Red stars don't stick together.

[Dalle]

I made stars,

https://www.fireworkscookbook.com/firework-recipe/spanish-red-rojo-2/

Moisten the mixture gently with water and alcohol, but once they dry I can crush them between my fingers.

Anyone know what i doing wrong?

[Arthur]

Try an alcohol as solvent! OR (and I haven't tried it) use dextrin with water as solvent.

 

Red Gum is usually used with alcohol, dextrin is used with water.

 

Many people will chose an alcohol solvent for speed of drying, others will chose water for cheapness (but it's no cheaper if you have to buy electricity or other heat for a dryer).

 

Added;

Binders usually need their specific solvent to make them bind comps. Some use water, some use alcohol and some use acetone. Chose the binder and solvent to work together well. Water is cheap, alcohol and acetone cost more but dry faster.

Edited October 3, 2023 by Arthur

[cmjlab]

With the Strontium Nitrate in that formula and using water to bind, you run the risk of taking a really long to dry (if they do at all), unless you live in a dry/arid climate like Arizona

 

Agree with Arthur too - there's no dextrin in the formula so it's supposed to use straight alcohol to moisten, with the red gum acting as binder.

Edited October 3, 2023 by cmjlab

[Dalle]

Ok i hawe 75%water and 25%alkohol in it, so i hawe to try whith only alcohol.

Thx for the replyes

[Arthur]

Probably best to check the local availability for a non drinkable alcohol (methylated spirits or denatured alcohol) if you want or need to use red gum. As an alternative look at using dextrin with water, but you'd have to look at other formulae or risk trying a formula that says red gum with dextrin. Sometimes formulae are very critical (some NEED the specified 1% of charcoal to function) some things can be subbed out with no harm.

[Guernica]

It has parlon in it... why not just use acetone to bind?

[Arthur]

Dextrin binds with water

Red gum binds with alcohol

Parlon binds with acetone

 

Water is far more accessible world wide than alcohol and acetone may actually be hard to get in useful quantities.

Water is also far cheaper than any other solvent. Cheapness usually rules in professional use as most times items are made for later sale, so, cheaper means less costly investment.

[Guernica]

Is Dalle a professional? Maybe you know more about their needs than I do, but they didn't mention cost being a concern specifically in their post. For whatever it's worth, I use acetone to bind all of Jopete's wonderful comps, and it works perfectly.

[dagabu]

Thats was meant to be bound with the parlon using acetone, water will not bind this formula.

[cmjlab]

Brain fart - thanks for the sanity check! I forgot all about Parlon / Acetone stars, geesh. I haven't used much Parlon since switching to Saran, but all my first stars were acetone/Parlon stars.