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Just tested a fountain which I named Dual toned fountain to differentiate from the other fountains. I am satisfied with the effect of this. Case lenght-12cm Case id-3cm Nozzle length-10mm Nozzle id-9mm Microstar was 50% to the base mixture. Here is the video. Fountain.mp4 Fountain.mp4

Happy New Year to you all !!

I think you've got me confused with someone else...

I just pick up my rubber jar every so often and whack it with a stick 😆

4" Ball shell Stars are rolled, size of the stars are 10mm, strobe stars are 4mm, C8 6mm. No prime in between the two layers. No prime needed as C8 composition is already so easy to light. C8 Potassium nitrate ................ 49 Sulfur ................ 6 Charcoal ................ 40 SGRS ................ 5 White strobe (JOPETES Strobe formula) Barium nitrate ................ 52 Potassium nitrate ................ 4 Sulfur ................ 26 Magnalium 63 micron, 250-mesh ................ 14 (original calls for 230 mesh, I didnt have. I bet using 230 will be better. I will use 100 mesh next time to see if that makes it even more strobing) SGRS ................ 4

Fonte de cauda de tigre, colocada dentro de uma garrafa de alumínio. VID_20231102_195803.mp4

That's impressive..!! 👏

I agree these stars are worth trying despite the hygroscopic nature of sodium nitrate. I believe there are different grades of NaNO3 on the market, but stars should stay dry below 70% relative humidity with good quality material. My homemade sodium nitrate is recrystallized 3 times and stays dry below 70% rh. Shimizu states in his book that real pure NaNO3 attracts moisture first above 85% rh. But I have no clue how the purification process for achieving this is done. Anyways when the stars are first in a pasted shell, I believe the layered pasted paper provides some protection against humidity. I also read somewhere a guy who lined the inside ball shell halves with pvc kitchen film, and sealed the contents of each shell half with this before closing the shell.

cmjlab, I'm not sure I get your rant? In my eyes both you and Frank are on the exact same page. He was referring to the previous poster I think. It's a good rant, but I think you got it wrong

Why would someone ever minimize the hazards associated with three component milling? If you blow up your garage that's one thing, but spouting ignorant bull shit on the internet can have more far-reaching and severe consequences than that. Debates can be enlightening; even animated ones. I hope that all the forum members can remember that we share a passion for fireworks as we argue our positions.

I’m loving this especially being another uk fellow lacking space and availability to materials.

Testing out metal additives to comets as I'm looking to fire five in a fan shape as a small firework. Used C6 as a base milled for 6 hours in my rock tumbler. 11mm diameter pumped 1g comets fired in a 13mm diameter 8cm tube. Then added 12% metals MgAl and Al. C6 comets.mp4

VID_20241230_232238~2.mp4 This is a 30mm 100 shot firework cake, it was supossed to last longer but will be improving in the future. Effects used: - Barium nitrate green star Pressed. - White stars+ atomized aluminum Rolled. - Silver twinkling matrix comet Pressed. - Report inserts (for final rows). Lift: 6g granulated BP. VID_20241230_232238~3.mp4

You can also add more humidity to the work environment if you wet with plenty water all the floor of your Workspace. You can also use one of those humidifiers that are sold at growshops plus a termohygrometer. This will help you monitoring your working parameters, ensuring safe humidity levels in order to keep static risk at the lowest possible.

This winter I have been working on several star combinations for my micro-fireworks. One of them has been tiger tail + Pinko KP blue both primed with monocapa, with the deep orange and blue colours a classic of commercial fireworks. This is the sequence of firings in order until I finally get something like what I'm looking for, although still a bit of improvement left to go. So many variables to play with: composition milling times, star sizes, amount of flash burst, and fuse length for burst height. Tiger Tail and Pihko KP Blue.mp4

Softwoods (conifers) in general, some better than others. Since you mentioned pine cones. Species of pine, cedar, even juniper. If you have access to pine cones you must have access to the trees they grow on. I don't know what species you have but I would try making some charcoal from them. There's a good chance that would at least put you in the ballpark and maybe better.

Is there a water based binder in the red ? You're not listing one in the formula. Are you using a press ? If so, 10% would be kinda wet for a color formula.

Crap..I missed this. Bravo!

I don't really feel like arguing about this, there is plenty of information on ball mill safety on here. I admit that certain practices carry more risk. I will also say that aside from a purposely lit ball mill for testing, I've not read about any ball mill explosions related to them going off during the milling of B.P. (when all appropriate measures were taken). I've read plenty about people using glass, milling metals, etc, then having an incident. None about a ball mill going off during milling of B.P. Again, I am not saying you should throw caution to the wind. Each one of us will have to make their own decisions based on what people tell them, and take their own risks. Nothing about what I've ever provided has suggested that you should do anything I've done, and I do my best to never provide unsafe suggestions for milling practices. I will also admit when I'm wrong (as I did about banging on a jar with a stick). As to whether or not a mill jar would explode or not based on the lid, I can't say I'm too concerned as I always prepare as if it will, and ensure that nobody and no property will be hurt if it does. If you're not milling that way, you have no business milling anything flammable at all.

