Star and Comet Tools

Many star comps won't perform properly if the star is placed on the ground and ignited; most of the time all you see is a pile of ash. The star needs to fall through the air for the full effect to be seen. Star guns are especially valuable when making crossette stars to check burn time and break charges, saving much time building a shell and having poor performing stars.

There are 7 tubes on each plate. Sizes are for ³⁄₈", ½", ⁵⁄₈", ¾", 1", 1¹⁄₈", and 1¼" diameter stars. Each tube is ¹⁄₁₆" diameter over the star diameter and 9 times the star diameter in length.

Each tube is drilled for visco fuse. All tubes are welded to the base plate by a certified welder (no chicken poop welds on the units). All tubes are D.O.M. (drawn over mandrel) inside finish; there are no weld seams for the star to catch on like guns using common water pipe. Coated with a clear, penetrating dry film rust preventative.

If you need to produce a lot of uniform stars from ³⁄₈" up to ¾" in size, we've got the tools for you. Our star plates are machined from heavy aluminum plate and made to last. The ³⁄₁₆" and ¼" plates have pins made of stainless steel; these are what we call core stars to roll bigger stars. All the other plates have aluminum pins. The stars they produce are great for aerial shells, Roman candles, cakes and more.

Quad pumps produce sectional stars, which are assembled in canister shells in sets of 8. When the shell explodes the 8 stars spread out in the sky to form what looks like a three-dimensional box. It produces a completely unique effect that cannot be duplicated in any other way.

This is the deluxe model of the single quad pump. It produces 4 stars at one time instead of just one. Like its cousin, it is machined from solid aluminum and coated with nituff for long life. It comes complete as shown here.

This unit is a completely self-contained, no-nonsense tool for pumping stars. You can keep your hands clean and out of the star composition. Just grasp the handles and press the pump into a shallow pan of star composition until full. Press the spring-loaded ejector plate with your thumbs and out pop 6-10 stars (depends on the size).

This quality tool is made of machined aluminum and assembled with stainless steel springs and screws. Adjustment washers are supplied with the tool to vary the length of star if desired. Also included with the pump is an allen wrench for disassembly and cleaning of the gang pump.

Custom sizes are available.

A simple tool consisting of a slotted aluminum sleeve and a pinned plunger. To operate, retract the plunger till the pin clears the slot, press the pump into damp star composition till full and simply eject the star. All star pumps are nituff coated. Custom sizes are available.

In general, the construction is similar to star pumps, but comet pumps are longer and have heavier sleeves. Operation is also similar to the star pumps with the exception that the star composition may have to be rammed with a mallet to properly compact the material and prevent crumbling after drying. All comet pumps come with nituff coating. Custom sizes are available.

Similar in construction to the comet pumps, with the exception that the plunger is drilled and tapped to accept the threads of a hydraulic cylinder. Since these large comets require several tons of pressure to compact the material, a hydraulic press is recommended for their production. These pumps are sized so the finished comets can be directly shot from 3, 4, 5, and 6 inch mortars. This produces a truly spectacular sight. All extra large comet pumps come nituff coated.

Note: When ordering the 4½" or 5½" comet pumps, please allow at least six weeks for delivery since they are not kept in stock and must be made to order.

This unique star pump will form a star with a generous cavity in one end. After drying, this cavity is filled with a different star composition. This presents all sorts of interesting possibilities, such as pumping the star from a glitter composition and after drying, filling the cavity with a color composition (red, green, etc.)

Such a star gives the impression of a red or green star leaving behind a glittering tail. The possibilities and combinations are endless, but I'll leave the rest up to you. All cavity pumps are coated with nituff. Custom sizes are available.

Note: A word of caution on these pumps. The two compositions used in each star should be compatible with one another.

These stars require a little extra labor to compete, but well worth the labor for the return of such a spectacular show. As they are ejected from the shell, they burn as a common star would, after a few seconds they explode into 4-5 pieces filling the sky with color and light.

The tool is similar to a common star pump. However, the finished star has a cross-shaped cavity, which is loaded with a break charge. This cavity is then closed with a cardboard disc. The end and sides are then covered with a couple turns of Kraft paper. The opposite end is left bare, as it will be ignited by the break charge of the shell. As the star travels through the sky, the star burns toward the break charge, fire spits into the fuse hole (formed by the pump) and into the break charge, which bursts the star into 4 pieces. These stars add a lot of fullness to any shell. The stars can also be shot from mortars. Comes with complete instructions.

Shown is a crossette pump with removable pin. It's easier to operate, with the added advantage of being able to change the star length with optional spacer rings.

The rings are used with the above crossette pumps to provide you with the means to vary the length of the stars. Simply place one or all of the rings around the plunger between the removable pin and the sleeve. This will allow you to change star length to compensate for different effects or burn rates.

This is a proven and quick way of making large quantities of stars. The aluminum frame is machined to assemble and disassemble quickly. The operation is simply to spread a thin layer of prime in the bottom of the frame and add the damp star comp spreading out to fill all the corners. Top off with prime and press into damp star comp. Star comp is now primed on 2 sides.

Disassemble frame and cut comp into strips then into cubes. Prime the remaining sides and put stars aside to dry.

A tip to keep the star comp from sticking to the table is to spread a sheet of a new product from Reynolds Aluminum called RELEASE NON STICK aluminum foil. This stuff really works.

Available in the sizes listed below.

When pressing stars using a star pump do you find ejecting the star from the sleeve a problem? These ejection sleeves will pay for themselves time and again. Just place the pump in the recess and press down to eject the star. Extraction sleeves are machined from solid aluminum and available for all standard star, crossette, and comet pumps.

Note: Other sizes are available.

Our 3-In-1 comet pumps offer a great variety of options for the comet enthusiast. The 3-In-1 comet pump comes with 3 interchangeable tips. The first tip is a crossette tip used for making large crossette comets. The second tip is a plug, which is inserted into the plunger for making standard comets. And the third tip is domed to create a cavity in the comet, which is intended to increase the burn area.

The pump also has an added feature of graduations being machined directly into the pump for easy length reference. Holes are drilled along these graduations for a pin to be inserted. After the pin is inserted, the plunger can then be pushed down till the pin contacts the top of the sleeve, and then excess composition can be trimmed from the bottom of the comet.

The 3-In-1 comet pump comes nituff coated.

The comet pump comes complete with all 3 tips, wrench, and pin (not shown).

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