Re: That...Sucked...Rocks or My First Dud

 After you split, crossmatch, and tie, dab the cut area and the whole end of
the fuse with some high quality NC lacquer. That will help keep the lift
from blowing out the tie and crossmatch and will act as additional incentive
for the time fuse to ignite. A drizzle of meal powder on the NC never hurt
either.

   If your time fuse has been sitting around for several months, cut 2-3
inches from the end of the roll and use for something else or discard. Fuse
tends to ( I am tempted to say draw moisture but that isn't strictly the
case ) deteriorate in quality due to the presence of moisture in the core
over time and doesn't light well without a good, hot, prolonged, source of
ignition. The company we buy our "Pull Wire Fuse Igniters" from uses a 1
inch length of safety fuse dipped in wax as the "handle" of the lighter. The
guy that started making these igniters is reputed to have used fuse as a way
to use the snipped ends off new rolls of time fuse because it looked
otherwise as if there was a huge waste. It was routine to snip 6 to 12
inches from the end of a new roll of fuse because otherwise timing of a
round can never be assured. Now the fuse manufacturers slip a weatherproof
cap over the cut end to keep it dry but old timers still clip off a foot of
fuse. These days the use of time fuse is rare because of the advent of
"No-Match" and other brands of initiators. They use a device which fires an
initiator similar to a shotshell primer and fires a length of shock tube
connected to the "root" of the initiating tree which fires other similar
devices that either have a built-in delay or the detonator itself has a
delay at the charge or a combination of both.

-- 


Don Thompson

Ex ROMAD


"Paxton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> I had a wrap of masking tape over the tube fuse when pasting, so I think
it
> was ok. There was exposed powder when I sliced the fuse open. It had to
have
> been that the crossmatch got blown out of place durring the lift.
>
> Pax
>
>
> > did you wrap the timefuse or otherwise protect it from moisture during
> > finishing?  I have examined my shell debris (the fuse in particular)
> > from plastic ball shells, the lift spreads the timer apart and I
> > imagine really lights the timer good. This makes me wonder if moisture
> > in the fuse core was a problem.
> >
> > In shows I have examined some commercial American made canisters, IIRC
> > the largest was a 5 inch, that were bottom fused. I imagine done to
> > save labor.
> >
> > Mike
>
>