The purpose of the Pyrotechnic Artists of Texas, otherwise known as PAT, shall be to promote and encourage safe, legal and artful pyrotechnic design, construction, operation and enjoyment in Texas through training, demonstration and exchange of information.
Brainstorming for Fall PyroFest.
I started back in 1996 with a 12 ton A-Frame press from Harbor Freight. The small pump stroke sucked pressing anything taller than 4-5 inches. Even adding an air over hydraulic pump only marginally helped as then you needed an air compressor (heavy) and it burned through the CFMs (loud). A 2 ton arbor press would probably work for these small inserts but even then you are looking at something that weighs 85 lbs. Hammer time!
Willow, crossettes, Hummers, whistle inserts to salutes to a bottom shot. Oh you said no salutes 😂
Whistles rockets to timed reports + bottom shot
A bunch of jumping jacks or ground blooms
Lunch delivery?
brocade to gold crown. with red willow with screams
for several of us it was very interesting, the rocket press very impressive but for the simple pyro person maybe what we would use as in a arbor press like on the double voice crackers which was very very cool simple and a great effect
did like the black powder test, being that rolled rice hulls gave the best performance. Would like to see more of comparison between lift powder and burst charge. Maybe making BP with willow and 2 other woods for charcoal for comparison as well, and inserts for shells besides starts go getters or dragon eggs, did like that one effect in the show white sparks from what I would call a Sentinel from the Matrix the machine with the tail searching out as it came down it was randominly wiggling back and forth as if it was alive, that would be very cool to make depending on the metal powder that was used
or a rocket press using a harbor type 10 ton press and what modifications and what type of pressures to use
More spring housecleaning turned up these pictures in an old file folder.
In 2002 I made an 8 foot diameter fireworks effect for an event held by the Texas fireworks club - two counter rotating wheels surrounding the logo of the ranch which was hosting the event. The wheels rotated on the same axle in opposite directions spraying sparks from tubes mounted around the perimeter. The first tube burned with a reddish color from charcoal, when that tube was done it lit the next tube which burned titanium white.
I miss those days!
Updates on PyroFest Planning...Still looking at property options would love to be around Waco, but we are very lucky to have the option of Jed Allsup's paintball property as a northern option that would likely hold our event well. Thank you for your generosity.
We are also still looking for a 1.4 display option as well, if your interested please reach out.
Thanks,
Nick Sainz
We have some promising leads down here near Houston, but nothing is firm yet, so...
Finally figured out how to allow Visitor Post on the PAT Facebook. I swear they hid it the shit out of it!
Expect to see more posts from members on the PAT page. I want to see more of what your doing in pyro. If you want to post jobs or where to find supplies, the Talk Forum is what that is for. Thanks, Nick talk.fireants.org/
Hey PAT members,
After the great success of Spring PyroFest, we found out that the Ranch we used last year for Fall Pyrofest has sold and is no longer an option for the group. So we are looking for new properties if you know anyone that can help.
Here are the criteria we would like the site to have, but we will be flexible as needed.
* Size: 2300ft x 2300ft area for the display (this is minimum fallout for a 16” shell)
* Structures: A barn or other structure we can use for manufacturing and shade for members
* Location: South of DFW preferably between Houston and Austin.
* A land owner that loves Fireworks!
Cousins Paintball Dallas has 275 acres in SE of DFW and would be very interested in hosting
Here is a map showing the spread of our membership, to help explain why we would like to be south of DFW.
I think Jed’s place would be amazing. If you need another option, I have 100 acres in Long Branch Texas just south of Henderson in East Texas.
I will start asking around. I may know a spot.
Ashley Slocum it’s not going to be in the same place.
Palacio Fireworks & Pyrotechnics we can also wholesale fireworks for anyone interested we have a huge staging area for everyone and 12 acres for a display
"Toxic" Pyromusical by Grant Cox - PAT Pyrofest May 2022
Great show, great video, great drone shots
Great show Grant!!!
