Random Thread #1

[optimus]

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

 

Cool... Glad you like it... and feel free to pass that link around

[Miech]

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.

That's exactly what I found, milling doesn't work. I made it into powder using a piece of coarse sand paper. It's not time efficient but it does work.

 

Drying the stuff at 120 degrees celsius in an oven will give it a more foam like appearance and make it easier to destruct. Sure that stuff is going to give rock hard stars .

[Mumbles]

You probably should figure out exactly what the tubes from that rack are made out of. A rough guess wont change anything if one of the tubes blows. 2mm is possibly too thin, no matter what it's made out of.

[50AE]

Argh, you almost made me to give up the making of SGRS. I heard that it's better than dextrin to roll stars. I wonder if I can't just dissolve some of the binder to the spraying water mix.

[Miech]

It barely dissolves, but definately is worth making it. If you first make it fine to some degree and then put it into a blender (small portions) you can get it nearly airfloat. Ball milling might work as well but is proven to be a good trainig for your patience . You can also buy it on www.pyro-stuff.com if you don't like making it yourself. Edited May 20, 2009 by Miech

[FREAKYDUTCHMEN]

Our sgrs disolves in cold water.

[Ventsi]

You probably should figure out exactly what the tubes from that rack are made out of. A rough guess wont change anything if one of the tubes blows. 2mm is possibly too thin, no matter what it's made out of.

 

 

Well you,re right Mumbles.

But they,ve worked for me till now, but a blowout wouldn't be pleasant.

I haven't gone as far as testing worst case scenario[upside down shell], I supose i will... soon

However with only~1-2g of BP in them i suppose they should be fine , plus the shells are only 1.25 inches .I have a ton of these tubes laying around so I figured i might as well use them.

[mike_au]

I'm planning on making whistle for use as a booster/break in small shells (and maybe a rocket or two). I can't find potassium benzoate so it is down to sodium benzoate or sodium salicylate.

 

Based on this I can use copper oxychloride as a catalyst and get reasonable performance from either.

 

Now, given that we are just coming into winter here and benz. is slightly hygroscopic (I think salicylate is too, but not as much. Is that right?) and that salicylate is five times the price of benz., which fuel would people recommend?

 

Also, would whistle be a good enough burst for a 3" lampare or does it really need flash?

[Mumbles]

Lampares can be done with whistle too. I like them better in a way, there is less of a distracting flash. Really nice for lampare inserts where there are colors and other effects.

 

I personally prefer potassium benzoate, but that is out for you obviously. It combines the price of sodium benz, with the non-hygroscopicity of the salicyliate. Since you're just using it for burst, I'd go with the sodium. Dry it in the oven, and store it in an airtight container. It's not bad like sodium nitrate or calcium chloride, but it will overtime gain weight. You can weigh the container before and after use to see if it is getting wet.

[optimus]

Really nice for lampare inserts where there are colors and other effects.

 

People make lampares as inserts?

 

I gotta see that

 

Anyone know of a video example?

[Mumbles]

http://www.secac.com/online-fireworks-vide...nder-shell.html

 

About a minute and a half left in the video there is one. Lampare bottom shot too even.

[Richtee]

About a minute and a half left in the video there is one. Lampare bottom shot too even.

 

Sigh...very cool. I should not look any more, but dang... :{)

[scrappy]

Well you,re right Mumbles.

But they,ve worked for me till now, but a blowout wouldn't be pleasant.

I haven't gone as far as testing worst case scenario[upside down shell], I supose i will... soon

However with only~1-2g of BP in them i suppose they should be fine , plus the shells are only 1.25 inches .I have a ton of these tubes laying around so I figured i might as well use them.

 

 

give one a good wacking with a hammer, if its HDPE it will be OK, if its PVC it will be pieces,

[optimus]

Thanks for the link Mumbles. That was cool : )

 

Some really great HD Japanese pyro on this youtube channel. I've been downloading the better stuff to archive. It really is that good : )

 

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=hanabian&view=videos

[50AE]

Well, about the SGRS... I took out my rice, it's been 4 days since I left it soaked in water. I didn't want to wait a week, because it started to smell badly.

 

I steamed it and I obtained a very gluing rice. It was a mess while pounding it, it just sticks to everything. This proofs that it's a good binder.

 

Now I've let it dry. The edges are rock hard, but the interior not. The outside is slightly brown.

Edited May 23, 2009 by 50AE

[Swede]

Well, about the SGRS... I took out my rice, it's been 4 days since I left it soaked in water. I didn't want to wait a week, because it started to smell badly.

 

I steamed it and I obtained a very gluing rice. It was a mess while pounding it, it just sticks to everything. This proofs that it's a good binder.

 

Now I've let it dry. The edges are rock hard, but the interior not. The outside is slightly brown.

 

Cool! I wonder if a smidge of benzoate in the rice would help prevent it from going rancid on you. Keep us informed, it's an interesting experiment.

[Richtee]

Slightly off topic I suppose, but there IS a fireworks sequence! Baaaa!

Gotta love the "quickmatch"!

Shepards gone wild!

Edited May 23, 2009 by Richtee

[Ventsi]

WOW thast F***ing amazing .

If its 100% real those guys are just... nuts!

Amazing thanks for that Rich.

[Miech]

Well, about the SGRS... I took out my rice, it's been 4 days since I left it soaked in water. I didn't want to wait a week, because it started to smell badly.

 

I steamed it and I obtained a very gluing rice. It was a mess while pounding it, it just sticks to everything. This proofs that it's a good binder.

 

Now I've let it dry. The edges are rock hard, but the interior not. The outside is slightly brown.

Put it in an oven and dry it at about 120 degrees Celsius. This will yield you some kind of hard foam which is easier to break up and make into powder.

[Ventsi]

Well my scale has been broken ,while I'm waiting for a new one I've been making all kinds of tooling .

 

Here is my Sculpey 1.5" comet/BP pump I just made and used.

I love Sculpey!!

 

OOPS! I forgot the picture!

Edited May 24, 2009 by Ventsi

[50AE]

Sorry for your scale. I have one of the "cheap" chinese ones that stopped working after 6 months of use. It just gives me some sort of an error.

 

The SGRS... I baked it, and one batch was dry enough, the other was still damp inside.

I took the dried one, put it in a nylon bag and hammered it many times with a rubber hammer.

I opened the bag and I got small chunks of it. I put these chunks in my coffee grinder. In 1 minute, I had a nice looking white powder.

It is kind of "rubbery" to the touch.

 

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/1301/dsc04511.th.jpg

 

And here are pieces of unmilled SGRS. The small ones to the right are dry, the big left to the left is still damp. The edges are crunchy likes chips

 

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/6534/dsc04512.th.jpg

Edited May 24, 2009 by 50AE

[mike_au]

I put these chunks in my coffee grinder. In 1 minute, I had a nice looking white powder.

 

Wow! I'm still hesitant to put it into my kitchen blender, but I might have to invest in a coffee grinder.

[Ventsi]

Try buying a MagicBullet^tm They are well worth the 30 bucks, with different jars ,blades and such just one could grind chlorates,sulfur ,fuels ,etc. with just one.

[50AE]

I've crushed and milled my second batch of SGRS. Seems that it works very nicely. I've now put around half a kilo of wet rice in the fridge and I'll wait for the next week.

 

[asilentbob]

Anyone used abyss web server before?

http://www.aprelium.com/

I'm considering getting my site up finally this weekend. Would host it on a small pentium III that just has a couple other small server duties. Would use DynDNS or similar and have a url like username.dyndns.com... Just need something secure and easy.