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Posted
Lloyd you are the first person to say anything about that. Ive been using 5 and 7 gallon buckets as mill jars on my large mill. It doubles as a star roller so it is inclined on a 60degree angle so the media doesnt need to fall far but you've brought up a good point. I shall need to re-evaluate this mill.
Posted

It's also both bad for the media and rather dangerous to run such an underloaded mill. If your jar can handle 15lbs, which is about right for a 5 gallon bucket, then running it with 10% of that is not going to be good for anything involved really.

 

If you're obliviously measuring out 10x as much charcoal by accident that is a sign you may not have the patience or attentiveness for this hobby. It only takes one mistake. Trust me.

  • Like 1
Posted
Hey mumbles anyone whose ever used more than one type of charcoal knows that some are more fluffy than others. Its not uncommon for ERC to use up 3x the volume of white ash so dont give me any crap about being able to tell a volumetric difference. You have a wealth of knowledge but your caractor defects cause you to use it as a weapon. So go ahead and step on some more people for the sake of elevating your ego.
Posted

I'm sorry if I came off as coarse or harsh, but safety is not a subject I take particularly lightly having been involved in a fairly serious pyrotechnic accident myself. I'd rather someone think I'm an asshole or egomaniac than have someone get hurt or have a real accident. You admitted yourself to not paying very close attention to what you were doing. I get it, mistakes happen, we can all laugh about them sometimes. Had you been doing something more dangerous but equally uninteresting like screening composition or pasting shells the same degree of inattentiveness could end much worse. I really did not mean to imply you should quit the hobby. Just that you should reevaluate things while you do practice it.

 

Underloaded ball mills are a real issue you should look into if you are in fact using the same set up for the 1333g batches.

  • Like 1
Posted

I agree with Mumbles here. Also, I didn't read his post as being offensive or attacking.

 

Anyway.. Let's try to get out of this a little wiser:

Next time you encounter cases where your chemical doesn't have the same volume as last time you used it, double-check everything.

It might just be a different batch with a different volume, but it might also be an error on your behalf.

 

I've had that experience with both Bi2O3 and Bentonite, where I got a batch that had a substantially different volume than what I was used to.

I have also, many times, weighed out wrong amounts of a chemical because I was in my own little world listening to the radio while doing it.

 

None of us are perfect, and we all have different experiences and knowledge. Some more than others.

Only a fool won't listen to other people's experience, especially in a hobby like ours.

I don't think that you are a fool. Don't act like one :)

Posted

speaking of accidents

well it wasn't pyro related but last night i spent the night in the ER because i wrecked my moms new car , i was stuck in the car and no one came to help me out. i saw the guy walk up to the car look in the window and walked away as i was trying to brake the glass to get out. mind you the car is laying on its divers side and i couldn't get the door above me to open. But out of the grace of Adrenalin i somehow managed to open the door about a minute after and jump out of the car. this was my first time driving in the rain , let alone sever rain and weather. im glad i didn't wreck on the interstate Vs the High way. the car company says the car is most likely totaled but when my mom sent me pictures of the car it didn't look that bad.

Posted (edited)

Pyroman,

You say you're a PhD chemist? What school, and what specialty?

( I see 'organic', but there are so many endeavors within that)

 

Lloyd

Edited by lloyd
Posted

Sorry guys I've been at work and can't respond but just wanted all to know I'm not mad and once aware of my faulty operation of ball mill I'll take steps to correct it.

Pyroman I hope you weren't hurt too bad, get well soon.

  • Like 1
Posted

but i was paying attention to the ball game on the radio and mindlessly dumping my measured charcoal and sulfer into the mill jar.

 

At this point you of course figured out that the radio has to go? Anything that can distract you to that level, just doesn't belong anywhere near the pyro stuff.

Good luck, stay safe.

B!

  • Like 1
Posted

Pyroman,

You say you're a PhD chemist? What school, and what specialty?

( I see 'organic', but there are so many endeavors within that)

 

Lloyd

Sadly LLoyd , i dont have a PHD nore am i even in collage , those are just my goals and interests. i would love to have a PHD in O-Chem , Making pharmasuticals and stufying things that sound so crazy to be medicine but could actually help prevent cancer or like in the case of histrionicotoxin (poison from certain dart frogs ) could help cure or slow down alzheimer's. I also have back up plans just in case it turns out to be a flop , i plan to study a little bit of engineering in aerospace and mining. and i also can lay brick and i am 10hr osha certified so worse comes to worse i can go work with a brick laying company.