Nice work!!

I’m currently visiting Japan, and being a pyro, am naturally very interested in seeing traditional fireworks manufacture or displays while I’m here. Unfortunately, it appears that fireworks aren’t sold or displayed much in the winter here - they are big in the summer. I am in Kyoto at the moment and will be traveling to Kanazawa, Hakuba, and then briefly to Tokyo. If anyone has any recommendations for pyro-related activities or experiences, let me know! All I can find online are gimmicky tours and summertime events. I did visit the Ryogoku Fireworks Museum in Tokyo - see attached photo. It was small, but fun.

Hi Redwood - That happens quite a bit, especially with NEPT tubes, as they can become sticky on the outer surface. To remove the motor from the base and spindle, lightly clamp the spindle base in your press, then use a strap wrench around the motor and support sleeve half to twist and pull the motor off the spindle. If the motor isn't coming off the spindle with a moderate amount of effort (or less). You may have bent the tip of the spindle and locked it into the grain. Place the works in a bucket of water and wait for the paper and fuel grain to become mushy enough to pull the spindle for examination. You may need a repair, or you may need to just lubricate the spindle for future motors (wax,graphite,silicone, etc.) If the motor does release from the spindle but is still stuck in half of the support, blow off any loose comp, then place the flat rammer against the bore of the support and onto the top edge of the tube. Give it a few light wacks with a rubber mallet to break the tube free.

i have several built and ready to try, but i’m waiting for some nights with less crazy wind (and maybe a little less COLD!) if there are any useful results i’ll post a short video.

Very nice...!! Mind sharing what composition for stars used at 0.22 second?

I wish all my pyro friends A very Happy New Year Eve..!! May this year brings out prosperity, peace and good health.... Happy new year..!! -Zumber

I have not directly compared the effects with the addition of magnalium and real Corolla from factory products. But from my observations I can say that the compositions with magnalium have a characteristic rustle and noise when burning with a fine-grained shine, and the Corolla effect burns without an obvious trail, while the flashes are silent (similar to glitter D1). The true formula is probably easy to make, I do not think that it uses a composition that requires adjustment and careful selection of ingredients, since this is instability in production. But I can be wrong

Yes you can.

For core burner try slow burning bp mixture like 60/30/10 KNO3/Charcoal/Sulphur you can replace few percent charcoal with coarse charcoal for nice tail. Try to slow down 75/15/10 mixture by varing ratio of ingredients or lowering milling time. Try search tool over here and you may end up with lots of topice that already has been discussed on this thread many times.

I often use magnelium for hot prime, If you don't have access then you may look for silicon. I don't have reliable prime without magnelium.

After long time made few shells of 3.5 and 4 inches with flash burst. VID-20241214-WA0024.mp4 Another angle VID-20241213-WA0027.mp4 3.5 inch - crackling microstar commet Size of commet is 22mm - pressed and cut Used rice husks aa bursting charge to reduce the throw of the stars VID-20241214-WA0022.mp4 3.5 inch - Blesser white strobe VID-20241214-WA0020.mp4 4 inch Red & Green stars VID-20241208-WA0008.mp4 3.5 inch Red, Green & crackling star VID-20241214-WA0019.mp4 4 inch - Pumped fast burning red commet with Rice husk burst VID-20241126-WA0005.mp4 Flash burst - 3.5 inch C6 VID-20241214-WA0023.mp4 3.5 inch rolled N1 to red star. Need improvement on the star timings. Flash burst, so not expecting much symmetry

One more test. Construction work fine Spining tail.mp4

Hi any body have idea how easier make spining rising Tit tail for cake insers bombetes. i do one test today but delay was little to short shell opened to fast . Is there any information about the construction and what kind of comp. would be better to use?

