Where and when are the ematches attached to the pyro at La Ronde?

Where and when are the ematches attached to the pyro at La Ronde? Canadian regulations are such that shells must be in the mortars before being ematched - so that means the ematch is in the quickmatch leader. No shells are supplied pre-matched anymore.

Paul

[/i]Where and when are the ematches attached to the pyro at La Ronde? Canadian regulations are such that shells must be in the mortars before being ematched - so that means the ematch is in the quickmatch leader. No shells are supplied pre-matched anymore. [i]

Isn't it because of friction? Don't the pyrotechnicians use that technique where they slice some quickmatch and insert the ematch? Because that's how my uncle sets up his displays.

Let me know, wether I'm wrong or right.

Pat

Posted: Jul 22, 2009 06:20:24


Where and when are the ematches attached to the pyro at La Ronde? Canadian regulations are such that shells must be in the mortars before being ematched - so that means the ematch is in the quickmatch leader. No shells are supplied pre-matched anymore.

Paul

I thought Canadian Regulations did not apply to international comps like Montreal?[i][/i]

I thought Canadian Regulations did not apply to international comps like Montreal

Not quite - only in terms of whether the products are homologated or not (usually not in the case of the Montreal competition). All Canadian safety regulations have to be complied with - all the pyrotechnicians receive ERD Display Supervisor cards as well as a permis general d'explosivs from the SQ.

Isn't it because of friction?
Shells must be in their mortars before ematching in case the process of ematching causes the shells to function. If the shell is in its mortar, it will end up somewhere safe, rather than exploding on the ground and causing a disastrous chain reaction. The protective shield on the ematch head is also supposed to be left in place ... though tends not to be - but this is not so much of a problem with the shell safely in its mortar.

Paul.

I thought that you lose precision when using the full quickmatch leader. You often see the ematch being place as close to the shell as possible.

The displays in Montreal look very precise. Is the effect of the quickmatch negligible?

The displays in Montreal look very precise. Is the effect of the quickmatch negligible?
It is the order of only a few milliseconds. The precision effects are usually mines and one-shots and, in these cases, the ematches are directly in the lift charge (definitely for one-shots and usually the case for pre-loaded mines - mines that are in regular mortars are probably matched into the quickmatch leader).

For shells, if you want true precision, then MagicFire electronic igniters/timers are the only way to go. The timefuse in a shell always has some variability (of the same order of the range of delays you get through matching into the quickmatch leader) - but it's pretty rare that you want a shell to burst exactly at a particular moment. In anycase, what is being synchronized: the burst itself or the appearance of the stars? There's a whole range of points one could use. The same is true for mines and one-shots. The true masters of the art of the pyromusical know how to make this look right. In this year's competition, even though all the shows are well synchronized in the general sense, in my humble opinion the only show that had really mastered the timing was Gaston Gallo's show. It just looked and felt right. With the others, I could make some of them look better if I played with the audio/video delay in the recordings, but Gaston's was spot on. Maybe this was because his show was the only one to have used VisualShowDirector for some of the key sequences.

Paul