Milk Crate Rack

[area323]

Does anyone know how many hdpe mortars I could fit into a milk crate? The ones from a supermarket with a metal band. And will they fit snug?

I'm planning on ordering some mortars and need to know how many I will need.:rolleyes:

[scarp9603]

The "milk crates" from Office Depot hold 30 1-3/4 HDPE tubes. Has anyone used these?

[leeca]

Does anyone know how many hdpe mortars I could fit into a milk crate? The ones from a supermarket with a metal band. And will they fit snug?

I'm planning on ordering some mortars and need to know how many I will need.:rolleyes:There are 2 sizes of milk crates. I prefer the 13"x13"x11" they hold 25 HDPE tubes perfectly. Now the 13"x19"x11" ones hold 35 but you need a 11x12-1/2x1-1/8 thick spacer to to shove in at one end of the crate to get the tubes to fix snug!

The 13 X 13 X 11 crates are a little harder to find.
But you can get them from The Container Store @ $9.99 ea. http://www.containerstore.com/browse...PRODID=601 36

[area323]

I didn't want to buy them! The grocery store has a bunch of them are have been laying around from the previous ralphs store. I'm going to check if they're still available. I will post the measurements.

[area323]

they're all gone now. I found one in my in the garage that holds files 12x14x10 does'nt look sturdy like the one amazon sells.
BTW how much is shipping on one crate? Can I get these anywhere else?

[leeca]

they're all gone now. I found one in my in the garage that holds files 12x14x10 does'nt look sturdy like the one amazon sells.
BTW how much is shipping on one crate? Can I get these anywhere else?You can 13x13x11 Milk Crates (http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?PRODID=60136&CATID=243) at "The Container Store (http://www.containerstore.com/find/store.jhtml?store=PAS)" 323 area code Alhambra. Closest store to you is in Pasadena. They also sell them for $9.99 & $8.50 to ship. I was able to get 25 HDPE 15 "tubes from Pyrogear.net and the Milk Crate shipped home for $70.00

The only places I have seen that have the 13x13x11 Milk Crates have always kept them inside the stores. I saw some at a Liquor store/ gas station just coming out of Paharump to Death Valley. I asked the guy at that store why he kept them inside? The guy just laughed and said to stop guys like you from ripping them off for racks.

[mastersparks]

The crates I saw from Office Depot or possibly Staples did not look to be sturdy enough for use as a rack. I would stay with the milk crate racks. That's a good story Leeca about the liqour store! No five finger discount on that trip I guess.:D

[area323]

I guess i'll go to the container store in pasadena. They have better plastic than office depot!:P

I was wondering were I saw those crates.:D
Lee I saw your video from the other post. It was mean! What were those shell like on the third round or so they sound loud:lol:

[leeca]

I guess i'll go to the container store in pasadena. They have better plastic than office depot!:P

I was wondering were I saw those crates.:D
Lee I saw your video from the other post. It was mean! What were those shell like on the third round or so they sound loud:lol: Oh those fart poppers http://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/teufel/devil-smiley-019.gif.. Those are super secret Chinese underground fireworks mafia shells LOL

[scarp9603]

Are milk crate racks stable enough, not to tip over? Or do they need to be bolted to a piece of plywood?

[leeca]

They are very stable, never had any issues with them and stability.

[KingDiamond]

The milk crates are my favorite method of using reloadables. You can basically make your own 25-shot cakes. I use the standard size plastic milk crates which are the 13x13x11 and I fit 25 SDR-11 tubes in each crate. Some crates require a little shimming on the sides to make the tubes really tight. On last year's show I had 10 of these cakes and on some of them a couple tubes popped up about an inch or two, but I don't think it creates a safety hazard because everything still worked out fine and I don't think a tube would ever pop out entirely.

Also I have never experienced a problem with a milk crate tipping over and I have used them for four years now. The whole "cake" weighs around 35 lbs or more and the cakes don't even move when placed on a solid surface.

I had a couple metal milk crates that were made out of something like a 3/32-inch metal wire and I tried putting HDPE mortars in that and there was probably an inch or so of extra room on the side so you would probably have to do something to fill in that spot. But there are a lot of different sizes of crates so I don't know what will work in your scenario.

[graybeard]

I would like to caution newer users of reloadable shells, that there are some significant safety concerns using milk crates as mortar racks. Because the mortars are 'bundled' in a large tight group within the crate, the whole set up is very similar to a large multi shot cake. For this reason the milk crate racks are suitable only for firing chained fused groups of shells. You do not want to get into a situation where you are trying to fire individual shells within the rack by reaching into or across the top of the bundled mortars, in order to ignite a fuse. Your shells should be fused in such a way that the start of your fuse chains, extend well beyond the outside edge of the crate. Your fuse chains within the crate, must be configured below the tops of the mortars, so that shells lifting out of the mortars will not hit or tear away any unfired fuses that run from mortar to mortar. You do not have to connect one continuous fuse train to all of the mortars. You can have several smaller lines or groups of chain fuses, as long as all of the groups or lines have their chain fuse leading to a start point outside of the outer edge of the crate. It is harder to see a misfired fuse train in a milk crate rack. Use extreme caution in appoaching and moving your milk crate rack after it has been fired. You must make a careful check to ensure all of the shells have fired. You must do this without letting any part of your body extend over the top of the crate. If you do become aware of a misfired fuse train, or a hangfire in a mortar, do not reach into or over the top of the crate in an attempt to refire the fuse.

