First time display setup questions

[PGHBoom]

This will be my first big show. Big being relative. Fifteen minutes with 200 gram, 500 gram & mortars. First question is how far should the audience be for safety and get a good view of the show? Second question is how far apart should I space some of the larger fan cakes (High Stepper-WF Boom and Dancing Rainbow-WF Boom)? I plan on spreading most everything out on four 4x8 sheets of plywood with the exception of the mortars which will be in racks.

[PGH_Pyro]

100 feet .

dancing rainbow doesn't go that wide, really from what I recall . just look at the angle that the widest tubes are pointed toward .

[Bazerk]

This is exactly how I used to do my shows. My audience was about 40 yards away and it was amazing. I dont ever have a problem with putting my cakes close together. You just have to make sure your angle cakes have clearance the left and right so that no other cakes are in its firing path.

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[Rick_In_Tampa]

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If it helps, here's how I have my boards set up this year. Cakes are nearly touching. The few cakes that do fan out have enough clearance when necessary.

[Westpapyro]

This will be my first big show. Big being relative. Fifteen minutes with 200 gram, 500 gram & mortars. First question is how far should the audience be for safety and get a good view of the show? Second question is how far apart should I space some of the larger fan cakes (High Stepper-WF Boom and Dancing Rainbow-WF Boom)? I plan on spreading most everything out on four 4x8 sheets of plywood with the exception of the mortars which will be in racks.

70 feet per inch for distance from audience.
How far apart in field or on a board next to other cakes?

[mjbland05]

Our show is around 175 feet to the audience, using mortars, 500 gram cakes etc, and it feels like a good distance for viewing and for not having fallout fall on the audience. my boards are relatively small & i do my boards on plywood also; attaching a pic here. Rick_in_tampa - im jealous of that 36 shot rack. i built my first 8 shot rack last year and love it, but 36 would give so many options!
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[Rick_In_Tampa]

Our show is around 175 feet to the audience, using mortars, 500 gram cakes etc, and it feels like a good distance for viewing and for not having fallout fall on the audience. my boards are relatively small & i do my boards on plywood also; attaching a pic here. Rick_in_tampa - im jealous of that 36 shot rack. i built my first 8 shot rack last year and love it, but 36 would give so many options!
10591060

No need to be jealous my friend. I can only take credit for inputting my debit card information into the online order form to make it show up on my doorstep. That is about the extent of my rack making capabilities. If all goes well next year, I hope to buy 2 x 50 shot fan racks for next years show. Baby steps. I just rented a storage unit to unload my garage so I can make room for more fireworks "stuff." That almost doesn't make sense now does it? lol... I told the wife I need to buy a pickup so I can transport the boards to the firing location. She told me to drop her off at the courthouse so she can file for divorce. I'm really torn on that one....

[Pyro k]

No need to be jealous my friend. I can only take credit for inputting my debit card information into the online order form to make it show up on my doorstep. That is about the extent of my rack making capabilities. If all goes well next year, I hope to buy 2 x 50 shot fan racks for next years show. Baby steps. I just rented a storage unit to unload my garage so I can make room for more fireworks "stuff." That almost doesn't make sense now does it? lol... I told the wife I need to buy a pickup so I can transport the boards to the firing location. She told me to drop her off at the courthouse so she can file for divorce. I'm really torn on that one....

:D isnt that the truth lol

[PGHBoom]

70 feet per inch for distance from audience.
How far apart in field or on a board next to other cakes?

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Westpapyro,

Here is my layout. Three feet between boards with a few items on the same cue spread over two boards to fill the sky. After reading High Stepper Topic I may move them off the boards.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

General question for the experts...

When fusing your cakes, do you zip tie, tape, both? Or maybe something different?

I zip tied everything last year and it worked pretty well. I think I only had 2 cakes that didn't go. Not bad considering it rained the entire time.

I know some folks zip tie and then tape. Do you find that makes for a better connection? I've also seen it where people use foil tape to tape down the run of visco between each cake. For the sake of "fuse management" I can see where that's a good idea. But I'm scared the fuse might go out if I tape it down wrong. Any tips or tricks to share in that regard?

Thanks guys!

[ilovecrackle]

General question for the experts...

When fusing your cakes, do you zip tie, tape, both? Or maybe something different?

I zip tied everything last year and it worked pretty well. I think I only had 2 cakes that didn't go. Not bad considering it rained the entire time.

I know some folks zip tie and then tape. Do you find that makes for a better connection? I've also seen it where people use foil tape to tape down the run of visco between each cake. For the sake of "fuse management" I can see where that's a good idea. But I'm scared the fuse might go out if I tape it down wrong. Any tips or tricks to share in that regard?

Thanks guys!

Well, I'm not an expert but here is what works for me. :)
I use two zip ties for each cake fuse I attach to the leader fuse and then i cover with masking tape. I'v always had 99% success rate using this method even when using 1/2 sec/ft visco for leader fuse.

If you are using boards, you always wanna cover the leader fuse with tape, even the fuse going to the next cake because if you don't, your board is gonna turn into a finale board with all that fuse exposed. lol
And Dont worry, the fuse will not go out being covered with tape.

[chriskrc]

General question for the experts...

When fusing your cakes, do you zip tie, tape, both? Or maybe something different?

I zip tied everything last year and it worked pretty well. I think I only had 2 cakes that didn't go. Not bad considering it rained the entire time.

I know some folks zip tie and then tape. Do you find that makes for a better connection? I've also seen it where people use foil tape to tape down the run of visco between each cake. For the sake of "fuse management" I can see where that's a good idea. But I'm scared the fuse might go out if I tape it down wrong. Any tips or tricks to share in that regard?

Thanks guys!

I've used both but taping the fuse seems to have worked better for me. Zip ties work but last year a couple shells didn't go and for some reason the fuse didn't catch with the zip ties. Not saying it work but I like taping better, all personal preferences I would say.

[mjbland05]

I've only done two shows but i've used tape for every connection and the only time i had something not fire was when i put a couple of dinky little things at the front of a board where their fuse wasn't long enough to get a good connection.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Thanks guys. Sounds like tape over zip ties is the way to go.

[nayslayer]

From what i've read here the past month, Dave likes using the clove hitch knot. Being this is my first year, i'm going to use zip ties and maybe tape. Don't worry about smothering fuse, it has it's own supply of oxygen. Thats all i have for you.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

From what i've read here the past month, Dave likes using the clove hitch knot. Being this is my first year, I'm going to use zip ties and maybe tape. Don't worry about smothering fuse, it has it's own supply of oxygen. Thats all i have for you.

Clove hitch knot, yes. I noticed that too. I don't know how to tie one but I'm sure I can find a You Tube video on that too.

I have some extra shells so I think I'm going to experiment a little and see which method works best. I just seriously don't want to have the finale fouled up because I used the wrong fuse.

Thanks a bunch for the reply and information!!