Fuses

[Douchermann]

Anyone think of a quick/stickymatch (the best of both worlds, which I call quickymatch ) machine before? I just thought of this in english class (she was just teaching about how to pay attention or something like that, I wasn't really listening). You have a device spin a roll of tape around a long lenght of blackmatch as your pull the blackmatch through. Maybe I'll make one of these on my free time. Its hard to catch exactly what I mean and its not like I have a cad program on my computer, so I can't really draw it out well enough.

[Givat]

I posted once a sticky mechine I made. It just pull the tape and it gets a row of BP in the middle. It was a very good mechine but I didn't use it alot, very easy to build too.

[dragonman586]

I think Doucherman's idea would be better if he repalced the BP drum in the stickymatch machine with a spool of black match.

[Douchermann]

I never said anything about a BP drum. A long lenght of black match is pulled through as a reel of tape is spun around it. The only work you'd have to do is pull the blackmatch and spin a little crank or something. Maybe I can build one of these this weekend.

[dragonman586]

I know you said nothing of the bp drum I was reffering to the idea of the stickymatch machine. there is a bp drum on there and i wanted To replace it with a spool of bmatch for a quickmatch machine

[Douchermann]

Ohh okay, musta read it wrong.

 

Hey quest, can you post a picture of your stickymatch machine?

[artificier]

this is my sulfurless black powder fuse : http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/7934/ch...r20060036bx.jpg

its pretty cheap,the fuse burn faster than standard BP fuse.

 

 

You don't need pictures that big for such useless things. Please link to them if they are not crucial. -Mumbles

[Givat]

Ohh okay, musta read it wrong.

 

Hey quest, can you post a picture of your stickymatch machine?

http://www.hozt.net/quest

 

press the "sticky_machine" headline to see the pictures of it =]

[AreteVeteran]

1/8th and 1/16th american visco

chinese is ok too

but i like supporting american industry

e dets when i can, and QM and BM are a must

 

~Arete

[FrKoNaLeaSh1010]

Can I ask where you get the 1/16th and 1/8th american visco? I always thought the american visco carried by most suppliers was 3/32" fuse. I have seen the 1/16 and 1/8th chinese though. I'd deffinitely be interested in the 1/16th american.

[Mumbles]

Interesting you mention that Arete. All "american" visco is made in china. You are supporing them either way. The company who made the fuse in the US went out of business or burnt down, or something like that to end them. The machines were sold to china where it is now made, and just marketed as "american" as it comes from american style machines.

[pyrogeek]

Just a few days ago I ordered something like 200ft of American Visco from cannonfuse.com, so I should be getting that soon. I also have been making electronic ignitors using steel wool and Cat5 cable, then after they are wrapped I dip them in some black powder. Also, I have some NiChrome coming in the mail soon. Before this I was using black match or a mixture of sugar and KNO3 in place of the black powder. It burned in the open, but I never tried it to light anything. Also, since I tore apart some Estes model rocket engines I have the electronic ignitors from those also.

[lacrima97]

I got the visco from cannonfuse, and it is of the 3/32 inch diameter. Well, the other day, I was drilling a hole in a rubber stopper and I was drilling the hole for the fuse. Anyway, I have alot of bits, and the 3/32 inch bit drilled a hole way too small. No way could it have ever gone in. I then drilled a 1/8 inch hole, and it was extremely snug. It fit perfect.

 

To me, this means its 1/8 inch fuse. Is it possible that they measure by the core or something?

[Draco_Aster]

Did you mean to say you were drilling a hole in a rubber stopper? If so that may be the problem, rubber will spring back and expand once drilled, as with cork stoppers, they really need a punch to make a nice looking hole.

[lacrima97]

Yeah, I know what you mean. To keep the hole from expanding and whatnot, I drilled the hole for around 3-4 minutes. I kept drilling in the same spot, just to make sure it didnt compress back or anything.

[inkjet]

Lacrima, I have had this same problem. I have noticed, that sometimes I can fit my 3/32" American into a 7/64" hole. I ordered some 1/16" visco for use in smaller items to solve this problem. It seems almost like all fuses are about 1/32" bigger than advertised. I'm guessing that the fuse is measured before the coat of NC laquer is applied, so that the coating of laquer increases the diameter by approximately 1/32". When i get my 1/16" coated and uncoated visco, i will compare diameters and post my results to see if they are truly 1/16".

