A couple of months ago I purchased several relay boards and switching power supplies off eBay with the plan to re-use one of my original (256 megs of RAM and no mounting holes) Raspberry Pi model B computers as a sprinkler controller. The parts arrived and I set them aside expecting to have time to work on the project after the 4th of July. About two weeks before the 4th though I realized if I got the project assembled in time I could use the sprinkler controller as a fireworks controller. ...

Back when I first started doing fireworks at my house, we need a place to stack all the fireworks and sort through them to decide what should be lit and when. I cobbled something temporary together out of scrap wood I had around. Over the years it has evolved to make setting it up and taking it down easier. Instead of screwing supports together, they are now hinged. Pieces of wood that had been intended to be re-used in real projects later have now become permanent parts of the stand. A few...

I've seen lots of pages out there on making squibs or e-matches, but all of them used some method of making some chemical goop and then dipping your wires in it. I didn't want to mess with making goop, and I didn't want to mail order a bunch of chemicals that make the goop. So far this method that I'm using has worked very well for me, and the only "exotic" thing you need is the nichrome wire. What I'm using is 22-24 gauge solid pair wire, little tiny gold tubes,...

The electronic ignition worked better than I expected. I was sure some of the fireworks weren't going to go off because the nichrome might have come disconnected from the wires since it seemed like a very fragile setup. But every item lit. It was very cool to be able to push a button and set things off, in some cases several things at once. Control panel made from arcade buttons It was also cool to light things in rapid succession, no running over to put another item down and fumbling to...

Ok, I'm a little late getting the flyers scanned and posted. I think it's because this year I already had a plan for what I was going to purchase, and I already knew I would be purchasing on everyone's behalf. Anyways, here's the flyers and links to the SacBee video and reviews: Phantom Fireworks (1M) TNT Fireworks (4M) SacBee reviews SacBee video I got a slightly early start testing out some stuff I had read about on the internet. I don't remember what I was...