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Posted

I joined the forum today and is currently looking for suppliers right now :wacko:

Posted

I joined the forum today and is currently looking for suppliers right now :wacko:

 

Lots out there: What are you looking for?

Posted

Made a rocket today. It's a new formula I've been working on for the last week.

  • Like 1
Posted

Wow NeighborJ, that was indeed awesome as you say :) I'd love to get into strobes one day, staying away from them until I get a shield for my press since that is a requirement. I only press regular BP rockets right now.

 

 

Today I made some little 1" bombettes mostly to test my new BP which I made via the corning method, as for many years I have always made my BP via the ricing method. I also never bothered to grade my BP by mesh size, however it came out from ricing was how I used it, roughly cannon grade/2FA I would say.

 

I would say that corning + proper grading is a great improvement. I used to lift the 1" bombettes with as much as 4 to 5g of BP to be adequate, I used 3 grams of corned 2Fg graded BP on my test bombettes tonight and that was too much! 2 to 2.5g probably would have been fine. I probably had to use so much riced BP in the past since it was just too coarse to efficiently lift 1" shells, although it lifted 3" shells just fine. Definitely corning all my BP from now on, although it is a little more labor intensive though with pressing pucks/drying pucks/breaking up pucks and then continuously grading the crush as you grind it. Considering making a "puck crusher" mill jar like the one Kyle Kepley made on Passfire to speed up the process.

  • Like 1
Posted

This weekend I've been tinkering with galcit rocket propellant. I really like this stuff.

Its a really loud rocket fuel.

Posted

More rocket tests today.

Posted

Strobe rockets are so cool B)

 

That last one was a whistle mix? It sounded kinda like a high-frequency strobe on camera.

 

If i'm not mistaken, all strobe rocket mixes are AP based right? Are there any non-AP strobe rocket mixes that still work?

Posted

I've developed a nitrate strobe formula that works quite well. My goal was to eliminate potassium dichromate and AP. It works quite well but not quite as good as the original.

 

The above rocket isn't a strobe rocket but it certanly works similar, its a perchlorate based fuel called galcit.

Posted

An old school BP motor I made today.

  • Like 3
Posted
Posted
Please share construction deals and composition for the galcit rockets and the nitrate strobes! Thank you for posting videos.
Posted (edited)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TaaExCx6Yjg-VhkZpuCIIjbcGeFk2cbC/view?usp=drivesdk

These are my notes for the galcit strobe motors. It uses sali whistle, galcit and AP strobe fuel. A complex build but they stack up to normal AP strobe effect and far exceed the lift capacity.

 

I will draw up the details for the nitrate strobes eventually. They are made with Whistle and nitrate strobe fuel the exact same way as normal strobes are made and use the same tooling. They have comparable thrust to a standard BP coreburner but the effect isn't quite as good as galcit or AP strobe.

Edited by NeighborJ
  • 1 month later...
Posted (edited)

I have found a new material to make fireworks out of today. I am an auto tech by trade and have to learn to fix things with whatever I can when restoring old cars. I do tons of electrical work and use lots of heat shrink tube. So while working under a dash today I had the thought of using it as a casing for pyrotechnic compounds. Now granted it is not super cheap but it is waterproof and shapes it's self to the size you need it, it will also compact things and hold pressure. I have used it to patch airlines to move equipment around the yard till a permanent fix can be made. I tested out a couple of things today with what was laying around and it seems to hold promise. I can't use it for aerial stuff because of the litter issue but I made a quick lance out of it today and have a couple of other ideas. I will post them when I get one perfected. I am using this stuff from Waytek .

Polyolefin Dual Wall Heat Shrink Edited by Piccaso
Posted
After several months without pyro, I rolled some jopetes blue and veline red stars today. Excited to smell the red gum and dextrin again 👍
Posted

So. I've finally done it. Broke down and bought my first real pyro book. Went to ABE Books and bought a new copy 4th edition of F A S T.

I've decided that I'm going to take this pyro thing to the next level. The web is great for a lot. But there is something to be said for a good well written book/manual. And everyone says this is the one to start with.

 

Thank you to everyone on this forum. All the shared advice, expertise, and discussions I've read over the last 2 years have helped to keep me safe and have given me a plethora of ideas.

 

I'm sure I'll be asking for help in the future. But for now I've got some reading to do and tooling to buy and make.

  • Like 2
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
I haven't done any pyro in about 8 years and I've been drooling to get back into it. Today I bought a ball mill and some misc. Chems. I made a few hundred grams of BP and rolled some tubes for rockets. The house I bought had an old lathe and mill so, I bought some brass and aluminum stock so I can finally make my own tooling. I can't wait to be shooting off rockets and shells again.
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Making quick fuse

Hate making quick fuse

Messy

Posted (edited)

Usually make 3 inch ball shells on rockets.

Today, made a 4 inch ball shell, and weighted it... Too heavy for my rocket motors... 😖

I DEFINITELY must begin with mortars, for replacing the expensive and weight limitations big rocket motors...

Edited by Sulphurstan
  • 4 weeks later...
Posted
Prepared the rockets for Friday (my 4th 😉)post-20858-0-46856300-1562791556_thumb.jpg
Posted
Nice setup. Got some beefy sticks on those little motors. Seems like a lot of added weight.
Posted (edited)

The sticks are 13mm.13mm., pine.

Before, I putted 9.9,but they were so long, and the weight in fact the same!

To get the gravity center just behind the nozzle exit, I needed to put 1200 mm with9.9, and now just 700 for 13.13.

 

Total weight (shell, motor, stick) is usually 250 to 300 grams

Edited by Sulphurstan
Posted
Hey, if it works it works!
  • 1 month later...
Posted
Making some more crossette's for the new years show, testing out some different break charges and haven't quite got it figured out yet. First one broke to hard and 2nd one really broke to hard and too much lift lol. Itll all come together by then hopefully.https://youtu.be/ne2MLZAQ66U. https://youtu.be/T8JtylcXHyM

post-20978-0-67956800-1567854100_thumb.jpg

post-20978-0-87439700-1567854129_thumb.jpg

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

I have started trying to make my own tooling for BP rockets and some double voice crackers.

Posted

i did manage to get my stored chemicals out of storage but it looks liek they absorbed a bunch of moisture over the last year + gota sort threw everything see what i can dry out whats trash and then see what i have left

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