3" Lemon Yellow Peony, Green Peony, Purple Peony

[braddsn]

Here are a few 3 inch shells I tested this evening using Monocapa for my prime. All the stars lit. I am going for snappy and quick shells with nice symmetry and somewhat smaller breaks compared to 4 inchers. I wish I had a better camera to capture colors better (I am working on it).

 

Yellow Peony

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjb6yRVf0qg

[braddsn]

Purple Peony

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2izE6pjS0Q

[braddsn]

Emerald Green peony

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXxaH_z3f5g

[braddsn]

Here is a lemon-lime shell. Half lemon yellow and half emerald green. Again, the camera doesn't show how beautiful this shell was. I was very happy with it. The colors were VERY bright and pure in person.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxdlxfsAoBE

[gregh]

What size stars are you using for those? Are they rolled or cut?

[braddsn]

Greg, I roll all of my stars. These are rolled on peppercorns.. which are 3mm themselves. Total diameter of these stars is 8mm. IF I were only shooting 3 inch shells, I would use 9 and 10mm stars for bigger breaks! But I watched a firework show on youtube done by a Japan team, and they were shooting 3, 4, 5, and 6 inch shells. Something that I liked was the obvious contrast between sizes. The 3's were quick and somewhat small, the 4's were much bigger, and of course the 6's were massive and slow. I have 4 different sizes of stars for each color too, so to mix it up a little, I will probably put 9mm stars in some of the 3's as well, particularly the 3's that will go higher in the sky (launched from guns that are 6" longer"). Hopefully all that makes sense.

[gregh]

Yep. I like rolled stars best as well. However, I am trying making small cut cores, instead of rolling them. I have been using mustard seed and they are a pain. Of course, now I am seeing that trying to cut perfect 3/16 cubes is very tedious and hard as well.

[braddsn]

Greg, I have not tried cutting cores yet, so I can't comment on it. I do recommend trying peppercorns if you get the chance. When I was starting out, I tried a couple other core types (beads and lead shot) and they were a pain. But the peppercorns (recommended to me by Seymour) are just awesome! They have a rough/absorbent surface, and make the rolling process a breeze, including charcoal stars. In addition, Mumbles pointed out to me that a larger core means a brighter star right before it burns out, a trick that the japanese tend to use (so I have heard). So really it's a win/win. I would recommend peppercorns to anyone who thinks rolling stars is a pain in the ass. One more thing... something that helped me make precise cuts (when I did cut stars a while back) was to do the following between each cut.. wipe blade, then dip blade in dry comp. When you dip the blade into the dry comp a little bit sticks to the blade, then prevents the wet comp that you are cutting from sticking to it. A little trick I found to be helpful when making small cuts.

[gregh]

I was using a thin blade knife, but I waxed it beforehand to combat the sticking. It moderately helped, but still had to wipe the blade occasionally. I will definitely try the peppercorns. I had tried coriander last year. It's similar in size, but smooth. Guess I'll be headin back to the spice rack...

[braddsn]

You probably know this but make sure and get the "black" peppercorns. If you get the other type (assorted blend), they are all different sizes.. not good. I have a friend that did that, that's how I know.

[nt8]

I'm sure, that the peppercorn is perfect core. I will use, but 5-6" and up. Thanks the idea!

Snappy, fast, hard break in smaller shells:

If you use peppercorn for core in 3", you get relatively lighter stars with large surface (larger core, lesser star comp). This may not positive in smaller shells.

My opinion, the only BP isn't suitable for fast&hard break in smaller shells. Maybe with lot of pasted layer.

Use single strong break charge (H3, KP, Benzoburst) or use BP with booster (WM, slow or hot flash) or use many layer.

I have tried lot of method in 3":

Many pasted layer, only BP: 1st shell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLQTovTtgoY

Benzoburst: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjuE6AklBIo

 

Relatively slow flash booster:http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEstoPNm6Ik

Hot flash booster: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4Z2MSIkqnI

 

I use in color 3" shells cutted 5mm basic stars, primed size is aprox 7mm. (these basic stars are core of the changing stars also)

 

Pasted layers were only 6 layers gummed tape ( 3 turn with gummed tape method)

I got from you the 2nd usefull idea: dip blade in dry comp. between cuts.

Edited March 2, 2015 by nt8

[braddsn]

Nt8, thank you so much for the advice. Out of these booster methods listed, which do you use for 3" shells? How about 4" Shells?

[braddsn]

Nt8, I am going to increase my break power now in small increments by adding some slow flash booster to my 3" shells. I am happy with the symmetry, and star size but they don't break as hard as my 4's..I was mainly going for 100 percent star ignition with the monocapa prime and I achieved it. Here is a 4 I made..much harder break for it's size.

 

Edited March 2, 2015 by braddsn

[Livingston]

Great job Brad!! I can't wait to try the mono prime method.

 

Rolling stars:

 

#7 or 8 lead shots is very easy to work with

Peppercorns not hard

Molecular seive are a little more challenging

 

Using cuts as cores is great fo charcoal based stars. Colors seemed to burn longer. That's why I usally use bigger core like pepper or. Molecular sieves.

[Livingston]

I'm sure, that the peppercorn is perfect core. I will use, but 5-6" and up. Thanks the idea!

Snappy, fast, hard break in smaller shells:

If you use peppercorn for core in 3", you get relatively lighter stars with large surface (larger core, lesser star comp). This may not positive in smaller shells.

My opinion, the only BP isn't suitable for fast&hard break in smaller shells. Maybe with lot of pasted layer.

