My racks

[SoonerKid]

2 of the 6 racks i finished a couple of weeks ago!

25

Here's the materials list for 1 rack minus tubes & plugs:

(1) 2 x 6 x 19
(2) 1 x 6 x 15.25
(4) 1 x 2.75 x 20.5 (1x6's cut in half) "predrill holes on these"
(2) 1 x 2.75 x 19 (1x6's cut in half)
(18) 2 1/2in. screws
(34) 1 5/8in. screws
(4) Eyelet screws

FYI .. My tubes were cut to 14.75 strong with a 1.5in. plug which gives the inside of the tube about the same size as the Excal tube i have!!

[lvpyro]

Hey Sooner, "nice Rack"...LOL...;)

But seriously, looks very nice and different then most since you only did a 16 shot rack and most people do 20's...Looks good man, I hope mine come out as good...

[SoonerKid]

Thanks!! I did that(16 - 8 per side) because really how much feet of hdpe i bought which made 96 - 14 3/4 tubes ...

I could have made 4 - 24 shot racks. But i can put these 6 in different "shoot zones".

And yes if in doubt predrill everything so no wood splits!

[leeca]

I just ordered 25 each 15" plugged tubes from Pyro Gear $49.76 http://www.pyrogear.net and some milk crates from Amazon for $9.99 each
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index%3Dblended%26field-keywords%3Dmilk%20crates%26results-process%3Ddefault%26dispatch%3Dsearch/ref%3Dpd%5Fsl%5Faw%5Ftops-1%5Fblended%5F9753161%5F1/002-2200058-0138405

So $59.75 for a cool 25 shot reconfigurable rack with 15" HDPE tubes not to shabby.

http://www.my-smileys.de/smileys2/adrian_dance2.gif...Milk Crate Racks Rock And less than 60 Bucks! Or less than $50 if you have the crate

[noslo98]

Less than that if you go behinnd your local supermarket.lol I have been scoping out this supermarket by my house that has way too many for there needs so i may help them out.

Also the crates like those and the ones you fond and at wal mart for sale are diferent dimensions that the real crates.I measured one of mine and it was 12" wide and those are 13" wide so the tubes will not fit in as snug.Also the real crates are made of HDPE and those are just reg plastic. Just some thoughts.

[leeca]

Less than that if you go behinnd your local supermarket.lol I have been scoping out this supermarket by my house that has way too many for there needs so i may help them out.

Ok you got me there, you get the $10.00 5 finger discount.http://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/teufel/devil-smiley-019.gif

[leeca]

Less than that if you go behinnd your local supermarket.lol I have been scoping out this supermarket by my house that has way too many for there needs so i may help them out.

Also the crates like those and the ones you fond and at wal mart for sale are diferent dimensions that the real crates.I measured one of mine and it was 12" wide and those are 13" wide so the tubes will not fit in as snug.Also the real crates are made of HDPE and those are just reg plastic. Just some thoughts.

So your crate is 12" X 12” is this Outside Dimension(OD) or Inside Dimension(ID)?

The one I orderd is a 12" ID and a 13" OD

[noslo98]

Ok you should be good then the 12" is the inside dims.

[leeca]

I canceled my order for the Milk crate, I was telling my son about this, and he says, Pop's we have like 5 of them in the garage. I took a look and yep same as what I had ordered.http://www.deephousepage.com/smilies/faint.gif

[leeca]

My tubes and my milk crate both arrived today (I guess they didn't get the message about canceling the milk crate order) the 25-15" tubes fit nice in the 13X13 OD 12X12 ID milk crate. The milk crate was made of HDPE. To bad I could not find the type that have a metal band around the top, but what the hay!
http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/543/524RJ_Racka.jpg

Still a great rack for about $68.00 w/shipping...http://www.my-smileys.de/smileys2/Smilie_3.gifhttp://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/feiertage/feiertag-smiley-015.gif

[RJ]

My tubes and my milk crate both arrived today (I guess they didn't get the message about canceling the milk crate order) the 25-15" tubes fit nice in the 13X13 OD 12X12 ID milk crate. The milk crate was made of HDPE. To bad I could not find the type that have a metal band around the top, but what the hay!
http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/543/524RJ_Racka.jpg

Still a great rack for less than $60.00 w/shipping...http://www.my-smileys.de/smileys2/Smilie_3.gifhttp://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/feiertage/feiertag-smiley-015.gif

LeeCa you look a little thin in that pic and a bit meaner! LOL!

