FRICTION IGNITER

 

This is a nifty little idea for making a friction igniter that is activated by pulling an end cap off of a piece of visco fuse, eliminating the need for matches or a lighter.  It's great for using on smoke grenades, which can be quickly ignited and thrown.

 


You will need the following materials

-book of paper matches
-electrical tape

PROCEDURE

 

 Take the book of matches and pull out the staple, which leaves you with the cover/striker, and a cardboard chunk full of matches.  Rip off about 10 of the matches, and either discard the rest, or use them for another igniter.  Keep the cover!

Get the piece of fuse that you wish to be made into a friction igniter.  This may be the fuse of a smoke bomb, or just a piece of fuse that you'll attach to some other firework later.  Snip the end of it to expose the black powder core.  Arrange the matches around the fuse with the heads near the end of it, but slightly pulled back.  Carefully hold them in place while you attach them to the fuse with electrical tape.  Use as much as possible to make sure they stay in place without sliding.  If you have to cover the entire fuse in tape, do so - it won't effect the burning.

Wrap the match cover lengthwise and inside-out around a pen or other small cylindrical object and hold it for a few moments to make it keep the shape.  Remove it from the pen and place it in a similar fashion around the match/fuse assembly so that the striker section is about a centimeter below the match heads.  See the diagram for details.  Now  wrap several layers of tape around the match cover only - don't tape it to the matches!  This forms a removable cap that, when pulled off, scrapes the striker section against the match heads to ignite them, thus igniting the fuse.  The tricky part is getting it tight enough.  It should be tight enough to generate friction against the match heads when pulled off, but shouldn't be so tight that pulling it off rips off the matches.

 

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