Shunt Posted March 6, 2015 Posted March 6, 2015 No, I am not giving anything away, would if I could to help others out, but not quite there financially at this time in my life. Browsing Craigslist today found some info that might help out others on a limited budget and give some of the more experienced some food for thought. The device I looked at, after some online research, was a vaporizer for E-cigs. The 'vapor' substitute for tobacco fired with a heated wire. Then I researched some more and found that local stores have some very interesting things for sale. The first was Kanthal resistance wire, which I have no experience with, but from the research I have done seems like a viable alternative for nichrome, as it is supposedly more durable and does not oxide as fast as nichrome. Also formulated for multiple uses...might be of use to the rocket builders. Sold in many different gauges also, 5 bucks for 10" The second item is screens! These are sold as 'wicks' for the electric vaporizers, and I was surprised to see a 316 SS 400 mesh for 2 bucks! Then It gets even better. 12" X 12" 600 mesh for 9 dollars shipped on Ebay. I then went to my local 'vape' store, and asked if they had any of these items in stock. I walked away after spending less than 20 dollars in various mesh screens with a 'free' E-cig to try as he wanted back as a repeat customer. The screens i obtained locally for 2 dollars were quite small, maybe 40mmX40mm, but seem very useful to verify just what is the mesh of the chem/metal I have. I could build a frame for these out of 'popsicle' sticks, also available at the local dollar store, and just throw them away when I screen the 'nastys' like chlorates.
Livingston Posted March 6, 2015 Posted March 6, 2015 Lol.... What a guy!!! I work in the vape industry. Thanks for the info about the kanthal wire!!!
MWJ Posted March 7, 2015 Posted March 7, 2015 (edited) What are the screens made out of? SS, Copper, Aluminum, Steel? Edited March 7, 2015 by MWJ
Shunt Posted March 7, 2015 Author Posted March 7, 2015 What are the screens made out of? SS, Copper, Aluminum, Steel?316 or 304 SS. Another source of Cheap 'n Free is laser printers. The black toner is rumored to be lampblack, but the HP MSDS I read lists Iron oxide and Styrene acrylate copolymer as the main Ingredients. I have not tried it personally, maybe the chemists could chime in with some possible Pyro applications... The fuser part of the printer heats and bonds the toner to the paper and the element is wound from nichrome `wire. Smaller printers contain smaller gauge wire, larger ones larger gauge wire. Both toner and fuser components contain precision rollers which from the larger units make handy-dandy case formers!
Mumbles Posted March 7, 2015 Posted March 7, 2015 Toner powder does indeed contain some lampblack. However the majority of it is plastic. I know people have tried using it before, but with very little success from what I recall.
Shunt Posted March 7, 2015 Author Posted March 7, 2015 Toner powder does indeed contain some lampblack. However the majority of it is plastic. I know people have tried using it before, but with very little success from what I recall. Thanks Mumbles, looks like you saved me and some others from a few fruitless experiments!
Shunt Posted March 12, 2015 Author Posted March 12, 2015 PEX tubing commonly sold in the big box stores like Lowes and Home Depot seems like a viable alternative for a cheap star test gun, or maybe "use once or twice" gun to build a cheap fan rack of comets or whatever you want to shoot. It is available in ID's from 3/8" to 1" in my local store. It is NOT brittle like PVC, but on the downside, does not seem as durable as good HDPE when exposed to a lift charge and and a fuse hole drilled in the bottom of the tube does enlarge with multiple uses. I buy the 10' long "sticks" , not the rolls, as those are impossible to straighten out and use. Not to discourage others, but I do have the "crimp" tool that makes it easy to put a bottom plug in the PEX. I had to replace all the water lines in a home and got the tool that has all the dies to do up to 1" with the copper crimp rings.
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