[lacrima97]

The fuse fits very snug. Used a 1/8 inch bit for 3/32 inch fuse.

[justanotherpyro]

All of my easter egg shells fused with " 3/32 " visco fuse fit perfectly through a 1/8" hole with a layer of masking tape wrapped around the fuse.

[Dr Boom]

Anyone needing shell leaders or sections of faster and/or slower fuse- this may help you out.

 

Shell leaders-

 

3-4 foot section of 2 inch box tape or fiber tape

black powder in 4F grade or equiv.

 

Lay out the tape section (sticky side up) on a flat, clean surface and make a powder trail down the middle from end to end. (Does not have to be much powder- if the trail is thicker then a No.2 pencil you are using too much)

Fold one side to the other and make sure its sealed all the way around- you don't want powder leaks. These are quick and easy to make if you can't get quick-match or piped-match.

 

For the slower version-

 

Decompress the black powder by adding the same weight of water to it and let it soak up and turn "fluffy" like whipcream. You can choose to mix in some red gum or dextrin to it at this point of soggyness if you want better "grains" later. Spread this paste out on a sheet of cardboard at about 1/2 inch thick or less and let it dry completely.

 

Break up the solid piece into smaller sections no bigger then 3 inches. Use a cheese grater to "grain" these chunks into smaller, usable sizes. Grate the powder slowly and keep this process seperate from all other powder chunks.

 

Once you have the grain size you want- use the same procedures as above with the regular black powder and your new tape fuse should be quite slower and more managable then straigth BP tape fuses.

[inkjet]

Well, I got my 1/16" fuse a while ago, and both the premium and standard versions fit nicely into a 1/16" fuse. Maybe it's only "American" visco that has a very thick coating of NC laquer.

[h0lx]

I use a bit different mix in blackmatches:

7g charcoal

5g sulfur

40g KNO3

5g dextrin

 

All are coffeground to folour fine. then about 2 teaspoons of pva and same volume of water are mixed to uniform, all the powder added and mixed and ethyl alcohol is added until desired consistency is achieved. I have noted that PVA helps against flakingm a bit and leaves the fuses look nicer(smoother)

[leosedf]

I just made silicone fuse with KMnO4+S+Silicone.

Looks very nice and very elastic, i made it for testing purposes only.

I'll post pics and video of the burning soon.

Pressed in a syringe whithout ethyl acetate it took large amounts of force to get it out there but it has a nice shape and diameter (1,5mm).

 

 

 

---------------------EDIT------------------

 

As i promised here are some pic's and vid's, as you can see the fuse does not make a mess (i don't know why but it feels nice and strong on touch and you can stretch at some point)

 

http://show.imagehosting.us/show/1551213/0..._-1_1551213.JPG

 

http://show.imagehosting.us/show/1551215/0..._-1_1551215.JPG

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6bcxbYdiYE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkFaz-clHp4

 

Sorry about the quality but i don't have my camera with me so i grabbed a Sonyericsson W800 to do the job.

[RUUUUUN]

potassium nitrate...2 parts

lead acetate.........40 parts

Water................100 parts

 

Mix and dissolve, and in the solution place unsized paper; raise to nearly a boil and keep at this temperaturefor 20 minutes. if the paper is to be "slow," to may now be taken out, dried, cut into strips, and rolled. if to be "faster," the heat is to be continued longer according to the quickness desired. care must be taken to avoid boiling, which might disintegrate the paper. In preparing these papers, every precaution against fire must be taken, and their preparation in the shop or house should not be thought of, in making the solutions, etc. where heat is necessare, the water bath should be invariably used.

 

Cited from "furtunes in formulas"

 

has anyone tried this before?

[Pretty green flame]

Quick question

 

How will red gum effect the burn rate of BP (around 3-5% would be used). I am looking an alternative binder for blackmatch as i have found that using pure alchohol will make a superior black match in speed terms but a good alcohol soluble binder must be used, red gum comes first to mind.

 

Thanks

[Mumbles]

3-5% shouldn't change anything as far as burn rate over dextrin. It should be a lot more flexible too. Another binder if you want flexibility is Carboxymethylcellulose gum. Also called CMC gum, or sodium carboxymethylcellulose I believe. That is water based though.

 

I don't really know of any other good alcohol based binders. I've heard of Vinisol Resin, but never tried it. Supposed to be a 1:1 replacement. Theres Gum Copal too. Shellac, but I don't know how they will fair. Try as you will.