black powder question

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Andibates
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black powder question

Post by Andibates »

hi guys

i have been looking at diffrent comps for black powder and i am not sure wether i need to add dextrin or not
the powder is hand made not ball milled
i am using the black powder to make 10 and 15mm rockets

thanks in advance

andi
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biffo
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Re: black powder question

Post by biffo »

Hi Andy there's no need to add dextrin to make rocket fuel eg 60/30/10 etc and its ok to use just screened mix if your coal and nitrate are fine already, usually dextrin is added to BP to make the grains stick together if you are ricing it through a screen,or say want a star comp to stick together and harden. Some people add a small amount of oil to keep the dust down,but if you are outside its not really a problem. Good luck B
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Re: black powder question

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biffo wrote:Hi Andy there's no need to add dextrin to make rocket fuel eg 60/30/10 etc and its ok to use just screened mix if your coal and nitrate are fine already, usually dextrin is added to BP to make the grains stick together if you are ricing it through a screen,or say want a star comp to stick together and harden. Some people add a small amount of oil to keep the dust down,but if you are outside its not really a problem. Good luck B
Thank you very much Biffo
i now have a bag of dextrin that i dont need but i am sure i will find another use for it
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Re: black powder question

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I am quite sure that you will.regards B
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Re: black powder question

Post by Andibates »

i was thinking of making some screen cut stars but will have to have a search around for some comps to make them i quite like the idea of fire fly stars and crackeling stars if anyone could suggest any comps and methods that would be a great help as i am new to making fireworks

i bought a couple of crappy star kits from ebay that i have not tried yet
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Re: black powder question

Post by biffo »

What are star kits Andi? I haven't seen those.B
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Re: black powder question

Post by davidg »

biffo wrote:What are star kits Andi? I haven't seen those.B
I've seen them on ebay. It is the seller who makes the crappy "precision made"
tools with wooden rammers and the ball mill that is really a plasticos gamon shell.
I cannot speak for his stars but the tools are dire. They are supposedly the parlon bound
stars that skylighter did a tutorial on.
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Re: black powder question

Post by Pyro-Gear »

Yeah that’s the guy, the ball is a miracle of engineering I have to say (cough) one thing that amazes me with it he runs a 12 volt 300 rpm motor direct drive to as you say to a plasticos gamon shell, then uses a switchable power supply to step the voltage down? From what I have been told the motor often stalls due to lack of volts/amps, would it not have been easier to get a motor with an output of 80 rpm at half the cost?

As you say Dave the kit is for the Parlon bound stars from Skylighter

The rocket tooling is what can I say crap, all the sets have an incredible amount of delay running standard tubes, so if you did get one to go before the pine dowel split you could play catch on the way down and still have time to throw it back up before the header exploded!
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Re: black powder question

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i noticed when they arrived the instructions where copied and pasterd from the skylighter i dont expect that they will work
they are ment to be rubber stars but i ordered them before i knew as much as i do now i will let you know if the even ignite when i get round to making them

what made me chuckel was the Unique Ball Mill for Chemicals or other powders that you put in a battery drill to me that sems like a good way to kill your drill quite quickly i will not be ordering anything else from him

i would rather ask ken and you guys for advice on comps and then order the chems direct from ken
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Re: black powder question

Post by Pyro-Gear »

Andy the star pack you bought will work fine however the chicken wire screen is a little bit big for your needs but you can make a patty and just cut them by hand.

I was wondering what colour kit you purchased?

The Unique Ball Mill for Chemicals or other powders that you put in a battery drill, well that's a good way to kill yourself as well as killing the hand drill.
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Re: black powder question

Post by sambo »

I've seen those kits too. Presumably they are all nitrate comps without any perchlorate - in which case legal to sell in that sense ( via ebay ) - if they are and they don't contain any potassium perchlorate they will be hard to light and the nitrates will need thorough drying.
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Re: black powder question

Post by Andibates »

Pyro-Gear wrote:Andy the star pack you bought will work fine however the chicken wire screen is a little bit big for your needs but you can make a patty and just cut them by hand.

I was wondering what colour kit you purchased?

The Unique Ball Mill for Chemicals or other powders that you put in a battery drill, well that's a good way to kill yourself as well as killing the hand drill.
he sent me red green and blue
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Re: black powder question

Post by Pyro-Gear »

Well the blue would be a perchlorate base.
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Re: black powder question

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sambo wrote:I've seen those kits too. Presumably they are all nitrate comps without any perchlorate - in which case legal to sell in that sense ( via ebay ) - if they are and they don't contain any potassium perchlorate they will be hard to light and the nitrates will need thorough drying.
please correct me if i am wrong which i could well be
hot prime contains potassium perclorate
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Re: black powder question

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Pyro-Gear wrote:Andy the star pack you bought will work fine however the chicken wire screen is a little bit big for your needs but you can make a patty and just cut them by hand.

I was wondering what colour kit you purchased?

The Unique Ball Mill for Chemicals or other powders that you put in a battery drill, well that's a good way to kill yourself as well as killing the hand drill.
what size mesh would you recomend ?
the holes in the screen that he sent are 5mm square
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Re: black powder question

Post by Pyro-Gear »

He must of changed the screen 5mm will do the job for you.
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Re: black powder question

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ken i have sent you a pm and i have posted a pic of the polisher in the other thred
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Re: black powder question

Post by Pyro-Gear »

Andibates wrote:
sambo wrote:I've seen those kits too. Presumably they are all nitrate comps without any perchlorate - in which case legal to sell in that sense ( via ebay ) - if they are and they don't contain any potassium perchlorate they will be hard to light and the nitrates will need thorough drying.
please correct me if i am wrong which i could well be
hot prime contains potassium perclorate
Andy there are hundreds of formulations that contain perchlorate and hot prime is one of them.
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Re: black powder question

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i had noticed while i was looking through star comps i think i may have to get some perchlorate
to add to my ever growing chemical stock
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Re: black powder question

Post by Andibates »

i finally got round to making one of the star kits that i bought from ebay
no sure i did somthing wrong a few of them ended up about 5mm square but the rest ended up looking like cat litter
i have only got as far as puttin the first prime on them when i pushed them through the screen they light very easily
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Re: black powder question

Post by Lloyd »

Andi,
You primed them BEFORE pushing them through the screen? (or did you only mean 'top-dusting' the patty?)

If the material does not "screen cut" without crumbling, it's still a bit too dry. Instead of wasting that batch, you should have added some moisture, kneaded it into a patty, and tried again.

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Re: black powder question

Post by Andibates »

Lloyd wrote:Andi,
You primed them BEFORE pushing them through the screen? (or did you only mean 'top-dusting' the patty?)

If the material does not "screen cut" without crumbling, it's still a bit too dry. Instead of wasting that batch, you should have added some moisture, kneaded it into a patty, and tried again.

LLoyd
i have only top dusted the patty i re wetted the crumbs and pushed them back through

the problem came when i tried to get them from the tray in to the tub for priming alot of them broke up
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Re: black powder question

Post by biffo »

I presume you are wearing gloves then you can pick the comp up and knead it like plastercine it should all stick together and look like the stuff they make into sticks of seaside rock,if it does not all stick together add more SOLVENT like Lloyd said.I've no idea why SOLVENT only prints in uppercase ,anyway good luck B
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