Creating hard colored smoke?

[pycharm]

So as some of you know, I ordered some smoke colors from China a while back and I've been playing around with them. I'm wondering if anybody has any suggestions on keeping it intact when thrown after glue or plug melts. Is it possible to make the comp hard? I don't have my notes, but it's the standard chlorate/lactose/smoke mixture.

 

Maybe this should be in Newbie thread, or not.

[Crazy Swede]

I'm not sure if I understand your question?

 

Are you asking how to compact smoke composition by pressing or by binding it with some kind of solvent/binder system?

 

What kind of composition and device are you talking about?

 

Of course smoke compositions can be consolidated but they are very fluffy and they sometimes need a small amount of paraffin oil to be able to stay solid after pressing.

 

Granulating the composition twice with NC laquer usually helps a lot before pressing.

[Piccaso]

There are what are called smoke stars or comets where the smoke mixture is pressed just like a star or comet would be. You could also place your mixture in a container as well. Old chinese smoke bombs where basicly a blob of smoke comp with saw dust and sodium silicate rolled around it holding it all together and making it fireproof.

[pycharm]

I'm not sure if I understand your question?

 

Are you asking how to compact smoke composition by pressing or by binding it with some kind of solvent/binder system?

 

What kind of composition and device are you talking about?

 

Of course smoke compositions can be consolidated but they are very fluffy and they sometimes need a small amount of paraffin oil to be able to stay solid after pressing.

 

Granulating the composition twice with NC laquer usually helps a lot before pressing.

Apologies for the late reply. Yes, I'm essentially asking if a binder can be used that won't hinder the smoke output?

 

The device is colored smoke, lactose, chlorate, and calcium carb in its respective amounts.

Edited March 26, 2021 by pycharm

[Arthur]

You will need to experiment! However! Chlorate/Lactose smokes usually rely on being pressed into a tube with only limited opening. If air gets in then the flame burns hot enough to burn the dye. ALSO it's a dye if it's on the outside then it will dye everything it touches.

 

Maybe it's cost and difficulty and staining that cause smokes to be a very small part of the market, and an expensive part.

[pycharm]

You will need to experiment! However! Chlorate/Lactose smokes usually rely on being pressed into a tube with only limited opening. If air gets in then the flame burns hot enough to burn the dye. ALSO it's a dye if it's on the outside then it will dye everything it touches.

 

Maybe it's cost and difficulty and staining that cause smokes to be a very small part of the market, and an expensive part.

 

 

Trust me, I learned the staining the hard way. Lol I also learned it needs to be contained to burn correctly, else it burns too hot. The dye is expensive, so I'm trying not to waste it figuring out a decent binder.

Edited March 27, 2021 by pycharm

[Arthur]

All the smokes I know are powder pressed into a closed tube with an added long nozzle this lets the flame burn controlledy inside and the smoke jets out i one place.

[Mumbles]

I've always found smoke stars pretty interesting in concept, but have never really tried any. In Fireworks: Art, Science, and Technique there are some interesting designs given. The easiest are made like common cut stars. I suspect these are the most touchy to get working just right due to the lack of oxygen control. There are some more labor intensive versions that probably work better, but probably are more work than they're worth. One looks like a small smoke canister, filled with granulated smoke comp and black match running through it. Another rolls the smoke composition up into a coil of paper kind of like a fat rolled up falling leaves, then placed into a tube. I believe that is more for parachutes though. There's yet another where the composition is cut and coated with plaster, with a hole bored through it, kind of like a class C smoke bomb. I suspect that is the most time consuming, tedious, and somewhat dangerous of all of them.

[davidh]

I saw a video on facebook where they appeared to be making those small smoke balls. It looked like they rolled some sort of core in a clay slurry, then colored the outside of the ball and dried them. I could see them then taking the ball, drilling a hole, and inserting a fuse.

If they are using a core, there has to be some sort of binder. I doubt they could press them hard enough dry to stay solid in wet clay.

[Arthur]

Most commercial smoke devices are powder pressed or rammed in to a tube, so you could likely press the powder in a ball shaped mould and try burning it but minimising the oxidation by AIR is the name of the game it may need a card or clay case.

 

You could make an enclosure with clay/cement/plaster etc and drill a fuse hole but the smoke would come out of the hole in a jet. You could also make ball shaped cladding for a tube pressed with comp and fuse it with time fuse or visco. With visco the comp would burn inside and the smoke would exit the hole in a jet, with time fuse the fuse hole would remain closed and smoke cold exit through the spherical cladding and maybe emulate a ball shaped smoke device.

 

The issue with all smoke devices is making the comp burn without uncontrolled air -using only oxygen from the comp.

 

 

Remember that with all fireworks the effect is the end, no-one mentions picking up the casings.

Edited March 28, 2021 by Arthur

[Piccaso]

I had Caleb make me some custom tooling to press colored smoke comets but they are still a work in progress. I know a member of Fireworking.com Italeen I think has had good luck with them.