Author Topic: more: quill (Read 11511 times)

RocklockI · « **Reply #60 on:** March 06, 2009, 06:40:17 PM »

The spray is a bit pricey .

I'm not sure exactly what kind of glue you use to make post it notes ,but applying the stick'em localy on the string /yarn would be far more cost effective than spray stuff . Maybe just use glue stick or rubber cement .

I could be wrong about the spray being not cost efficent IF you have set up to where a quick shot would cover many straws...../ string ,yarn at once , like Tracy /Mike did w/ their straws .

Victor3 · « **Reply #61 on:** March 06, 2009, 10:06:43 PM »

Quote from: RocklockI on March 06, 2009, 01:42:07 PM

I think I'll go get some kind of thick twine or string maybe even yarn , then spray it with adhesive and then drag it thru the bowl "O" powder. I 'll hang the strings or yarn with a weight on them .

I have some 1/8" cotton pipe cleaners I'm gonna try shaving down a bit to reduce diameter, and use acetone-thinned Duco cement. They should hold a goodly amount of powder yet still be small enough to fit a small vent.

dan610324 · « **Reply #62 on:** March 07, 2009, 12:29:35 AM »

but doesnt they have a doubble steel center ??

Victor3 · « **Reply #63 on:** March 07, 2009, 01:46:56 AM »

Quote from: dan610324 on March 07, 2009, 12:29:35 AM

but doesnt they have a doubble steel center ??

Yes, they do.

Years ago I had some 1/16" Thermalite cord (wound with steel wire) I used as cannon fuse. Safer than smoldering, flying visco in my experience; always dead when it hit the ground.

Double D · « **Reply #64 on:** March 07, 2009, 09:12:44 AM »

I tried some stuff called tacky glue...it's a non starter for me.

The spray adhesive still looks to be the best bet.

RocklockI · « **Reply #65 on:** March 07, 2009, 09:26:36 AM »

I saw that same Tackey Glue this morning at Hobby Lobby .

I came home with some thin yarn . Also some Jute string .

They didn't have "craft straws" but I found some litle tiny Craft wood sticks .

dan610324 · « **Reply #66 on:** March 07, 2009, 12:21:59 PM »

is it anyone who could give some approximately dimemsional proportions between the vent and the "fuse" to get the quill effect in an extremely small vent at a small cannon or mortar ??

what I was thinking about was to use pure cotton sewing thread dipped in pingpong ball glue and then coated with meal blackpowder .

then maybe it would be possible to use vent of 1/32" size and still have an secured ignition , maybe even smaller .

or would it be possible to dip cotton sewing thread in acids to make gun cotton threads ??

just to be able to use vents between 0,5 and 1 millimeter in diameter .
just for very small bores , less then 1/2" . in most of those small calibers you use lose powder and not pre manufactured aluminum foil wraped charges .

Double D · « **Reply #67 on:** March 07, 2009, 01:47:05 PM »

The quill is going to need some sort of rigidity to be poked down the vent and into powder load. If the ping pong glue dries hard that might work.

Double D · « **Reply #68 on:** March 07, 2009, 05:23:50 PM »

I wonder if this would work?

3M Scotch® Restickable Glue Stick, .20 oz

How about instead of broom straw ordinary toothpick. The ones I have here are between .075 and .080 in in diameter and 2.565 to 2.570 long. Plenty long enough for the small cannon.

RocklockI · « **Reply #69 on:** March 07, 2009, 05:54:18 PM »

Thats what I was wondering too . I know I've seen extra long wooden tooth picks ....sometimes they have little frilly plastic heads .

i was disapointed with the small craft sticks . They were abit thick and I thought it would be easy to split them . I think they are wooden matchsticks or something like that .

Well ,splitting them became a challenge . They dont have a straight grain and they all split nowheres down the middle .

I've split popsicle sticks thinner than that many times no big deal at all . So tomorrow I'll get some from the garage and try them , who knows ?

I have a sailboat named "Popsickle sticks" when she's good , when she's bad there are other names used instead . Those darn things have come in very handy ....popsicle sticks not bad words so much .

rocklock

RocklockI · « **Reply #70 on:** March 07, 2009, 06:26:59 PM »

It's kinda funny , we have this crew of folks wandering thru the stores looking for things that have nothing to do with their intended purpose .

When a salesperson shows up and says "..well what are you fixing /building/ ..whatever" . "Uhh ,well just something I'm woking on ." The manager at Hobby Lobby asked me "what are "craft straws" ? " ... I told him ,well they'd be next to the popsickle sticks probably .

