Table of Contents
Printer-friendly versionArticles
(Future Articles are in Black, Uploaded Articles are Links in Blue.)
(When you open an Article, notice the "printer-friendly version" button in the upper-right corner of the page. Feel free to print a project so that you can take it to the shop to refer to as you work.)
(This is obviously an evolving section. If you want info on a subject not uploaded yet, just ask about it in the Forum. Someone will have some experience to share on the subject.)
Tips for Using this Site
- Setting up a User Account and Main Profile
- Uploading Photographs in a Forum Post
- Embedding a YouTube Video in a Forum Post
- Creating a Link in Your Post
- Searching for another user's Forum topics and replies
- Pyrotechnicas Index
Pyro-Poetry
Fireworking 101: Beginner's Comprehensive Course in Fireworking
Fireworking 201: Intermediate Course in Fireworking
Fireworking 301: Advanced-Intermediate Course in Fireworking
Safety and Legality (You know, these articles make great Bathroom Reading Material)
- General Safety Considerations
- Basic Safety 101, by Kyle Kepley
- "Please Help Me! I've Been Burned!" by Lloyd Sponenburgh
- It Could Have Been Much Worse, a cautionary tale for instructors
- The Explosion of a Ball Milling Jar, by Lloyd Sponenburgh
- Hot-Glue Gun Safety Tips
- How I Burned My Hand
- Bill Ofca's Safety Manual
- 10 Commandments of Safety
- Safety Videos
- Shoot-Site Safety Gear, by Nate Beeson
- Electric-Match Safety
- Combustible-Dust Explosion Hazards
- Whistle Comp Safety Video
- An Ongoing list of Accident Reports
- Legalities
Fireworks Types, What do we want to make? The following device type sections are organized, with individual device projects, below:
- Novelty Items
- Ground Devices
- Mid-Level Devices
- Rockets
- Aerial Shells
Beginner Fireworking, Turbo-Pyro
Formulas
- How a Formula is Expressed. How to Work with a Formula
- The Mixology of Stock Mixes, By Lloyd Sponenburg
- Wouter Visser Pyro Formula Compilation
- Converting a "Raw Chemicals" Formula to a "BP Base" Formula, from Richardh08
Basic Processes
- Weighing with Scales
- Screening
- Mixing compositions with screens
- Distributing moisture into a composition, using screens
- Sorting granule sizes with screens
- Hand Ramming
- Pressing in Tubes, using an arbor press or hydraulic press
- Determining Loading Pressures
- Ball Milling 101
- How long should I ball mill black powder?
- How long should I ball mill charcoal-star composition?
- Drying Chemicals for Non-Clumping BP Ball Milling.
- Clay Nozzle and Bulkhead Mix Preparation
- Paper Tubes, Homemade, and Treating Commercial Tubes
- Tying Knots, the Clove Hitch
- Chipboard Discs, Homemade
- Desiccant Packs, Keeping Compositions and Devices Dry
- Hand-Rolled Tubes
- Hand Rolling Strong Tubes, by The Mixer
- Mixing Flash Powder Using the Diaper Method
- Potassium Dichromate Treating of Metals
- Cutting Paper Tubes, Some Different Methods
- Mesh and Micron Conversion Chart
- Ematching a Shell Leader
Chemicals
- Basic Fireworking Chemicals, and sources for them
- Making Charcoal; Small Scale, Simple Backyard Charcoal Cooking
- NitroCellulose Lacquer (N/C), commercial and homemade
- Copper Benzoate Manufacture, By Lee Bussy
- Phenolic Resin Applications
- Homemade Magnalium
- Phenolic-Resin/Hexamine Bound Comets and Stars
- Substituting phenolic resin for redgum in a composition
- Treating Metals with Potassium Dichromate
- Potassium Nitrate, Tech-Grade, Anti-Cake or No Anti-Cake
- Chlorine Donor Chemicals, by Charley Wilson
- Tests for the Presence of Chlorates and Perchlorates
- Chlorates and Sulfur, Concerns
- Making Wheat Paste from Flour, By Nate B.
