Poor Man's Fireworks | Sugru

by ShakeTheFuture

13K19313

Intro: Poor Man's Fireworks | Sugru

When I was a teenager, I got very excited when New Year's Eve came. It was one of the best nights of the year ,because of the fireworks.

Every year, I used to stand outside by my house and watch fireworks (mostly parachute rockets.)

Unfortunately or luckily (depends on how you look at it), I did not have an access to fireworks or petards.

My parents did not buy them and I never asked.

One thing we did have was sparklers.

One year, I decided to make my own fireworks or let's say entertain myself.

I had a bag full with different toys. Match rockets, stripes of the newspaper attached to frisby disk etc.

Most of the things were not good, apart from two. One of them was a sparkler firework.

To make it, I used a sponge. It was cut out and tied to the sparkler. Then it was shot with a blow gun.

It did a good job, but I had to make a head for every single sparkler I was going to shoot.

This is the first project for "Sugru Build Night".

We tried to use "Sugru" and turns out it's perfect for the job. Instead of making individual heads for each sparkler, we made only one. Well, OK, we made 5, but we used only one :)

STEP 1:

We will need:

  • 1 x packet of "Sugru"

It's better to use bright colours, so it's easier to find it on the ground.

  • Sparklers
  • Metal tube

I used a curtain pole from my bedroom :)

Basically, it's a blow gun that shoots sparklers.

STEP 2:

  • Make a little "Sugru" mushroom with a fat cup, slightly bigger than your tube.
  • Use the tube to cut out a head for sparklers.

STEP 3:

  • Slide the head onto the sparklers exposed steel.
  • Take of the "Sugru" head. If you're happy with the way it looks and fits the tube, leave it to dry.

STEP 4:

When "Sugru" is dry, you are ready to shoot your sparkler fireworks.

Piece of cake.

You only need to make 1x "Sugru" head as you can use it over and over again.

After shooting the sparkler, dispose it and use the head for the new sparkler.

Super simple and super cheap.

Check out the video to see how it looks!

Tips:

For bigger flame, light the sparkler in the middle. That way you will have 2 flames, 2 sparks.

If you don't want the sparkler to keep burning on the way down, wait until it has almost burned before shooting it.

Is it safe?
Sparklers are highly flammable, so make sure that you're doing it in the right location. Make sure there are no people around you or if there are, they know to watch for a flying sparkler. From the blowing point of view, it's safe as there will be no smoke or fumes coming out of the side you're about to blow. And you will be blowing out, not breathing in. Tube will get warm, but not too hot, unless you wait way too long to shoot. So, it's safe if you are doing it right, just like fireworks :)

Do it at your own risk!

13 Comments

ethan_hair7 8 years ago

I can't go to the video. Could you send a link?

alaskaingenuity 9 years ago

Hello! I may be a little late but, I have a few questions.
Number one.
Does the sugru thing fly out of the end of the tube and do you have to find it every time you shoot it?
Number 2. How deep do you set the end of the sparkler into the sugru head?
Number 3. Will this work with morning glory sparklers?

Thank you for helping me.

ShakeTheFuture 9 years ago

Hi!

Yes, Sugru will fly with the sparkler, so you will need to find it to replace the sparkler with a new one.

How deep? Half way or so. Basically you don't want the sugru to fall off or stick out the other end.

I don't know about morning glory sparklers. I have never used them and to be honest, I did not know what they are until you asked.

Cheers

ThisIsMyNameOK 9 years ago

Cool! I love the story behind it. I loved fireworks when I was a kid too and would beg, and beg to get some. One year at a friend's cottage all the parents went together and bought a pack for us. And I was very disappointed. There were so few fireworks in it and they lasted such a short time, even as a child I could see it wasn't worth the money. So I never asked for them again. I will never forget the "burning schoolhouse" though, watching a little paper school burn down and shoot off red and blue sparks while we all laughed and sang "no more pencils, no more books..."

ShakeTheFuture 9 years ago

Lol

That's great.

I guess, all kids love Fireworks or at least the ones, who don't get to see them a lot :)

coptician 9 years ago

We used to shoot sparklers out of old school Red Ryder BB guns. Worked really well.

Raitis 9 years ago

Do you think such a plug from Sugru would hold up if shot with spud gun? This might make a rather simple solution it seems!

ShakeTheFuture 9 years ago

Yes. I also had that idea to make sugru bullets for spud gun. I did not try it as I need to make a spud gun first. I think it would work great.

seamster 9 years ago

Ha! That's pretty cool!