Jeff Carleton's 
FIRING PANEL


The following describes the construction of another reader's firing panel and accompanying mortar rack.  Like Joe Zastrow's, Jeff's panel uses a type of wiring configuration that allows a small number of switches to ignite a large number of fireworks.  All parts were purchased at radio shack and home depot. So it should be easy for anybody to recreate. 

Document and pictures © copyright 2003 by Jeff Carleton.

THE FIRING PANEL

Materials

RADIO SHACK

1 - 2 POSITION SLIDE SWITCH ($2.99 PK/2) (275-403A)
1 - 9 PIN POWER CONNECTOR (MALE) (APRX $3)
1 - 9 PIN POWER CONNECTOR (FEMALE) (APRX $3)

HARDWARE STORE

2 - 11 11/16" X 5" LONG SIDES
2 - 7 3/16" X 5" SHORT SIDES
1 - 11 11/16" X 6 6/16" BOTTOM
1 - 7 4/16" X 12 10/16" TOP COVER

WIRE

1 - ROLL OF ELECTRICAL TAPE  (APRX $3) (TO WRAP THE 2 WIRES TOGETHER. NOT REALLY NEEDED, BUT LOOKS NICER)
2 - 100 PCS 1 1/4 INCH WOOD SCREWS #10 (APRX $3.50 / PK)
1 - 4 ' x 4 ' 1/4" SHEET OF PLYWOOD (APRX $4)
1 - 2' X 2' VERY THIN PRESS BOARD FOR TOP (APRX 3 MM, MOMENTARY SWITCHS CAN'NT SCREW ON IF IT'S TOO THICK)  ($1.79 ?)
80 ' 22 GUAGE 4 CONDUCTOR WIRE    (.18/FT)   (ALSO HAS A GROUND YOU CAN USE FOR 5TH WIRE ON SECOND SET)

                      (2 LENGTHS OF 35' FOR DISTANCE FROM MORTAR RACK, THE REST IS USED TO WIRE THE FIRING PANEL)

YOUR LOCAL HOBBY STORE

  1 - 12 VOLT/7 AMP HOBBY BATTERIES.  (FOR SHOOTING OFF MORE THEN 2 AT ONE TIME, YOU WILL WANT 2 BATTERIES)  ($20 EA)

Here is a firing station and rack I designed I thought other people might like to try.   Very easy to build, and expand the firing station.  The mortar rack is a bit involved to build because it is 4 sets of 5 tubes.  Each set of 5 has been angled out so that you can shoot up to 5 shots from the same rack without any overlap.   Each rack only requires 9 wires from the firing station to the rack but allows for 20 cues.  You can simply add 5 more buttons to the firing station to control another 20 cue rack.

Maybe easier to show in number of buttons:

  4/5              buttons = 20   cues   (1 rack)
4/5/5           buttons = 40   cues   (2 racks)
4/5/5/5        buttons = 60   cues   (3 racks)
4/5/5/5/5     buttons = 80   cues   (4 racks)
4/5/5/5/5/5  buttons = 100 cues   (5 racks)

You could also use a 4 position slide switch if you can find one, but I got tired of looking for one.  Also this way is safer since you must hold down one of the four buttons while pressing one or more of the other five.  I think it is more childproof this way.  At least for the younger ones anyways.

Another great feature with multiple racks is you can fire up to 5 shots from each rack at once if you have enough power.  I only have 1 12v/7amp battery in it right now, but I think it would work much better with 2, at least if you're interested in doing multiple shots.  Has a limitation with 1 battery of firing 2 at a time (like yours, about 1 second to heat to fire).  It was fine up to 3 until I added the 35 feet of 22 gauge wire...