- Metal Particle Shapes and Sizes
- Cheap Silica Gel Dessicant
- Great Cat Litter for Nozzles
- Stearic Acid Clarification, Stearine versus Stearin
- Common Resins and Binders, Soluble In.....
- Potassium Perchlorate Impurity Study
- Nitro-Cellulose Data
Tools
- Mallets, and a Ramming Post
- Punches, to make holes in paper discs and shell casings
- Cork Borer
- Pull-Saw and Hand Miter-Box, for cutting tubes
- Razor-Anvil Cutter, for cutting fuses
- Screens, Their Usage, Types, and Manufacture
- Measuring Spoons and Cups
- Paper Dispensers, and rolls of paper
- Plastic Tubs
- Precision Measuring; calipers and micrometers
- Atomizer-Spray-Bottle, for rolling stars
- Star-Sizing Screens, for consistent sizing of rolled stars
- Gummed Paper-Tape Dispensers
- TS4000 Propane Torch
- Gamma-Seal Lids for buckets
- Nifty Tools for Cutting Paper Tubes
- Homemade Star Plate, by Paul G.
- Powder Measure Scoops
- Duralov Paper Roll Dispenser/Cutter
Machines
- Scales for Weighing
- Rocket-Blender, for milling small amounts of individual chemicals
- Vitamix Blender, for milling larger amounts of individual chemicals
- Charcoal-Grinder made from a Garbage Disposer
- Ball Mill (Ballmilling 101)
- Small Ball Mill
- Large Ball Mill of my Dreams
- Casting Lead Media
- Separation Bucket-Screen, separating material from the media
- Rebel 17 Ballmill Modifications, by Shawn Ashbaugh
- Drying Boxes
- Presses
- 1-Ton Arbor Press; modified
- 3-Ton Dake Arbor Press
- Hydraulic Bottle-Jack Press; a nice homemade one
- Force Gauges; homemade and commercial, and Force/Pressure Calculations
- All-Thread Hydraulic Press with Power Pack
- Star Roller; a converted cement mixer
- Cement-Mixer Star-Roller, minimum mods needed
- Small Homemade Star Roller, Ballmill Combo
- WASP Machine; for fast paper ball shell taping
- Making a Hand-Powered Shell Pasting Machine
- Nice Small Manual Gummed Kraft Paper Tape Dispenser
- Dehumidifiers, Air Conditioners, Heaters; for the shop
- Star Window Shade Paper Tube Cutter
- Benchtop Dust-Buster, by Doc
Black Powder, the foundation of fireworks, simple and complex
- A Nice Overview of BP from Scott Jay and Kurt Medlin
- Making Black Powder
- Granulated BP, using Denatured Alcohol
- Granulated BP, using Dextrin/Water
- Black-Powder Rice-Hulls Coating
- Testing Black Powder, Pyro-Baseball
- BP Charcoal Comparison Tests, from Dan Creagan
- Black-Powder Standard Grain Sizes
- Detailed BP Grain Size Chart
- Approximate Densities of Various Types of BP
- Dave Forster's "How to Make Lift for Shells Using Commercial Airfloat Charcoal
Fuse
- Fuse Types; Visco, Time-Fuse, Blackmatch, Quickmatch
- Spolettes, Homemade Time Fuses
- Electric Matches; Commercial, Kit, and Homemade
- Basics of Electric Firing
- Easy Ematching of Shell Leaders
Novelty Items
- Skylanterns
- Making Homemade Skylanterns
- Launching Skylanterns Electrically
- Volcano; Ammonium Dichromate
- Tube Sparklers
- Senko Hanabi Sparklers
- Sparklers, Dipped, by Tom Niesen
- Maroons, Black-Powder Ground Salutes
- Potato Gun
- Sparking Airgun Targets, by Bob Forward
- Campfire Colors
- How to make triangle crackers
