Fireworks Cakes
Safety First
First a few safety guidelines:
Always keep your body parts away from the muzzle of any device.
Be weary of cutting the quickmatch if there is an electric match in it. This WILL set if off if you cut through the e-match.
Remember, they are explosives, some more sensitive than others, treat them ALL with respect.
What types of cakes are there?
Cakes a categorized by their size and shape. Size is pretty self explainitory. Shape is essentially the pattern
in which the cake will fire. Here is a list and description of the different shapes:
Traditional Cakes - The first cakes that came out had thier tubes pointed strait up. So each sequential
shot would end up in the same location as the previous shot.
W-shape (or) F-Shape - These cakes have angled tubes. One shot consists of an entire row of tubes so that
you fill your sky completely with each shot. "F" stands for "Fan".
Z-Shape - These cakes also have angled tubes, however they shoot only one at a time. The fire chain is
"snaked" along the cake to give a tracer effect back and forth. They usually end with two "W-shape" bursts.
X-shape - These cakes are the newest to the cake family. It is the same concept as the Z-shape,
however, instead of only firing from one side of the cake, it starts at two opposite ends firing back and forth at a much higher
rate. These cakes don't last very long, but are very impressive with the amount and speed of pyro they put up.
How do I orient a fireworks cake?
The first and most important thing when setting up a cake is to pay attention to the orientation. So assuming you have a cake with angled tubes,
you want to make sure you have the cake oriented in such a manner that the "fan" will be seen by the audience. You want the audience to enjoy the
cake as it was meant to be seen, and not the side perspective. See illistration below:
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