50 shot rack question

[ken150]

im in the middle of building my first 50 shot rack and relize that i want to be able to remove the tubes and do other things with them like place them in various shot racks in the future. would this be safe or would they bounce out of the box im building them in during a shoot. there will be 2 inches of the tubes tops exposed with 2x4s framing top and bottom and plywood sides and bottom also. any thoughts on this would be of great help. thanks!!!!!

[darink300zx]

It wouldn't be too safe to have them bouncing around, you are right about that. What I have done in this case is use wedges pushed down in the gaps to snug the tubes in. If you ever want to remove the tubes, just remove the wedges and they are loose again. Works like a charm, just make sure that after firing the rack to re-check the wedges to make sure they haven't worked loose before using it again.

Darin.

[Deweycoon]

I also use wedges.
I made my racks big enough to put a construction wedge in each row of tubes.
I haven't had one move with this method.

[shshibby]

I agree, the tubes WILL jump around if not fastened in properly. When testing my first 50 shot rack with Rambo Kid shells I had more than one instance where tubes jumped clean out of the rack. I just finished upgrading my racks with reinforcement screws so that they can withstand the pressure from wedges and I am planning to use the wedge technique as well.

50 shot rack (without upgrades) (http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/520/1449DCP_0417.JPG)

[shrapnel]

I built 3 20 shot angle racks this week, they consist of 4, 5 shot angle racks screwed together, what i do is, the 2" hdpe sdr11 is 2-3/8" diameter so my bottom and end frame pieces are ripped 2-3/8" exactly on a table saw, at the top on the sides i screw an 1-3/4" 1x on each side of the rack and then cut 1-1/4"wedges on miter saw to space tubes for the angle but the length of my wedges is 2-1/8", so when screwed in between the two 1x side rails it clamps down on the tubes, you cant even turn them with your hand. I think it's silly to build these 60, 100, 500, whatever shot racks, how the hell do you move them?
my 20 shot angles are easily loaded for transport or flipped upside down for cleaning. It takes no time to set them in a row touching then you have however many shots you want without an army necessary to carry it, i'd post a picture but im a carpenter and almost computer illiterate, i do have a digital camera, maybe i'll try later. you definately do not want your tubes jumping out of your rack.
Edit - the only lumber i use is all 1x stock, if properly pre-drilled and screwed it is more than strong enough and using 2x4s only adds to the weight issue.

[noslo98]

On my rack I just used 1x4 on the whole thing that we ran through the table saw and cut to the width of the tubes.The tubes fit so tight by them selvs with out any other assistance like wedges or any type of fasteners.Yoiu can pull the tubes back out but its not easy but once the first is out they will come out and can be used in other racks.

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/821/48rack6hz.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[shrapnel]

Has anyone else expirimented with tube lengths? i see no noticible difference or reason for longer tubes, you see the issues with wicks too short for many of the shells in longer tubes. I have sticks of hdpe i cut in lengths from 12 to 20 inches. i saw no height difference from 12 to 16, and longer i actually thought caused lower breaks as if it created drag on its way out. ive even tried piggybacking with 12" and it worked fine.

[noslo98]

True there is no diference in the tube lengths,the only reason i did it was because thats what i had laying around.I shot this rack a week ago and it did awesome the spread and height was perfect.I did a z-fire type fusing with it using 12 shell chains at winterblast it was awesome.

[ken150]

thanks guys i got some good ideas from you,and you are right schrapnel the weight can become a problem i was not even thinking of the weight that the wood would add with the 2x4s.just have to use smaller wood from now own.

[shrapnel]

No problem,thats what this forums for i know ive learned a ton here! I just think if you wanna build racks that big, you might as well rob the axle and wheels off your bbq pit so you can pull it around!:lol:

[carp]

Be careful that you do not jam the tubes in to tight. With the heat they may warp out of shape and you may not get another shell in them. Or worse the heat will warp mortars with shells in them. I had a rack of 1.75" fiberglass that were jammed pretty snug and they have warped since the 4th. Professional racks I've seen straight from the manufacture, with mortars separated, have a diameter 1/4" greater than the O.D of the mortar giving 1/8" of paly all around the circumference of the mortar. So on a 3" fibergalss mortar with O.D 3 5/16" the actual opening to slide the mortar in is 3 9/16" X 3 9/16". The mortars move easily in the racks and are easily removed.

