Gold Gitter Gerb

[Frozentech]

Name of composition: Gold Glitter Gerb/Fountain

Composition Type: Fountain

Creator: LLoyd Sponenburgh

Color/Effect: Gold Glitter

 

The Composition: (by weight)

 

Potassium Nitrate - 54.8

Charcoal Airfloat - 11

Antimony Trisulfide, Dark Pyro, 325 mesh - 8.4

Sulfur - 7.3

Aluminum, atom, spher, 120-325 mesh, 20 micron - 7.3

Sodium Bicarbonate - 5.3

Dextrin - 5.3

Boric Acid - 0.5

 

Precedure/Preparation:

Moisten with water to a stiff dough. Granulate through an 8-mesh screen

onto paper in a thin layer. Dry by airflow or breezy sunlight (avoid

direct, still wind, overhead sun).

 

This will produce a nice 8'-10' gold glittering gerb when choked to about

33% of the tube i.d.

 

Here is a link to a video of a Gold Glitter Gerb I did a few months back:

 

http://i1.zvhost.com/1/t/twwfykxz.jpg

[dagabu]

[pyrosailor99]

Mmmh... i miss the antimony trisulfide... is this avoidable or replaceable by another chem?

 

last year i tried to do some Gerb with the standard D1 glitter star comp. i handpressed the dry comp in a little tube (10mm ID 5cm long) and pressed a last layer with BP.

 

The tube had a strange behaviour... it lighted and became incandescent... consumed like a vigorous cigarette for a some second with some sporadic orange flame, than still incandescent for a minute.... i supposed of some surprise... so i shocked the tube with a stick and WAHHM , the gerb activated for some second squirting glitter sparks!

 

I did some other experiment on this thinking the problem was the priming... and probably it was... but i had no success as i hadn't chems for hot prime like silicon...

 

i also tried to mix the D1 comp 50/50 with BP... not a good effect....

 

any idea on how build a good D1-like gerb/fountain without trisulfide?

[optimus]

You're going to need something a little more energetic to get a glitter gerb working properly. Different delay agents can be used so you don't have to rely on the trisulfide - usually carbonates.

 

There are some formulas here that you might want to try.

 

http://www.pyrosociety.org.uk/forum/topic/3583-glitter-straight-from-meal-powder/

[pyrosailor99]

thanks for the reply.

 

mmm... in my D1 glitter comp i already have sodium bicarbonate (this should be also a delay agent if i haven't misunderstood)...

i've read the linked topic but haven't got the point on how to modify D1 to have a good gerb.... in that topic someone suggest to press just a increment of D1 and then fill the tube with pressed BP... but i haven't understood how this could work well... maybe he make an hole in the D1 to create a nozzle...

 

could you tell me more about?

[AirCowPeacock]

Perhaps a cored fountain working like a strobe rocket, except with D1 and BP

[Seymour]

The way I have got this to work is by ramming/pressing an increment or two of the glitter first, then the clay, and then keep pressing as per normal with black powder or other fountain mixes that work in the traditional choked end burning way. There is a hole bored right through the glitter, through the clay, and just in to the black powder or whatever fountain mix below.

 

This is limited in time to however long it takes to consume that top increment or two of glitter, which Is shorter than your average fountain. However I'm fine with that, since it provides a good opportunity to make a effect changing fountain, pressing/ramming other good fountain effects (ones that are all good with being choked) in different layers below the clay. Make it so that when the glitter ends, it's another feature coming up, not a flaw.

 

The problem with many unsuccessful attempts at making glittering fountains, is that if you subject the would be glittering spritzels to too much turbulence, they get ripped to bits, and burn up as a streak of light just outside the fountain. This is why you cannot have the glitter pressed like the strobe mix in a strobe rocket, with core burning fuel replacing the whistle mix.

 

Similarly if you have the clay nossle on the outside, and the glitter mix inside that, the effect is completely killed as it is torn through the clay plug, unless you really tone things down... but then you've lost any height you wanted, and the dross is liable to clog things up.

 

Even with the end burning version I am suggesting, with too narrow a choke, much of the glitter is killed, though due to the end burning face of the glitter, some flashes should always survive.

 

60/30/10 or similar for the end burning section is rather nice in my opinion. The rich plume of charcoal is complemented by the glittering in its midst. Because it is slower burning, you can have a narrower nossle without doing too much harm to the glitter, and of course, the less glitter you drill out, the more you get in the finished device.

 

 

 

Then there is the option of using faster and cleaner glitter mix that is designed to be used in fountains, such as the one posted by Frozentech. I personally am fond of Winokur Silver glitter Gerb A.

 

Potassium nitrate 55

Aluminium 10 (I used 45 micron granular)

Sulfur 10

Charcoal 10

Barium nitrate 5

Barium carbonate 5

Red Iron Oxide 5

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGzM87e0u6s&list=UUT-ApYdSdLEQCDKBLXs3tag&index=9&feature=plcp

 

In the drivers in the video I also used choked 33% of the ID, though I personally prefer 50%, since I believe they last a bit longer before they deteriorate with dross build up.

Edited November 26, 2012 by Seymour

[Mumbles]

I'd have to dig out my copy of Pyrotechnica II, but I have that formula you gave listed as Winokur Silver Gerb A. C, which I feel is the best, has a significant antimony trisulfide component to it. They also give the best effect unchoked, but then you don't get as much spray. A tapered nozzle might help a little bit, but most commercial tooling probably has too tight of a choke. I agree with most everything else that Seymour just said.

 

I've had the best luck with these sorts of effects using unchoked gerbs with a significant meal component. It helps to make up for the lack of a choke with a faster burning mix.

[pyrosailor99]

Thanks all!

 

actually my target is to have a goldish glitter gerb so i will focus on this in my next gerbs (also because i have a ready batch of D1 Comp to use)

 

Now i understood how Symour realize his gerbs. that is a great idea and is an extension of another idea i was going to try.

 

My idea is to create a coaxial layer of comp in the tube. The inner cylinder is D1 comp, the external cilinder is meal (or viceversa but in this way i think there is less risk of dross problems). then press it a little. No taper.

it would be easy to create the coaxial layer simply creating a small paper cylinder, put it inside the tube, fill this with D1 comp, fill the tube out of the d1 comp with meal, then REMOVE the paper cylinder, press it. i will give it a try!