Use single strong break charge (H3, KP, Benzoburst) or use BP with booster (WM, slow or hot flash) or use many layer.

I have tried lot of method in 3":

Many pasted layer, only BP: 1st shell:

Benzoburst: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjuE6AklBIo

 

Relatively slow flash booster:http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEstoPNm6Ik

Hot flash booster:

 

I use in color 3" shells cutted 5mm basic stars, primed size is aprox 7mm. (these basic stars are core of the changing stars also)

 

Pasted layers were only 6 layers gummed tape ( 3 turn with gummed tape method)

I got from you the 2nd usefull idea: dip blade in dry comp. between cuts.

 

With your flash boosters slow and fast. How much do you use for a 3" she'll?

[braddsn]

Livingston, thanks man, now that I have full ignition, I will dial the breaks in! I am going to use slow flash booster in my burst. Slow flash is KNO3-75, Aluminum 325 mesh - 25, sulfur - 25. I will use 2% of burst weight... example: 100g of burst will get 2g of this flash.. just dusted on the burst. I will post vids of the results. Also, my vid quality will be a lot better, I found that my Samsung Galaxy S4 takes way better videos than the ones above taken with my digital camera.

[Stef727]

Livingston, thanks man, now that I have full ignition, I will dial the breaks in! I am going to use slow flash booster in my burst. Slow flash is KNO3-75, Aluminum 325 mesh - 25, sulfur - 25. I will use 2% of burst weight... example: 100g of burst will get 2g of this flash.. just dusted on the burst. I will post vids of the results. Also, my vid quality will be a lot better, I found that my Samsung Galaxy S4 takes way better videos than the ones above taken with my digital camera.

I just want to ask how dangerous and sensitive this ''slow flash'' really is?

How much of it should I mix? (I was thinking of making 5g not sure yet)

Edit: I did some research online and found this on the wiki

 

Aluminium - nitrate with sulphur

This composition, usually in a ratio of 5 parts potassium nitrate, to 3 parts aluminium powder, to 2 parts sulphur, is especially popular with hobbyists. It is not very quick-burning, unless exceptionally fine ingredients are used. Although it incorporates sulphur, it is in fact fairly stable, sustaining multiple hits from a hammer onto a hard surface. Adding 2% of its weight with boric acid is reputed to significantly increase stability and shelf life, through resistance to dampening through ambient humidity. Other ratios such as 6 KNO3/3 Al/2 S and 5 KNO3/2 Al/3 S also exist and work. All ratios have similar burn times and strength, although 5 KNO3/3 Al/2 S seems to be dominant.

Edited March 3, 2015 by Stef727

[braddsn]

Stef, all flash is potentially dangerous, and even though its called slow flash it is still flash. I cant really give you advice on making it. But i can tell you that if you do, make sure you are well educated on the subject... its serious stuff. Best of luck and yeah.. I wouldnt advise any more than 5 grams for now. Skylighter has an article about it.

[enanthate]

 

I just want to ask how dangerous and sensitive this ''slow flash'' really is?

 

"Although it incorporates sulphur, it is in fact fairly stable, sustaining multiple hits from a hammer onto a hard surface."

Like the article you quoted says, it is fairly stable. Best advice I can give you is to get to know your flashpowder by doing some shock- and friction-tests. Take 0.5g for example, and simply hit it with a hammer. Gives you a good impression of how little/much it can handle.

 

I can tell you, you will probably be surprised how "stable" it is. This doesn't mean it cant go off under lighter conditions, which is why I allways treat it as carefully as I can.

There are other dangers to flash as well, like moisturesensitivity, static electricity, etc. Read a couple of articles like you already seem to be doing, and im sure you'll be fine.

[Stef727]

Stef, all flash is potentially dangerous, and even though its called slow flash it is still flash. I cant really give you advice on making it. But i can tell you that if you do, make sure you are well educated on the subject... its serious stuff. Best of luck and yeah.. I wouldnt advise any more than 5 grams for now. Skylighter has an article about it.

I just made 4g of it and well.... it didnt do anything it was just burning realllllyyy reallly slowly, so slow it took like 20s to burn the 1g that I tested.

No idea why

My kno3 and sulfur were ballmiled for 2h before mixing it with Al

The only problem could be that my Al is 250 mesh instead of 325

[braddsn]

Stef... First of all be careful breathing the fumes from that slow burning stuff. I am no chemist but I do believe in my readings that it is toxic, sulfur dioxode if I am not mistaken. You are using the wrong aluminum, and the wrong mesh. Do more reading before attempting to mess with this stuff. It's dangerous and shouldn't be attempted unless you know what you are doing. Slow flash is still 'flash'. As far as how 'slow' it burns, you will not be able to tell the difference between slow and fast flash, for the most part.

[Wiley]

As someone who has used nitrate report comps in the past, I would definitely advise that you DO NOT hit half a gram of it with a hammer. If it goes, you'll be pretty deaf for a while. I smacked a tiny pile of mine, maybe 50 mg (that's 50 thousandths of a gram, so basically a tiny pinch), and it left my ears ringing. Don't be fooled by its slow burn at atmospheric pressure; when the stuff is confined, it's surprisingly powerful. My comp uses 3 micron Al FWIW.

[Sparx88]

I second that. 5/3/2 slow flash is indead a performer. I don't even make standard 70/30 anymore.because 5/3/2 does everything I need it to. I also use 3 micron alum (5413). Makes all the difference.