braddsn Posted September 3, 2015 Posted September 3, 2015 Very nice Roger! I didn't know you could buy commercial ones. Where do you get them? And, is making your own difficult? For some reason I am remembering that making DE can be a real pain... what say you?
rogeryermaw Posted September 3, 2015 Author Posted September 3, 2015 (edited) ya the commercial d.e. are available in stands as the green "crakle balls". they're just a green case with some primed d.e. wrapped in a piece of flash paper. cost about a dollar for six balls. i opened one and emptied it to replace the filling with my comp. think mine are a touch louder and pop with a slightly more consistent timing. as far as the p.i.t.a. making them i would say for me it was more headaches getting a working formula nailed down. other than that, the major frustration is how the n.c. lacquer sticks to everything. i pressed a patty about 3/16" thick through a 10 mesh screen to get the particle size in the pic...of course the pic is after priming with dextrin liquor in mill dust. Edited September 3, 2015 by rogeryermaw
rogeryermaw Posted September 17, 2015 Author Posted September 17, 2015 (edited) working on a blue 3"...would call it pyro science but without the dextrin. after priming, these stars are right at 1/4 inch. i wanted to try out an idea i had for a prime that would be aggressive and work under harsh conditions. i have fired these as hard as i can from my stargun and have yet to see one fail. the layer i dusted the patty with before cutting is basically flash. 50/50 k perc and 200-325 granular al. let it set up for a few minutes and cut. after about two hours dry time, a light spray with very thin nc and roll in mill powder. shell weight is 189g. break powder is about 3fg and the lift will be about 3fa. this one i hand pasted. my method results in about 3 layers per wrap for a total of 9 layers. with this method, after fusing and lift cup, the shell will have about 1/8 inch of clearance in a 3" hdpe gun. video to follow. Edited September 17, 2015 by rogeryermaw
stix Posted September 17, 2015 Posted September 17, 2015 Looking forward to seeing the video. Cheers.
braddsn Posted September 21, 2015 Posted September 21, 2015 Waiting to see the video Roger... come on hurry up!! haha j/k. I know you are chasing blues right now, anxious to see what formula you settle on.
rogeryermaw Posted September 23, 2015 Author Posted September 23, 2015 (edited) i'm hanging my head in shame...the formula looks fine but the break symmetry is atrocious!! i even hand pasted this one. same method i used on my nye shells which broke evenly. the powder was way hot and star sizing may have played a small part but i can do better than this. in the next couple of weeks i plan to record my shell wrapping technique to see if anyone cares to evaluate it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTMb0ZuErsc recently i was pondering that pyro science formula. needed a gallon of milk and from the front porch to the car i had some ideas. fiddling with the pyro science color and adding my own touch, i came up with this: they are bright, deep in color, no hint of purple or red tinges to the flame and burn about as long as 5/16" stars even cut to 3/16". i like this one...think it's going in the playbook. Edited September 23, 2015 by rogeryermaw
braddsn Posted September 23, 2015 Posted September 23, 2015 Alright Roger, here is my opinion (keep in mind, just my OPINION) on what happened with that shell. I don't believe pasting was the problem. I believe ignition/burn was the issue. I watched it frame by frame, looking closely at the break a frame at a time. First, your shell broke pretty hard (powerful bp). In my experience, blues tend to blow out easily, due to a lower burn temperature. This blue would be well suited in a soft breaking shell, or in a mine like your second video. However, to get that nice big round break, you gotta break em hard. That is what lead me to use blue formulas with MgAl. Try that same shell with Veline blue, and I can about guarantee a vastly different result! The blues with a touch of MgAl are much harder to blow out at high speed. IF you are dead set on this particular formula, the other option would be to have 2-3mm of fencepost prime on the stars, so that the prime will burn long enough for the star to slow down before the blue comp ignites. I had all of these issues with blues... and that is what I concluded after many late night headaches. Here is a 4" Spanish Blue peony that was part of my display on the 4th. The color was of course richer in person, but you can get some idea of the color, and symmetry. Shell broke hard. I used 2.5mm fencepost prime on these stars. https://youtu.be/uIq2E8r07hk?t=10m15s
PIL Posted September 23, 2015 Posted September 23, 2015 Slag may prevent the blue stars from blowing out. It will also make the blue deeper .To create slag 20% or more copper oxide is added. Using sulfur as main fuel is a good option too because it lowers the ignition point.
stix Posted September 23, 2015 Posted September 23, 2015 The star mine was good, and a very nice blue.
rogeryermaw Posted September 23, 2015 Author Posted September 23, 2015 thank you brad and pil for the advice! i will give them all a run. if anyone wants the comp for the blue mine, i'll post it. thanks stix! i like the color this one gives. it is a bit deeper than the cam is able to capture. wish i still had my galaxy 2 phone. it actually recorded blue quite well...