- Holi-Smokes Daytime Color Effects
Ground Devices
- Ground Devices Introduction
- Fountains (Gerbs) Introduction, and Charcoal-Spark Gerbs
- Metal-Spark Gerbs
- Blue Steel or Titanium Gerbs
- Volcano-Cone Fountains
- Tubri, Indian Clay-Pot Fountains
- Titanium-Spark Fountains
- Gold-Glittering Fountains
- Fairy-Fountains
- Brilliant Color Gerbs
- Crackling Fountains
- Micro-Star Fountains
- Lloyd's "Quick-Shot" Gerbs
- Waterfalls
- 6-Phase Waterfall, from Ken Jasper
- Lance and Lance-Piece Making
- Line Rockets
- Gerb Set-Pieces
- Flame Projectors
- Strobe Pots
- The Musical Salute
- Flash Pots
- Colored-Alcohol Flames
- Wheel Drivers, and Simple Wheels
- Saxons
- Chromatropes
- Color Pots for Wheels
- Whistles and Whistle Drivers
- Black-Powder Endburning Drivers
- Radiena, Maltese Wheels
- Ground Display Choreography, Competition
Stars and Garnitures
- Stars and Garnitures Introduction
- Star-Sizing Guide
- Testing stars with a star-gun, or with a slingshot
- Charcoal for Stars; which ones make good sparks?
- Translated "Spanish Paper" on Star-Making, by Jopetes
- Star Types
- Zinc Stars
- 14 Great Star Formulas, by the Kosankes
- Veline Color-Star System
- NX Color-Star Formulas Discussion
- NX Color-Star Formulas Chart
- Firefly Stars
- Charcoal Stars; a Basic Spectrum
- Great Gold-Glitter Stars
- Strobe Stars
- Crackle Stars
- Mike Swisher's Favorite Stars
- The Kosanke Collection of Star Formulas
- PVB-Based Star Compositions, by Ken Ganney /Pyro-Gear
- Josh's "Red Glitter Stars"
- Falling Leaves Stars
- Star-Making Techniques
- Cut Stars
- Easy Cut Stars, Baggie Method, Potassium-Nitrated Charcoal
- Loaf-Box Star-Cutting
- Screen-Sliced Red Rubber Stars
- Screen-Sliced Rainbow of Color Stars
- Single-Pumped Stars
- Phenolic-resin/hexamine bound comets and stars
- Star-Plate Pumped Stars
- Priming Large Pumped Stars
- Making Married Comets, by Paul Moulder
- Choosing the Right Metal Particle Size for Pumped Compositions
- Rolling Stars
- Priming Pumped Stars as They Are Pumped
- How to Make Falling Leaves, by John Vargo
- Other Garnitures
- Pillbox Stars
- Go-Getters
- Hummers
- Whirlwinds
- Farfalle
- Falling Leaves
- Smoke Stars
- Whistle-to-Report Inserts
- Whistles, suitable for use as shell inserts
- Crossette Comets, by Shawn Ashbaugh
- Crossette Comets with Traditional Shots
- Dave Forster Pistol-Primer Shots for Crossettes
- Photo-Flash Inserts
- Tubular Garniture Types, From Mason
- Whistle to Report Inserts, for mines/shells/headings, by Rob Westfall
- Small Reports with Press-In Caps, by Wiley
Mid-Level Devices
- Comets
- Making Glitter Comets with Comet Pumps, Commercial and Homemade
- Large Reloadable Glitter Comets
- Crackling-Glitter Comets
- Crossette Comets
- Phenolic-Resin/Hexamine Bound Comets, by Jim Widmann
- Breaking Glass Comets
- Large Mines
- 1-3/4" Mines
- Cremora Fireballs, Fuel-Air Explosions
- Gasoline Mines, and Ghost Mines
- Roman Candles, the Gary Smith Method
- Traditional Roman Candles
- Cakes
- Speedballs/Zippers/Zips
- Double-Voiced Crackers, by Ben Smith
Rockets, Girandolas, Tourbillions
- Rockets Introduction