[leeca]

I think has something to do with those Tacos I ate in Mexico, I just haven’t been the same.

[flpyro]

is there any need to ancor the tubes in the crate? i have tried this and there is a little play in thetubes. havent fired it yet. i dont need a bunch of tubes flying out. any input would be appreciated.

[Bill Corbett]

Yes it's always better to secure them one way or the other. I was in a big hurry several weks ago and made 16 milk crate racks. I simply cut out pieces of cardboard and slid them inbetween each row of mortars or as needed. This worked fine in every rack with no problems.

[vegasfire]

Nice Racks, Lee.

I would also like to know if you anchored the tubes in the bottom of the milk crate & if so, with what?

Just seems to me it would be a wee bit safer :D

[Bill Corbett]

Cut out a square piece of 1/2" or 3/4" plywood, lay it in the bottom of the milk crate. When using fiberglass guns that have a resin plug, I put a tube of silicone in a caulking gun and I put one large drop of silicone on the plug of the gun. Put it in the milk crate where it belongs. When using HDPE guns with wood plugs I used liquid nails even though silicone would have worked also.

NOTE: when using fiberglass guns you will have to shim two sides of the milk crate because the fiberglass guns have a smaller O.D. I use 2- 2 by 4's 12" long & 2- 2 by 4's 10" long and lay them down inside the milk crate. This makes a 12" x 12" milk crate a 10" x 10" one

You can put 32 fiberglass guns in a milk crate but they are not in straight rows, they look like a honeycomb sort of. This is not good when it comes to fusing.

[flpyro]

bill, now that makes them perm. can the tubes be removed at a later time. in case i wanted to use them in a rack? would the liqui nails tear up the plug when you tried to break them loose from the plywood base.

[Bill Corbett]

IMO with just a drop on each gun you could twist them enough to break them free. I haven't tried removing any of them yet but I know I could. I have a lot of experience with caulk, glue & fastening systems etc. Remember a drop is all you need if you do this, several drops or more will certainly adhere it rather good.
As I mentioned earlier, I like shimming the mortars with cardboard & not even using a plywood base when using milk crates for racks. It's one of those things you try and after you use the racks and they work you say "why didn't I think of that earlier!"
Because of a mix up earlier this year I wound up with over 700 mortars and my friend also has over 500 of them. We've been making all kinds of different racks this year & I loan them out quite often. Thus the necessity for the quick (loaner) milk crate rack with cardboard shims to tighten up the rack.

[noslo98]

A lot of you may disagree with me but i put nothing in the bottom of my crates.No wood,glue nothing and have never had a problem if they feel loose i just rum some duck tape around the outside tubes. I have been doing it this way with no problems.Like i said i know some will disagree with my method but it works.:twisted: :twisted:

[johnny_boomboom]

I just finished building a 50 shot Fan Rack... 5 rows of 10... At the shoot tomorrow in SC I am going to try and fuse it like a "Z-Cake"... I hope it works.. I will post a pic tomorrow or sunday and we will probably put a video after the shoot...

[titaniumsalute04]

I know this prolly belongs in the fusing section but was curious how ya'll fused these milk crate racks. What kinda timing are ya'll gettin out of them. Thanks n God bless,

Matt B.

[noslo98]

I usally pull all the fuses together and zip tie in one bundle.Sometimes i use the chain method also wiht each fuse connecting to tho other.It depends on the effect i want for that show but i really like the bundle method theres nthing like 25 excals comming out of the tube at the same time and the report is like daylight.:D

[leeca]

I got a visit from UPS and my other milk crate and tubes came in. Yeah racks are like tattoos, you get one and you have to get another to match. I also picked up 3 each 3" & 4" tubes. Now I need to make some kind of rack to hold them.

[heavy d]

ok i think im going to try and make a rack out of the fiberglass tubes. but first i have a question. if you put the tubes in the rack without fanning them out what does the effect look like. does any one have a video or a pic of the fanned out rack compared to a straight up rack? thank you all. i have learned so much about fireworks here. i would problem still be shooting bottle rockets and jumping jacks if it weren't for this site and yalls help. now im into 500gm &
200gm cakes and shells.

