Beginning the process for this year, reviewing last year

[DavidthePyro]

Hey everyone!

I'm getting ready to hit the ground running for this year. Im reviewing last year's show and product to determine where and how I can improve. This was my first electronically fired show, and it was a great success. I wanted to share the video since it's kind of a slow time of the year. I will be doubling the product this year because of a growth spurt in the budget, and just wanted to start off the year by sharing and asking for your input.



https://youtu.be/H0m9p9ngUwY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0m9p9ngUwY&feature=youtu.be

[Jay_]

Great show David, sounded like everyone enjoyed it as well!

If you are looking to expand, my suggestion would be a 3 station (left center right) setup with your outboard stations around 75' to 100' apart assuming that you have the space to do so.

Also the 1.4 pro slices, shells, comets, and mines are great additions to any show.

[DavidthePyro]

Exactly what I was thinking! I love it! Going to do a lot of comets and mines, probably 6 positions for those racks with some angled. 3 main stations across 150 ft or so. The property is actually two properties owned by the family on 600+acres and a big field in between the party and where I launch, so tons of space.

[displayfireworks1]

Wish we know what firing system you used. Also what ignition devices did you use, talons , electric ,match etc? Was anything fused using a long fuse? The upside is you posted you had a growth spurt in the budget.

[DavidthePyro]

I used a homemade 20 cue board(2 circuits, putting my engineering degree to good use!) with runs of 10-50 shells going into 2-3 cakes, timed fuse. It was 300 or so shells and 50+ cakes

[DavidthePyro]

I did use Talons, this year I will be using MJG initiators and poking as much as makes sense to poke.

[esgrillo]

I personally like the 3 station design as well and have had that style for years with supplemental platforms for special effects and comets/mines. I would suggest if you are seriously considering using slices, comets, & mines you need to invest in a Cobra or similar system. I used a cheap chinese system for my first show and then purchased a Cobra the next year and have not looked back. It makes expansion easy, it is just $ lol.

I would also suggest shortening your show a lot. Most 4th of July backyard shows are in the 15-20 min range. It allows you to get more product in the air per unit time and keeps the audience engaged better. All IMHO of course.

[DavidthePyro]

Exactly what I was thinking, i thought it was going to be in that range and it ended up going way over with big gaps, so I was a little upset about that, nothing too difficult to solve this year. More product will help. My girlfriends father bought me two of those chinese firing systems, one with 6 modules and one with 15, not sure why he didnt just buy one, so now I have two remotes, one just sitting around. Dont think I'll use my self built firing board this year, and I'm gonna wait until november to get a cobra because of price. I do like a little more involvement in the firing part of the show so the chinese firing system will be my situation this year, fingers crossed. Maybe a couple good video gamers and some practice runs through the sequence, if both remotes dont interfere with eachother

[displayfireworks1]

At DavidthePyro. You will post a picture of this "20 Cue Board" and tell us of its magical powers.

[DavidthePyro]

http://www.pyrotalk.com/bulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=4705&stc=1

The board is pretty simple, but an armed safety lock on the armed circuit, figured circuitry like that would prevent accidents in test mode, so I'm pretty pleased with its very basic assembly. I also have a port with power going out and a second set of wires for an 8-way knob to add additional channels in the future, but I never ended up adding in the circuitry for expansion

[DavidthePyro]

Thinking about it more, if I found a way to make some 21-conductor extension cables, I could just use my board as a wired remote and put a few channel strips for each cue bank out at the launch site. The amount of wiring is the issue though. I think to get a strong enough signal I'd need a bigger battery, otherwise I need to alter my circuitry so that it's just sending signals and not the power needed to ignite each cue

[Robbro097]

Exactly what I was thinking, i thought it was going to be in that range and it ended up going way over with big gaps, so I was a little upset about that, nothing too difficult to solve this year. More product will help. My girlfriends father bought me two of those chinese firing systems, one with 6 modules and one with 15, not sure why he didnt just buy one, so now I have two remotes, one just sitting around. Dont think I'll use my self built firing board this year, and I'm gonna wait until november to get a cobra because of price. I do like a little more involvement in the firing part of the show so the chinese firing system will be my situation this year, fingers crossed. Maybe a couple good video gamers and some practice runs through the sequence, if both remotes dont interfere with eachother

Cobra does usually do a spring sale around the end of march. Not as big of discount as black friday but still some really good deals and def worth a look.

[DavidthePyro]

Thanks for the heads up! I'll keep an eye out!

[Robbro097]

If nothing else b a good time to buy mjg they usually 10% off and cobra already has the best price around on them

[DavidthePyro]

Perfect! Sounds like a plan. I got 80 last fall and was blown away with the result on a small experimental show. The shipping was quick too

[displayfireworks1]

I am missing something. What are you touching or doing that is setting off a fireworks product. Is it that little button in the center between the red and green lights? Is there a wired remote ???

[DavidthePyro]

Yes, the little button

[displayfireworks1]

This board device you created is in front of you and for each cue you run say 50 feet of wire out to each fused board ? So it would be cue #1 50 feet of wire out to the fused board and cue #2 50 feet of wire out to the fused board ??? Curious if you ever saw my nail board video?

[DavidthePyro]

Yes 100' of wire per cue, 2000' total, nail board is a great way to do it! Love that video! The analog stuff has a gritty element to it that I love, so even though my board is very basic, its very safe and effective. Quite an experience to build. A lot of soldering. It's a great way to combine my love of pyro and my love of electronics