memo Posted September 23, 2015 Posted September 23, 2015 .i'm hanging my head in shame...the formula looks fine but the break symmetry is atrocious!! i even hand pasted this one. same method i used on my nye shells which broke evenly. the powder was way hot and star sizing may have played a small part but i can do better than this. in the next couple of weeks i plan to record my shell wrapping technique to see if anyone cares to evaluate it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTMb0ZuErsc recently i was pondering that pyro science formula. needed a gallon of milk and from the front porch to the car i had some ideas. fiddling with the pyro science color and adding my own touch, i came up with this: they are bright, deep in color, no hint of purple or red tinges to the flame and burn about as long as 5/16" stars even cut to 3/16". i like this one...think it's going in the playbook.
rogeryermaw Posted September 28, 2015 Author Posted September 28, 2015 (edited) Braddsn has been telling me i need to try N1 glitter. must say i agree! i used mgal instead of aluminum. it sizzles like bacon. love the way it almost seems to change color when the charcoal dust has burned away. Edited September 28, 2015 by rogeryermaw
braddsn Posted September 28, 2015 Posted September 28, 2015 Ahh man that looks awesome!! Love it! Time to put it up in a shell! Oh and those N-1 stars make beautiful rising tails for shells too. Never thought of using MgAl instead of aluminum. I am gonna try that.
rogeryermaw Posted September 29, 2015 Author Posted September 29, 2015 (edited) As I am currently out of boric acid, I hoped mgal would reduce the chances of the metal reaction typical with glitter comps. Don't know if it helped but they turned out beautiful. 1/2 a pound of N1 drying in mill dust. Day 1. After they stiffen up a bit I'll sift them and on day 3 or 4 into the drying box. These are about 3/8" for use in a 4" round shell. Edited September 29, 2015 by rogeryermaw
braddsn Posted September 29, 2015 Posted September 29, 2015 I like the idea of them drying in mill dust, Roger. Never thought of that. I roll most of my stars, but this year I am changing that. I think there are many instances where cut stars fit the bill better than rolling em. I will still roll the majority of stars but I am going to cut a lot too. Do you have a wooden frame or something that you flatten your comp out in before you cut it? I made a little wooden frame myself, that's how I do it. Then I cut em on a piece of plexiglass.
dynomike1 Posted September 29, 2015 Posted September 29, 2015 (edited) I don't know if yall have seen them, but Paul Molder has some dam good videos on cutting stars. I never thought of it either, stands to reason that mill dust will suck the moisture right out of them. Roger you don't think baking soda will work instead of boric acid? I have a glitter formula that uses AL and MGAL with Baking soda. Edited September 29, 2015 by dynomike1
rogeryermaw Posted September 29, 2015 Author Posted September 29, 2015 (edited) baking soda is alkaline and part of what may increase the reaction speed with aluminum. boric acid lowers the pH to counteract the basic bicarbonate. at least that is my understanding of it. Mumbles can offer a much deeper understanding than i. i haven't seen Paul Molder's work. is there a link i can follow, or is he on the boob-toobs? brad i haven't mad a box for that. i typically use dowels and a rolling pin. for closer sizing i sometimes use graph paper under the wax paper or the lines on a sheet of notebook paper. i have heard of lightly pressing screen into a patty to impress lines on the top but also notice the patty can distort during the cuts which will throw that measurement off a bit. Edited September 29, 2015 by rogeryermaw
rogeryermaw Posted October 2, 2015 Author Posted October 2, 2015 Red star with course shperical titanium
dynomike1 Posted October 2, 2015 Posted October 2, 2015 Dam that look good. Won't be long Ned will have a contract on you.
rogeryermaw Posted October 2, 2015 Author Posted October 2, 2015 man that cracked me up dyno!! hell i wish somebody thought i was that good!
rogeryermaw Posted October 5, 2015 Author Posted October 5, 2015 (edited) 4" N1 glitter Apparently my son "didn't see that coming" their expressions are the best part of this hobby! Edited October 5, 2015 by rogeryermaw 1
rogeryermaw Posted October 25, 2015 Author Posted October 25, 2015 (edited) Maybe some will find this interesting and/or useful: I have heard and seen the effects of over wetting glitter comps. They can be ruined or even possibly become unsafe. As an experiment I tried this and it worked surprisingly well. No more over wet glitter comps. They can be bound with very thin n.c. lacquer and perform quite well. First day of rain in 3 months...haven't been able to experiment much lately.... Edited October 25, 2015 by rogeryermaw
rogeryermaw Posted June 14, 2017 Author Posted June 14, 2017 here is a blue i have been tinkering with. it's pihko # 3 replacing the red gum with phenolic resin:
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