Piggybacking 1.75" shells

[lightitup]

Has anyone tried the piggy backing technique for consumer shells. How well does it work? Does it work with canister shells?

[PennPyro70]

hello welcome to the forums. ive done that. ive heard no u shouldnt and yea its ok, yea u are gonna get a low break every now and again so thats y most will say its not a good idea and if u are goin to do it i would recommend NOT doing it with the cardboard mortar u get in some of the packs lol buddy tried it and lets say it looked good for a ground display lol just my 2 cents. i havnt tried it with canaster shells but im sure someone else has tho.

[PyroMonkey]

I have piggy-backed shells & mines several times. Pull the mine on the BOTTOM (duh). Remove the fuse from the mine, and bore the fuse hole out a bit larger. I like to poke another hole into the lift on the mine, to be sure fire will get into it (especially if they're a snug fit in the gun). Drop the mine into the gun first, then the fused shell on top. We do use high-quality HDPE mortars with wood plugs, though. I've occasionally done this with canisters on mines... but you start noticing that a 12" gun doesn't allow much room for stacking like this... so 15" guns may be helpful.

I'm no physicist, so maybe somebody else can comment on this: When stacking two shells on top of one another, will the lift charge of the top shell negate the lift of the bottom one? I've wondered if it wouldn't be more effective to pull the lift cup off the top shell (leaving the exposed time fuse), dump the powder into the mortar... THEN stack the two shells in (obviously leaving the fuse in the other shell). You'd essentially be making a peanut shell. Just thinking out loud.

[pyro man 205]

This has came up be for in a post just to let you know. look up Piggy Backing for the post, it was back when we first started a year ago. check it out it my have some Answers and Questions .

[Jdrobinson13]

I've played around with piggy backing and even did 3 shells (which worked rather well actually). Make sure the shell you are lighting is the top shell. If you light the bottom shell, the top shell will still leave the mortar, but tends to break low. When I was testing out this technique, we did ball shells and canisters. They both worked equally as well, but I myself tend to stay away from piggy backing canisters. Just a personal preference.

[VFI_Fireworks]

PyroMonkey said," You'd essentially be making a peanut shell."


I aint gonna say this is how people get hurt, so lets just say if your goning to experiment on this kind of thing be safe.

Ok now that being said, you are basically using existing charges and balls so if you do you home work online you will find that you are making a peanut shell. Manufacturing is also another license separate than the 54 which is basically in some sense what your doing. Now that that's said doing this activity is as much fun as any fuse lighting you will get to do. I would like to suggest getting some kraft paper it is very very cheap at Cannonfuse. This will protect your fast fuse, time fuse or anything being protected by the flame so you get height and burst without losing one or the other. Have fun, play safe.

[lightitup]

Thanks for all the input. after reading your comments and reading the comments on the previous post, i think i will do some experimenting. I have a small 3 module firing system that i can experiment from a distance with.

[Pyro@Mach13]

Is it really worth taking chances?

JD Robinson, watched a bunch of your videos yesterday, enjoyed them.

[J's12talk]

Why would you want to take the risk of piggybacking shells when you can buy double brake all the way up to 10 break shells.

[Jdrobinson13]

Is it really worth taking chances?

JD Robinson, watched a bunch of your videos yesterday, enjoyed them.

Thank you, glad you enjoyed them!

J's12talk has a valid point also. After watching Dave's fireworks on the farm series when he first mentioned piggybacking, I think a lot of people just wanted to try it out. I hope that everyone is safe if they try this though.

[Pyro Nation]

I tried once, why.. I really dont know, but the risk is far worse than the benefit from it... IMHO!

[J's12talk]

I tried once, why.. I really dont know, but the risk is far worse than the benefit from it... IMHO!

The risks that we take in life need to be thought out and calculated. Being pyro's we are at risk to begin with, Lord knows I've taken my chances but I weigh each risk carefully before I proceed.

[Pyro@Mach13]

The risks that we take in life need to be thought out and calculated. Being pyro's we are at risk to begin with, Lord knows I've taken my chances but I weigh each risk carefully before I proceed.

True and as you mentioned there are some great double, triple and quad breaks shells out there, Yep up to 10 (but they stink! haha). WFBoom, I have heard have some great multi-break shells.