So off we went to the dining section . He couldnt find what he called "drinking straws" .

I told him "no they'd be paper".....he looked me square in the eye and said "...they need to be paper ?"

I was thinking ...do I look like I need a blob of molten plastic blasted all over my face

??

he didn't say anything else ,thats good because between his incompetance and the total lack of help in the store I was ticked .....and I told him what I thought of him....not out loud of course

molten plastic all over my face indeed ! who inthe hell these people think they are anyway ?

gary somehow you get by ,one day at a time ...

Victor3 · « **Reply #71 on:** March 07, 2009, 07:41:30 PM »

Quote from: RocklockI on March 07, 2009, 06:26:59 PM

It's kinda funny , we have this crew of folks wandering thru the stores looking for things that have nothing to do with their intended purpose .

I was in Michael's the other day looking for a new tube of Duco, but didn't see any. Saleslady says, "We have this XXX brand glue. It's stronger than Duco." I just smiled and said thanks.

Over to the wood section, looking for some 3/4" wooden balls to shoot out of my BNA cork mortar. Another saleslady says, "we only have 3/4" beads (hole drilled through them) in stock, but these 20mm balls are the same as 3/4."

Another fake smile and I was on my way toward the door without my goods.

I gotta agree with you Rocklock. These craft stores just don't cut it; don't stock essential projectiles and fuse-making supplies, and the staff has a disturbing lack of cannon knowledge. If it wasn't for the poly-fill beads they sell for filling my sandbag rifle rests, they'd be totally useless.

dan610324 · « **Reply #72 on:** March 08, 2009, 03:56:17 AM »

dd
as ping pong balls are really hard I suppose that the sewing thread should also get hard when the aceton disappeared
but could maybe be an good idea to soak it a first time in an really thin solution of aceton and ping pong balls , with very much acetone in it , just to have the cotton really "filled" with it and not just stick to the outside , then another time with the same glue and dip it in meal powder , the finer grains the faster and easier to ignite I believe .

Double D · « **Reply #73 on:** March 08, 2009, 05:25:11 AM »

This is the difference between big city and small town. Friday when I walked in to the Ben Franklin Store, Phyllis the co owner of the store greeted us and and asked me how my knee was and and asked the wife about our new grand daughter.

When we got around to what we were looking for. I told her I was was looking for some glue and a whisk broom. She asked what kind of cannon project I was working on now. We picked up the whisk broom and she wanted know what I was going to do with the broom. I explained the spray adhesive and powder thing to her. The she took me over to the craft section to find some glue. She said spray adhesive was to expensive. She said the stuff she was thinking of was sold out and she said she would order it me. She also suggested toothpicks instead of the broomstraw.

Then she scolded me for having the cannon shoot on Saturday, because she wanted come watch us shoot and she has to work on Saturdays.

Thanks I'll take Cut Bank, MT over Herndon VA any day.

RocklockI · « **Reply #74 on:** March 08, 2009, 08:02:15 AM »

I finally had some luck on this quill thing.

Just single sided tape , covered with powder .

I took a thin piece of music wire bent a tiny little hook and pulled the tape thru rather than push it YMMV

It working for me ....although I made a 5 inch long quill and it blew up like a firecracker !

It was wedged into a crack but not tight and I think the constriction caused an overload . Both ends open with a piece of viso to get it lighted

? Just cellophane tape and BP on it . maybe the celluloid helped make it boom too

it probably would have worked as a quill just not quite right either .
By pulling them thru I might be able to "load" a whole craft straw at once . Then snip to length .

Double D · « **Reply #75 on:** March 08, 2009, 09:22:38 AM »

If you load a whole straw it will burn slower like a fuse.

dan610324 · « **Reply #76 on:** March 08, 2009, 09:28:33 AM »

he probably mean to pull a long piece of coated tape through an full length straw

RocklockI · « **Reply #77 on:** March 08, 2009, 09:49:18 AM »

Dan is correct . these thing are real fast .

Double D · « **Reply #78 on:** March 10, 2009, 09:20:08 AM »

I did some test burns of the various constructions this morning. The tooth pick-sticky glue and the broom straw and sticky glue worked just fine. They were a bit slow to light but burnt just fine. Not as fast a burn as the paper straw quill but they worked.

I did find the removeable glue sticks locally so decide to try them.

I started out with a piece of masking tape to hold the tooth picks while I rolled on the glue from the glue stick. THen I took the strip of tooth picks and put them in the powder it didn't appear that the glue stick grabbed that much powder. They did burn just fine in the burn test. Like the others they were a little difficult to ignite. I removed the tooth pick quill from the masking tape by cutting away the masking tape at the tip of the toothpick.

