_DB_ Posted July 7, 2006 Posted July 7, 2006 Oxyclean as an oxidizer? I actually have heard that a few years ago when I was starting out and used to go to rotteneggs.com ( ). I didn't think that just because it "uses the cleaning power of oxygen", that it would perform as an oxidizer in a composition. How fast did it burn? I went into Ace Hardware today looking for some KMnO4 simply because it's a chemical that's not in my collection and I have thought about doing the classic glycerin experiment that I thought was so cool back in 5th grade. I think it's sold as a rust remover or something, but anyway I didn't find it there. So I though I'd see what kind of H2SO4 drain cleaners they had. I did see a gallon of Liquid Fire for $18.00! That seems like a very good price for a gallon. I usually get LF by the pint for about $5, but I think next time I'm there I'll pick up a gallon. At that price a gallon would cost $45.00. I also looked for Red Iron Oxide as a cement pigment without any luck.
ColdWarr2k Posted July 7, 2006 Posted July 7, 2006 Oh man, its been to long my bretheren. Its me ColdWarr2000 with an updated name(duh). Forum has been revamped since the last time I was here. I dunno what to say about it yet, I guess I like it. I have no clue on whats going on in the pyro scene right now, Im guessing the CPSC is still up to its evil doings and trying to rid the chem. suppiers? I wonder how many original old members are still here. I guess ill have to look around. Side note, Pyro is still dwelling inside me. ever since my injury I havent lit off a single pyrotechnic device and its killing me. I have a few sitting around, plus stars and lift/meal but I just dont have time/kinda fear injury again. Plus I dont have a lab anymore heh, I moved to a smaller place. Oh well. Maybe one day ill start up again. Great seeing you all again and hope your all safe. ill stop by once in a while as always.
Mephistos Minion Posted July 7, 2006 Posted July 7, 2006 Bah, injury! You live and learn dude, just don't hold a hot Al star in your hand as you light another again, you should be fine In other news I have nearly finished my press. I need to do a few more welds and make a spring return system. I'll post some pics when I am gone (and have fixed the welds a bit, I am just learning to use the school's welders this week).
lacrima97 Posted July 7, 2006 Posted July 7, 2006 Oh man, its been to long my bretheren. Its me ColdWarr2000 with an updated name(duh). Forum has been revamped since the last time I was here. I dunno what to say about it yet, I guess I like it. I have no clue on whats going on in the pyro scene right now, Im guessing the CPSC is still up to its evil doings and trying to rid the chem. suppiers? I wonder how many original old members are still here. I guess ill have to look around. Side note, Pyro is still dwelling inside me. ever since my injury I havent lit off a single pyrotechnic device and its killing me. I have a few sitting around, plus stars and lift/meal but I just dont have time/kinda fear injury again. Plus I dont have a lab anymore heh, I moved to a smaller place. Oh well. Maybe one day ill start up again. Great seeing you all again and hope your all safe. ill stop by once in a while as always. I remember m3rcury saying something about how you and him packed up to leave....I wonder what he's up to.
Dr Boom Posted July 7, 2006 Posted July 7, 2006 Went looking through the threads and didn't see anything of grand interest in respects to what I wanted to say- so I thought I'd post it here. I had spoke to Mumbles before about posting a list of topics of interest and educational readings- but I was deceived by the amount of information I had. The list I sent to Mumbles for a once over was only a couple megs worth, I found (on an old 4-banger fly drive) almost 2 and a half gigs of info under 1,060 titles! Whoot! Now for those of us wishing to see some evidence to this, I'd say shoot me an email or better yet; jump on Yahoo, AIM, or MSN and give me a shout. I'd be more then happy to thumb through the titles on a search and help you out with just about any pyro-tific research you may be doing in the name of "educational advancement"- : cough-cough : I just can't rightly sit here with all this knowledge and not hand out a few bucket loads to those that are in need of it!
Swany Posted July 7, 2006 Posted July 7, 2006 Oh man, its been to long my bretheren. Side note, Pyro is still dwelling inside me. Oh well. Maybe one day ill start up again. Great seeing you all again and hope your all safe. ill stop by once in a while as always. I took the liberty of taking the important parts of your post and condensing it. Yes, the alphabet people are still being stupid. You should check out the 'Wired' article about amature chemistry, it's good. The CPSC raided United Nuclear, but nothing has become of it yet. Kilo G is in some sort of personal trouble, and pyrotube was taken down very abruptly. That's about it for bad news. But, there has been some member turnover, as always. Somewhat refreshing, though I do miss some of the 'old crowd'. They drop by, and some are still active. It's exellent to see you drop by and say 'hello'. Been a few changes, nicer software, and the HE section is password protected (don't remember if you were in to that or no).
hst45 Posted July 7, 2006 Posted July 7, 2006 _DB_, KMno4 can be purchased as an activator for some types of filtration systems which use "greensand." The last that i purchased was 5# of technical grade for $39 at AgWay. If you haven't screwed with it before, just remember "P" for purple, "P" for permanganate. i don't know about Oxyclean powder being useful as an oxydizer, but the label on the liquid oxyclean stain remover includes H2O2, but dosen't list the percentage. I didn't buy any to test it, I just stick with my 27% H2O2 Baquacil at $15 a gallon. (And i don't even have a pool ! )
_DB_ Posted July 9, 2006 Posted July 9, 2006 I'm currently making some Nitric Acid via the simple "distill" as show on Brainfever's site. It works, just painstakingly slow. I'm using a coffee maker's hotplate as the heat source. I let it go over night last night and collected it this morning. I got 10 ml of clear HNO3. Here's a picture. I guess I'll keep doing this until I have a decent amount. When collecting the acid I got a tiny bit on the corner of my index finger. I didn't notice because I washed my hands right after, but now the spot is as yellow as a banana.
lacrima97 Posted July 9, 2006 Posted July 9, 2006 What exactly are you making HNO3 for? If you are needing white fuming nitric acid, you may need to bubble a little dry O2 through it to get the red out, that is, if there is any red. With your way of distillation, there may not be many nitric oxides contaminating your HNO3.