[shrapnel]

What stops them from jumping?

[johnny_boomboom]

If you build you racks with the guides at or just below the motar mouth you should have no issues with the tube jumping out... I use 12, 13.5 and 15 inch motars in various size racks, 10, 12, 20 and 50 shot and have yet to have one jump out... I cannot see a 1.75" consumer shell have enough lift to make a tube jump 12" into the air... maybe 1-1/2 or 2" but 12" no freakin way...
I leave about 1/8 to 1/4" of play in my racks to allow for the tubes to swell / move if they need to... It makes it easy for me to pull the tubes to clean out residue as well... Just my 2Cents on this issue

[carp]

Racks need to transfer the forces somewhere else and also keep forces from acting on the mortars. If the rack should exert force on the mortar, it will move. If your mortars are bouncing out something is not right. I have never had one do this. But I can see in world of physics and murphy's law that it is possible.

Are your mortars in contact with the bottom board? If not, it's like dropping them on the cement and watching them bounce.

Is the bottom board in contact with the ground or have sufficient designs been implemented to transfer the forces appropriately.

Do your single shot #500 1.4g items bounce 15 to 18 inches in the air? Then your racked mortars shouldn't.

[ken150]

what kind of screws should i use for the rack and do i need to put some sort of glue on the screws to keep them from backing out. the ones im using now are striping out and not holding right.

[johnny_boomboom]

Ken,

I use 2-1/2 and 3" deck screws... I also pre-drill all of my holes with a counter-sink bit... You can use yellow or gorilla glue. I personally don't use glue, not needed for my racks. Just make sure you are not pre-drilling the holes to large... for deck screws use a 1/8" counter-sink bit.

[shrapnel]

I agree johnny, no glue in my racks, im using 1x wood so i only use 1 5/8" deck screws.

[Aric]

The angled rack which is in the photograph above is an awesome piece of hardware!


Was the construction of this easy or hard?

[noslo98]

It was an easy construction after dealing with the diferent tube widths from different tube companys.Since i was trying to make the width snug but not too tight.Construction was just three 12 shot racks angled out and end boards fastened to it but it is pretty dam heavy next one will be lightened up.This thing is a hadful to carry loaded it needs wheels..LOL ask bay he helped carry it.

[shrapnel]

Whew!, just finished my eighth rack, i now have 200 tubes racked and ready and still pipe in boxes waiting to be plugged. I now have 2-30 straight up, 2-30 angle, 4-20 angle. And zero shells!:mad:

[ken150]

thanks guys.the input is great and much needed.looks like i need to make a trip to the local lows home builder and get longer screws.as soon as this cold air passes i will get back to the pyro barn and start working again. i also agree with aric the rack in this thread is awsome but me building one like that is at least a year away or more,still have to finish this one.lol thanks again!!!!

[ken150]

noslo what would you say the weight of your rack is loaded and not loaded?

[noslo98]

Good question on the weight i dont have a scale though. I know its not light. I would say a good 40-60 lbs.

[Pyroman6000]

I like the wedge ideas for making fiberglass tube racks, since drilling and screwing thru the plug is out of the question. I always wondered how you would fasten them down. i kept envisioning opening up the back doors of the truck and having loose fiberglass tubes rolling everywhere! Great point regarding keeping the top slat even with or just below the top of the mortars! An extra bonus with this method, is that that slat provides an ideal place to secure the main fuses or electric slats to. Before we started using a portable router to make j cuts in the tops of the mortars for fuse holders, we used to tape all of our leaders down to this board. Kept them from flopping around, off the ground, and they were all at an even height and easy to spot by the shooters ( we used masking tape).

As for HDPE, just run a deck screw up through the base plate into the plug. Now you have a ZERO percent chance of tubes popping out at inoportune times. All of our racks are built this way. Now you don't need that toe board at all- less weight, cost and shrapnel potential! This method also keeps adjacent tubes from popping out or falling over in the event of a cato tube blowout. All i can picture with loose tube racks is having a shell destroy a tube and blow the rack open now you have all these loose loaded mortars pointed in all directions.

