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Igniting a Programmed Fireworks Display?

Posted by Cliff on from the explosions-from-your-keyboard dept.

seg9585 asks: "I am interested in setting up a programmable fireworks display this New Years, and I was wondering if anyone from the Slashdot community had any advice as to how to set one up easily, inexpensively, and safely by someone with little experience with electronics/wiring. I do have a VEX controller which I can use for digital output, but I would rather not have to buy a ton of relays and create a spark by just shorting out the circuit. Is there a better way to do this?"

3 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Get a professional by scheme · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'd suggest getting a professional to do it or having a professional teach and supervise you. Fireworks are essentially explosives so I'd be very cautious.

    --
    "When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it
    1. Re:Get a professional by chucken · · Score: 2, Insightful
      He's not asking for a way to set of handgrenades and claymores here.

      Hmm. Am I to assume that you think that fireworks (in particular starburst terminating ones) aren't in effect just high explosives? Do you think that being close to a starburst wouldn't fuck you up big time?

      What he wants is to set off normal, legal fireworks (well that's what we have to assume anyway),

      Because it's legal, it must necessarily be safe? Tell that to all the scarred/burned/dead people.

      doing that electronically is much safer than doing it with the old cigar as most people do.

      You are wrong. Electronic ignition (amateur in particular) is not safer, and in fact usually more dangerous, because:
      • use of electronics implies bigger fireworks, and more set off per unit time - hence more present danger
      • lighting a fuse by hand is all very manual, it is hard to get it wrong (apart from returning to an apparently unlit firework), and it is hard to 'accidentally' light a firework at the wrong time, which is possible with electronic triggers.
      • you can't accidentally set off all your fireworks at once with a hand held lighter
      I'd suggest using a short length of constantan wire (5cm or so) wrapped around the fuse....

      Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should....
  2. Get a professional by caffeinatedOnline · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I had a friend who was a professional pyrotechnic for many years. On a job for a small new years eve festival something went wrong with the setup and he was killed. This was someone who had years of experience doing this, and was working with a group of other people who had been doing it for years. If you really don't know exactly what you are doing, the chance of you not only hurting/killing yourself, but others is there.

    --
    The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel...