the label

This involves wrapping a label around the firework and sometimes on top of the fireworks.

8. Place the fireworks into the shipping carton

The final step is to put the barrages into the UN carton ready for shipment.

As you see, making fireworks is a very time-consuming, labour intensive job. So, back to the opening paragraph, WTF is this:

WELL, THIS IS THE FUTURE OF FIREWORK CAKES / BARRAGES – AND YOU SAW IT HERE FIRST

This will be how cakes and barrages are made in the future. The mould is made 100% from recycled materials including vegetable fibre, recycled paper, starch, calcium carbonate, and glue and it’s extremely strong – which makes it even safer.

There will be no need to roll the tubes, wait till the tubes dry, insert a bung……etc……. Now, all you do is insert the lift-charge and effect chamber, add the cardboard disc, add the fuse underneath (see pic below) and wrap the label around the firework.

Job Done.

In theory, the price of firework cakes and barrages should come down as this process removes a lot of production time (and the labour costs in China are going up and up and up every year) but the initial investment in the new machines that produce the mould is very very expensive.

So, a very well done to our Chinese suppliers for coming up with this awesome idea – the only thing they haven’t figured out (yet) is that they can’t produce fan cakes this way !

But watch this space !

More news on this fantastic development to follow soon

This is a video from my friend David DeSafey from the USA. Dave runs an American firework forum called PyroTalk.com

The video above a ‘set up in the daytime’ of the fireworks display taking place called “Thunder Over Muse 2012″.

A good friend of Dave’s is Joe. Every year Joe gathers donations from the local community to put on an epic fireworks display in his home town of Muse Pennsylvania for the July 4th celebrations. Dave has helped Joe every year in organizing the fireworks display. The video includes setting up a 1.3 fireworks for a small community and Dave demonstrates different techniques of electric match and electronic firing.

The video below is of the action from the night. Great show everyone :)

For all our American friends who would like to take the next step and buy 1.3 professional fireworks like salutes, Thunder Kings etc.? Then you will need an ATF license. Dave sells an awesome DVD application package that walks you through the procedure.

Please visit Dave’s site for more information – http://pyrotalk.com/shopping.php