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Posted

I granulated 3 kilos of sumac BP, and primed some stars Lloyd would hate ;)

 

Kevin

 

Na yellow perchance? Hehe!

Posted

gotta love that sodium yellow

  • Like 1
Posted
^^ maybe make a 8" 4 yellow break shell specially for lloyd out of it :P
Posted

Shroe! You're BAD! I'd take the time to photograph and video it, just so I could destroy the cameras before I off-loaded the pix! <G>

 

Actually, Friday, I had a hallmark pyro experience! The military pyro-making machine I've been working on for nearly two years (with multiple client-invoked delays and changes) finally 'proofed' Friday, with two consecutive production runs with no fatal stoppages!

 

Hooray!

 

Lloyd

Posted

What sort of machine did you build, Lloyd? It must be interesting if it took so long. Do you put sodium yellow stars in one end and it magically turns them into optical yellow ones? :P

Posted (edited)

Sort-of, Blue.

 

It takes loose bulk paper tubes (with a fuse hole in the side of one end), black powder, and bulk raw chemicals, and produces oriented-tube whistle inserts for a military training simulator.

 

It orients the tubes so the fuse hole is 'up', checks them for proper placement and size hole (and only ONE hole!), checks the length of the tubes, checks the diameters of the tubes for over or under, inserts the tubes in pressing molds, screens and weighs chems to within 0.5%, mixes them, dispenses the mix into the tubes in four steps and presses them at each filling station, measures them for finished column height, rejects over/under-length devices, removes them from the molds, and trays the accepted inserts vertically, 300 per holding tray, for subsequent assembly work. We had just exactly at 0.5% reject ratio on the last full run.

 

Specifications changed over time, and inadvertent but frequent damage happened to the machine after installation... so it took a LOT longer than planned. But it works! Training in two or three weeks from now. Then, I might get paid! <G>

 

Lloyd

Edited by lloyd
  • Like 2
Posted
I'll take 3, Lloyd
Posted

I'm all ready, Mase! I have all the finished designs, software, and 'skills'. Let's talk price (and this time, also "client responsibilities"! <G>)

 

LLoyd

Posted

Today I made a several thousand perfectly sized 1/8" cut luce forte and giallo abbagliante cores for rolling stars. I then managed to lose them within the hour thanks to some local wildlife who thought it would be the perfect place to rest their hooves on. Not a happy day.

Posted

Today I got a module and a star plate(thanks caleb) delivered!

Posted

Finished up some Pyro tools today and had a few minutes to turn a mallet and added some Lichtenberg designs on it.

 

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  • 5 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

Made my first batch of MCRH (14 oz BP on 2 oz RH) and it seems to have come out nicely.post-20116-0-19938900-1460828038_thumb.jpg

 

Also cooked up some ERC charcoal for another round of powder milling tomorrow. I've ordered a BM machine from Caleb and want to have enough powder to make match for my Independence Day festivities.

Edited by OldMarine
Posted

Freshly mined AP, look at the size of those rocks. :D

 

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Posted

looks like a pretty rich vein, you better file a claim on that

Posted

today I cut 200 disks and milled a kilo of bp., starting to get ready for the 4th. we have a few gringos that live here that will like a show.

Posted
Today I cast about 100 lead balls for my mill before i ran out of time.
Posted
Made my first blue shell with pihko kp blue #2.
Posted

Yesterday I taught our [future adoptive] daughter how to make charcoal with a TLUD.

  • Like 1
Posted

Went to the ex's and launched a couple dozen rockets. I made 4 each using fuels from 60/30/10 up to 75/15/10. One rocket of each fuel had an additional 15% coarse charcoal added. I found that the only way to keep the 75/15/10 from CATOing was to add that coarse charcoal.

The other 3 of each fuel ratio were used to test fusing methods ie, QM to the top of the core and j-hooking visco at the bottom just above the nozzle.

The 70/20/10 performed the most reliably overall and was super fast when top lit with QM. I think I'll stick with it while I work on putting some headings on some rockets.

Posted

Worked on a few tools today and picked up a load of willow wood to convert to charcoal.

Had a few spare minutes in between projects and turned a 2" maple insert former with Lichtenberg designs.

 

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Posted

Finishing a couple more tools today.

12" hollow ball for the Wasp machine.

4" case former with Lichtenberg designs.

 

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Posted

Made more tools!!!

Dreamed about making shells and rockets.

1lb%20support%20with%20sleeve.jpg

  • Like 1
Posted

Today I cut out end disks; 150 each of 2" and 3". All by hand with scissors! :wacko: I just have to make some punches.

Posted
Pretty sure Caleb could help you with some tooling for that 😉
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