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Thread: Life Cycle of A consumer Firework

  1. #1
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    When i was in China this last October I got a bunch of great footage of our factories. I recently went to a 1st grade classroom to talk with them about fireworks safety. Im made this video for them to watch even though it has nothing to do with safety but its pretty cool. I always get asked the question, how are fireworks made, where do they come from, how do they get here, and so on. Here is the answer to those questions. Remember the video was made for a 1st grader.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBrlpf7Hi2o

    PS sorry for spelling LIU YANG wrong. Reason why ill never be a teacher.
    Last edited by JoeRatman; February 8th, 2008 at 02:44 PM. Reason: Merge sequential posts.

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    Member St1dinoh's Avatar
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    Re: Life Cycle of A consumer Firework

    great vid, left a comment on the you tube, and voted it 5 stars (how could i not).

    what confuses me is how the hell do they fuse the rows after it's glued?

    i can understand the outter rows but you'd think the fusing would need to be done before the tubes are glued into a cube otherwise they'd need to exert a lot of psi into a long awl to poke a hole through all thoes tubes inthe whole row (one row at a time).

    if you just one straight hole like tht down an entire row wouldn't you run the risk of QMing the rows by passing fire from one lift charge to the other via that fuse hole?

    from what i understand they alternate the fuse position so as to not risk fuse jumping, or accidental chain reaction (a row at a time) passfires...

    you'd think it'd be much easier to pop a fuse hole in them before getting them glued and blocked up???
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    Re: Life Cycle of A consumer Firework

    One thing I thought was interesting is the application of the lift charge completely by hand. I would have thought there would be some type of "portion control" funnel or something for more consistency. Guess that's why you get low and high breaks from the same cake....
    Guy walks into the local military recruiting office.
    Sergeant says, "So you want to help defend the country?"
    Guy says, "No, I just want salutes."

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    Re: Life Cycle of A consumer Firework

    This comment is really for the safety section, but at 2:42 she cuts fuse with scissors. In a freakin' fireworks factory! there is alot of product and alot of people at risk, yet they still believe it to be a safe enough practice.

  5. #5

    Re: Life Cycle of A consumer Firework

    Quote Originally Posted by St1dinoh View Post
    great vid, left a comment on the you tube, and voted it 5 stars (how could i not).

    what confuses me is how the hell do they fuse the rows after it's glued?

    i can understand the outter rows but you'd think the fusing would need to be done before the tubes are glued into a cube otherwise they'd need to exert a lot of psi into a long awl to poke a hole through all thoes tubes inthe whole row (one row at a time).

    if you just one straight hole like tht down an entire row wouldn't you run the risk of QMing the rows by passing fire from one lift charge to the other via that fuse hole?

    from what i understand they alternate the fuse position so as to not risk fuse jumping, or accidental chain reaction (a row at a time) passfires...

    you'd think it'd be much easier to pop a fuse hole in them before getting them glued and blocked up???
    Dang son, that kinda talk is turning me on, stop it. You know I'm happly married.
    Great video btw, I know it was for first graders but I understood most of it.

  6. #6
    Member St1dinoh's Avatar
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    Re: Life Cycle of A consumer Firework

    Quote Originally Posted by ITCHI View Post
    Dang son, that kinda talk is turning me on, stop it. You know I'm happly married.
    wait...

    what?

    is it cause i said "hole" so many times?
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    Yeah the scissor thing is a little skeptical but there has been know powder inserted into those tubes yet. Each separate stage has there own little hut. To where if there was every a problem only one hut would blow. Each factory has 100's of little huts. The scariest part of the factories is where they roll the stars. because thats when your taking raw chemicals and combining them. This is usually where the explosions originate. Typically not many problems in consumer factories. Usually the star section is in the back of the village and hidden with big Mud walls. In order to get into the star section you have to have all cell phones off and run your hand on this grounded metal ball.

    Check this out. This is not one of our factories. Its a class B factory somewhere in Europe I believe.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fYK0A8mRJ4
    Last edited by JoeRatman; February 8th, 2008 at 02:44 PM. Reason: Merge sequential posts

  8. #8

    Re: Life Cycle of A consumer Firework

    Cool video, thanks for posting it!

    That video you just posted was this:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vuurwerkramp

    It was a warehouse, not a factory. They apparently had a lot more material stored there than was legal, but I don't know the details. Never figured out what started the fire, but it is always hard when there isn't much left to study.
    My random fireworks blog: http://amnt.vox.com/

  9. #9

    Re: Life Cycle of A consumer Firework

    Quote Originally Posted by St1dinoh View Post
    wait...

    what?

    is it cause i said "hole" so many times?
    That's funny, it wasn't the word "hole", I'm so old that word doesn't even phase me anymore. It was the talk of "QMing the rows by passing fire from one lift charge to the other via that fuse hole?"
    and "from what i understand they alternate the fuse position so as to not risk fuse jumping, or accidental chain reaction (a row at a time) passfires."
    I could read that kinda stuff all day.

