Arthur Posted September 1, 2014 Posted September 1, 2014 Currently the UK situation is that you need a licence to buy "Explosives Precursors" (inc perc) but you cannot buy by mail order. SO you could go and collect, or make it yourself with a licence
taiwanluthiers Posted September 1, 2014 Posted September 1, 2014 Maybe Federally it won't change, as it's a huge change, but state and local government could make things hard. I mean Federally it is not illegal to make explosives as long as you don't transport it or store it without compliant storage.
abbykarim Posted September 1, 2014 Posted September 1, 2014 SAME HERE in trinidad, the problem is that the only license is for a firework manufacturer and the qualifications to go with that is absurd. five acre of land minimum, magazines for every stage of manufacture, etc.......other than that you cant do any thing.. so i'll just take my chances. i love fire works...cant explain it. the love, the science, the smell, the colours..the achievement.! 1
WSM Posted September 11, 2014 Posted September 11, 2014 (edited) I acquired an excellent item on eBay recently, a bench top Buchner funnel. It's large enough to process several kilos of oxidizer crystals at a time. With this funnel plus (properly sized) laboratory filter paper, and a vacuum source, I can quickly and effectively separate oxidizer crystals from the mother liquor. I can easily rinse the crystals with chilled distilled water immediately after the liquor removal, greatly facilitating the purification process! (can you tell I'm excited?!) This lab tool will pay for itself many times over and stream-line the production of ready-to-use oxidizers . WSM Edited September 11, 2014 by WSM
jpsmith123 Posted September 12, 2014 Posted September 12, 2014 Now all you need is a super-duper, state-of-the-art, holy-grail type anode to go with it...
WSM Posted September 12, 2014 Posted September 12, 2014 (edited) Now all you need is a super-duper, state-of-the-art, holy-grail type anode to go with it...Truth be told, I've got a few LD and a couple platinum anodes on the shelf. All I'm lacking is the time, space and will to make it happen. Sometime soon, I hope I can set up a research shed to move my experiments into. WSM Edited September 13, 2014 by WSM
schroedinger Posted September 18, 2014 Posted September 18, 2014 (edited) If someone wants to save the geocities website for the chlorate production, use wget and this code: wget --recursive --no-clobber --page-requisites --html-extension --convert-links --restrict-file-names=windows --domain oocities.org --no-parent http://www.oocities.org/capecanaveral/campus/5361/chlorate/ This will make the whole site available interactive Edited September 18, 2014 by schroedinger
MrB Posted September 18, 2014 Posted September 18, 2014 (edited) At least for the windows version, this doesn't seam to work.B! EditOh i know whats going on. The address is truncated by the forum. wget --recursive --no-clobber --page-requisites --html-extension --convert-links --restrict-file-names=windows --domain oocities.org --no-parent http://www.oocities.org/capecanaveral/campus/5361/chlorate/That worked so much better. It's currently working, i'll find out about the result when it's done. Thanks./Edit Edit IIIt's done. Doesn't provide a self evident "this is the starting page" html, but all, or at least most of the pages has a "back to top" link, and it seams to be a complete grab of whats currently online. Nice. Thanks again./Edit II Edited September 18, 2014 by MrB
schroedinger Posted September 18, 2014 Posted September 18, 2014 B your right i forgot to mention the starting page is just like on the website called chlorate.html
taiwanluthiers Posted September 19, 2014 Posted September 19, 2014 oxidizing.typhoonguitars.com I have the saved geocities site online at this address
WSM Posted September 19, 2014 Posted September 19, 2014 (edited) oxidizing.typhoonguitars.com I have the saved geocities site online at this addressExcellent job, taiwanluthiers. It's good to preserve the work and keep a valuable resource alive. Well done. WSM Edited September 19, 2014 by WSM
WSM Posted September 19, 2014 Posted September 19, 2014 (edited) I should mention, I submitted part six of my Homegrown Oxidizers article for publication in the PGI Bulletin. PGI members should see it before Christmas. Feel free to give feedback.WSM Edited September 19, 2014 by WSM
taiwanluthiers Posted September 19, 2014 Posted September 19, 2014 (edited) I don't think making perc is important for me anymore, seeing that it is easy for me to get them cheaply in the US, until they make laws banning them like the EU that is. Edited September 19, 2014 by taiwanluthiers
WSM Posted September 19, 2014 Posted September 19, 2014 I don't think making perc is important for me anymore, seeing that it is easy for me to get them cheaply in the US, until they make laws banning them like the EU that is. My perspective is different. I never needed to make either of them (chlorate and perchlorate), but I deeply desire to know how to make them. Once I achieve competency in manufacturing both oxidizers, I'll focus on other pursuits (plus help others work through the challenges I've overcome). Whether or not government officials ban the sale of oxidizers will be moot, if I can make my own. I do like self sufficiency. It's a comfortable feeling ! WSM
taiwanluthiers Posted September 20, 2014 Posted September 20, 2014 I guess it goes to different levels. I could buy wood from luthier suppliers to build guitars with, I could buy planks of the same wood at a lumberyard and resaw them to thin sheets to build guitars with, or I could plant my own tree, wait like 200 years, then cut it down and build guitars with it. It does become impractical sometimes though. Also if the material becomes illegal or banned, making them doesn't get around that fact. If they found you were making them you'd go to jail.
MrB Posted September 20, 2014 Posted September 20, 2014 Also if the material becomes illegal or banned, making them doesn't get around that fact. If they found you were making them you'd go to jail.Hardly the issue. If making the stuff becomes illegal, then making your own fireworks have been made illegal anyway. Making precursors for explosives, or making explosive devices, i don't know about you, but i think the later is the one where they would go after you, if at all...B!
