Classic burst charges

[psyco_1322]

I think some people are confusing two different rice cereals here. If you buy the uber cheap puffed rice, that's were problems come in. They are the whole rice pieces, but puffed and look like rat shit...if you ever seen it, you know what it looks like. They do swell up, then they shrink a little, and the coating can come off. If you use actual rice crispies, the cereal, they don't tend to have this problem. At least I haven't noticed it when I've used them.

 

On a side note, I had a 300g batch of 2% red gum bound BP on "puffed rice", yes the crappy stuff, I made for a 6" shell a long time ago. Its has set around in a zip lock bag for months and has been moved around a bit. The coating was weak and came off fairly easy, I worried about it being no good. I used it anyways this NYE, in a 6" shell, going for a palm tree, it work, the burst at least, but I wont use that carrier again.

Edited January 3, 2010 by psyco_1322

[Mumbles]

Maybe it was because you, presumably, used alcohol to bind the burst. I've used it in the past with a water based binder and never had any problems with it being flaky or any of that. It did shrink fairly considerably though.

[Bonny]

Bonny, my only concern would be if the shells were not intended to be fired immediately, settling may occur as the pieces crumble down to dust.

 

What do you do with your shells? In storage (and not moving) I can't see the burst crumbling on its own.

[Ventsi]

Do you mean rice crispies are too big?? I don't think so, unless you are trying to break 1" shells really hard.I've started using rice crisipies for all my shells (2" and larger) and they work great. On 1" shells I just use whatever junk is lying around (meal D,meal powder, star chunks, extra prime etc...)

 

 

Yes I do mean that. I use the BP/Grass seed to pour down in between the stars of my canister shells so they are more rigid and get better breaks. With rice krispies they are just too big to settle properly unless you were into making 4"+ shells where the stars are bigger.

[Twotails]

What about corn cobb? Walmart sells it fairly cheap, and you get a good size bag for the price.

[Ventsi]

Ehh, grass seed is cheap enough. Next time I'll get a organic bag. Plus I think It looks cool.

 

$ 1.20/lb who's complaining?

[Mumbles]

Well, both corn cob and rice hulls are cheaper than your grass seed, plus no poisonous coating. Corn cob should be fine for filling in voids, but I can't see grass seed adding much strength, plus it sounds like you are using your good BP coated hulls to fill in the spaces. Someone was actually talking about using coated corn cobb on passfire the other day. Tradtionally polverone is used. Polverone is granulated green meal.

[Bonny]

Another VERY cheap option that will yeild a variety of sizes is vermiculite. 1 bag ($2-5) would be enough to make several lbs of burst. That's what I used to use before changing to rice crispies.

@ Ventsi: what size of cannisters are you making??? I use the rice crispies on 2" and 3" cans with no problems, as well as 3" and 5" ball shells.

[Ventsi]

I'm making 2" cans. I'll look into corn cob, I don't like the idea of vermiculite , it doesn't burn up at all and might propose a fall out problem. Rice hulls would be the best choice and I'll buy some when I get a chance.

 

I'll grab a bag of corn cob next time I swing by Walmart and try it out. My grass seed was just coated with crappy BP but I do have some coated with hot BP and was planning on coating some with KP.

[KruseMissile]

american pyro supply and pyro direct both sell rice hulls for cheap. I like rice hulls because they compress when needed without losing the powder coating.

[swervedriver]

I was wondering about "set back" due to the rice crispies getting crushed during lift? I'm just worried about the stars falling back into the shell and breaking poorly, any thoughts? this is for 6" round shells

[Bonny]

I'm making 2" cans. I'll look into corn cob, I don't like the idea of vermiculite , it doesn't burn up at all and might propose a fall out problem. Rice hulls would be the best choice and I'll buy some when I get a chance.

 

I've never had an issue with fallout from vermiculite. I think the rice crispies leave more fallout than verm. I think alomst any carrier will not burn completely and leave some fallout.

 

I was wondering about "set back" due to the rice crispies getting crushed during lift? I'm just worried about the stars falling back into the shell and breaking poorly, any thoughts? this is for 6" round shells

 

I think as long as the coating is thick enough there shouldn't be any problems as they will be quite rigid. I have a few videos I just added of 5" ball shells i fired, look in the Aerial Shell section. They used rice crispies as burst.

[Mumbles]

Using puffed rice, not rice crispies, I've had no problems with the burst crushing from lift either. The puffed rice still has a bit of springiness to it, but not much. Everything is packed in well, so that may help. Maybe if things can't get moving in the first place internally, it can't do much damage.

 

Did you have some failures you're unsure about or are you just kind of curious about the carrier?

[swervedriver]

I was curious, it's an easier to get carrier than rice hulls and I'd like to try it.

 

I've only ever used grass seed or rice hulls, vermiculite sounds good too without the swelling and shrinkage. It used to be easy to find vermiculite, but haven't had much luck last I checked around. Walmart, home depot, and Kmart don't have it, and neither do the couple of local nurseries I checked. Weird, perlite yes, vermiculite no. I'll have to call around to some horticulture/hydroponic stores maybe.

[Mumbles]

Could it just be the time of year, or could you not find it during the more traditional gardening season. Then again, it says you're from S Florida, so when isn't it gardening season?

[swervedriver]

heh, well it was 39 degrees F this morning, nice for a change. Maybe you're right, but it was summertime when I checked, sometime before July. It used to be easy to find, kmart and walmart both carried it years ago.