As for wanting them removeable for flexability, small racks like 5 or 10 shots are easy to fasten into most angle or fan configurations. If I go to the trouble of making racks, why keep the tubes removable to use in milk crates for example? I myself would make 90% of my racks with 12" tubes. Not only do I save some $$, but most shells don't come with leaders long enough for 15" or longer tubes. Those that do simply give more material to work with when chaining! Extending fuses is a pain in the butt!

Thanks for the pics, guys! I'm getting tons of ideas. Now i just need extra $$ for poly and materials and a wood shop! If you have the capability, those template type endboards with the curved slots for angling are the cat's meow! If not, screws or duplex nails work too.

[heavy d]

here is what i have so far. the little pices of wood under the racks is removealbe its just to set the angles. does it look like the angels are ok?
i think it looks a little off. i dont want them to shoot to close to the ground and hurt someone. please help. thanks heavyd

[johnny_boomboom]

Heavy... By George I think you got it... Looks perfect to me... you could add a little more angle on the outer two if you like but not much...


WooooHOOOOOO Post number 400!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[noslo98]

Looks good, like he said maybe a little ore angle on the ends or possibly angle in the other two rows more twards the middle to get better spacing.

[noel]

HeavyD... that's a great way to do it. Just put a board top and bottom on each side and your done. Remove a few screws and it all stacks back up for easy storage.

[Spyder207]

Very nice HeavyD. Hope mine come out as good.

[A_pyro_rush]

Painting them black gives it a special touch...nice

[shrapnel]

Heavy, are those fiberglass or yellow hdpe? If the latter where from?

[noslo98]

The black in a nice idea since my pretty rack pictured above is now about 30% black after 4 straight days of shooting it.

[shrapnel]

Painting does look nice, until you use it! I have 2 - 30 shot racks with freestanding tubes that i painted the base 3 coats black and had one row each of red, white and blue tubes, they were beeeeeeeeuuuuuuuutiful.:cool:

[heavy d]

this is the finished rack. thanks to everyone who gave me advice. now i have to make 2- 24 shot racks. heavy d

[Aric]

The schematics for the angled rack are over on Pyroreview....


I am going to build me one as soon as possible!

[shrapnel]

<----------------Just finished another 20 shot 15" angle rack.;)

[ken150]

schrapnel you getting the job done on them racks!!! LoL i still have not finished my 50 shoot rack yet, but just wait till thur. i have a feeling that it will be done before sun down. LoL

[shrapnel]

Yeah, we got two kids playing select baseball, we will be gone 10 out of twelve weekends from april - end of june so i have to get ready for fourth now! After using all my tubes up i had five left so i built a small 5-shot rack i'll use for testing new shells and fusing methods and such, it's light and easy to carry.

[ken150]

On my rack I just used 1x4 on the whole thing that we ran through the table saw and cut to the width of the tubes.The tubes fit so tight by them selvs with out any other assistance like wedges or any type of fasteners.Yoiu can pull the tubes back out but its not easy but once the first is out they will come out and can be used in other racks.

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/821/48rack6hz.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
noslo are those i think eye bolts on the right of the rack, put there to hold it down and keep it from turning over by putting a rod through them. i thought with a wide enough base that it has it would not turn over. just wondering why they are there.

[shrapnel]

here is some of my racks

[St1dinoh]

noslo are those i think eye bolts on the right of the rack, put there to hold it down and keep it from turning over by putting a rod through them. i thought with a wide enough base that it has it would not turn over. just wondering why they are there.

i'll awnser for him...

yeah they are to secure the racks in place, just an added measure of saftey. if you use that same method on a single row rack they will also allow you to angle them out, then secure them, to give you an angled rack.

[shrapnel]

http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/1461

Here are some of my racks:)

[St1dinoh]

http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/500/1461Picture_113.jpg

hey schrapnel....just quote me to see how i did that....i got the info on the pic by right clicking the pic in your galery, then going to properties, then copy pasting the line about the file name. then all you gotta do is put it between the img tags and it'll show up....

EDIT: btw....nice racks :D

[Aric]

Those are awesome pieces of work!


Great job on those racks!


Does the construction process have the requirement of several hours of work from beginning to ending?


Keep up the great work!