WSM Posted September 20, 2014 Posted September 20, 2014 (edited) Hardly the issue. If making the stuff becomes illegal, then making your own fireworks have been made illegal anyway. Making precursors for explosives, or making explosive devices, i don't know about you, but i think the later is the one where they would go after you, if at all...B! There are all kinds of ways to be a nuisance. Earlier this year, a fellow with poor judgement was arrested for making explosives with dry ice and a two liter pop bottle at work (he worked at an airport, if you can imagine). He lost his employment and freedom in one fell swoop. To understand where I'm coming from, it took me ten years to use my first pound of dark aluminum. I quickly moved through boomers to the greater challenges of color stars, glitter effects, hummers, whistles, wheels, comets, rockets, color smoke, shells, et cetera, and though making noise has it's place, it hasn't been at the forefront of my efforts for a very long time. If all I cared about was noise makers, I'd buy the materials. Making them is way too much trouble. WSM Edited September 20, 2014 by WSM
Arthur Posted September 21, 2014 Posted September 21, 2014 You can hope that precursors regs in your country follow the UK version, where amateur users can acquire with a simple licence, in reasonable quantities. In the rest of the EU most precursors are banned outright which will just drive supply underground IMO.
WSM Posted September 22, 2014 Posted September 22, 2014 You can hope that precursors regs in your country follow the UK version, where amateur users can acquire with a simple licence, in reasonable quantities. In the rest of the EU most precursors are banned outright which will just drive supply underground IMO. That sounds reasonable. It seems the UK has the better approach. Hopefully, the US will not follow the EU method of doing things. If they do, I expect a lot of increased activity in the pursuits we follow here. Outright bans of things in the US hasn't had a good track record, historically (remember prohibition). WSM
Arthur Posted September 22, 2014 Posted September 22, 2014 Realistically the UKPS (well a few members) put a lot of work over three years into the wording of the law with the other experts to ensure that legal needs for precursor and poison chems that we have (and lots of other private users) are available on ticket. I think there is a realisation here that hobby pyro is here to stay and allowing a permitted market to licence holders will enable the authorities to narrow down enquiries into suspicious purchases and purchasers. Perhaps it's PGI's turn with all the State and area pyro clubs to be in there as US law is designed so that pyro hobbyists can get supplies, but terrorists have more difficulty. in the USA.
smokeytech Posted September 25, 2014 Posted September 25, 2014 Agreed. Definitely seems the UK has the better approach. http://www.mypixshare.net/files/img/user_uploads/displayimage.php?id=1x1f1fqsaue89236004.gif
WSM Posted September 25, 2014 Posted September 25, 2014 Agreed. Definitely seems the UK has the better approach. http://www.mypixshare.net/files/img/user_uploads/displayimage.php?id=1x1f1fqsaue89236004.gif Between the UK and the EU, I agree. Between them and the US, I disagree. Things are still available to US citizens, but access is tightening. The laws are determined at the State level, where some are more severe and others more liberal. Some of us have free access to rural areas, and living in a more liberal State, are able to work within the system and pursue the hobby. Some of us live in large metropolitan areas and in States with severe restrictions, and are very limited as to what we can do and where. I suppose the reason we have the PGI and regional clubs is because our laws are the way they are. This way we can work, somewhere, and have a creative outlet. It's not a perfect system, but it's what we have. WSM
WSM Posted September 28, 2014 Posted September 28, 2014 (edited) I'm preparing to set up and run my first perchlorate cells. I plan to try a platinized titanium anode and an LD on titanium anode in separate cells (but one at a time). Due to the many reports I've studied on them, I expect I may have the best results from the LD anodes. The platinized anodes are reported to suffer ill effects from high chloride levels. I don't believe the LD anodes will be affected quite so badly from higher chloride levels. We'll see... The plan is to make the electrolyte from lab grade NaClO3 and do qualitative tests for perchlorate with methylene blue solution, which turns purple in the presence of perchlorate. When the cells run to near completion, I'll treat the liquor with sodium metabisulfite to destroy any residual chlorate before exchanging with KCl solution, converting the sodium perchlorate to potassium perchlorate. When the KClO4 drops out, I'll vacuum filter it and wash the crystals with cold distilled water. Testing for residual sodium will take place after the KClO4 crystals are dried. My goal is to have this all done before October is past so I'll have material for part seven of the Homegrown Oxidizers series in the PGI Bulletin. I'll post my progress here for everyone's benefit (if not amusement), as well. WSM Edited September 28, 2014 by WSM
taiwanluthiers Posted September 28, 2014 Posted September 28, 2014 Yea, I can never quite figure out why when I made a hot solution of potassium chlorate the current draw is very low, and it doesn't seem like any perchlorate is forming and there is a heavy ozone smell. I am not sure what is going on. It kills anode for sure! The LD anode suffered some flaking while the platinum anode gets complete toast in a day.
WSM Posted October 3, 2014 Posted October 3, 2014 I found this small power supply and eBay and negotiated a better price than they were asking, so I took a chance and bought it. It wasn't until I hooked it up to my pickle-jar cell with KCl solution, using MMO and titanium electrodes, that I was able to confirm it was an excellent find. What got my attention are the two indicating LED's that are labeled CV and CC, which told me this little supply was set up for either constant voltage or constant current operation. Constant current operation allows for simple current efficiency (CE) determination because the current value doesn't change but the voltage automatically adjusts to whatever voltage is required to maintain that current level. I'll be working on attaching filled tubular titanium leads to my Pt and LD anodes tomorrow so I can get started on my perchlorate runs this month. WSM
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