I decide to try something else.

I took a short strip double side sticky tape and set on a plastic coffee can lid. I then tried to coat the tooth picks with the glue stick. The toothpick did not stick that well to the tape and came loose when applied the glue. To stop this I simply put another piece double sided sticky tape on the ends of the toothpick.

This worked much better. After rolling on the glue on both sides of the toothpick I dropped the whole works in powder and coated the tape and the tooth picks.

The removeable glue doesn't pick up as much powder as the tape.

I simply cut the tape between toothpicks to make the individual quills. Here is a video of lighting them off.

[stream=475,325]http://www.fototime.com/1CF8A4DF8863AD4/conv.wmv[/stream]

No difficulty with ignition there and the burn is fine. I think the wide flat of the sticky tape give a better surface for the slow match to heat and ignite the powder. They don't burn as fast as the paper quill, but are probably adequate. I suppose I will have to go up to Southpaw's again and do some fields test. The sacrifices I do for you guys.

dan610324 · « **Reply #79 on:** March 10, 2009, 09:53:15 AM »

but here at this test in the snow you had nothing surrounding it , they would probably be much faster if you had them in the touch hole of a cannon or mortar as the gases has nowhere to go there then in both directions of that hole .
that will probably create the same effect as the straw does for your other quill .
test a few in the touch hole of an unloaded cannon and see whats happening

Double D · « **Reply #80 on:** March 10, 2009, 12:33:56 PM »

That's what I was thinking also Dan. That's also the reason for the trip to SouthPaw's to test the theory. I guess I could test a few in the unloaded cannon in the back yard. I'll get back to you.

Double D · « **Reply #81 on:** March 10, 2009, 12:55:25 PM »

Thanks a lot Dan....The wife came stomping down the stairs and wanted to know what I was burning.

Here's the video:

[stream=475,325]http://www.fototime.com/C177A2EF11DC48F/conv.wmv[/stream]

It's not as quick as the straw quill, but I think it will be plenty good for the little guns.

dan610324 · « **Reply #82 on:** March 10, 2009, 03:46:42 PM »

maybe best to tell her the next time that you will test some quills ,
and keep the door to the house closed

what do you think about to shorten them that they just reach the bottom of the bore ??
then they probably will be faster .

Double D · « **Reply #83 on:** March 10, 2009, 04:33:33 PM »

Dan,

They are plenty fast and not worth the effort to cut down. The pointed toothpick will also penetrate the load a little better.

GGaskill · « **Reply #84 on:** March 10, 2009, 09:47:22 PM »

Then she scolded me for having the cannon shoot on Saturday, because she wanted come watch us shoot and she has to work on Saturdays.

I told you it should be two days.

RocklockI · « **Reply #85 on:** March 11, 2009, 03:58:57 PM »

This quill idea has been fun ! Very inexpensive fun to get ready for summer in the winter .

I have settled on the single sided sticky tape covered with powder (3f) then drawn up thru the "craft straw". At @2" in length they are ZIP FAST! It will be interesting to see if there is a dicernable(sp) lapse between ZIP and Bang ?

Dont try these with a match or Bic type lighter .....as there is no time to move . A Linstock is needed or short peice of viso is the only way I'll shoot them .

Very fullfilling just watching them pop !

Double D · « **Reply #86 on:** March 11, 2009, 04:17:48 PM »

Aha! now I understand Gary. I couldn't understand why you were having trouble getting the powder covered tape in the straws. 3Fg! Put some 4Fg on your future shopping list, it's even easier to work with.

You are definitely right, don't try and light these with your zippo.

RocklockI · « **Reply #87 on:** March 11, 2009, 06:10:33 PM »

Quote from: Double D on March 11, 2009, 04:17:48 PM

Aha! now I understand Gary. I couldn't understand why you were having trouble getting the powder covered tape in the straws. 3Fg! Put some 4Fg on your future shopping list, it's even easier to work with.

You are definitely right, don't try and light these with your zippo.

4f would be better .

dan610324 · « **Reply #88 on:** March 11, 2009, 09:24:47 PM »

what would happened if you used a mortar (the kitchen style

) and made meal powder to use on the tape ??
would it be even faster then ??

Rickk · « **Reply #89 on:** March 12, 2009, 02:05:26 AM »

4F is so fast that the quills actually explode when lit. No real need to go to meal powder.

I made a 12 incher once just to see what would happen. It made quite a firecracker.