[DennyMo]

What graybeard said. ;) Also, cut a sheet of plywood to fit in the bottom of the crate for the mortars to sit on. I use 3/4", serves three purposes:
- protect the bottom web of the crate from cracking
- prevent the mortars from falling through the openings
- serves as ballast to keep the racks from tipping over

[mastersparks]

Good points guys. The plywood on the bottom of the rack will also extend the lives of the mortar plugs. You want them hitting something solid and even rather than the bottom of the crate.

[noslo98]

I blew up my milk crate rack this weekend and for those of you that doubt the safty of these racks, check out the pics and see how well it was contained. And before you ask the tubes were cool when this happened.

http://img349.imageshack.us/img349/1161/crate1th.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[mastersparks]

Wow! What a shame Noslo.

[NYSHOOTER]

Wow! What a shame Noslo.

there's no shame I think this is great,the tubes & crate did thier job. as long as no one got hurt, he's only out $2 or $3 for a replacement tube & getting his hands on another crate.

lesson learn! only use the right tubes such as HDPE when shooting fireworks

[Bruce K]

So now that I oredered my Excals where can you find low priced hdpe tubing? I can build a milk crate but I will need the tubing. I figure about 90 to 100 mortar tubes should be good?

[mastersparks]

Your right NY. Glad your ok Noslo. Bruce, try Pyrogear.

[dad]

A good way to tell if the shell has fired out of the tube is to put a strip of masking tape over each loaded tube, if the tape is still entact after you have fired that group or that tube, then you know that the shell did not in fact fire. It is a much safer way.

[leeca]

So now that I oredered my Excals where can you find low priced hdpe tubing? I can build a milk crate but I will need the tubing. I figure about 90 to 100 mortar tubes should be good?The folks at Pyrogear have always done me right. Give them a try.. http://www.pyrogear.net

[DennyMo]

A good way to tell if the shell has fired out of the tube is to put a strip of masking tape over each loaded tube, if the tape is still entact after you have fired that group or that tube, then you know that the shell did not in fact fire. It is a much safer way.
I believe others on this forum have had a very bad experience with this "tape over the tube", where the tape was gone but the shell wasn't. Unfortunately, I forget what the "more nearly correct way" is...:confused: I'll post a link if I find the other thread.

[DennyMo]

Found it, the discussion starts at post 14 of this page:
http://www.pyrouniverse.com/forum/showthread.php?p=7547

[dad]

Thank you for the heads up DennyMo, it is always good to learn something new.

[noslo98]

Thats why i posted it, it was to tell all the newbies out there there is a reason to use HDPE tubing.And the rack held up to the abuse so thats another good point for you milk crate rack haters.Theese things hold some major abuse and there cheap if not free like mine were, a whole truckload lol... Here are some other tubes that i thank god were not pvc or some other material.Needless to say i had a bad weekend with my racks, is this a new record for blowing up racks???

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/585/tubes6sg.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/6122/angle1cx.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[shrapnel]

What in the hell are you guys doing to cause that much destruction to those tubes? I have purposely abused them for testing purposes and have yet to see a tube do that, xcals are not mines! :D

[Bruce K]

What type (brand) of shell is doing this?

[graybeard]

An Excal loaded upside down will do this kind of damage.

[KingDiamond]

An Excal loaded upside down will do this kind of damage.

Yeah probably an excal or rambo kid or some other canister shell. I remember last year I was helping at a display 1.3g show and they had racks of 2-inch canister salutes and two salutes exploded in the HDPE mortar. We only found tiny scraps of HDPE pipe, and the rack was in pieces. Good thing that everyone was far away from them at the time.

[liftngwaght]

To steal the thread really quick. Someone discussed shimming the tubes in the milkcrates if the fit wasnt tight. I ordered 2 10shot racks from Pyrogear and the tubes are pretty loose. I could probably cut a 2x4 in 1/2 lengthwise and it would tighten them up (shoving the piece down one side). Or should I just leave em how I got them? Great looking racks.

~Thomas

[area323]

I used 10mm silicon tubing to tighten my tubes. Look at the pic above. (purple and silver)

[mastersparks]

Noslo, was that your monster wooden rack all shredded? What the heck are you shooting?

[noslo98]

Noslo, was that your monster wooden rack all shredded? What the heck are you shooting?

Yes it was my big heavy rack, i was shooting a bunch of diferent shells so im niot exactly sure which one did this. There was old excals in there,rambos,tripple breaks and double breaks.It was like a clean up the crap rack everything was in it but most were older shells.The milk crate one was excals i know for sure but they were from two seasons ago.

As for the tubes being loose i dont think its that big of a deal, since i went on my first 1.3 shoot last night and all there racks were loose so if its of for the big shells i really doubt it matters with theese small shells.

[CSenior]

Thats why i posted it, it was to tell all the newbies out there there is a reason to use HDPE tubing.And the rack held up to the abuse so thats another good point for you milk crate rack haters.Theese things hold some major abuse and there cheap if not free like mine were, a whole truckload lol... Here are some other tubes that i thank god were not pvc or some other material.Needless to say i had a bad weekend with my racks, is this a new record for blowing up racks???

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/585/tubes6sg.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/6122/angle1cx.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

By looking at your tubes that are blown up... Did they blow up on the bottom end (plug end) ?? If so, how did you secure your plugs into the tubes since they appear missing in the photo's??

[noslo98]

They are all pyro gear tubes that had the staples in them as you can see in the pic.

[ThunderKing]

tubes can be somewhat loose in a rack, 1.4 or 1.3, it doesnt matter.