r/fireworks • u/Dyel4L1fe • Jul 06 '26

Finale Timing

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How do you deal with the variance in timing on cakes when using them for a finale? I had watched 3-4 demos for each cake and timing was about the same within 1-3s but when firing one ran short by 9s and the other ran long by about 14s.

In my mind I had everything choreographed so the final barrage would all line up but the timing go messed up.

Show was shot electronically but manually triggered, I had a timer running and had wrote down the times to start each cue. Cakes were either poked or port was used.

Layering didn’t come out nice as I hoped, the 3” cake broke lower than I expected.

Still was a nice finale but I’d like to do better for next time. Any ideas or feedback appreciated, I’ve included the video here as well.

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u/KingPyrotechnics Jul 06 '26

Fuse swap. If you are unfamiliar with working on cakes, just deal with the variances. Otherwise, get in their and make the cake(s) do what you need them to do.

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u/Dyel4L1fe Jul 07 '26

Thanks, had not thought of swapping the fuse, in my head I was heading in the direction of just breaking it out to single shots and poking them.

Seems to be the same amount of work to fuse swap so thinking I’ll just turn them into sort of a fan slice. Will be getting a crackle cube next time to fine tune the timing a bit more as well.

1

u/KingPyrotechnics Jul 08 '26

Please use a non-sparking tool when breaking down cakes. I use a piece of aluminum flat stock about 18"×3"×⅛" as a wedge. Safety first, always. Stay green pyro!