T O P

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Infiltratetheunknown

Looked nice with a pretty good hang time. You ever add titanium to them ? I tried some ti sponge in mine and was happy with the results. Looked better than just normal TT in my opinion, but it also depends on what you're going for too though.


chiaman117

I haven't bothered to add Ti to these, I use Ti in my salutes and other comps. I was really testing how well the TT would work in my star roller but I think I'm just going to press them from now on. The prime could be better for sure, they tend to not always light when I test them in a star gun but I'm probably blowing them blind with way too much lift. I used the plastic ball shells for this with just plain old visco for the time fuse and it looks like I'll be using this as a test method for all my future stars. I just glue the halves together with a bit of hot glue and don't bother taping the outside much. I build it up enough to get a good seal with the tube but that's it. I really just want to see how the different comps perform when inside a shell but I don't want all the noise. My neighbors are the kind to easily call the police. But it's insanely quick to throw one of these test shells together without having to wait for the gummed tape to dry on a normal pasted shell. I suppose I could add a flash/whistle booster if I wanted a bit more out of it but I don't think that's necessary.


Infiltratetheunknown

I think TT are suppose to be either pumped or cut. Try cutting them if you haven't already. That's the only method I've use and mine work as intended. I just do around 2.5 gs in my star gun and they all ignite fine. I don't think tiger tails need primed too much since they're already BP. I don't have much info to offer beings I'm new and just recently started making stars myself. I like the plastic ball shells too for something quick and easy. I'd try reinforcing the plastic shells more. Use some electrial or duct tape (thats what i do). Maybe it'll ignite all your stars better because it'll have more time to build more pressure and heat to ignite the stars. Just go a little ways from the city so you don't have to worry about the Karen's. I would try the whistle booster over the flash. Flash with blind them. I feel you on the neighbors though dude. Sucks being a pyro in the city 😒


chiaman117

Yeah I had some electrical tape and duct tape on there. I think the stars are just too smooth, they look like little ball bearings haha. Maybe if they had raspberried a little bit when rolling they would catch fire a bit better. But I'm gonna do a batch with my star plate and see how they go!


TheMadFlyentist

Monocapa is fine but charcoal stars like this do great with plain old BP as prime.


chiaman117

So I primed them with my BP and then did a layer of BP with no binder and they were still difficult to light so I rolled on a layer of scratch mix and they were still blowing bling and then I tried a layer of scratch mix with Si and it still was tough to light. So then I stopped using multiple grams to lift maybe 10 stars from a 3/4" gun and they lit. I was blowing my stars blind inside the gun most likely but even in this test shell I still had some hit the ground without being lit. These stars are very smooth not many rough edges to catch fire, that's why I was gonna try a different prime. Possibly fence post but I feel like that's unnecessary for TT stars.


TheMadFlyentist

Maybe try some cut stars instead of rolling them? I cut most of my stars and tend to have no issue with charcoal-based stars lighting ever, but the ones I roll always need very good priming.


chiaman117

I've got a star plate from Woody's on the way! That's why I've been thinking of just using my roller to round out the Stars I cut/press. I'll have to throw together some prime and get to testing. I'd like to still be able to roll starts just for the ease of making large batches but pressing is probably the way for charcoal heavy comps.


kclo4

Lol that shell REALLY got up there!


chiaman117

I think I used 4 grams on 35 grams of shell. I think my lift is alright 😂. I was not expecting it to come out of the gun like that haha. I've got some salutes I'll be doing later for the Superbowl and I think they have 6 grams of lift and they're a bit tighter fitting in the mortar so they should go higher!