- Rough Guide to Rocket Increment Sizes
- Force Needed to Achieve Loading Pressure
- Consistent Pressure Rocket Press Chart Creator, from Bob Svenson
- Paper Tube Burst Strength Tests
- Keeping Spindle Tip Centered in Tube During Pressing
- Rocket Tooling
- Standard BP-Motor Tooling Specifications
- Rocket Motor Tooling Specifications
- Motor-Spindle Removal Methods
- New Bulkhead-Hole-Forming Rammer
- Tube Supports
- Rocket Motors
- Super Bottle Rockets
- Nozzleless Black-Powder Rockets
- Nozzleless Black-Powder Motor Thrust Tests
- Nozzleless Cohete-Type Rockets with Report Headings
- Nozzled Charcoal-Tailed Motors
- -Simple Instructions for 1" ID Charcoal/Glitter Motor
- EZ, Press-in-1-Go, Tubeless Rocket Motors
- BP Endburner Motors
- Stinger Missiles
- Whistle Motors
- Making Whistle Propellant
- Standard Whistle Motors
- Super-Whistle-Fuel Motors
- Super-Whistle-Fuel Motor Thrust Tests
- Dan Thames' Whistle Propellant Bag-Mixing
- Making Whistle Propellant, ned's method
- Dan Creagan's Whistle Propellant Testing
- Steve LaDuke's Universal Tooling, Motor-Making Tips
- Steve LaDuke rolling a tube on his lathe
- Strobe Motors
- Colored-Tail Motors
- Estes Model-Rocket Homemade Motors
- Sugar-Fueled Motors
- Black-Powder with Mineral Oil Propellant, for "Burping" Motors
- Tube-Buster-Salutes, for a Bottom-Shot and Less Fallout
- Rocket Sticks
- Rocket Headings
- Bag Headings
- Ball-Shell Headings
- Simple, Pretty, Cylinder Shell Headings
- A novel way to make and install cylindrical headings
- Tom Rebenklau Style Headings
- Rocket-Motor, Cylinder-Shell-Heading, Alignment Jig
- Donut Comets to adapt headings to rocket motors
- Quick and easy rocket nosecones
- Attaching Ball-Shell Headings to Rocket Motors
- Precision Rocket Heading Timing, from Shawn Ashbaugh
- Gorgeous Rocket, Gold-Glitter Rising Tail, Graceful Horsetail Heading
- Rocket Launch Racks, by Tom Rebenklau
- Folding Rocket Rack
- Rocket-Design, Scientifically
- Dave Forster's Tube-Waxing Method
- Reducing CATO's in Pyrotechnic Rockets, by Dave Forster
- Tube-Waxing Methods
- Great Cat Litter for Nozzles
- Rockets Lifting 6" Ball Shell Headings
- Tourbillions, Buzz-Bombs, Helicopters
- Paint-Stick Monocopters, by Dave Gustafson
- Thai Rockets, Part 1, by Paul Moulder
- Girandolas
Aerial Fireworks Shells
- Mortars and Racks, firing fireworks shells safely
- Steel Mortars Safety Considerations
- Making large HDPE mortars
- Reinforcing Fiberglass Mortars with Carbon Fiber, and Epoxy
- Aerial Shells Introduction
- Shell Weights per Type and Size
- Shell Lift-Charge Amounts
- Shell Display-Heights, and Time-Fuse Delays
- Simple Plastic Shells
- Paper Ball Shells
- Festival-Ball-Size Paper Ball Shells, with rising comet tail
- Making Ball Shell Lift Cups, by SparkyMyrl
- Peanut Shells, Part 1
- Flag-and-Parachute Shell
- Salutes, made with Black Powder, Dark or Titanium-Spark
- Binary-Mixing Flash in Salutes
- Blue Aluminum Binary-Mixed Salutes
- TPA Burster Compound
- Making Ball Shell Casings
- Shell Lift-Charge Mine Shot
- Closing a Large Ball Shell Using Strap-Clamps
- Large Ball Shells
