What did you do today in pyro?

[NeighborJ]

Yeah mortars are for sissy's, I only have a 2" ,3" and a 12"which I've never had occasion to use. The rockets don't get covered but I do sponge glue over the spiking because I don't coat the string until afterwards. My glue dries too fast.

[OldMarine]

You should get some of Lloyd's tar and give it a try. I use it on Paul Moulder's hemp twine and it grabs great. Leaves your hands black as...uh...tar but worth it.

[NeighborJ]

I wonder if pipe dope would work? Blue block or Grip, I have lots of that.

[OldMarine]

By golly,I bet Blue Block would grab like hell. I know it doesn't want to let your fingers go! Seems to grow upon contact and end up everywhere.

[OldMarine]

Got my new mill up and running this morning and have already milled what would have taken all day in my old mill. I was worried about having enough rocket fuel and burst powder by Friday but I'll have plenty by this afternoon.

Thanks Caleb!

[NeighborJ]

OM, does your cat like the new mill?

[OldMarine]

Not as much as the old one. I may put some tape on the jar to keep her amused.

It is sweet not having to deal with the clumping in the jar!

[otto]

Not as much as the old one. I may put some tape on the jar to keep her amused.

It is sweet not having to deal with the clumping in the jar!

 

So what's the secret to keep stuff from clumping? Dry chems or a specific mill design?

[OldMarine]

I got the modified Rebel mill from Caleb with the hexagonal, rubber lined jar. Even though I dried my nitrate before and still do, it still clumped in the ends of my pvc jar but not in this setup.

I don't know why it doesn't clump but I'm happy to accept it.

[lloyd]

Patrick,

There isn't any spot on a rubber liner that doesn't flex during operation. Something might stick to a spot, but it gets broken loose quickly.

 

Lloyd

[OldMarine]

Makes sense Lloyd, it's darned nice not having to stop halfway through a run to chisel the mix out of the jar opening and base.

[MrB]

There isn't any spot on a rubber liner that doesn't flex during operation. Something might stick to a spot, but it gets broken loose quickly.

 

I to am willing to accept that explanation. But, what is the reason some people have large buildup on the media, while others only have jar buildup?

B!

[OldMarine]

If I don't dry my KNO3 before milling, it tends to stick to my media and form a large clump of nitrate and lead.

[lloyd]

Yep... Patrick said it right. Moisture content is the bane of ball milling.

 

Even dry materials will compact in the corners of a rigid jar, but moist materials stick to the media and themselves, no matter the type of jar.

 

Lloyd

[Sulphurstan]

My digital weight scale died yesterday evening :angry:

So I won't do a lot today...

[memo]

last couple of days have been busy wednesday built and spiked 50 shells 2-6inches, thursdays pasted the 50 . today lift and leader. we are ready, saturday we will gather wood for a bonfire, dig holes for the tubes. tired guy tonight. wife is haveing her birthday today so it is bbq night. ready for bed i am.

[coogan1997]

Same here! Last couple of days, pressed 12 1lb rockets and 12 4oz whistles. Built and spiked 15 headers last night

[BlueComet24]

I've been busy lately, but yesterday I found time to make 3 "sky bloom flowers", so called because they're constructed like a ground bloom flower (a 1×2.5" tube with a clay plug, a tangent nozzle, and filled with sorbitol/Fe2O3 rocket candy), but they fly! I also split bamboo into 6mm (¼") sticks 46-61cm (18-24") long for my 12.7mm (½") semi rockets. Bamboo works really well for guide sticks, as it splits nicely into squarish sticks and the concave side hugs the motor.

Today I spent a while ramming 12.7mm semi motors, and ended up with 5 after using up my BP. I've now got a total of 9 with different bulkhead and ignition configurations to test. I'm excited.

[OldMarine]

The weather is going to be crummy here so I've dialed my plans back to some mines and fountains. I'll put my other stuff into my 4th of July collection.

[BlueComet24]

Fired off my 9 test rockets among other things, and all of them, even the one with no bulkhead and instant full-core ignition, flew flawlessly, no CATOs whatsoever.

It snowed a bit, which made for a pretty display, but quickly got rained on and turned to slush.

[lloyd]

Y'know,

I'm sitting here, reading this, and just realized that I haven't done any new pyro all this year!

 

Lloyd

[maximusg]

Made some small starmines to test some D1 Glitter stars I have had laying around drying for ages since new years. The comp was made with 400 mesh spherical al and were cut to about 10mm. I like it, a decent amount of delayed sparkles. Gonna make some more comp and try rolling them. I especially like how inexpensive this mix is

 

[calebkessinger]

Looks pretty sparky to me

[NeighborJ]

Oh boy,I pulled a bonehead move today. I forgot to set my scale back to grams, so when i was measuring out a batch of BP for milling it was reading 100ths of a pound. I was only planning on making a batch of about 1333g but ended up with a 13.33lb batch. I should have noticed the enormouse volume of chems but i was paying attention to the ball game on the radio and mindlessly dumping my measured charcoal and sulfer into the mill jar. It wasnt until I realized the weight of the KNO3 that something was wrong. I guess its ok, my ball mill can handle up to 15lb of comp but i had just removed and washed half of the media so i could mill another chem. I had to add that fresh media back into the mill, oh well.

I need to pay a little more attention.

[lloyd]

Really? You can mill 15lb at a crack? How big IS your mill?

 

I'd be careful, if your jar is larger than 8-10" diameter. There have been accidents with large mills, due to the forces generated when balls fall too far onto BP.

 

Lloyd