Good stuff. I like the simplicity and agree, people often complicate things too much where it doesn't make a lot of difference. Sometimes they add so much glue that the moisture affects compositions or time fuses. Thanks for sharing.
I usually use chip board that I buy from Wolter tools, but ran out . They are very thin chip board that I cut from A bundle of 12" x 12" I picked up, two of them pasted together is 1/16" thick and I always use two disc one before I pleat then another one over the pleat which works great.
Corned 2FA or 3 FA and sometimes A half gram of flash depending on how hard of a break I need for the type of star, but I spike mine really tight so most of the time don't need flash.
I made it out of pvc pipe, then built it up with construction paper to 2.5 inches, the construction paper was also cut to 3 inches in size that's how tall I want my shells to be so this way I can cut my kraft paper to 4 inches and wrap it around the 3 inch case former so I have a half inch on top and bottom for pleating.
I have the Fulcanelli paper back guide to building anywhere from a 3" shell to a complex 6" shell color shell and 7-timed reports, they suggest that a 3 " shell be 2.5" in height and so on like for a 4" the shell would be 3.5" tall, but the size of kraft paper I use is about 6" tall 24" long..
Do what with glue? The disc? You could but I really don't find a need for it. They perform well the way I make them as per fulcanelli papers. but have done it with glue in the beginning.
