SSHPyro Posted November 30 Posted November 30 I wanna try making some N1 Gold glitter stars and was wondering if there is any thing specific about this comp that I should be aware of before attempting to make. I plan to use a star pump (1/2" or so) to make nice tails for some of my shells, I have seen some people say that adding water to this comp can cause a reaction. With that said I do not plan to wet the comp, rather just press stars. Let me know any safety precautions with this comp and anybody that has made it let me know how it turned out! addon: Is this comp safe to mill?
Zumber Posted November 30 Posted November 30 This topic has already been discussed several times. For more details Type N1 Glitter in search bar you will get many responses.
Carbon796 Posted December 1 Posted December 1 Unless your shells are really small, sub 3". Pressing 3/4-1" pucks will give a better display. If the formula uses a water activated binder. You're going to have to get it wet, to press them properly. Without metals, it is safe to mill. If you're using lead media. Using the same precautions as milling BP. But, the original formula is meant to be scratch mixed, iirc.
cmjlab Posted December 1 Posted December 1 I've only ever had sodium oxalate containing glitter comps heat up on me (and that was cut stars, which requires more water than when pumping stars). I was also told that using well water from the tap may have contributed (no idea if that's true, but it made sense to use distilled water going forward since I have it on hand for chlorate stars). FWIW - I've not had sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) comps heat up on me, cut or pumped. However, I don't have 10/15 years or more experience like some of the folks around do. Chuck
Zumber Posted December 2 Posted December 2 (edited) It surely heats up, my friend made a batch of N1 last month and he smelled ammonia and stars warmed up. Water is major cause and he made round stars. You must use water as little as needed and make pumped or pressed stars. Edited December 2 by Zumber
cmjlab Posted December 2 Posted December 2 (edited) 12 hours ago, Zumber said: It surely heats up, my friend made a batch of N1 last month and he smelled ammonia and stars warmed up. Water is major cause and he made round stars. You must use water as little as needed and make pumped or pressed stars. I've made N1 both cut and pumped. For cut stars, I don't make large batches (1kg), I don't ball mill it either (just screen mixed). I use distilled water to mix, and I process it immediately (vs. Leaving it for water to activate binder). I jsut roll it out to flat patties for cutting (instead of a loaf box) so I can lay 1/4" wire screen to imprint it for cutting even stars, amd dust with screen mixed "BP". Then they go on a drying screen with just air movement over them, no heat / no direct sunlight. So maybe the lack of mass prevents heating, distilled water, or some other factor helps prevent heating? Edited December 2 by cmjlab Clarifying how I've been mixing comp.
Carbon796 Posted December 2 Posted December 2 (edited) It sounds like his " friend ", has some Chem or water issues. Edited December 2 by Carbon796
Mumbles Posted December 2 Posted December 2 I've also never had any issues with compositions similar to N1 heating up. Mirroring cmj's experience most of the time I've had an issue with glitter type compositions heating up, it was with sodium oxalate. It also usually involved flake aluminum. If you want to hedge your bets, you could wet them with boric acid solution instead of straight water.
Zumber Posted December 3 Posted December 3 As I told earlier he has rolled stars with batch bigger than 1 kg this could probably be the reason.
Zumber Posted December 3 Posted December 3 8 hours ago, Carbon796 said: It sounds like his " friend ", has some Chem or water issues. Likely to be possible as he has used baking soda from grocery shop.
Mumbles Posted December 5 Posted December 5 I don't know what kind of quality control standards are in place in various international localities, but in the US the material sold in the grocery store is USP grade as is actually quite pure. That's not to say it couldn't have degraded over time. It eventually starts to slowly release carbon dioxide and produce sodium carbonate when stored in humid air. Sodium carbonate would cause a significantly higher chance of reaction with metals. The same problem would occur if baking powder was accidentally used instead of baking soda. I've never personally encountered any issues despite almost never replacing it. If I ever did, tossing it out and replacing it with fresh material would be one of my first steps though. Compared to some other glitter chemicals, it's practically free.
cmjlab Posted December 5 Posted December 5 I imagine antimony here in the U.S. Will increase in price significantly once current stocks are gone, with Chinese ban on exports to U.S. Better get some now if you want it.
SKC Posted December 6 Posted December 6 The orignal process consists of not milling N1 composition. Only sifting through a proper mesh. You may use 70:30 Alcohol/Water with dextrine as binder. Use solvent as less as you can. Do not roll or cut, as it requires more solvent try pressing with a star pump you have. You have to optimise star size depending upon shell size.
Zumber Posted December 11 Posted December 11 On 12/3/2024 at 2:53 AM, Mumbles said: I've also never had any issues with compositions similar to N1 heating up. Mirroring cmj's experience most of the time I've had an issue with glitter type compositions heating up, it was with sodium oxalate. It also usually involved flake aluminum. If you want to hedge your bets, you could wet them with boric acid solution instead of straight water. Is there any method to identify purity and quality of sodium bicarbonate in home. How long it will take to degrade sodium bicarbonate if we purchase fresh material from shop or supplier?
Zumber Posted December 11 Posted December 11 (edited) On 12/6/2024 at 12:36 PM, SKC said: The orignal process consists of not milling N1 composition. Only sifting through a proper mesh. You may use 70:30 Alcohol/Water with dextrine as binder. Use solvent as less as you can. Do not roll or cut, as it requires more solvent try pressing with a star pump you have. You have to optimise star size depending upon shell size. Are you sure 70/30 alcohol/water activate dextrin? Edited December 11 by Zumber Spelling mistake
Crazy Swede Posted December 11 Posted December 11 I never used more than 15 % alcohol in my solution of boric acid when making glitter comets for that reason, that is, really activating the dextrin!
Mumbles Posted December 11 Posted December 11 16 hours ago, Zumber said: Is there any method to identify purity and quality of sodium bicarbonate in home. How long it will take to degrade sodium bicarbonate if we purchase fresh material from shop or supplier? I've been thinking about this for a little while. I don't know of any perfect methods, but one possibility might be by pH if that's available. A 0.1M solution of bicarbonate should be 8.3. A 0.1M solution of sodium carbonate would be 11.5. Those are far enough off, you might be able to detect degradation by even simple pH strips. Of course, partial decomposition probably would fall between the two. If a solution starts to stray into the 9 or 10 pH range, it's definitely time to change. It's just a thought and not based on practical experience. There is a bicarbonate/carbonate buffer system, so I'm not entirely confident it would even work. 8.4g sodium bicarbonate per 1L of water will make a ~0.1M solution. Technically it's per 1L of solution and an equivalent concentration of sodium carbonate would be 10.5g/L, but something like this is close enough and probably doesn't need to be that analytically precise.
SKC Posted December 12 Posted December 12 On 12/11/2024 at 11:31 AM, Zumber said: Are you sure 70/30 alcohol/water activate dextrin? Yes it does, I have been doing it with Pyro grade dextrin for the last few years with considerable ease.
Recommended Posts