I did not buy the wood for the firing panel, dimensions I made the box are:
(I designed it so the battery fits perfectly on the one dimension and walled in the other side)

2 - 11 11/16" X 5" LONG SIDES
2 - 7 3/16" X 5" SHORT SIDES
1 - 11 11/16" X 6 6/16" BOTTOM
1 - 7 4/16" X 12 10/16" TOP COVER

WIRING DIAGRAM

NEGATIVE SIDE

 

|--X  |--X  |--X  |--X                   EACH X IS AN ALLIGATOR CLIP MOUNTED ON THE RACK.
|        |        |       |                         THIN WIRE WRAPPED AROUND THE FUSE (PREFERABLY WITH
|--X  |--X  |--X  |--X                   A MATCH HEAD) IS ATTACHED BETWEEN EACH SET OF +/-
|        |        |       |                         CLIPS.
|--X  |--X  |--X  |--X
|       |         |       |     
|--X  |--X  |--X  |--X
|        |       |        |
|--X  |--X  |--X  |--X
|        |        |       |
|        |        |       | <------------------- 4 WIRES GOING TO LAUNCHER FOR NEGATIVE POWER
|        |        |       |
|        |        |       |- B1---------|           (B1-B4)  EACH BUTTON APPLIES NEGATIVE POWER TO 1 ROW
|        |        |                            |          IMPORTANT NOTE! YOU CAN ONLY PRESS ONE OF THESE AT ONCE
|        |        |------- B2--------|             OR YOU WILL LAUNCH MORE THEN INTENDED! YOU CAN PRESS
|        |                                     |              AS MANY AS YOU LIKE ON THE COLUMN SIDE.
|        |------------ B3---------|
|                                             |
|----------------- B4---------|
                                             |
                                             |
                             ON/OFF SWITCH
                                             |
                                             |
                                             |
                                     12 VOLT ( - side)

POSITIVE SIDE  

(B5-B9) Each button applies positive power to one column.  You can press as many as you like to fire up to five shots at once per rack.  This will fire 20 cues.  you can add just five more buttons and build another rack to go to 40 cues (also would allow you to fire up to ten shots at once, given enough power).     You can keep adding as many racks as you'd like, i.e. five rows of five buttons each incorporated into those other four buttons would be 100 cues!  Another option if you're going to do a lot of racks is to add another button to each column to simultaneously ignite each one.

5 wires going to launcher for positive power (9 socket connecter between rack and firing station) 

Here are some more pictures of the internal wiring of the control panel.  Notice the special built-in slot for the batteries

THE MORTAR RACK

Below is described how to build an angled 20-shot heavy-duty mortar rack for use with the above firing panel.

Additional Materials

RADIO SHACK

40 - 1 1/4 INCH INSULATED ALLIGATOR CLIPS (REMOVE INSULATOR CAPS) ($3.29 / PK OF 10) (2700375) 9 - RED/BLACK MOMENTARY BUTTONS ($2.29 EACH) (275-646)

HARDWARE STORE

 7  -  PINE 1 X 3's 8 FOOT LENGTH (I THINK THEY WERE 1.79 EACH)

  CUT AS FOLLOWS FOR THE MORTAR RACK:

  17  -  17 6/16"     (4 PER 5 MORTAR RACK)             TOP SIDES   (2)    =====          =====     BOTTOM SIDES (2)

48  -    2 6/16"      (12 PER 5 MORTAR RACK)            TOP      |x|x|x|x|x|        BOTTOM      ||x|xxx|x||      x = MORTAR TUBE
8  -  12 1/2"        (4 EACH SIDE TO FRAME TOGETHER)
4  -  14 5/16"      (2 EACH SIDE TO FRAME TOGETHER)

KASTNER HDPE MORTARS & RACKS

20 - 1-7/8" 15" HDPE MORTAR WITH PLUG ($51 + SHIPPING) (MINE WAS $67 TOTAL)

 

It is important that you get the right alligator clips since those will fit perfectly into a 1/4" drilled hole with the insulator caps removed, which makes mounting them very easy.  They also have screws to attach the wiring, so you don't need to solder those connection.  I pre-drill all the screw placements to prevent splitting.  It's inexpensive wood, but not very strong...

The mortar rack is very time consuming, though.  You might want to consider doing the simpler straight-up design.  I like the 4x5 layout because I can easiler see which tube coincides with which switch.

Being angled is nice for multiple shots also, but it is a lot of work to build and wire the thing compared with the 2x10 straight-up design. 

                               

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