[heavy d]

here's my latest one

[shrapnel]

http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/500/1461Picture_117.jpg

http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/500/1461Picture_118.jpg

http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/500/1461Picture_119.jpg

[Mike]

What's that yellow pipe? Not the fiberglass, the other. Nice racks all! ;)

[shrapnel]

It's a super secret fireworks tube! Well i'm out for the night got 76's catalog and silver price list today gonna go check it out.

[Mike]

Well for your sake, it better not be too secret if ya know what I mean. I guess I should say, for safety's sake. Just curious. If it's what I think it is, I don't want to know anyway.

[nepyro]

It is Yellow HDPE...HDPE pipe comes in many colors...Black is mainly used in water/waste plumbing use. Utility companies I think use the yellow...and/or orange...for natural gas applications...
EDIT: After a google...it may be MDPE(Medium Density Polyethylene)...instead of High Density Polyethylene(HDPE)
Cheers!

[Mike]

Thank you. That would have been a much easier answer.

[shrapnel]

Sorry Mike, it is in fact yellow hdpe, 2" SDR-11. What did you think it was?

[Mike]

Honestly, it looked like dirty pvc to me at first, but I noticed it was too thick :lol: I was just about to start googleing yellow pipe. I didn't know it came in colors. Thanks

[shrapnel]

Funny, I thought the 30 shot red white and blue tubes would be the ones getting questioned.

[Mike]

Looks like you painted those. :lol:

[ken150]

nice racks!!!!! just finished my first rack (50 shots) and i kinda think its not to bad. boy did i learn a lot from you guys and a lot more when actually building it like where to drill and not to drill holes.

once again thanks for all the input and help on this to everyone!!!!!

schrapnel are those yellow hdpe pipes bought and prepluged or are those some of the ones you plugged for yourself. they remind me of the old lanchers i had. i use to paint the tubes yellow and bases red. then i started to relize i was painting more and shooting less. LoL. i hope by the 4 th. i will have three more racks built but before i start on the next one i will see what the guys say at the shoot in S.C. this week end about the rack, you know how well its built looks safty ect.

[johnny_boomboom]

Schrap,

Dude you are just prolific with the rack building... how long is it taking you to build these start to finish... I thought I was fast but Cheese and Rice man... that's a lot of building... NICE RACKS BTW;)

Ken, looking forward to the shoot dude... see you there...

[carp]

Anyone using the exterior screws with the type 17 point? They are self drilling/self countersinking and well worth the extra $1.00 a pound. I was building some 3" racks and they were taking a couple hours, mostly pre-drilling holes. Switched to the self drilling and now I'm under 45 minutes from start to finish including all the cutting and ripping of wood to length.

[shrapnel]

Thanks Guys, Johnny i can build one of the 20 shot wide spreads in about an hour, the 30 shots took about an hour and twenty, been working on them here and there, wish i could get a saturday to dedicate to racks i want to double what i have and could get it done in a good day!

Ken, I am plugging them myself, if you look in the background of the above pics, you will see what's left of a 2x4 with the plugs cut out, i get over 40 plugs out of 1 - 2x4 that's like 7 cents per plug.

Carp, since the only wood used in my racks is 1x material i predrill anyway so not to sacrifice strength, but yes i am using 1 5/8" exterior screws. If using 2x material i would still predrill within 3" of the ends.

Heavy, very nice looking racks, have you tested them to make sure your outside tubes are getting enough height at those angles? On my 20's with 5 tubes per row the outside tubes are breaking about as low as i care to have them, with smaller shells, some stars have made it to the ground from the breaks, may want to test them before building more - Good luck!

[Deweycoon]

Heavy, very nice looking racks, have you tested them to make sure your outside tubes are getting enough height at those angles? On my 20's with 5 tubes per row the outside tubes are breaking about as low as i care to have them, with smaller shells, some stars have made it to the ground from the breaks, may want to test them before building more - Good luck!

I have racks with 6 mortars per row and the same pitch and I have never had a problem with a low break.
I have'nt tried any cheap shells in an angle rack... cheap shells have a hard time going straight in the air at a safe breaking distance using HDPE.

[shrapnel]

Not just cheap shells, my experience was with Beihei double impacts, almost all multi breaks have a smaller diameter than single shots so you get more blow-by.

[dfluke]

How are these tubes secured at the bottom? Are they just plugged, placed, and angled by the top boards or are they screwed in somehow?
http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/500/1461Picture_117.jpg

[dfluke]

I did a quick search but couldn't find the schematics you're referring to. Can you post the URL?