So fun!!!
#goals
James Bud Thornton
Video is up! Thank you again, so so much, to those who helped to pull this off. I'm still pretty stunned that it actually happened!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RubuuajG2Z8
Full list of shoutouts in the post on my page, I'm bad at Facebook so hopefully this is the right way to share things... www.facebook.com/grantjcox/posts/10159822901044096?__cft__[0]=AZVxyL_YlJJbmDSXcI0mWduvuDQavOR7cH4mP8DQyZJ7H0DKc_cPSVoJCU4opOpgC0QIOCYIp_n8aInLaXu0QYfqVPICa1FFmgMgWLqYthyLLSgjMCpn0eQth9DVSdstpfh7rSlq0-FbzLFJBkyIkrVw&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R
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When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.It was so cool! Loved it! Tons of hard work over in 5 glorious minutes.
If you have any PyroFest pictures or videos please share them with the club! Here is a link to our club dropbox: www.dropbox.com/request/MS5AIcTAPFcNx83ajjyZ
Tangentially relevant request, if I may hijack this post a bit... I have not been able to find any good footage of the fuel mine "puke" at the end of the Toxic display 😅 hoping to release the edited show video in the next day or so, if anyone got a good shot of it that you'd be willing to share, let me know!
Ted Lundy
Nick give the CMFR guys a fun tour of PyroFest. Hope we can team up next year to bring the public back to PyroFest!In case you were wondering what all the loud explosions were, CMFR was fortunate to get a tour at Nelson's fireworks where they are doing Pyrofest. An event to properly train on the proper ways to not only build fireworks, but also the proper way to put on a show! Pictured is a 16 inch artillery shell which weighs about 60+ pounds!
We had a successful Pyrofest this weekend! I’ve got a lot of thanks to give out, please don’t feel neglected if I fail to mention you specifically.
First off, I thank all the attending Members, both old & new, for attending and being patient & supportive of our PAT Club. Without you, the Club doesn’t exist.
Please all of us reach out to Nick Sainz, Club President, and thank him all his efforts over the last 6 years, growing the club with creative Facebook posts, answering thousands of questions via voice & email. Setting up these Events and running the Club is incredibly time intensive. Nick, deep thanks!
Please deeply thank our property hosts, Rex & Alex Nelson, and Nelson’s Fireworks General Manager Robin Eaton. They and their team spent weeks preparing the site for Pyrofest, making room for us in their store & warehouse, cutting & trimming grass, assuring the site was awesomely ready for our visit.
Also let’s thank Ken Purcell, Club webmaster, treasurer, and purchaser/slicer of lunch meats/cheese & puller of pork butts.) Without Ken & Ms. White’s potato salad, you don’t get fed at Pyrofest. Nick and Harley spent some serious time at a smoker cooking the pork butts for Saturday’s dinner service.
Please thank Betty Sainz, & all the Ms White’s, for running registration for 2 solid days, checking lists, running CC’s, printing ID’s, etc. This is tedious work, they handled it with friendly elan. Thank you!
Huge thanks to Carl Standridge & Steve Vaughan from Big Boom Pyro for pulling the Display Permits and bringing the Big Guns!
Special spreadsheet thanks to Chris Stasey for organizing and ordering the PAT Group Buy from Spirit of 76. 22-pallets of pyro just don't appear & get divided up without some detailed effort. Also thanks to Tim Thurber & Kendra Scott of Spirit of 76 for attending Pyrofest in-person, answering questions, taking orders, & handing out serious quantities of swag.)
Special shoutout to John White, Master Builder, he taught 21 students how to each build their own 4” shell, WASP'ed them, and then shot them electronically with the students in the field on Saturday night! John went on to showcase his own large shells, 6”-16”, so impressive!
Speaking of Builders, PGI Master Builder Chris Roth, and PGI trophy winner & son Matt Roth, brought a very cool collection of rockets, shells, and girandolas for Friday night’s entertainment. Thank you and best of luck Chris, we all hope you achieve PGI Grand Master status!
