Pyrotools Making fireworks is not only a challenge for your knowledge and skills in chemistry. You also have to be able to make some tooling yourself, if you do not want to spend a fortune buying from others. If you have a friend with a lathe and a drill press, you are one lucky pyro! But you still have to be able to tell him what to make. As I am still a student, I do not have the money or the space to invest into machinery. But I have a friend who has got it all! And as he turned out to be a rocket freak, what was then more natural than asking him to make me a rocket spindle? The need for highly specialized tooling for each size of rockets, makes life hard. I wanted to be able to use one rocket spindle to make different types of rockets. What I did, was to settle on one rocket diameter. Then the length of the spindle could be adjusted by stacking plates around the spindle, in order to achieve a spindle length suitable for the Stinger missile. You can see the tube compared to the spindle. This rocket (20 mm ID) can launch 130 grams payloads.

Another beautiful effect that demands specialized tooling, is the crossette. It is a cylindrical, pressed star, typically a charcoal/glitter composition. The special shape of the plunger creates a hole in the crossette that is filled with a bursting charge. The smallest tip creates a fire transfer hole, so that when the crossette is ignited in one end, it will burn until the flame reaches the small hole that leads the flame to the burst. If everything is properly made, the crossette should split into several (four or more) pieces. The crossettes can be fired one by one from small mortars, or they can be put into a shell to get a crossette shell.

In order to press crossettes or the more sensitive whistle rockets, some type of press has to be used. As I do not always carry my 40 kg press around where ever I go, I had to make a quick and cheap press when I went home one day. I constructed a nutcracker type of press from two pieces of 5 X 10 cm (2" by 4") wood, about 2 meters long, and two shorter pieces . I also used a piece of thick wood plate as a shield, just in case the rockets should explode when pressed. The whole press was made in about one hour, and it is powerful enough for most applications. The maximum pressure is about 500 kg. If higher pressure is needed, metal should be used when building the press, or one could use an hydraulic press.

Here is another picture showing the press "in action". As you can see, the important part is that the arms of the press is almost parallel, or else the force from the press will not be directed straight down as you want it to. You might need to build some sort of mould to keep the rammers or the plunger from bending sideways.

What I did was to make a wooden support, that keep the rammer and the casing of the rocket on line. You can see the pieces of wood with a hole that is about one mm wider than the casing. Two of the tree parts holds the casing in position, while the last and upper piece keeps the rammer from bending. The tree pieces are easy to put together, and the mould works perfect in order to prevent bending of the casing.

When all the pieces are put together, only the rammers can be seen. The moulds are made to fit a 20 mm and a 10 mm ID rocket, having 2-3 mm thick walls. I have to use them until I can make a press with a piston that moves vertically. Even then, some support for the smaller rockets might be needed.

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