Random Thread #1

[mike_au]

Aah, sorry not parlon, the original formula calls for PVC.

 

Potassium Perchlorate 40

Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC). 20

Copper(II) Oxychloride 16

Potassium Nitrate 12

Red Gum 4

Sulfur 4

Dextrin 4

 

I did try with PVC initially, but the PE gives a stronger colour. I will make another batch with PVC and see if that helps (I kind of hope not, since I have a few hundred grams of PVC and a couple of kilos of CPE).

 

They haven't changed weight in two days, so I'm assuming they are dry.

[scrappy]

I am surprised to hear that you have had trouble lighting blues, I have tried several comps and all lit very reliably with just BP+MgAl+Al+RG prime.

 

are your blues AP based ? if so do you have any problems with a Bp prime? and do you use a barrier such as nc, i ask this because all of the literature i have read suggests, you will, hence my use of AP prime, if not that is good to know and i will try priming with a Bp prime only, with no intermediate prime or barrier,

 

Edit :- do you use just an alcohol solvent with your red gum as the binder, ( if you have no problems i think i will use a little charcoal and dextrin insted of the red gum )

Edited May 7, 2009 by scrappy

[Seymour]

If they are bound with red gum, especially as it's only 4%, they will smash easily.

 

To be honest, with such a high chlorine donor content, and with Potassium nitrate in there, I'd definitely expect them to be harder to light than your average perchlorate/resin star. However you do seem to be priming them well. I would not be surprised if your Aluminium was not burning at all though. I've got a friend who is in to his High power rocketry. When he made APCP with similar Aluminium, none of it burned! It was so oxidised that it was as good as inert.

 

Your idea on your first post, of rolling a charcoal streamer over them will definitely help. They will be going much slower, more like if they were on the ground. You also have the very pretty combination of charcoal sparks and blue flame.

 

Just out of curiosity, how good is this blue flame?? What grade of Potassium nitrate are you using?

[mike_au]

Well I have actually replaced the redgum with shellac, I haven't tried to crush one but they seem fairly solid just from normal handling.

 

Part of the reason I started with this star was that my perc supply was extremely limited and I liked the fact that the Cl donor, copper oxychloride and KNO3 made up a significant portion of the comp. Now that I have a bit more perc maybe I should stop being such a miser and switch to another comp for a bit.

 

I don't know if it will be different in the air, but I burnt off a couple of grams of excess prime last night and the Al definitely ignited. I'm close to running out of this Al, I will make sure to get something better next time.

 

This is my first attempt at colours, and I haven't seen it in the air yet so I can't really comment on how good it is. It has a very obvious blue colour, but it also has a bit of white coming off it. I'm not sure if that is normal or if it is a bit washed out. I'll post a video when I actually get it working if you like.

 

My KNO3 is just fertilizer but from memory the MSDS said it was fairly pure (99 - 99.5% or so).

[Mumbles]

Up close a lot of colors will looked washed out, and have white. Given the source, I'd imagine it is pretty good in the air.

[Yankie]

I made an awesome green star:

BaNO3: 55

MgAl: 28

PVC: 17

Dextrin: +6

 

It burns an insanely bright and is the most beautiful green, but the only problem is it is a total bitch to light. I am going to try using the following prime:

BP: 100

Si: 15

MgAl:10

Fe203:2

KClO4:10

Dextrin:8

 

Any Ideas how I could make it hotter/easier to light?

[Miech]

Add 2% of lampblack or airfload charcoal to the star composition. This should make it easier to light.

[50AE]

I wonder if the green can be better if I replace the PVC with parlon. I should try it.

 

My KClO3 drives me angry. There's an impurity in it that makes it stink like the sour odor of old butter and cosmetic creams. But worse than that - it sticks together ! I don't have a high mesh screen, only 20 mesh kitchen skreens that let small lumps into the composition and it drives me crazy. I don't even know from where this oily impurity comes from, or if its just water. But I already dried it at 60C for 2 hours.

Edited May 8, 2009 by 50AE

[WarezWally]

Its supposed to clump together unless you add some sort of anti caking agent.

 

 

I would rather work with pure clumpy reagents than with nice free ones. Who knows what anti caking agent has been added.

[scrappy]

I wonder if the green can be better if I replace the PVC with parlon. I should try it.

 

My KClO3 drives me angry. There's an impurity in it that makes it stink like the sour odor of old butter and cosmetic creams. But worse than that - it sticks together ! I don't have a high mesh screen, only 20 mesh kitchen skreens that let small lumps into the composition and it drives me crazy. I don't even know from where this oily impurity comes from, or if its just water. But I already dried it at 60C for 2 hours.

 

firstly i would say yes to a better green with the parlon concidering it contains a higher concentration of chlorine approx 60-70 %

but unfortunatelyi cannot help you with the odour, ( did you make it youself or buy it ) ?

i have made kclo3 and kclo4 and get a very pure odourless product, if you make it , after you have washed your crystals with ice water, dry them and leave them large crystals untill you are ready to use them and then mill the amount you need, this should render your stock of crystals free flowing like commercial sugar,

my kclo3 crystals are about 6# from my cell and clumping is never a problem, when i mill my needs clumping is never a problem either

[50AE]

I made it myself by electrolysis of NaCl, when transformed it to KClO3 by adding K salt.

I recrystallized it two times. Then I mixed a small batch with sugar to see the flame - it was very violet, not any yellow flame was present, there was very little sodium contamination.

At last, I dried it, milled it in a coffee grinder and put it in a zip loc bag. It started to stick together and stink.

 

Finally, I'm considering to buy a 100 mesh screen.