Posted

Sadly LLoyd , i dont have a PHD nore am i even in collage , those are just my goals and interests. i would love to have a PHD in O-Chem , Making pharmasuticals and stufying things that sound so crazy to be medicine but could actually help prevent cancer or like in the case of histrionicotoxin (poison from certain dart frogs ) could help cure or slow down alzheimer's. I also have back up plans just in case it turns out to be a flop , i plan to study a little bit of engineering in aerospace and mining. and i also can lay brick and i am 10hr osha certified so worse comes to worse i can go work with a brick laying company.

 

Maybe some day you could work with a chem like this:

"Hexanitro? Say what? I’d call for all the chemists who’ve ever worked with a hexanitro compound to raise their hands, but that might be assuming too much about the limb-to-chemist ratio."

http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2011/11/11/things_i_wont_work_with_hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane

Posted

All I can say is WTF?

And possibly..STFU.

Judge not lest Ye be judged.

Be a teacher or be silent.

  • Like 1
Posted

 

Maybe some day you could work with a chem like this:

"Hexanitro? Say what? I’d call for all the chemists who’ve ever worked with a hexanitro compound to raise their hands, but that might be assuming too much about the limb-to-chemist ratio."

http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2011/11/11/things_i_wont_work_with_hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane

I didn't read the entire article, after I saw the chemical layout I knew what this compound is.

I don't think anyone in their right mind wants to work with this.

Posted

I don't think anyone in their right mind wants to work with this.

 

I had to read up a bit, before i could say anything specific, but, you know, you are right. It's pretty much just a bad idea. I would have gone at it a few years back, easily. My choice went on a much more affordable, and easy to make primary explosive. Just proves that luck, and careful planing, can replace knowledge for a lot of things. Still got all my limbs, even if i still carry around plastic shrapnel in my body...

However, all of that doesn't really belong in this section of the forum, so i think we quit right there.

B!

Posted

It's more aptly called HNIW or CL-20, and the stuff is low sensitivity. The author of the article is just being overly dramatic and writing just to produce content, not actually make any point or raise any safety issues.

 

I did see the author of the recent report about co-crystallizing with TNT give a talk last year. He's doing interesting stuff.

 

Also, I'm probably just bitter as I'm finishing up mine, but it's becoming increasingly hard to recommend getting a PhD to people. It's just a miserable 5-7 year life choice.

Posted

It's more aptly called HNIW or CL-20, and the stuff is low sensitivity. The author of the article is just being overly dramatic and writing just to produce content, not actually make any point or raise any safety issues.

 

Yeah, the point of this series of posts is to bring humour to science/chemistry. We all here may enjoy some bits of chemistry but in the wider population, humorous posts like this help broaden the appeal of chemistry.

Posted

Recently I had to rework my 8" pine former. After several years it changed shape on me and after rolling a few I couldn't take it any longer. I put it back on the lathe and got it to function properly again and refinished it. The same for some of my insert formers. They became a headache too so I remade those little guys. I hate to fire up the lathe because it makes such a mess but I'm over it now. Now I'm moving forward! Got a lot done and more cases to do.

Posted (edited)
Mark, do you taper your formers at all or are they completely Square? Edited by dagabu
Posted

I try to taper them and maybe not enough. Knots in the wood or different grain structures shrink or grow at different rates. I didn't use the best material so the knots were sticking out some. I fought with it for the last couple years and had had enough. I've also switched to boiled linseed oil to try to control moisture. My large MDF formers are holding up pretty good.

Posted

You'll be Ready to rock and roll again!

wooohooooo!

  • Like 1
Posted

MDF? very stable stuff but I bet it's heavy in the larger sizes. Hmmmm, got me thinking...

 

Thanks Mark!

Posted

I'm working on rebuilding some of my blogs. The MDF formers is one of them. I did weight reduction steps when i made my 10 and 12.

Posted

It must have longitudinal holes all through it just so you can lift it!

Posted (edited)

G'day dudes,

 

Was messing around trying to find a use for my magnesium the last couple of days.

 

I tried my hand at making some Bleser Green Magnesium stars but wasn't very impressed with the results.

Barium Nitrate 55
Magnesium (100-200 mesh) 18 (My Mg is 200# pre-coated with linseed)
Parlon 12

PVC 15

 

I cut them with acetone.

The colour ended up very washed out with only the very faintest tinge of green. Not sure what to expect with Mg stars but it seemed to burn almost completely white/yellow. Most of the colours I make are nitrate/mgal compositions and I enjoy the deep electric colours I have seen.

 

I made a video of my Mg star test. Also burned an Independence Red I had on hand to show that the camera is usually pretty good at picking up colours.

 

 

What have been you guys's experience with Mg/Nitrate colours?

Edited by maximusg
Posted
I think you may have your video set to private.
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