  10. #10
    Member frogtoad25's Avatar
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    Re: Life Cycle of A consumer Firework

    Nice vid...and great song. lol....
    Addicted to Pyro!

    "I've got a fever and the only prescription is more pyro!"

    "If I see you smoking and you are close to fireworks...I will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action."

  11. #11

    Re: Life Cycle of A consumer Firework

    Pretty cool video, thanks for sharing it with us. Your selection of theme music is right on.

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    Re: Life Cycle of A consumer Firework

    the one thing I don't get is how come the products are not stacked on pallets? would it not be easier to unload a whole truck with a forklift? or is that a safety issue?
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  13. #13

    Re: Life Cycle of A consumer Firework

    Quote Originally Posted by MetalThrashingMark View Post
    the one thing I don't get is how come the products are not stacked on pallets? would it not be easier to unload a whole truck with a forklift? or is that a safety issue?
    I'm guessing here, but do you want to pay to have a lot of wood shipped from China, or more fireworks.
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    Member MetalThrashingMark's Avatar
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    Re: Life Cycle of A consumer Firework

    Quote Originally Posted by RudyG View Post
    I'm guessing here, but do you want to pay to have a lot of wood shipped from China, or more fireworks.

    Pallets are only about 4" high. unless it's shipped by weight! Now you got me thinking Rudy.
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  15. #15

    Re: Life Cycle of A consumer Firework

    Pallets take up space. Only four inches verticle but they limit the packing as well. That container was full. Not an inch anywhere. If pallets were used then there would be space here and there. Maybe not a lot but maybe 10% of the space would be wasted.

    What I was wondering was why not use a movable system of conveyor belts to help unload the truck. Each end could be moved to where it was needed quickly, sections added as needed......

    Otherwise great video. Wouldn't suprise me if this follows the life cycle of most imported products.
    I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

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    Re: Life Cycle of A consumer Firework

    It would be a good video to show to some grade school children, but I would turn off the sound track. The teacher would not approve of it, and there would probably be some curious questions from the students about the girl friend being a firecracker and rolling in the hay.
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  17. #17

    Re: Life Cycle of A consumer Firework

    Quote Originally Posted by JoeRatman View Post
    It would be a good video to show to some grade school children, but I would turn off the sound track. The teacher would not approve of it, and there would probably be some curious questions from the students about the girl friend being a firecracker and rolling in the hay.
    Joe have you listened to the radio lately, That is the most "G" rated song of almost any I have heard in the last 2 years.

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  18. #18
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    Re: Life Cycle of A consumer Firework

    Joe have you listened to the radio lately, That is the most "G" rated song of almost any I have heard in the last 2 years.

    MrFixit246
    Yes, I am clearly aware of what is currently being playing on the radio, TV, internet and other forms of communication. But the original poster said that this video was for 1st graders. Having had some experience in a 1st grade class room, I was just pointing out the music of the video would be inappropriate in any 1st grade that I have had to preside over.
    Last edited by JoeRatman; February 10th, 2008 at 02:54 PM.
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    Member Marty's Avatar
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    Re: Life Cycle of A consumer Firework

    Quote Originally Posted by RudyG View Post
    I'm guessing here, but do you want to pay to have a lot of wood shipped from China, or more fireworks.
    That is basically all there is to it. Air in a container is expensive. This is the main reason most shell assortments are shipped in bulk, then repackaged. Look closely at the package, you can tell there is a lot of air in it. With the added expense in shipping these days, the most expensive items to ship are large cakes of the 2-4" variety. In the same cubic space as a single 25 shot 3" cake, you can ship 3 72/1 cases of 3" shells (216).
    As for conveyors to unload, it depends on the folks that do the handling. We use aluminum rollers for unloading the containers. Group the products on pallets in the storage magazine. Then the pallets are use to transfer products to the process magazine, unloaded, then hand trucks are used from picking to loading in the trucks for delivery.
    Last edited by Marty; February 10th, 2008 at 02:31 PM.
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    Member St1dinoh's Avatar
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    Re: Life Cycle of A consumer Firework

    Quote Originally Posted by ITCHI View Post
    That's funny, it wasn't the word "hole", I'm so old that word doesn't even phase me anymore. It was the talk of "QMing the rows by passing fire from one lift charge to the other via that fuse hole?"
    and "from what i understand they alternate the fuse position so as to not risk fuse jumping, or accidental chain reaction (a row at a time) passfires."
    I could read that kinda stuff all day.
    ahh

    phew...

    yeah i was trying to explain it as technicly as possible but sometimes i'm not so good at that.

    thank you sir...you made me LOL on a monday.
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    Want a price list from Millers? PM me your e-mail address and i'll send it ASAP.

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