It depends on how you process, weight of shell, granules size of lift, cylindrical or ball shell and clearance between shell and mortar tube, purity of ingredients used and milling time. First we dry KNO3 for 4 to 5 hours in sunshine and immediately grind it using coffee grinder to fine powder that should pass atleast 100 mesh, also Sulphur is passed through 100 mesh screen , we use commercial Extra fine charcoal for lift. Mix all ingredients 2 times with 40 mesh screen and 3 times with 80 or 100 mesh screen. Then mixture is damped with clean water with little use of water just to avoid floating it's fluffy airy nature and prevent floating during milling operation. It is screened with window screen to spread water equally into mixture in order to damped it. Then it is poured into wooden base housing as shown in image above and rammed for 1 to 2 hours till powder burns fast enough tough it still has minimum moisture we do burn test between milling process. Then powder is again screened to break lumps and allowed to dry in sunshine. Next binder is added 2 to 3 percent using 60 mesh screen and it is granulated and dried. Size of granules depends on size of shell. Note:- Operateor who is ramming with iron rod should ram in center part of wooden base only and second operator pushes mixture continuously towards the center using long handle spatula to keep his hands safe and away from rammer. This is the method we have been using since many years and not to be recommended professionally it is revealed only for curiosity.

Thank you. I ended up buying a solid lump of silicon putting it in a couple of zip seal bags and taking my 3lb hammer to it on the side face of an axe. Then small pieces put in mortar and pestle with plastic wrap over the top to stop it flying everywhere! ( Learning as I go). Now I have 120, 200 and 400 mesh SI.

Yes, this is a bombette in the process, fuse Is pressed along with clay and a layer of moist pulverone + dextrin. All in one single operation, brazilian firework factories work this way, you can also use color or glitter composición in order to give the bombette a Tail. Once the layer Is dry the bombette Is ready to be loaded with effects, flash and finally be sealed. There is no need to prime anything. This differs of the chinese method however Is very effective, I've tested a Lot without any issue.

Jopetes Lemon

Both jopetes comps are not purple. They are pink. Jopetes purple: 0.48 Potassium perchlorate 0.12 Copper oxide 0.06 Strontium carbonate 0.09 Red gum 0.12 Parlon 0.06 Magnalium, 230-mesh 0.04 Dextrin 0.97 Total Projekt_12-31_Full HD 1080p_HIGH_FR30_(1).mp4

Efficiency is concerned with how will he process BP and it's Ingredients. Black powder manufacturing is safe but it's is also dangerous if it is not done in proper way, milling makes black powder to burn more faster and it can't be avoided. In a ball mill it is milled in dry form and it is surrounded by walls all its side and operator must not enter while it is running. If there is motion there is friction, if there is friction there is heat. I love Lancaster semi wet milling method. 7.5 kg of KNO3 is dissolved in 2.5 kg of hot water by stirring then it is transferred to mixer and 1.5 kg of charcoal is added in it and it is mixed for hour so that KNO3 soaks into charcoal pores. The mixture is still has moisture in it and it is transferred to ball mill to which 1 kg of sulphur is added and it is milled for 24 hours while mixture is semi wet. Ball milling provides two function mixing and milling at same time. As per Lancaster, if value of hand mix bp is 1 then semi- wet milled bp value is 12 and that of dry milling is 6. I often prefer semi wet method than dry milling.

