A board member suggested that visco will burn at different speeds if wrapped so I thought I would perform a test before fusing my show set-pieces and boards. I cut a number of 12" lengths of 30-second visco and attached them to the board a number of ways:
Scotch taped at each end
Taped to board with masking tape
Taped to board with duct tape
Taped to board with clear packing tape
Taped to board with aluminum foil tape
Wrapped with masking tape
Wrapped with aluminum foil
I lit each piece of visco and timed the burn with a stop watch. Here is a pic of the board before and after:
Every piece of visco burned at exactly the same speed. It didn't matter if it was wrapped or taped down to the board. What I found most interesting was the level of 'protection' provided by each method. The aluminum foil tape provided the best protection against burn through, followed closely by the Reynolds Wrap. The duct tape left a sticky mess while the masking tape and clear packing tape burned completely away. The duct tape produced the most smoke.
I had also found that the aluminum foil tape was far easier to handle than anything else. While it is much more expensive than the other options, it is my new first choice for taping fuses.
pyrochris
May 22nd, 2006, 05:39 PM
Cool! Very good test! I will definately give Aluminum foil tape a try!
SanFrancisco
May 22nd, 2006, 06:31 PM
The foil tape costs about twice as much as duct tape, but I think it is worth it. The only reason it burned through at all is that I tore it while creasing it around the sides of the visco. When the fast visco shows up I'll post pics of my fusing job with the foil tape. Maybe I will do a pass-fire test with the different tapes too.
ken150
May 22nd, 2006, 06:44 PM
Nice job I will have to keep the foil tape in mind.
JoeRatman
May 22nd, 2006, 07:46 PM
Nice test.
It would be interesting to add black electrical tape to your test to see how it faired after burning as well. I usually use a high quality one like Scotch Super 33+. After a show I find little black tubes of electrical tape that was wrapped around the fuses.
Blacknas
May 22nd, 2006, 09:05 PM
Great job SF. You get the pyro flame of the day! :twisted:
I heard that question too. Never put it to test.
St1dinoh
May 23rd, 2006, 08:28 AM
WOW thanks for the test. looks good. that foil tape is nice stuff. this is the first year i'll be using any. i got a free roll from our AC guy at work. i'm gonna use it for many things, but most of all for "protecting" the wood on the tops of my rocket rack. i figure running a single layer of tape across the top of the rack then just pushing my finger through the guide holes will provide good protection from rocket exhaust scorching.
can i suggest burning a 1 foot piece of visco against the same length with 20 or so zip ties attached to it, pulled kinda tight. for some reason i seem to get a delay....but it may just be the observer influencing the results. i'd like to see if you notice any differences in speed using the zip tie method, i'm sure many people here use this and would also like to see thoes results.
SanFrancisco
May 23rd, 2006, 10:30 AM
WOW thanks for the test. looks good. that foil tape is nice stuff. this is the first year i'll be using any. i got a free roll from our AC guy at work. i'm gonna use it for many things, but most of all for "protecting" the wood on the tops of my rocket rack. i figure running a single layer of tape across the top of the rack then just pushing my finger through the guide holes will provide good protection from rocket exhaust scorching.
can i suggest burning a 1 foot piece of visco against the same length with 20 or so zip ties attached to it, pulled kinda tight. for some reason i seem to get a delay....but it may just be the observer influencing the results. i'd like to see if you notice any differences in speed using the zip tie method, i'm sure many people here use this and would also like to see thoes results.
If I have some spare time I might try the zip ties and electrical tape. I'd just like to point out that someone else must have a stopwatch besides me!!!
St1dinoh
May 23rd, 2006, 10:39 AM
lol...
well you did such a fine job i don't think anyone wants to try to compete with you :D .
my stopwatch is...uh...in the shop yeah thats it, thats the ticket.
actually as i said when i "tested" the zip tie method, it did seem as though there was a bit of slow down at each pinch. but then again i was expecting that so might be due to me expecting to get that result.
also i just ran out of zip ties last night bundeling up e-matches:D
SanFrancisco
May 23rd, 2006, 12:13 PM
You must really be squeezing the visco for it to have any effect. OK, OK I will test a piece.
St1dinoh
May 23rd, 2006, 12:27 PM
yeah i'm thinking the slow down is next to nothing if there even is one. which is why i say to tie on like 20 on a 1 foot piece. if there is a slight delay it'll be exagerated and show up a lot better.