Just too many Builders in PAT to single out, but Harley Johnson tirelessly taught young and old how to press & make rockets all weekend. Brent Black held an impressive star building class and answered chemical questions all weekend. Special thanks to all the Builders and their willingness to teach!
Please offer thanks to Gary & Johnnie Kovar & Mike Strang of GWPyro, they brought the huge gas mines & smoke rings. And they lent us gear & product to help us fill in the gaps. Gary & his team also prepped & executed 12 example effects for the PAT Safety Class, reinforcing our Club's Safety First focus.
Scott Chapman of Proud Pie, www.proudpie.com/ , brought a great 1.4G Display for Saturday night, so artistic and precise. But he also donated about 30 pies from his Houston Pie shop for desert on Saturday night, HUGE! Scott, please attend every future Pyrofest…Seriously thank you & your crew for performing your display.
Grant Cox was the designer and choreographer of the Big Display for Saturday night. Masterful artistry and execution! This type of display requires long hours doing product selection and choreography. Thanks Grant! Also, my personal thanks to the display team who setup the display, it was a complex multi-effect & angled presentation requiring technical precision and you pulled it off! Thank you, Team!
Behind the scenes, my sincere thanks to Zach, Corey, Gary, and Scott’s crew for being the Fire Suppression Team on Saturday night. It’s not a flashy job, just very important.
Lastly, my thanks to Zoz for traveling all the way from Australia to attend Pyrofest, even with many handoffs! And thanks to my friend OG Matt for traveling all the way from NYC, Street Pyro indeed.
aka JJ
Thanks to everyone that made this event happen! It was my first one to attend. Everyone was very welcoming!
Really great displays gentlemen! We had a blast.
It was a lovely show Saturday night and great to see some sweet, familiar faces again!
Same time next weekend? That way I can actually go????😂😂 Sounds like I missed another good one!!
We had a blast. 😎
I want to say Thank You to the Club and all the PAT members for allowing me to teach rocket classes. For all the Ants and the Lil' Ants 🐜 out the there Thank You. I hope I helped you learn something new. I want to say big Thank You to EL Prez Nick Sainz, for all your hard work we couldn't have done it without you Sir. Thank you to all the builders for also teaching your skills and passing it on. Thank you JJ, The GW, and NY Matt for your safety classes and maintaining the salute line. Thank You to the Nelson and the Eaton families for all the hard work preparing and hosting this event. Shout out to USG and all the other Pyro Clubs that join PAT and share their knowledge and help with the shows. Thank You 76 Pro Line for showing up and participating with us. Thank You to the event coordinators for all their hard work, Grant, keep doing what you're doing it's good stuffs. And again Thank You to all the Fire Ants out there, all of y'all are the reason we do what we do. We do it for you. PAT! TEXAS! FIRE ANTS!
Fireball selfies at PyroFest!
You can tell, these are skilled non-flinching professionals!
Wish I was there!!!!
That warmed me up
Austin Adams
NY Matt living his best life mowing the open shooting area.
No cows were hurt in the making of this epic world premiere video
Unloaded group buy with Harley and NY Matt. Thanks for opening the store for us Robin!
That is awsome do you need me to bring anything to help
How late are ya'll going to be there tonight?
Woo hoo!!!
Omg
Wow. that is awesome.
Where is that pyroslut
Rex & crew have worked hard cleaning up the store & mowing/clearing the field!
I’m up here in the area but not sure where to go
That where we need to go??
Loaded up for PyroFest with Harley and NY Matt
OG Matt in Texas! You know you want to stay, just say it! See you soon!
See y’all Friday!!
See y'all in about 4-5 hours
Oh snap Matt in the house!
Time to get charged up!
yep im loading up my truck now, be heading up 35 early tomarrow morning anyone needs a ride let me know, was going to bring a trailer and atv but fuel prices putting that idea as a no go
Today I pulled some Unobtanium for Grant Cox's "Epic Toxic Rev9" Display!