[Aric]

Those are awesome! - :cool: :cool:

[wrtiii]

if you put the tubes in the rack without fanning them out what does the effect look like.

Most cakes shoot the tubes from a small grid, all parallel just as if they were in a rack. As the shells you will be shooting are larger than the effects fired from a cake, and certainly not more symmetrical, there is significant spread even when they all go straight up for the first 15 inches. So think about how much a 500g cake such as Tears from Heaven spreads, and it's more than that.

This is one advantage over having several smaller (5 or 10 tube) racks instead of one big one: you can decide at setup time whether and how much you want to angle them away from each other.

[St1dinoh]

so i like the milk crate idea...

but the whole securing the tubes is a concern for me. i've seen tubes jump out of racks, and i would hate to see a fused rack dissasemble after the first shot.

dispite the obvious hardware cost what about screwing in small eye hook in the wood plug at the bottom of each tube, then string some sort of rope through each of thoes lil hoops. the rope would naturaly be on the other side of the grating in the milk crate so it would prevent them from flying around.

you could further secure them with some great stuff between the rows...just insert some cardboard on all 4 sides and the bottom?

just some ideas.

[365Pyro]

Just a thought to add, you can use a little velcro on the bottom of the tubes and on the bottom piece of ply wood for the milk crates to give just enough hold for each tube. Tubes come out with a little coaxing if needed. Works great for me.

[wrtiii]

I would say 'way overkill. Anything at all that provides friction will keep your tubes from jumping. Make sure the bottom of the rack is either strong enough to remain flat or sitting on something flat - if you use a plastic milk crate and put it on grass, it wouldn't shock me that a shell will push the mortar down enough to deform the milk crate and it will spring back. But if everything's on 1/2" plywood, the ideas suggested here such as sliding cardboard between the tubes are just fine. Weaving a cord around the tubes and just tying off the ends will work fine as well.

In commercial shoots we've shot (including reloading!) 10" guns from sandboxes with the mortars in 2-1/2 feet of sand with no problem. If those don't bounce, I don't think you need worry about 1-3/4" tubes.

[leeca]

ok i think im going to try and make a rack out of the fiberglass tubes. but first i have a question. if you put the tubes in the rack without fanning them out what does the effect look like. does any one have a video or a pic of the fanned out rack compared to a straight up rack? thank you all. i have learned so much about fireworks here. i would problem still be shooting bottle rockets and jumping jacks if it weren't for this site and yalls help. now im into 500gm &
200gm cakes and shells.
Here is a milk create rack going off..

http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/507/65Mexico_Sample7.wmv

[darink300zx]

ok i think im going to try and make a rack out of the fiberglass tubes. but first i have a question. if you put the tubes in the rack without fanning them out what does the effect look like. does any one have a video or a pic of the fanned out rack compared to a straight up rack? thank you all. i have learned so much about fireworks here. i would problem still be shooting bottle rockets and jumping jacks if it weren't for this site and yalls help. now im into 500gm &
200gm cakes and shells.

Heavy, here are two different videos. The first one is 50 excals from an angled rack, http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/507/950_shot_rack_of_excals.wmv

This one is 100 excals from a straight rack: http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/data/507/9100Excals.wmv

I know that the 100 shot one was fused with quickmatch, the 50 shot I think was as well, but I'm not for sure, maybe johnnyBoomboom can tell us for sure.
Anyway, I thought they were both cool, but preferred the angled rack because it didn't cluster the breaks together as much.

Darin.

[Deweycoon]

ok i think im going to try and make a rack out of the fiberglass tubes. but first i have a question. if you put the tubes in the rack without fanning them out what does the effect look like. does any one have a video or a pic of the fanned out rack compared to a straight up rack?

If you fire shells from a regular straight mortar rack you tend to have effect overlap of breaks if you fire them with visquick or quickmatch.
When firing shells with a angle rack you are ensuring the second shell is not breaking over the first one no matter how fast you fuse the rack.
I fuse this angle rack with visquick from left to right to left in a Z pattern. It looks cool with tailed shells like Iron Revenger.
The results are a shell firing about every 2 seconds with no overlap.
I filled this rack at x-mas with Triple Impacts and wow:twisted: :twisted: 160