yeah FP would make it work better, very much so.

Yea just use match heads, and if u have extra sparklers just use them for a fuse. Actually I get ridiculed for often using sparklers insted of real fuses, but i find they always burn all the way down, and burn slower.

If it works, that's the most important part.

I use sparklers for test fires because I'm too cheap to waste my fuse.

~Zero the Inestimable

im so happy. i found kno3 in australia. LA LA LA. soon i will be makeing blackpowder and rockets and shit too.

heh, i tried to use thermite inside a crater maker, well it didn't go boom. what happend was a lot of smoke(i didn't watch directly) then nothing. i went over to examine and found a glowing red Co2 cartrige(sp?) and a burned safe(testing box). it stayed red for a while till i poured water on it.

Well you may do it, but I didnt see it o DGZ, maybe you should put your experience on your web page.

I read on "The Forum" that some guy started using side fuzed cratermakers and It had less shrapnel see pic:



you know what post im talking about, Zero?

P.S: Just so you know, I am registered under the name of "Jawsome" on "The Forum"

Who, Mark? He posted that on Xinventions a while ago, too.

His method works, but I think it's a little tedious. Why drill a hole in the side of the cartridge when there's already one there? I suppose if you used very cheap matches that were incapable of burning fast enough to burst the cartridge it would make sense, but otherwise it's just extra work.

~Zero the Inestimable

Great work Zero. I loved the pics. For added fragmentation of our beloved crater makers try using a plumbers pipe cutter to create many shallow grooves in the co2 shell...id love to see your results.

I want to devise a more effective means of determining the shrapnel pattern. Once I do this I'll be sure to test that. A similar idea had come to me as well, but mine involved scoring a pattern of diamonds on the cartridge with a Dremel.

~Zero the Inestimable

Zero, have you considered sheets of paper arranged as boxes one over the other? Using the blast origin as a center point you would be able to accuratley plot the path of your hot steel frag by drawing imaginary lines through the holes in both sheets of paper. If you had big enough boxes you could also calculate the velosity of the shrapnel due to arc or drop in the pattern, of course three or more points would be needed.

Another more reliable method would be high speed film. Good luck.

Try 5 Phone books arranged In this pattern!


(The 5th phone book goes on top)

That should collect the shrapnel right?

So you can document the way it goes!

That's a thought. I might try that, even if it means carrying five phonebooks to my blasting site. I'll need two more books, too.

I was picturing covering the inside of a metal box with plumber's putty to catch the fragments. With the concussive force one of these things makes when it goes off, though, I'm afraid my box will fly away...

~Zero the Inestimable

How big is this box?despite the considerable force of a CM, it shouldnt fly that far.

I set a cratermaker off in a computer case the other week. The metal part of the case was held on with two screws, and the power supply, drive covers, and slot covers were all removed (places for pressure to escape). The cratermaker broke the screws and threw the case over 20 feet.

Cratermakers do indeed make things fly away...

~Zero the Inestimable

Zero, Create a 3-d map of your box, numbering each panel by number. Then you can "rebuild" your box inside out, but in the same configuration. Great idea with the puddy, but I'd consider cost. Is there something less expensive than plumbers that would achive the same results?

For further accuracy in your model; what about numbering your frag diamonds? I don't want to get carried away but I'm a stickler about ballistics.