A teaser, but come find Grant at Pyrofest to learn how to setup & build a fantastic pyromusical with 1.4G & 1.3G. He's put a ton of work into it already. Deep thanks Grant!
Finale Simulation:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHWjjYD05Dg
7-PyroLama Front, 41-Cobra 18M's
Can't thank you enough JJ for pulling this in all the heat and humidity!!!
Incredible!
Thanks Scott for doing the 1.4 display. Can't wait to see it!
She’s got fire in her eyes! 😻
And she is cute too!
Scott wins the cute pyro award!
These are not locked in stone, but here is a tentative schedule for Friday.
What time will the show start?
Doing Pyro Dishes before PyroFest 💥
Need clean screws for making vitamin f
Dude, I so appreciate you doing that! Nothing like arms black up to your elbows. 🙂
If you need sign offs for licensing, make sure to help work on the displays at PyroFest. You will have the opportunity to get 2 sign offs at the event. You will have to work with JJ (Nemo Boss), Grant J Cox , and Scott R Chapman to get your sign offs.
These are the main classes at PyroFest, but don't forget you can also learn while helping with the displays and get sign offs at the event.
Make sure not to miss this Saturday, Learn how to test BP power. Also, you guys already making BP, bring some to test and we will see who makes the best!
For more info follow the link:
fb.me/e/3h2LREt7e
Sweet! I did some baseball BP tests at the last pyrofest I went to. Brent Black and I never found the baseballs haha
Brent will teach how to make Stars that are ready to use in under 1 HOUR! This is a must see class. Plus, you will learn how to make pro mines with those stars.
For more info follow the link:
fb.me/e/3h2LREt7e
This will be a fun class.
Make sure to Cheer for the Class Shells featured Saturday night!
For more info follow the link:
fb.me/e/3h2LREt7e
Ice Cream Man!!!
I can't wait
After seeing Derrick Wilbanks tool setup, I had to show the Packout Setup, I put together with my Sister's help over Christmas. #toolboxporn
Make sure to help me use these tools at PyroFest: fb.me/e/3h2LREt7e
Packouts!
Nick this is pure sexy. I love it
No press?
Nick Sainz for those of us not so mechanically sophisticated, butinterested, could you share what each one is?
Lots of PAT Members will be attending this PGI Convention!
Just look for the Texas flags!
We will be there!!
JJ is back and Ready to teach Licensing and Safety! Make sure you don't miss him at PyroFest.
More info in Link: fb.me/e/3h2LREt7e
This is a must see for Friday Night. We have to pick a winner for the Father and Son Dueling Girandolas. Are you team "Screaming Demon" or "Demon Slayer"???
For more info follow the link:
fb.me/e/3h2LREt7e
Team Switzerland😂
👀👀👀 can't wait
Our Rocket Teacher Harley is back for Spring PyroFest, Join him in the Press Rocket Class.
More info in Link: fb.me/e/3h2LREt7e
any idea, what time this will be?
Shout out to Grant for tackling the 1.3 display for Saturday night. I can't wait to sing along to the 90s pop hits!!!
For more info follow the link:
fb.me/e/3h2LREt7e
If you need guns or other things for open shooting, please post here:
Rocket rack.
I need a 50 caliber on a tripod with lots of tracer ammo.
PyroFest updates
2 annual memberships and 2 event fees paid for Elvira and I. Ready for the booms!
Looking so forward to it! Edric can’t wait to build!! He has a pyrography class on one of the days (Fri or Sat). But I’ll bring him out Thurs too. Count 3 for food, I’ll get you paid!!
Is it too late to buy tickets?
well I did it I booked a cabin but I might come up early on thursday and find a spot to crash that night
im going to try to make it this year, think coming up from deep south texas,
so any others looking for a ride on the way going up 37 to 35 let me know well in advance, I due have a super stinger from ctpyro but its been years sense I have used it and not sure if the laptop that ran it is the same hasnt been turned on in years as well so should I bring it yeah neah?
