Tourbillion

[Blaf]

Does anyone have any useful tips on end plugs for tourbillions beside clay, bentonite, kitty liter etc. Those materials are a bit heavier and probably affect aerodynamics...
I know, someone will mention a wood plug....do not, please.

Blaf

[grasmaaier]

Betonite is good for rockets and stuff like that, i doesnt affect aerodinamics.

[Guest]

OK Bentonite works well you say....well, I haven't got one but use stuff called Tricovite instead. This dark rey powder doesn't become stiff enough when rammed, it always stays somehow crumbly. But when water is added and mixed it becomes hard as a rock in minutes. Of course, it takes a bit longer to all water to evaporate but it's really tough stuff. And a bit heavier than I would like it to be. Makes perfect rocket nozzles though. So you think I should try this anyway...

Tnx for reply

Blaf

[grasmaaier]

Well yeah, just make a rocket and ram a nozzle with that stuff you have,
and just see what happends.

grasmaaier

[Blaf]

Will do asap...you should know that I live in a city of 250000 inhabitants and sometimes you simply can't find the right place to try "things".
Hope that spin speed won't blow off the wings...

Blaf

[grasmaaier]

My excuse for that Blaf, but isn't there a forrest nearby?
if so, you could try "things" there 8)


with regards,
Grasmaaier

[Blaf]

Wish I had one. To be honest, we have pine forests around but pines are very flammable and I wouldn't like to be chased by fire brigade. An open school basketball playground would be the right place but it's always crowded by kids...
Thanks for your concern anyhow!

Blaf

[grasmaaier]

Ok im out of ideas now :?

can't you do it at night at like 10:00?
and on the field but then there are no kids i think.

Grasmaaier

[Blaf]

Grasmaaier, you're my Man. Your enxiousity to see what happens is unbeliveable. Anyhow, I do appreciate your eagerness...reminds me on myself long time ago.
Will let you know if anything goes wrong or right either.

Regards

Blaf

[grasmaaier]

Many thanks to you blaf

regards
Grasmaaier

[Blaf]

Nothing new my friend Grasmaaier...will let you know as soon as I fire it.

Regards from Blaf

[POS]

maybe you two guys should go live together :(

[Blaf]

That's a good one... I'll take it into consideration for sure...

Blaf

[grasmaaier]

:( That would be cool, away from this shitty village i live in.

Grasmaaier

[Blaf]

Grasmaaier my friend

I'm kind of bussy lately so nothing was launched yet. I do finish much more important things around my house and my pyro-side has been supressed for a while.
As for the shitty city you live in...I wouldn't be so harsh to it. After all, it's in the Netherlands, isn't it?

Stay away of troubles!

Blaf

[Exhile]

I am not experienced in tourbillions, i can only give you a link to the site of Wouter Visser,
www.wfvisser.dds.nl there you can find a very good explanation on how to make nice tourbillions, check it out

[Blaf]

Hello Exhile

Yes, I know about Mr. Wouters site - it's one of the best I came accross ever. Besides, he speaks and writes better English than some native English guys.
Thanks for being concerned about my humble project...

Blaf

[Exhile]

If i have time, ill try and make a tourbillion myself(behind exams )

[Blaf]

This is a small step for me but giant leap for Pyro Community...

The Tourbillion project has reached its glorious finale! Yes it has! Namely, yesterday, there was a friendly football game between Brasil national team and Croatian selection...a perfect time to light some harmless fireworks to contibute general football frenzy. As a matter of fact, I wasn't interested at all in the game itself and actually drove my car, riding back from my summer residence. And (this is crucial moment...) when I parked my car...I thought...what a heck, everybody's watching the game on TV...this should be perfect time. And it was! I took my forgotten project from the box, lit the fuse and placed it on the wide concrete part of my parking...I retreated a few meters and waited. Boy, when it started I just stood with my jaws opened...the humming sound was so powerfull, and sparkling circle should have been two meters in diameter!!! It took off to about 10m in height and stayed there for a second or so, then suddenly lost the roatation speed and landed almost at the same place where it was lit. In total, effect lasted between 5 and 8 sec. and believe me, it was a scary one. It should be noted that Tourbillion body was made of carboard tube (12mm inner dia.) some 60mm in lenght, nozzle and end plugs were at least 10mm thick so that we have 40mm of charge in total. I just wonder what would happen if I used full lenght tube of 80mm... and propeller should be made of wooden ice-cream sticks instead of carboard strips.
All in all, well....you should have seen a smile on my face.

Greetings from Blaf

p.s. I have impression that this is just a beginning...

[Blaf]

And here we go again...another tourbillion was made a week ago. This time the tube was even longer than the first one and packed by composition well. Propeller wings were made of the same thin carboard, fixed with hot-melt glue and even a drop of it was glued to the opposite side as a pivoting point. This should have eased the spinning. Everything was set on open portion of concrete dock, away from ships and cars. In fact, I was about to impress my cusines younger son with unpatiently waited in anticipation of magic. I lit the fuse and retreated, so we stood and waited to see what happens. The thing started furiously spinning and just jumped a few times remaining on more or less same spot...flat with a concrete!!! No take off!!! Besides that, it was beautiful to watch the circle of sprinkling white sparks...but nothing flew this time. Unfortunately I would add. Later, I realized what was wrong with my latest device - the propeller wings were too small for lenghtened tube! I kept the same sized propeller on much heavier device. Next time I'll fix that too...

I know, I know...

Blaf

p.s. Image will be soon available!

[Blaf]

Here you are guys! Beauty in practice....

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It doesn't fly but looks damn professional, doesn't it?

Blaf

[HellBound>LordOfDark]

Nice what kind of fuse do you use? And what's in it?
Post te results I'm curious :D

[Blaf]

Ahhh, Lord of Dark again...

Well, the fuse is of my own design which is described in Home Made Fuse topic. And I have to dissappoint you - this one did not fly! I'm so angry at myself, huh. Read the thread before the image is posted for details of construction.

Blaf

[Blaf]

And, there's another attempt to fly this type of fireworks. As you'll clearly see from the image, this time proportions are changed in favour of propeller.
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Hope this one flies...

Blaf

[Blaf]

Here's the latest report...

As expected, this one took off in a snap but did not go too high. It stayed at some 5 meters (like having some secret mission there...) and floated downwind some 15 meters away. At the end of its short life it even increased its altitude for a few meters and then suddenly died and landed. I suspect that slightly wider axhaust hole is to be blamed for this moderate success...if it had been narrower, spinning would have been quicker thus taking it higher. Or perhaps quicker burning mixture...

Blaf