My 2010 project

WOW!!!

I am honored.
That makes Blooming Rose #3

Some of those parts look awfully familiar.
Had to check if all my parts are still accounted for.

My welding is far from expert.
My welder would be classed as a toy by most $150 harbor freight flux core, the cheapest I could find.

Let me now share to the extent of my welding wisdom.
If both sides of the joint are cherry red when you break the ark, you have a good joint.
If only one side is red, you have a cold joint and you need to try again.

That's how bad my welding is.

However.
My worst weld is 10 times stronger than anything I could wrap with wire or glue with epoxy.

I too saw the fireworks threads and followed the conversations, but the always seemed to fizzle out.

I looked at all the spokes and thought, how can a come up with a way to make assembly and storage easier.

I started sketching out designs to come up with overall dimensions, and the rest as they say is history.

Joel
 
jameyboozer said:
Also, the more tedious part is the ropelight! OMG!
Click to expand...

I hear ya, that's the stage I'm at now.

I have been working on the cord ends of the ropelight. I am using the nail method. I know there has been a lot of criticism of that method, but I needed custom lengths for the cords, plus expense, so it was really the way I had to go.

Since I am doing two fireworks, each with 32 spokes (one with four sections per spoke and one with five) I have to do 288 of these, I am plugging away. It's time consuming, but not all that bad. I worked from 9am to 7pm today and finished 144 sections. I have 200 done. (I am also doing one twelve spoke flat one with clear ropelight, so I actually will have another 48 sections do for that when these are done.)

I made a little holder so I can do 8 sections simultaneously, seems to really be speeding things up. First thing is to insert the nails (#17 brads with the heads clipped off on an angle) and slip the 3/4" heat shrink over the end.

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Next, I push the SPT1 down over the nails, after I've slipped the 3/8" heat shrink over the end of the cord.

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Then, I shrink the 3/8" heat shrink, then slide the 3/4" up and shrink the bottom half. This forms a cut on the end into which I squeeze three shots of hot glue.

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When the hot glue hits the shrink wrap, it shrinks and squeezes the excess glue out.

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I feel like I am getting really solid, weatherproof connections this way.

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Now the unfinished sections are laying there in the garage as though to taunt me. I hope to knock the rest out in a couple of evening sessions this week.

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Blooming Roses going into production

After a long chat with another individual, and some brain storming I think we have a design for the Blooming Rose that involves no welding for the purchaser.
Only tighten some nuts to lock the spokes to the mounting plates.

He will drill all the holes and weld the hub assembly.
The plates for the branches will be predrilled and machined so the individual spokes will attach by simply tightening some nuts.

So, the following would be included in the package.

1 hub with 8 predrilled flanges.
8 mounting plates, pre drilled and machined to accept 1/4 or 3/8 in rod and hardware to lock the rods in place.
4 anchor plates for attaching anchor cable to the hub, also predrilled.
We may also come up with the top pulley system.

You would need to provide 1/4 or 3/8 in rod you decide the length.
For 4ft spokes * 32 you would need 128ft or 7 20ft sticks less than $30.
See your steel supplier for best prices ($3 for 20ft of 1/4 cold rolled)

You also need 1in pipe, I cut one down to 6ft(thats the height you assemble at) and coupled 10ft to that for 16ft total.
If you want go higher you would need to find a plumber that could sell you a 20ft piece of 1in

I used rope light on mine, but I think you also could use clips and minis or LEDs with each spoke a different color.

Other than that you need a winch, anchor cable, and anchor points to secure it to. And a lighting controller of course.

He is going to put together a prototype and track material costs and time involved to come up with a fair price.

I told him to shoot for less than $100 and 75$ would be even better.
If it is over $100, I will probably drop it.
All the parts would fit in one of those famous priority mail boxes, so shipping will be reasonable.

So knowing what will be included, is there any interest in this and what do you think a fair price would be.

If there is any interest let me know, and we will put you on the list for the first prototypes.

Joel
 
So, between my last post and this post, I finally completed the electronic firework. I will still need to tidy up the wires before setting it up in the display - for now, the screws holding the firework together are not tight and it is not December wind proof. But, wanted to share my progress...since channels 1-8 are DC, I have only been able to test the greens and the strobes. Channels 1-5 Yellow run up the pole, and 6 (Yellow) 7 (Red) and 8 (Blue) requires DC power. I should be able to get a video this evening before I disassemble and store it.

Again, thanks to the brave fellows who posted the how-to. I only hope that those welds stay together...but from experience, they would have broken by now....but, just as soon as I post this, it will come tumbling down.

Picture one - 5 Gallon HD bucket filled with 1 bag of concrete (the boards will be used to secure the bottom weight while the top will be secure with g-wires).
Picture two and three - partial assembly - 2 of five bang sticks
Picture four and five - complete assembly without wire management.
 

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jrock, I am wondering what size "chase nipple" you used for the center hub? Is that a galvanized chase nipple?

Also, how did you affix the PVC into the hub?
 
Go way back to post #7.
The steel pipe is 2 in, I measured it.
Two 1 1/4 couplers and pipe fill the gap.
The 1 1/4 pvc will slide smoothly up and down the 1 in steel pipe.
There are 4 holes in the pipe. Two on top two on the bottom.
A #8-32 screw is cut to go thru the steel and into the the pvc, coupler and pipe, but not past.

JOel
 
Hi Joel,

What did you use for your center pipe? Is that rigid metal conduit or is that electrical metal tubing?

Stan
 
Threaded pipe. Not EMT.
1in Electrical conduit or water pipe. Whichever is cheaper at the time.

Thinking back I would probably go to 1 1/4 for the added strength. Not that much more expensive.

Joel
 
I have proof that following jrock's instructions can be done...even by those of us not gifted with welding skills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F50FjdnE1mg

I hope you enjoy - and thank you jrock for all of your great posts and detailed instructions!!! As you can see, and I hope he takes it as a compliment, I didn't deviate much.
 
Kicking around ideas for a smaller design.
Something smaller and lighter.
Maye only 6 branches with 3 spokes each.
Only 3 or 4 feet across.

Will keep you posted.

Joel
 
Joel and others who have built these:

How do you do bring the connections together from each "wing" together into one to connect to the SSR? I don't see any pictures on this. Maybe molex connectors?

Thanks,
 
Not telling.
Anything has to be better than what I am presently doing.

It will get changed.

JOel
 
New to the forums, but not new to the hobby...
I'm going to jump on this for next season... I have a feeling I'll end up reading through this forum like 15 times over the summer, lol.

I'm going to experiment a little more with colors... putting multiple colors on each channel (different colors on different spokes) for a more sparatic firework... I hope it looks good...
 
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