help with finale mortar rack

[heavy d]

I want to build a finale mortar rack. I want to go with a fan/angled rack for a more "fill the sky" effect instead of a "puke the sky" effect. I was thinking about 50 shots. to cut down on weight and size I could make 2 -25 shot but then I would have to fuse them together. any thoughts or help on construction, design or fusing would be appreciated. thanks, heavy d

[johnny_boomboom]

Heavy... check out this design... the measurements are for fiberglass, but if you are using HDPE... just increase the length of the units to 24" in Length...and you may want to use 5/4 boards or 2X6's instead of 2X4's

http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/677


Hope that helps... there are 4 drawings...

[Deweycoon]

Nice plans John.
I built my angle racks with a Z-firing effect or a sweeping motion in mind. I fuse them from left to right, right to left, etc. with quickvisco.
http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/3203/sort/2/cat/520/page/2
or
http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/3318/sort/2/cat/520/page/1
If I want to make an angle rack that fires straight down the mortar rows I take 3-20 shot racks and screw them together to make a 60 shot in-line angle rack.
The middle 20 shoots straight up and the 2 outside 20's are angled.
Something like this;
http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/3341/sort/2/cat/520/page/1
or
http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/3727/sort/2/cat/520/page/1
or
http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/3729/sort/1/cat/500/page/1
jman does a good job explaining how he fuses his angle rack here.
http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/3816/sort/2/cat/520/page/1

[heavy d]

Deweycoon have u ever fused a 50 shot rack like u fuse ur 24 rack. left to right, right to left? thats how i want to fuse my 50 shot. i want to use fast visco or will that be to slow for a finale?

[johnny_boomboom]

Dewey and Heavy... I have fued that 50 shot for a z fire with fast visco... to worked great... I tried Sticky match but it was way to fast...had all 50 go in about 8secs... with the fast visco it was about 25 secs...

[Deweycoon]

Deweycoon have u ever fused a 50 shot rack like u fuse ur 24 rack. left to right, right to left? thats how i want to fuse my 50 shot. i want to use fast visco or will that be to slow for a finale?

I have tried the z-pattern on some 60 shot angle racks I screwed together.
I had problems with the uncoated quickvisco taking fire randomly as the mortars fired...then I had fuse burning in several spots and the whole rack was in the air.
I even protected the fuse by covering it all with tape.
The mortars seemed to close together to get a reliable z-pattern out of the rack.

On the 24 shot angle racks there is enough seperation in the tube rows that I am able to get the main running fuse down below the fire line... I now have no problems with premature ignitions... I also do not have to cover it with tape.

John, how do you get by this problem of premature ignition?

[johnny_boomboom]

I used foil tape to cover the runner all the way through... worked like a charm... you can find it at several retail outlets...

[Deweycoon]

Ok, I have seen that tape before,that is a good idea.I will have to try that.

[heavy d]

is it the same silver tape that they use for a.c. and heater duct work.

[Deweycoon]

i want to use fast visco or will that be to slow for a finale?
You know, when it comes to speed everyone has their opinion.
I would do some testing with different fuses/stickymatch and come up with a speed you like.

[heavy d]

johnny boomboom do u have a pic of the 50 rack?

[johnny_boomboom]

Here's a link to it

http://www.pyroreview.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/3223/sort/1/cat/500/page/1


I used HDPE... and the 24" length...

[heavy d]

Johnny and Dewey, thanks for all ur input and suggestions. here's what i came up with. im waiting on more tubes so i can finish. i may change it to a 60 shot instead of a 50. what do u think?

[johnny_boomboom]

Nice work there Heavy D... just 4 or 5 more to go... :D

[Mr.Pyro]

http://www.pyrouniverse.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=9&pos=13
The above rack is one of my fan shape racks.
I also have one 50 tube rack that is straight up.
Just giving you some options.

[SEAHAWK]

mr pyro, did you just angle all those racks of 12 without putting anything on the bottom? I guess what I'm trying to say is did you just angle the racks, and nail them at that angle, and they aren't flat to the ground? I want to do that with 2 20 shot racks but i don't know if it would affect the stability.

[heavy d]

seahawk if u look at johnny's diagrams he uses shims. his diagrams where very helpful to me i didnt know where to start and he helped me out. thank again johnny.

[johnny_boomboom]

My pleasure Heavy D... Glad I could help

[SEAHAWK]

I'll check them out as son as pyroreview is back up.

[Pyroman6000]

mr pyro, did you just angle all those racks of 12 without putting anything on the bottom? I guess what I'm trying to say is did you just angle the racks, and nail them at that angle, and they aren't flat to the ground? I want to do that with 2 20 shot racks but i don't know if it would affect the stability.

We do this all the time with our racks. As long as the bottom leg is wide enough, stability is not affected at all. If they are nailed or screwed together, and both racks are firing at the same time, the angles kind of cancel each other out anyhow. We use nice wide plywood triangles for legs on the ends of our racks, and I use pieces of 1x4 pallet wood 12 -15" long on my personal 1.75" racks. I did a triple fan once with my 1,75" racks and used a longer bottom board- like 18-20"- just to be sure. I've had to run and tip over empty 3" triple fan racks to keep rain out, and let me tell ya, it took major effort to do!!! For 1.75" guns- it's not a problem at all. Even with single racks, using two nails/screws per board, you can angle the rack quite a bit without adversely affecting stability. Just offset the leg, so the side the rack is tipped towards has more footprint.

As for the other issue, that of the bottom of the rack not being flat on the ground. If you're building your racks good and strong on the bottom( using 2x stock or 2, 1x's for example), they can easily handle the stress. We've had to heel over 5 and 6" racks before due to wind or other issues, and had no problems. Those racks use 2x bottom boards, and the lift from one of those shells is MUCH more powerful than a consumer 1.75" shell!

[Mr.Pyro]

Seahawk,
Each rack does have a bottom. You just set your angle and screw together.I think the post by Pyroman6000 will clear this up.