Edited May 9, 2009 by 50AE

[scrappy]

sorry i can't be of any help with the odour, ( i can't think of a possible contaminate ) but i can help, " i think " with your clumping,

 

my kclo4 clumps big time, even the commercial stuff i buy clumps pretty solidly, but if you stored and didn't grind your kclo3 until you needed it and then only ground what you need, may be your answer, it is for me.

 

the variables are to great to compere over the internet as to your odour problem, ie :- water quality differences between AU and BUL

 

Edit :- small sachets of silica gel in your chems make a difference, i get them from work and have them in most of my chems to absorb moisture, i don't have any in my kclo3/4, but i leave my kclo3 large ( no clumping ) but as said, my o4 clumps

Edited May 9, 2009 by scrappy

[Yankie]

Quick and odd question. How can I make my sulfur smell MORE? (someone wants smelly sulfur for a volcano exibit)

[crazyboy25]

Light it on fire.

[optimus]

Just uploaded a few brand-spankin' shiny new tracks onto our myspace.

 

That's nearly the whole goddamn album up there now! - how generous of us!

 

www.myspace.com/enginesofarmageddon

Edited May 13, 2009 by optimus

[Mumbles]

Well, are you going for more of the rotten egg smell, or the burning rubber smell?

 

For rotten egg, you have to be really careful. It's poisonous, and easy to get over the scent threshold. I'd simply add some dry NaOH to it. It will naturally absorb water, forming Na2S and more water, which will hydrolyse to H2S and more NaOH. Alternatively one could drop some NaOH onto the sulfur.

 

For burning rubber, I think you're out of luck unless you want to actually burn it. Maybe NaHSO3 + HCl?

 

Or you could just eat a lot of baked beans the night before.

[swervedriver]

Just uploaded a few brand-spankin' shiny new tracks onto our myspace.

 

That's nearly the whole goddamn album up there now! - how generous of us!

 

www.myspace.com/enginesofarmageddon

 

Hey man, that's some hardcore thrash. That song Boneless is badass...

[RUUUUUN]

What Little I know of sulfur deposits around volcanos, I believe If I may be so bold to say: you *Should* find ALOT more heat around a volcano than NaOH, so in order to get an accurate volcanic stench I think you should burn it.

 

In order to get it to burn and smell on cue maybe some fairly heavy steel wool W/ some Sulfur sprinkled on it, then have a nice power source ( a coupla 9V, a 6V lantern battery), all on a switch, then it will light and smell on cue, and the molten iron may get some magma lookin' effect maybe???

[Rogue Chemist]

To just burn it and get the smell, cast some into a candle shape around several wicks twisted together. It will take some effort to light the wick the first time, but after that it is easily ignited and you have a sulfur candle that reeks.

[50AE]

Today I bought a bag of glutinous rice to make SGRS, some say that it's better than dextrin. I'll see this in one week, when the SGRS will be ready.

[Swede]

Today I bought a bag of glutinous rice to make SGRS, some say that it's better than dextrin. I'll see this in one week, when the SGRS will be ready.

 

Good luck with it, I've heard many horror stories about trying to make it yourself. Let us know how it goes, and how you did it.

 

Just to see if this miraculous binder lives up to Shimizu's hype, I picked up a pound of the skylighter stuff, but haven't had a chance to try it yet. It's expensive, and it'd be nice to have a cheap and simple home recipe, like dex.

[Ventsi]

Built myself a 1 ,1/4" 7 shot rack.

 

 

 

 

There is a gap on the bottom since these will be side-fused.

I'm still working on a tool that allows me to shoot staight up or in a fan shape.

 

 

Comments are most welcome!

Edited May 19, 2009 by Ventsi

[50AE]

Good luck with it, I've heard many horror stories about trying to make it yourself. Let us know how it goes, and how you did it.

 

Just to see if this miraculous binder lives up to Shimizu's hype, I picked up a pound of the skylighter stuff, but haven't had a chance to try it yet. It's expensive, and it'd be nice to have a cheap and simple home recipe, like dex.

 

I did some research in google before thinking of making SGRS. It seems that the hard part is to crush the product into powder. But I have a ball mill .

I'm preparing a small quantity for testing, because my ball mill's not there. I'll try running it in my coffee grinder.

 

Hey Ventsi, nice work, but aren't these PVC pipes ? I hope they are small caliber, I wouldn't shoot something bigger than 2"

 

I'm happy ! The next month I'll be able to buy myself a passfire account ! Ah, more knowledge

Edited May 19, 2009 by 50AE

[Ventsi]

Hey Ventsi, nice work, but aren't these PVC pipes ? I hope they are small caliber, I wouldn't shoot something bigger than 2"

 

 

 

Nope I think they are HDPE cause they feel and act very much like it, bendy doesn't break,HDPE can be white you know .

And these are just too damn thin[2mm] to be PVC .

.For those who didn't know milk jugs are pure HDPE.

 

I have used the tubes for quite some time and they are good !!!

Edited May 19, 2009 by Ventsi

[mike_au]

I did some research in google before thinking of making SGRS. It seems that the hard part is to crush the product into powder. But I have a ball mill .

I'm preparing a small quantity for testing, because my ball mill's not there. I'll try running it in my coffee grinder.

 

Good luck! (you're going to need it)

 

I chipped the blade on my hand mixer trying to break up SGRS, about 5 hours in the mill gave me a couple of grams of powder, I haven't been game to try it in the kitchen blender because I don't want to break it.

 

I think one of the old cast iron mincers might have a chance at breaking it into small chunks and from there I guess it is just a case of leaving it in the mill for a loooong time.