The schematics for the angled rack are over on Pyroreview....


I am going to build me one as soon as possible!

[St1dinoh]

wanted to make a suggestion on securing racks....

when you're finished building and placing the tunbes, loosen up the wood a bit by backing the screws like 1/2 or a full turn, then using the flat straight edge of a carpenters belt square, push some scraps of card board (from your firework cases:twisted: ) on both sides of the tube. once it's in there real good re tighten the screws. works best if you have a drill with torque settings this way you don't split your wood. but the cardboard will help to grip the tubes and prevent sliding. you want them in there real tight to the point where you'd have to remove the screws to get the tubes out. thoes tubes aint going anywhere on shoot day. and if they ever loosen up just add another piece of cardboard or tighten them up.

[shrapnel]

dfluke.....the tubes are wedged in place by a 1x at each side that is screwed through the bottom, that's just to keep the bottoms from changing angles, the tubes are tight at the top between the rails, the spacers are slightly less than the distance between the top rails so when screwed together it sandwiches the tubes slightly. There is some concern if you will be reloading that when heated the hdpe could get out of round from too much pressure in the rack, that's the reason for so many tubes, no reloading, it's much safer. I also do NOT like the idea of screwing through the bottom of the rack into the plugs, you need to have some room for flex, the energy from the lift charge must be transferred somewhere so too tight can be a bad thing and eventually screws in the plugs will cause plugs to get loose or sloppy. The schematics for my racks are not posted anywhere, I believe Aric posted that. I will try to post some close up pics later, maybe that will help.

[Deweycoon]

Not just cheap shells, my experience was with Beihei double impacts, almost all multi breaks have a smaller diameter than single shots so you get more blow-by.

I would agree, the peanut multi-break shells do have a smaller diameter.
I have not experienced any lows breaks (stars hitting the ground) using them in my angle racks.

[shrapnel]

http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/520/1461Picture_128.jpg

Heres a close up of that wedge.

[shrapnel]

http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/504/1461Picture_124.jpg
another, thanks again for the upload lesson St1

[Mike]

I did a quick search but couldn't find the schematics you're referring to. Can you post the URL?

I saw those plans posted on PyroReview. Go there and do a search of the gallery. I don't remember the title of the pics or who posted them, but they were there.

[johnny_boomboom]

Dfluke... they are under my gallery... johnny_boomboom

[dfluke]

Thanks Johnny. By the way that reference to Accu-tech in Kansas City worked out great. They were a pleasure to deal with and the wire was a lot cheaper than if I had gone to some retail joint in town. The guy I worked with was a little odd at first because he was surprised someone referred me to the company just for one spool of wire. Either way it worked out really nice. Thanks.

[CSenior]

schrapnel~ Nice racks! What is the average weight of your biggest rack?

[shrapnel]

Mt heaviest rack is about 40 lbs. (30 shot) that's why i don't make 50 or 75 shot racks they can get very heavy, a 12" piece of hdpe without plug weighs almost 3/4 pound, i can line 5 20's back to back and wire together and it's an easily moved 100 shot angle rack. I also like the spacers between each tube for ease of fusing and timing, when you cram 50 tubes all touching into a box your kinda limited as far as timing goes.;)

[shrapnel]

Ken, now that you got the first one finished, others will go quicker from "lessons learned" get some pics up and let us see um.

[shrapnel]

Ken, now that you have one under your belt, others will go quicker from "lessons learned" get some pics up and let us see em.

[ken150]

schrapnel thats the next thing on my list,learning how to use the digital camara to load pictures on the computer. i might have a problem with this computer though its very old and not very fast, and the user is not very computer smart either. LOL but im working on getting another in the not to distant future.


johnny boom like wise dude. its almost hard for me to belive that i will be surronded by peaple that love fireworks as much as me!!!!!!!! boy is the excitement building!!!!!!

[reconlabtech]

If you want a clean flush look you can use some finished 1x4 to build something like these:

http://www.pyrouniverse.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10119/mortarRack3diag.JPG

You need (2) 14 3/4" and (5) 16 3/8" to put 8 of Colin's fiberglass tubes in one rack.

Add one nail gun with some 2 1/2" nails and a compound power mitre saw and you can bust these out in 1o minutes or less!