SanFrancisco
May 23rd, 2006, 12:37 PM
No pictures this time. I cut identical lengths of the same visco tested above. One piece was taped to the board with Home Depot electrical tape (sorry, no fancy 3M tape here). The other piece had 10 wire ties attached tightly at 1" intervals.
Both segments burned at exactly the same rate as every other piece tested (exactly 3 seconds per inch). The electrical tape produced a great deal of foul smelling smoke. It also left a gloppy mess like the duct tape did.
All in all, it seems that at least my brand of fuse (American Visco Cannon Fuse from cannonfuse.com) burns at the same rate regardless of how it may be wrapped, taped, or tied.
It looks like I might need to make some sticky match after all...
St1dinoh
May 23rd, 2006, 12:51 PM
oh...you were trying to speed up the burn time.......
ok then yeah i could have saved you a bit of time, quickmatch has blackmatch inside it, not visco.
if you already know how it works then skip this but if not read on....
basicly qm is blackmatch in a tube, and blackmatch will catch fire rather eaisly, so when it's confined in the tube the hot gases of the burning blackmatch shoot ahead of the actuall flame and catch it on fire before the flame would get there....it's like a domino effect and it causes it to burn very rapidly (100 feet per second). the reason it works like that is it's exposed and catches fire eaisly. but standard visco is sealed up with laquer, so it doesn't work like that.
the only way it could work is if you were to maticuliously slice the visco down it's length and open it up to expose the powder core....but that would be agonising.
unfortunatley the QM is hard to come by without a license
so the best alternative is going to be sticky match.
SanFrancisco
May 23rd, 2006, 12:57 PM
oh...you were trying to speed up the burn time.......
ok then yeah i could have saved you a bit of time, quickmatch has blackmatch inside it, not visco.
if you already know how it works then skip this but if not read on....
basicly qm is blackmatch in a tube, and blackmatch will catch fire rather eaisly, so when it's confined in the tube the hot gases of the burning blackmatch shoot ahead of the actuall flame and catch it on fire before the flame would get there....it's like a domino effect and it causes it to burn very rapidly (100 feet per second). the reason it works like that is it's exposed and catches fire eaisly. but standard visco is sealed up with laquer, so it doesn't work like that.
the only way it could work is if you were to maticuliously slice the visco down it's length and open it up to expose the powder core....but that would be agonising.
unfortunatley the QM is hard to come by without a license
so the best alternative is going to be sticky match.
Someone posted on another thread that wrapping their visco significantly speeded up the burn rate. I was hoping to avoid making sticky match. I have been reloading rifle and pistol ammo for years and using powder like that rubs me the wrong way.
St1dinoh
May 23rd, 2006, 01:21 PM
well hey, rather than making your own just buy a couple rolls from fire fox. thats what i use and the stuff is indespensible.
buying it saves you time and lets face it....they probably make a better SM than you can make on your first trial runs. if you need it for the 4th buy some and then try to make some for new years.
budfrombc
June 12th, 2006, 06:56 AM
Someone posted on another thread that wrapping their visco significantly speeded up the burn rate. I was hoping to avoid making sticky match. I have been reloading rifle and pistol ammo for years and using powder like that rubs me the wrong way.
I did a test this weekend and found that this is the case. We were using a 20 inch piece of visco. With nothing attatched the fused burned in 46 seconds. With 10 fuses attatched with masking tape, the fuse went in 32 seconds. At one junction, I actually saw the visco jump ahead about 6 inches through three junctions, it then back fed to light the three it skipped and continued on. I haven't been able to find a good way to jump fire without changing the burn time. For some reason the smoke-n-mirrors shells we have this year require quite a bit to light. Cable ties did not do the trick. So far scotch tape has worked the best averaging about 2/10ths of a second of speed up per junction. Maybe it's the visco fuse we are using but right now I am confused.
skole
June 12th, 2006, 08:04 AM
San Fransisco,
I tried a version of your test a year or two ago. I found that if you completly wrapped the visco with metal tape it sped up the burn rate. If I remember correctly I used two one foot pieces one in pieces, one bare one wrapped. I left exactly 1 inch out of the tape. Then I attached a leader to both pieces making sure the two test pieces were even and lit it. It seems the metal tape finished a few seconds faster than the bare visco.
I posted the results on the old PyroU board. I will try to find the thread and post here.