Here the forum buy unnecessary tools many people, and many people are trying to find uncertain solutions that work poorly with by non-purpose devices. Professional tools are quickly destroyed if user make a mistake with them. On YT videos the KClO3 and KClO4 almost nowhere is it professionally cleansed. The K2S2O5 not used properly, and KClO3 and KClO4 not recrystallized just washed which is a serious mistake. It is very important to produce more with the possible less work, we do not work instead of tools. Who recommends methods like heating hypochlorite to make chlorate that are nonsense for people who really want to use chlorates/perchlorates. Making anodes at home like PbO2 are not worth it. Under 1000ml NaClO4 solution not worth working for. Under 500g not worth to make KClO3 or KClO4/one time. The equipment costs a lot. For a 0,5l cell a 70mm long 3mm wide silver rod what is fully coated with 0,2mm thick pure platinum so that they are not attacked by chemicals a choice for life for chlorate and perchlorate production. Collecting in a 0,5l cell from 3 times the total chlorate/perchlorate what are cc 500g are the minimum what worth it to start to work with it. It must be made individually. For using 400-1000ml small cells are excellent. For making NaClO4 directly in one step from NaCl. And making KClO3 from KCl are perfect. For KClO3 and NaCl setup in every 500 ml solution added 5ml 30% HCl/Day In this case, precise pH control is not important with this 0,2mm thick pure platinum anode. 3 weeks total run time from NaCl to NaClO4 in one step 6V 4A are used the power source are a car batters charger. Cell temperature does not matter runs outdoor and impossible to winter and summer keep it the same temperature. It is covered with a seed bed plastic foil and a plastic paint bucket. It is prepared in the same time in summer and winter.In the NaClO4 setup when HCl added in a plastic bottle and no gases are formed no more hydrochloric acid should be added at this time. This point after a day running from pH6 possible a negative pH like pH -1. For a 0,2mm pure platinum, this is not a problem. If too much acid used in this raw pH controlling this is not problem in my setup. I use a graphite cathode it's not necessary using titan. Methyline blue, sensitive chlorate tests, pH meter in this setup unnecessary. A 2000ml beaker, stainless steel saucepan and a plastic bucket used to make the KClO4. The NaClO4 after sedimentation boiled with HCl and K2S2O5 to destroy chlorates in a beaker and not stainless steel. Proportionally to the K2S2O5 added the HCl and boiled the solution to generate SO2 gas this is very important for the reaction (5-max 10% K2S2O5 destroyed all the chlorate) i used 5%. After this the NaClO4 reacted with KCl saturated solutions at room temperature mixed at 80°C in a plastic bucket. Washed with NaHCO3 solution and ice cold water and recrystallized in pure water 2 times +washed the crystals every time. The KClO4 crystals dried in a hot plate using stainless steel saucepan. The fine powdered KClO4 crystals tested with 30% HCl. If stays white, no reaction means its pure. No matter how many times it is made always the same. The result are more purer than technical grade. With the KCl, NaClO4 I never dry out them. Stainless steel not tolerate KCl, NaClO4, NaCl to heat in this crystals. In the cell from every 100g NaCl i calculated to get 210g total NaClO4. And every 1g NaClO4 i calculated 0,6g KCl. 1g KCl dissolved 2,9g H2O. 1liter water calculated to 1Kg using a electric balance. And 1g NaClO4 dissolved 0,5g H2O. In the cell 1g NaCl dissolved in 2,8g H2O (using a 500ml cell the solution are 400ml and 142g NaCl i dissolved to start the process). By evaporating the excess water i get this solutions. The KCl i made from fertilizer i do not crystallize. Stainless still tolerate to heat it in KClO4 and KClO3. Or oven in a ceramic baking dish. When PbO2 are used or few microns platinum in a titanium base first must made the chlorate with MMO anode. Then calculated using sugar+methyline blue test that point when the NaClO4 close to form and must change the anode to perchlorate specific anode. With these anodes must use precise pH controlling. pH papers are washed out by chlorine. pH meters must calibrate regularly using pH 7 and 4 pH buffers and it's not cheap. Towards the end of the process in a perchlorate cell must kept the pH 7-8 in a perchlorate cell. Under pH 7 a pH 6 cell after a day running the pH meter shows negative pH. When PbO2 used this must be paid close attention to. PbO2 anodes not tolerate too alkali pH more than pH 9 too. The few micron platinum coating in a titanium base very vulnerable, a lot of poor quality platinum anodes are sold on the internet what crash in a perchlorate cell. These should not be used for chlorate production. If someone uses alternatives like homemade anodes, or you are not using the tools properly like heating wet NaCl, KCl crystals, acidic HCl solution in a stainless steel pan, heating up too fast the beaker. That multiplies the costs. These devices are quickly destroyed in this case. Example melting NaClO3 in a ceramic pan to get NaClO4 and later the pan are cracked. Or using crucible, household ceramic materials not for intended use, or not in the parameters which is required for the reaction. Too hot cells for perchlorate production, clorate and perchlorate cells unnecessary run indoor, i run it outdoor where chlorine gas are not problem. The pH meter not washed with NaHCO3 solution after used in the chlorate cell etc.

A Few Fotos: http://www.piro.projektas.in/forum/uploads/2_saliutai.jpg http://www.piro.projektas.in/forum/uploads/2_bombetes.jpg http://www.piro.projektas.in/forum/uploads/2_cake.jpg And video:

I am looking for a white or silver glitter with a tail.

I love coarse mgal in glitters. I have a favorite formula, but not a very representative video. For what it's worth, this would probably make a pretty nice white or silver glitter with potassium nitrate.

Focus on your poetry, it's much better than your pyro skills. If you would really like to prove yourself, come to your local club shoot, I want to see these shells that are so much better than mine. Trying to bash people on Youtube is not very mature, kind of makes me think your only 12, probably are.

The picture of the empty inserts are indeed fused with a beraq style delay paste. What you see is not black match, but rather the "worm" of delay comp that result from pushing it through a hole in the casing. It does give a delay, but it's very short compared to using time fuse. The short delays are just characteristic of beraq effects. This is the shell that contained those inserts, in the second break, they are the cluster of Ti reports before the timed reports. This is the most recent and elaborate of my work on beraq inserts, which are far different in construction and size that those in that picture.

I tried making some of these this summer, but I didn't make the dragon's eggs, since I can buy them for about $6 a pound in the naif and lame section of a firework store (and I get a gross of plastic cherry cases thrown in). I put a D1 glitter on them and shot one shell to test. The effect was interesting, the cores ignited while the glitter was still burning so they looked a bit like tiny crossettes.

I'll invoice you shortly... I accept paypal and money orders...