Hi Friend
any camping on site or strickly hotel can ya bring a ATV??
The John W Shell Building Class is back for Spring PyroFest with twice as many seats. Make sure you show up early to build a shell!
More info in Link: fb.me/e/3h2LREt7e
I'll bring Ice Cream!!!
I will be there super early can't wait to learn
Can't wait for this one
Do we need to sign up for the class or any other classes or do we just show up?
Is this beginner friendly? Or should we already have some pyrotechnic building experience? I’d like to come, but I don’t want to be a nuisance.
Shout out to Scott for putting the 1.4 Display together for Saturday Night at PyroFest!
Link to Event if your interested in attending:
fb.me/e/3h2LREt7e
We all like PIE!
He'll yea
Make sure to join us at Pyrofest for the Dual Voice Cracker Class with Derrick!
More info in Link: fb.me/e/3h2LREt7e
I'm so ready to finally figure these out!
Can't wait
It's not too late to get your tickets! PyroFest is coming back next month! It's time to get ready!
Spring PyroFest 2022
Make sure to follow this event for updates and please post questions here as well.
Need Event Fees purchased for I can plan to have food and drinks available for you at PyroFest!
Direct link to purchase here:
fireants.org/shop/2022-spring-event-fee/
Just paid for the event ticket.
im in membership and ticket bought and cabin yahooooo
Done!
The USG guys will be square by end of week
DONE!
Derrick getting ready for PyroFest!!!
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When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.
Group Buy Update!!!
Follow this link for Updates and Information:
talk.fireants.org/t/pat-group-buy-for-spring-pyrofest-may-13-15-2022/483
If you sent in a group buy request, you should have received an email confirmation this morning. If you did not receive that confirmation, please resend your order via email right away. I don't want to overlook anybody.
Price list updated. Many new items to choose from. Get those orders in by April 29th!!!
COBRA Announcement
We hope all is well, and everyone is excited about the up-and-coming July 4th 2022 season. As we all know, the price of fireworks is up, and the supply chain is beating down on us with the high cost of electronic parts and general availability. The great news is that the uncertainty of COVID in the event industry seems to be less, and we are moving into a world more familiar with the past. For this, we are grateful, and the future looks bright!
We have received a lot of requests regarding a Spring sale and wanted to announce that, unfortunately, we will not hold the sale event. This is due to the lack of inventory availability and rising costs in production, shipping, and re-engineering work to maintain system production. COBRA is likely to run out of system availability prior to July 4th, and it's important for us to maintain the same level of service, continue R&D efforts, and focus on safety for our customers while not raising prices beyond our recent and modest price increase compared to other industries.
While we understand that this may come across as disappointing to customers, the great news is that we are making the proper decisions to maintain our unwavering commitment to service and ongoing improvements to our ecosystem of both hardware and software offerings. We are more than a hardware company, but also a company of innovation and service.
If you have any questions, please email us at help@cobrafiringsystems.com. We also encourage an early placement of orders to ensure availability prior to the busy season as we are tightly timing productions every few weeks.
We thank you for all of your support to COBRA, as we are working overtime to ensure you have the best season ever for your family, friends, and those who work professionally in the industry.
Scott Smith
PyroFest Spring Group Buy is officially going!
Link to Group Buy:
talk.fireants.org/t/pat-group-buy-for-spring-pyrofest-may-13-15-2022/483
Does anyone want to split some cases
Price list updated. Many new items to choose from. Get those orders in by April 29th!!!
Hey guys! Quick update: Spirit of '76 is doing a product drop on April 16th. While this will mean some additional product being available to choose from, it also means a new price list. To lock in orders at the currently posted prices, please get your orders to me before the product drop and new price list. I recommend getting them to me by midnight on April 14th to give me time to process them before the 16th. You can still place a new order or add to your existing order after the 16th, but it will be at the new pricing. I will update the group's price list as soon as I have it.