Swany Posted July 9, 2006 Posted July 9, 2006 You nitrated the proteins in your finger, congradulations! WFNA is my happy thing... right now I am working on a very loose 1-guanyl-4-nitrosoaminoguanyltetrazene more commonly known as tetracene synthesis. I reduced some nitroguanidine with unwashed zinc, and did it fairly fast, didn't check if it was complete (I know it wasnt) and dumped half of the tetracene reaction on my stairs... good thing it was only 10mls. Hopefully I can do more aminoguanidine chemistry when I return, which shall be in about 4 weeks. Until then, fellows. Keep it safe.
_DB_ Posted July 9, 2006 Posted July 9, 2006 I don't really "need" HNO3, I'm just making it for the fun of it. It's also something that I don't have, so making it causes me to feel all happy inside for some reason..... Also, there is no red in it what-so-ever. It looks just like water.
d4j0n Posted July 10, 2006 Posted July 10, 2006 My star crumbles really easily for some reason...I'm pumping this composition: Shimizu silver wave no.1flake aluminum (I'm using bright flake) 50potassium perchlorate 50dextrin 5+ Would it be bad to over wet such a composition? Also, is bright flake aluminum supposed to seem damp?
Mumbles Posted July 10, 2006 Posted July 10, 2006 First off just let me say fuck bright flake Al. Yeah, I suppose it does seem kind of wet. It clumps and smears. It is coated in stearine, which is essentially crayons. Make sure those are dry before drying to crumble them. Also you may need more than just hand pressure(if that is what you are using) to properly compress them. To properly activate the dextrin you may need to overwet the comp. Also, you really need to use alcohol to break the surface tension. With all that coated Al, the water will take forever to properly soak the comp.
lacrima97 Posted July 10, 2006 Posted July 10, 2006 I don't really "need" HNO3, I'm just making it for the fun of it. It's also something that I don't have, so making it causes me to feel all happy inside for some reason..... Also, there is no red in it what-so-ever. It looks just like water. That is a great thing. That means you have no decomposition, and it means that you are keeping the heat at a great temperature. Nice job.
_DB_ Posted July 10, 2006 Posted July 10, 2006 How long does the yellowness last for? The spot looks duller then it did yesterday. I let the still run over night agian and this time I didn't get any HNO3! I'll never try that again unless I buy a proper lab glass distillation set-up, which I probably won't. It just takes way too long with this method.
Rogue Chemist Posted July 10, 2006 Posted July 10, 2006 Till that layer of skin falls off, so about a week.
_DB_ Posted July 11, 2006 Posted July 11, 2006 Thanks Rogue, I was worried that people would be calling me "Banana Finger" for the rest of my life. On a different note I finally got my small jar of Vegemite that I ordered off of Ebay. Since it was my first time eating it I made buttered toast and spread a tiny bit on top of that.I could barely taste it over the butter, but I what I did taste can be described as a very rich yeasty taste that is salty at the same time. I guess that makes sense seeing as Vegemite is a concentrated yeast extract. I've tasted better things, but Vegemite is definately not as gross as most Americans say it is.
Mephistos Minion Posted July 11, 2006 Posted July 11, 2006 Vegemite PWN YOU ALL! Americans don't like it because they are tools and spread it on like it is a jam or chocolate spread. Best way to have vegimite is a bit of white bread, with a hearty serve of real butter, not that margarine oil shite, real, full fat butter, then a very thin ascraping of vegemite all over it. Can't beat it. PS just a generalisation about Americans being tools, I know not all of you are, just most.
_DB_ Posted July 11, 2006 Posted July 11, 2006 That's why I spread it on very lightly, because that's how I heard it's supposed to be done. Guess I'm not a "tool" after all.
d4j0n Posted July 11, 2006 Posted July 11, 2006 I have to use a press to pump these stars?? Is there a suggested percentage that it should be wet? I'm using 50/50 alcohol solution, I wet it to the point where when I pump them (with my sawed off 3/8" syringe), very liquid comp oozes from the bottom.
Swany Posted July 11, 2006 Posted July 11, 2006 Too much alch. can de-activate the dextrin, therefor you may want to try less if your stars are crumbling.
optimus Posted July 11, 2006 Posted July 11, 2006 Try 30/70-20/80 alcohol/water. And let the composition sit for a few minutes after wetting - dextrin takes a little while to start working. I've never made these type of stars before, but I have a feeling they need to be pressed.
EP. Posted July 11, 2006 Posted July 11, 2006 An exciting moment in my July 4th fireworks show... http://www.apcforum.net/files/lowbreaks.avi
d4j0n Posted July 12, 2006 Posted July 12, 2006 Can anyone then suggest an easier composition to use to produce a similar effect?
PyroJoe Posted July 12, 2006 Posted July 12, 2006 Well since my neighbor was a dick on the 4th of July my friends and I decided to drive up in the hills to light the rest of my 4th of july stash off. Here are 2 videos of about half the shells we lit. They worked quite well I must say. Except for the 3 inch that I forgot lift powder... Its in the video http://www.apcforum.net/files/fireworks1.wmv And the rest we lit at my cousin's house. http://www.apcforum.net/files/fireworks2.wmv There are some 4" shells in those videos as well, they turned out very good considering they were my first 4" shells i've ever made! P.S. Don't mind the girls in the background! They are very loud (very hot too ) They are fun to have around when we light fireworks though, as you can tell in the video.
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