The finished 1x4 is exactly the right size to hold the tubes in sufficiently and still fit flush inside the side boards. You can pull one tube out and the others will come out easier.

[osirris]

Well my poor man rack does not compare to any of the others but here is my
B-52 bomber rack. Part of the rack was donated by 7 Eleven.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/osirris/IMG_0573.jpg

I was in a big hurry that day and messed up by not lining up the tubes properly, my bad.

[leeca]

Well Osirris, this will be the first time I have seen a milk crate rack with the fiberglass tubes. I hope they do not get chipped up from the shock. I was not so worried about the slightly sloppy fit of 25 HDPE tubes in a 13 X 13 X 11 Milk crate. I think they can take it. Now the fiberglass? We will have to see. I think I may even put a couple of 1/8 thick 13 X 11 cardboard spacers between the guns and two of the inside walls of my milk crates to firm them up nice and snug.
http://www.my-smileys.de/smileys2/papst.gif

[darink300zx]

Well Osirris, this will be the first time I have seen a milk crate rack with the fiberglass tubes. I hope they do not get chipped up from the shock. I was not so worried about the slightly sloppy fit of 25 HDPE tubes in a 13 X 13 X 11 Milk crate. I think they can take it. Now the fiberglass? We will have to see. I think I may even put a couple of 1/8 thick 13 X 11 cardboard spacers between the guns and two of the inside walls of my milk crates to firm them up nice and snug.
http://www.my-smileys.de/smileys2/papst.gif

I'll be firing this one off Saturday night. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm hope that's not an issue, I hadn't eve thought of that. I used shims to wedge in there to make it real tight.

Darin.

[dfluke]

That milk crate reminds me of this video
http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/507/963Fireworks_05_0004.asf

I suppose that's why I don't trust milk crates myself.

[DennyMo]

darin, for your first few evaluation shots, please load and fire only one shell at a time. I'm concerned that since the mortars are wedged together, any bounce will be transmitted to ALL the mortars. After multiple shots, it might be enough to begin dislodging mortars out of the milk crate. Maybe it's not a problem, but I'd hate for you to find out I'm right the hard way...

I assume for all our milk crate racks, everybody's putting a plywood liner in the bottom? ;) dfluke's video link highlights why, thanks for posting the link!

[darink300zx]

That milk crate reminds me of this video
http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/507/963Fireworks_05_0004.asf

I suppose that's why I don't trust milk crates myself.

This is my 3rd milk crate rack. I've never had any problems with em, although I do stake mine to the ground and all my tubes are wedged in tight. If you've seen my new years video on pyroreview, all the shells shot in that video were from milk crate racks. Made properly they are just as safe as any rack, imo.

Darin.

[leeca]

Also it is a good idea to use the milk crates made from HDPE and not a brittle plastic.

[CSenior]

http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/500/1461Picture_117.jpg

http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/500/1461Picture_118.jpg

http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/500/1461Picture_119.jpg

Schrap~ I went looking for these pics and I can't find them anywhere. Could you please repost them? Thanks!

[shrapnel]

Csenior, which pics are you looking for? the fan racks have pics in the 30 shot racks for sale thread. Let me know if that's not what you were wanting.:)

[CSenior]

Csenior, which pics are you looking for? the fan racks have pics in the 30 shot racks for sale thread. Let me know if that's not what you were wanting.:)

I am designing my new 20 shot rack as you read this and I was looking to see how your racks are spaced between tubes. One of your posts recommends that a 1/4" gap be placed between tubes in which I am incorporating into my design. My question now is... Are there 1" spacers between each tube within the column of 10 tubes? Or is a bigger gapped spacer required? Thanks!

[shrapnel]

http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/520/1461Picture_126.jpg

Does this help? I used 1-1/4" spacers between these tubes.

[CSenior]

Perfect! Thanks! I just wasn't sure if a 1" spacer would cut it... I want to build something robust, safe, and that would hold together for years to come.

I am also using the tubes that I bought from Colin and didn't want them to blister or warp.

[shrapnel]

Here's a side view.http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/520/1461Picture_117.jpg

[ken150]

Here's a side view.http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/520/1461Picture_117.jpg



This kind of rack will be my next project after July, 4th 2006 is over with.:D
Very nice job schrapnel!!!!!