- 12" Crackling-Glitter Shell, with same-effect Large Rising Comet Tail
- 12" Shell of Shells
- 12" Giant Silver Palm Tree with Two Red Coconuts
- Award-Winning Exhibition Ball Shell
- 12" Willow Diadem Shell
- Jim Widmann's How-To on Fancy 12" Ball Shells
- Large Shell Construction, Using Multi-Part Casings
- Rising Comets on Shells
- Double-Petal Shells
- Orienting Shells
- Ascending Separating Stars Rising Shell Effects
- Ring-Shell
- Six-Inch Ball-Shell Shell-of-Shells, by Stewart Irsik
- 6" Horsetail Ball Shell, Japanese Style
- Pattern Shells
- Fitting Cylindrical Inserts, Like Comets, in Ball Shells
- Cylinder Shell Insert Size Calculator, from ChrisH
- Simple star/insert calculator, from Soap
- "Escher's Parasol" Shell
- Adding a Bottom Shot to a Ball Shell, by Rocketman Tom
- Saturn Shell
- "Kaleidoscope" Shell
- Daytime Shells; Adding-Machine Tape, Toilet Paper
- Farfalle Shells
- Lampare
- Field-Expedient Lampare
- Memorial Shell, to carry a person's ashes aloft
- Dense-Packed Willow Diadem Shell/Heading
- Cylinder Shells
- 5" Comets-to-Reports, with Bottom-Shot, Shell, by DWC
- 5" Farfalle Shell
- 4" Horsetail Shells
- Bottom-Shot and Report Construction
- Comet-to-Report Shell Inserts
- Ned's Assembly of that DWC Shell
- Lifting and Leadering the DWC Shell
- "Big Hoss" 16" Sun-and-Planets Cylinder Shell, by Tom Niesen
- Star/Comet Calculator for Designing Cylinder Shells, from Joe M
- Paul Moulder's Cylinder Shell Building Tips and Videos
- Maltese Shell Construction Tips, by Paul Moulder
- Maltese-style-shells-ned's-exploration
- Maltese multi-break shells, ned's exploration
- Maltese-Style 11-Timed Spider Shell, by ned
- Stutata Shell Inserts, by Italteen3
- 5" Rinfasciatured 13-timed Ti Spider Shell
- 5" Rinfasciatured 9-Timed Ti Spider Shell
- Making Strong, Large Bottom Shots, by Tom Niesen
- Illustrated Exploration of Fulcanelli 1
- Black Powder for Cylinder-Shell Construction
- Polverone, Mike Swisher's Way
- Cut Stars
- Chipboard Discs
- Paste
- Paper for Cylinder Shells
- Spolettes
- String for Spiking (Great discussion in this Thread)
- String-Tests, Testing Characteristics of Various Spiking Strings
- Precise Spiking String "Stretch or Relax" Testing
- Total Spiking Strength Comparisons
- Spiking Horse
- A Spiking Station
- Case Formers for Cylinder Shells
- Single-Break Shell Assembly
- Spiking Cylinder Shells
- Pasting Cylinder Shells
- Finishing Cylinder Shells
- Stacked-Pumped-Stars Break
- Salutes, Simple Stand-Alone
- Illustrated Personal Exploration of Fulcanelli 2
- Rinfasciature Pasteless Shell Construction
- Hand-Rolled Reports
- 3" Color-and-Report Shell
- Color-and-Report Shell, 4"
- Two-Breaks of Color Shell, 4"
- Small Insert Shells
- Sun-and-Planets 5" Shell
- Sfera and Spiderweb Flash-Bag Shells
- 5", 9-Timed Report Shell
- 9-Timed Spider Shell
- 7-1/2" 9-Timed Rinfasciatured Spider Shell, and other similar ones
- 7-1/2" 9-Timed Rinfasciatured Report Shell
Fireworks Displays; Planning and Setting-Up
- Electric Firing, Planning and Systems
Class C (1.4g) Fireworks
- Using 1.4g Fireworks safely and creatively
Recommended Reading
Photographing and Videoing Fireworks
