50AE Posted May 27, 2010 Posted May 27, 2010 Is it possible to grind some Al foil in a blender, screen it through a 20 mesh screen and use this stuff for flitters? Has someone done this successfuly?
dagabu Posted May 27, 2010 Posted May 27, 2010 I don't know any good pyro that hasn't tried it! Personally, I mill turnings from making rocket tooling down to usable flitter sizes.
Ventsi Posted May 27, 2010 Posted May 27, 2010 It turns into small nuggets, sorta like popcorn. I screen what passes through a 20# screen and mill it, it gets nice and flattened out, and you get some very nice flitter Al. But yes, its perfectly do-able.
AdmiralDonSnider Posted May 27, 2010 Posted May 27, 2010 Do you really get Al corresponding to "flitter" grades by milling foil? The Eckart flitter in my magazine looks quite different from foil pieces, being thicker and looking like small, rounded plates, which are not as easily bent as foil is.
Mumbles Posted May 27, 2010 Posted May 27, 2010 I've done it but it doesn't work the same for me. It always comes out too thick to light reliably. Maybe I wasn't getting it fine enough or milling it long enough. I definitely wasn't screening to -20.
Ventsi Posted May 27, 2010 Posted May 27, 2010 Also, it helps to add in a bunch of water to the foil when you're blending it. Speeds things up. If you want thinner stuff, only use what passes a 40# screen. Both work for me though. It makes for a nice tail when added to charcoal comps, hangs real long too.
50AE Posted May 28, 2010 Author Posted May 28, 2010 (edited) I successfuly made 20 grams of Al from foil, enough for 250 grams of silver streamer comp I'm going to try. Edited May 28, 2010 by 50AE
Jerf Posted May 28, 2010 Posted May 28, 2010 I wonder how taking a roll of foil, with the paper core removed, and feeding it into a food processor with a small grading blade would work. WOW, my wife would sooo kill me!
dagabu Posted May 28, 2010 Posted May 28, 2010 I wonder how taking a roll of foil, with the paper core removed, and feeding it into a food processor with a small grading blade would work. WOW, my wife would sooo kill me! I have tried coffee grinders, food processors and blenders, none work, the foil just wraps around the blade. I use a cross-cut shredder to make rectangles (feed it right off the roll) and ballmill with a table spoon of cab-o-sil. The cab gets integrated into the metal making it easier to mix with chems.
FrankRizzo Posted May 28, 2010 Posted May 28, 2010 I have tried coffee grinders, food processors and blenders, none work, the foil just wraps around the blade. I use a cross-cut shredder to make rectangles (feed it right off the roll) and ballmill with a table spoon of cab-o-sil. The cab gets integrated into the metal making it easier to mix with chems. Dave, Cab-o-Sil (SiO2) is considered an oxidizer when dealing with magnesium or aluminum. Not a good idea.
50AE Posted June 2, 2010 Author Posted June 2, 2010 The stars I made with this Al perform very nicely! It's not worth the effort milling Al foil though, I'm currently searching for contacts with a lathe.
dagabu Posted June 2, 2010 Posted June 2, 2010 Frank, Can you shoot me the reference to this? I have a chemical engineer that disagrees with you and I would like to put it to rest. Thanks
Mumbles Posted June 2, 2010 Posted June 2, 2010 Here is one for instance: http://www.amazingrust.com/experiments/how_to/Thermite.html#SiO2 If he doesn't believe that, it has a thermodynamicly downhill by -618 kJ/mol.
50AE Posted June 3, 2010 Author Posted June 3, 2010 Here is one for instance: http://www.amazingrust.com/experiments/how_to/Thermite.html#SiO2 If he doesn't believe that, it has a thermodynamicly downhill by -618 kJ/mol. Thanks for the link, Mumbles! Good photos and info there!
Fly Posted June 9, 2010 Posted June 9, 2010 I'm sorry but can I ask a very dumb question.What is involved in milling?I,m the new guy on the block & would really like tolearn all I can about this neat hobby.I made my first black powder last week & that was really neat.I made a motor ball tumbler,& using lead balls I cast from my black powder gun mold. But milling I know not how that is done. Fly
Ventsi Posted June 9, 2010 Posted June 9, 2010 Well are you asking how to mill stuff or what ACTUALLY goes on that makes smaller particles? And welcome! Hope you enjoy the forum!
dagabu Posted June 9, 2010 Posted June 9, 2010 Take a look at this Wikki page. A lot of us here use a Lloyd Sponenburgh type ball mill using a 6" ID PVC pipe with end caps. I use ceramic and stainless steel balls for grinding most comps.
Fly Posted June 9, 2010 Posted June 9, 2010 Boy that was a dumb question.I have all ready made one & did not know it.I read about the idea of making one on another site.I'm a retired tool & die maker & was wanting to make black powder for my guns. In doing my research I stumbled on Pyrotechnics & here I'm.Sorry for the dumb question.But I really do want to investigategetting this hobby.I saw a starter kit on Skylighter web site.What do you fellows think of starting out with a kit like that. It was about $200 & had books supply's & so on.Would that be a worth the money or what?Also who is a good supply house? Thanks Fly
TheSidewinder Posted June 10, 2010 Posted June 10, 2010 Don't worry about questions. We're all new once. While it's true you could get a fair bit more for your $200 by shopping carefully, the kit you saw at Skylighter *is* complete, and a very good way to start. Another thing to do is read, read, read. Everything here is free, and we've got quite a good pool of knowledgeable pyros here whose experience can help you.
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