Hey anyone know where to get small co2 casings ??

Like is there any stores that sell them cheap or something, I would prefer stores becasue I wont have to pay S&H ??

Edit: I have found some websites, but does anyone have any reliable websites ? And are there any criterias in making COB's, like types of Co2 cartridge (how many grams) ? Also, I might be asking a stupid question here, but how do you let the air out of the co2 cartridges ??

And when making a COB, should u use flash powder or black powder (and yes I know krimzonpyro.com uses black powder for them, but whats ur opinion) ?

[This message has been edited by And1Drew (edited 07-18-2003).]

I've only made 2 cratermakers ever, but I think they're usually 12 gram cartriges, but almost any size will work fine. The important thing is the casing has to be thick. Anyway, flash would work fine in a casing like this, but it's kinda a waste, and it's missing the point. The metal casing was chosen as the casing because it works well with slower burning LEs. A paper casing would be better if you're going to use flash, with almost no dangerous shrapnel.

Oh yeah, to let the CO2 out, just tap a nail into it while it's held with some channel locks or pliers or something.

[This message has been edited by DavidThePyro (edited 07-18-2003).]

You can buy CO2 cartridges for carbonating seltzer water at the supermarket for a relatively cheap price.

I personally don't make COB's and never will, but I picked up a 10-pack for ~$6 USD.

Any type of CO2 cartridge can be used, because they're all made of metal, no matter what size you choose you're not sacrificing casing strength.

Krimzonpyro.com shows varying sizes of CO2 cartridges (ranging from small 'whippits' to lifevest inflaters), all appropriate for COB's.

You can use a BB gun to release the pressure, either by shooting the casing itself, or by using it up in a bb gun. (several bb guns are CO2 powered)

Personally, you shouldn't waste flash powder on a COB, just pick up some thick parallel wound tubing and some end plugs and use flash in that instead.

If you're stuck on making COB's, you might as well use black powder,

but personally I think because of the shrapnel risk posed, if you treat flash with respect, you'd be safer making flash salutes with paper tubes.

Information regarding flash salute construction:

Just cut a parallel wound tube to a length no greater than 4 times the OD of the casing.

Drill a fusehole, insert a fuse, and glue in one end cap.

I use plain elmer's glue or even carpenter's glue to glue in end plugs, no need to use epoxy or hot glue guns.

Although I've personally put gobs of hot glue directly on small piles of flash (<5 grams) with no ignition,

with any aspect of pyrotechnics, you really don't want to take any chances.

Add the appropriate amount of flash, and contrary to what you might think - more isn't always better.

(In Advanced Homemade Fireworks, the literature insists that the powder should "fill no more than 1/3 of the interior area of the cracker")

Personally, I fill around 1/2 the casing with flash, and you can get equal or better reports with that much flash compared to filling the tube up. *NEVER EVER PACK FLASH*

Add flash until its about 2/3 full.

Lightly tap the tube on the table to settle the contents. (it settles a lot!)

If you drilled the fusehole in the center of the tube, you can gauge the '1/2 filled' mark pretty well.

To make inserting the last end plug considerably less messy, take any dauber (bottle rocket sticks can be used in a pinch) and line the inside with glue, then insert the plug.

Preinserting the end plugs into an empty casing can make initial insertion a lot easier.





[This message has been edited by orangejuice (edited 07-18-2003).]

i used smokless powder and they worked fine.

Yea, after I posted the thing about using flash or not, I realized that COB's are meant for gun powder, because no endcaps.

But when making the tube filled with flash powder, I thought you should not have any room inside the tube for the flash to move around (I could be thinking of something else) because of teh friction and impact involved?

i made a few of these awhile back. i used bp whiched worked great. i couldn't find a real fuse tho so i bought thos birthday sparkers which looked cool and worked great. once i got bored of making these. i put bp in a pipe and capped both ends. this was 10 times cooler

The caps did not blow off ??

And what kind of caps did u use for the pipe and did the pipe fragment or was it a aluminum pipe (I think those are the pipes that dont fragment) ??

I was thinking about doing something of that calibar later on, once I get the chems to do so.

Stores that sell paintball supplies (Walmart) now sell pre-loaded CO2 cartridges for paintball guns. These cartridges are huge compared to normal CO2 cartridges. You could use the big CO2 cartridge in your paintball gun (good for about 200 shots) and then use the empty container for a mammoth size crater maker. The big CO2's cost $10 for a 2-pack.

Fuck the co2 cardriges, become a real man and use a 16oz emptty propane tank. Now theres a bang for your buck.

Using copperhead co2 cartidges i have made 8 cobs and everyone detonated using my homemade blackpowder and in everyone the cartidge simply split open and didnt fragment into pieces (besides a few tiny ones tht couldnt be recovered) When i detonated one in a sheetmetal folded over 4 inch diameter galvanized steel piping It blew a huge chunk out of it and turned it into a flat piece of sheetmetal. when it detonated i noticed something small and solid coming down so i caught it in my shirt. sure as shit it was the cob casing torn open by the detonation.

[This message has been edited by great glavin (edited 07-19-2003).]