Bransen111 Posted March 16, 2016 Posted March 16, 2016 Hey everybody im new here and new to pyrotechnics, growing up i always loved bottle rockets so i figured those would be the first firework i make in my newfound hobby, i think i have everything down except for the report. Im not looking for a huge boom i just want the pop at the end that i remember from all the bottle rockets as a kid. after some research i found that i would need to add flash powder to the top of the rocket which concerns me because 1. everyone is saying how insanely dangerous flash powder is and 2. i dont want to be put on the FBIs watchlist because im trying to buy a "suspicious chemical" so with that said, is flash powder really that dangerous? and is there any other option to get the report that doesnt involve flash powder? also i know that i should get a consistent flying rocket before adding any report to it which i will be doing i just prefer researching everything before i get started. thanks in advance for any help!
lloyd Posted March 16, 2016 Posted March 16, 2016 (edited) Nothing that has any legitimate use in pyro is "insanely dangerous". Different compositions have different levels of and types of dangers. Ever seen a large roll of tens of thousands of flashcrackers? Flash powder... and often a more-dangerous form of it than you would be tempted to make. Bransen, with enough learning and attention to detail, flash powder can be handled and manipulated with perfect safety. I won't take the time to dictate all the things you must know and do here, because obviously you have a great deal of 'learning time' ahead of you before you're ready to tackle making flash. As far as being watched: if you don't already have a record, and aren't working in one of the handful of true "police states" in the US (like CA, NY, etc), and there are no local ordinances prohibiting it, then it's perfectly legal (federally) to manufacture fireworks without a license. You may not transport them off your property without a license, but you can make them and fire them there, with the above caveats. For the time being, have you considered taping a firecracker to the nose, with a very short fuse penetrating into the nose-end of the motor? Lloyd Edited March 16, 2016 by lloyd
Bransen111 Posted March 16, 2016 Author Posted March 16, 2016 Lloyd unfortunately for me I do live in CA, and I understand I have a lot of learning, thanks for the advice, is there any other good beginner fireworks that'll help me get started in pyrotechnics? I've also been looking into Roman candles and I'm hoping to give those a try
schroedinger Posted March 16, 2016 Posted March 16, 2016 Why not just make the report from bp? Get some 5-7FA b.p. and if you want a couple sparks add Ti.B.p. is about the safest comp to work with and mostly easy available (don't know about CA). You press your rocket, make the report by ramming a clay bulkhead (zube i.d. ~ rocket tube o.d.), fill in the bp and ramm a 2nd clay bulkhead. Now drill a fuse hole and insert some black match, and stick the engine into the report tube.An other thing you cannis to take a normal crackling ball and replace the visco with black matxh and glue this to the engine.
lloyd Posted March 16, 2016 Posted March 16, 2016 (edited) Bransen, Gerbs and 'fountains' are a great place to learn pressing and/or ramming. My Fairy Fountain that I did for the film "Things that Hang from Trees" is more of a 'candle effect' than a true gerb, but I'd bet you'll like it! (The Ladies do! <G>). I think it has been discussed here, before, and I believe the formula has been posted here, or at least a link to Ned Gorski's article about making them. Just search on "Fairy Fountain".(Ah... here you go....http://www.amateurpyro.com/forums/topic/11405-fairy-fountain/?hl=%2Bfairy+%2Bfountain) 'Real' nozzled gerbs can push like big rockets, and make plumes tens of feet high. They're also relatively quiet, as fireworks go, attracting less attention in a fireworks-hating state like Cali. Lloyd Edited March 16, 2016 by lloyd
Seymour Posted March 17, 2016 Posted March 17, 2016 You press your rocket, make the report by ramming a clay bulkhead (zube i.d. ~ rocket tube o.d.), fill in the bp and ramm a 2nd clay bulkhead. Now drill a fuse hole and insert some black match, and stick the engine into the report tube. You can do this inside the rocket motor tube too. After pressing/ramming fuel and the delay (if there is delay above the fuel) you add an increment of grain BP and then press/ram the clay on top. Pressed and corned grain is ideal for this because it needs to be strong enough that the pressing/ramming of the clay plug on top does not crush it and make it too solid. You need some gaps between the grains, although they can be compacted enough to start to merge or fuze a bit, and still have lots of gaps for the fire to rush through. If you don't have access to commercial BP, or the means to corn and press black powder, screen granulated BP + binder (rough powder) works too, but I'd make sure it has enough binder. By 2% Gum Arabic BP is probably just hard enough but I'd prefer to have 4-5% just to be sure, especially with dextrin. In my experience this works with grain at least as large as 8-12 mesh, and as fine as 20-40 mesh and I'm sure larger grain works too, although it won't necessarily all burn up in the explosion.
lloyd Posted March 17, 2016 Posted March 17, 2016 Because of the likelihood of crushing the grains of a burst load, I like to just lightly push in a small cut-to-fit disk or invert-cap, and use hot-melt for the final sealing bulkhead. If you use flash for the burst, after gently pushing in the disk (which should seal well, by itself) blow the walls clean of flash before putting in the hot-melt adhesive. lt's not normally even nearly hot enough to ignite flash, but there's no need to take chances with hot glue on loose flash. Lloyd
Seymour Posted March 17, 2016 Posted March 17, 2016 It really depends on how hard your rockets are pressed. Personally I press most of mine relatively lightly compared to many builders. If I was to press a 19mm rocket with the press on the same pressure as I use for 3" fountains I'm pretty sure that the grains would be fully crushed Your disc and hot glue method will certainly work for everyone and work well.
schroedinger Posted March 17, 2016 Posted March 17, 2016 Lloyd that method works good, but only with flash. Hot melt just dosn't grips the wall good enough for a b.p. report. But the disk is good to add, just to prevent to fill up the voids between the grains with it.
lloyd Posted March 17, 2016 Posted March 17, 2016 If you dust the BP with a little German Black, the hot-melt plug works just fine. We've made hundreds of thousands of small BP salutes that way... fuse&disk hot-melted in, BP with about 5% dark aluminum, another disk, & hot melt. The plugs need to be a bit thick for a 30mm salute -- about 10mm deep, but they work just fine, if using a good-quality "packaging" type hot glue, and not this lilly-white soft goop they call "hot glue" in the crafts stores. Lloyd
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