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Dialing in my black powder fuel


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Posted
I use a firesmith Universal tooling, my first batch of fuel I lucked out and it was perfect. My second batch was too hot so I milled up a slower batch of 60/30 and mixed it in with my 70/20. Still too fast so I decided to add some charcoal. And here's where the problem comes in, should I use airfloat? I decided to add 10% 80 mesh for some Sparks and it slowed it down way too much. So what is a reasonable increment percentage-wise of charcoal to add to overly fast fuel apparently 10% is way too much? And do you add air float or something more corse?
Posted

Try it, don't talk about it. It's pyro. You don't have to live with the results, unlike some horrible painting.

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Posted

If this is for rockets, remember that meal powder is OK for small bore rockets but slower fuel is used for bigger rockets.

 

Lancaster's book has some useful tables of additions to powder to make rocket fuel.

 

Always make BP to a good fast performance, it can be slowed but not made faster.

Posted

Try it, don't talk about it. It's pyro. You don't have to live with the results, unlike some horrible painting.

I did try it LOL I thought 10% charcoal added would make a minor change. The rocket hovered about ten feet off the launch. Luckily I did not adulterate the main batch once I added the diluted batch back into the main branch things were just about right actually. I just need to launch a few more to make sure it's safe to start adding some headers.
Posted (edited)

If this is for rockets, remember that meal powder is OK for small bore rockets but slower fuel is used for bigger rockets.

 

Lancaster's book has some useful tables of additions to powder to make rocket fuel.

 

Always make BP to a good fast performance, it can be slowed but not made faster.

yes it is for one pound rockets and I am granulating the powder after Milling. After I started having problems I dried it out completely and then added a measured 2% of water back in and rammed them with half the amount in each increment as before to see if it was a consolidation issue. It was not. That's when I decided to move on to adding charcoal I was just wondering if people are adding corse charcoal or if they are adding air float? I went with corse charcoal because I knew it would be less messy while ramming. Anyway I think I'm about there now. Luckily I did not dilute the entire batch and I added it back in and everything seems about right now Edited by Uarbor
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