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Wooden BAll Mill and 1" 'salutes'


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Posted

As a woodworker with time and plenty of wood available, I decided to experiment with a ball mill made from hardwood/hd particle board. This was modeled after a large one I made for tumblong/cleaning brass. Found that with the addition of lead balls, works great....especially for milling charcoal... For smaller quantities such as bp comps, a plastic jar with the contents was placed inside with great results.

The construction of 1" salutes from wood are easy for me and low/no cost. Can add 'comet' tails...

Will respond to inquiries....possibly produce several sizes of the mills...

Posted
uhh wait, did you mean to say you used wood as a former for 1" salute casings? Please tell me I'm not reading that you made 1" salutes with wood. That would send splinters flying wouldn't it? Sounds about as dangerous as kewl b00mer kids and their pvc b0m13s
Posted

a "good" salatute should obliterate the wooden case

 

Did you see the Frieworks episode on "dirty jobs", Albert's salutes had 5/16-3/8" thick of hot glue on top

Posted

a "good" salatute should obliterate the wooden case

 

Did you see the Frieworks episode on "dirty jobs", Albert's salutes had 5/16-3/8" thick of hot glue on top

 

 

Yes but that would either magically melt super quick or would just be the soft plastic type stuff that hot glue turns into, wouldn't do any damage. I could be wrong, but a wooden salute just seems like a bad idea. I guess if it's a particle board type thing that wouldn't splinter the same as real wood would, then it may be ok.

Posted
it isn't something I would do, but if the casing wasn't overly thick it would be vaporized
Posted

Yes but that would either magically melt super quick or would just be the soft plastic type stuff that hot glue turns into, wouldn't do any damage. I could be wrong, but a wooden salute just seems like a bad idea. I guess if it's a particle board type thing that wouldn't splinter the same as real wood would, then it may be ok.

I've actually been taken out by hot glue plugs in salutes. They hurt pretty badly, but I don't believe they would be lethal. Wood is much less dense than hot glue, so it should slow quite quickly in air when in the form of tiny splinters. If the salutes were made with the core parallel to the grain, as I assume is the most convenient way, none of the splinters could be propelled from one end like an arrow. Worst case scenario, if a splinter were thrown like an arrow from a salute, there's no way in the world that it could penetrate the quality pair of safety glasses that anyone firing shells should be wearing.

Posted (edited)

I've seen a serious Youtube vid of a professional BP manufacturer using large barrels and wooden balls so it is a commercial mathod.

 

(Part of a series with Richard Hammond doing a reconstruction of the original Guy Fawkes event with Sydney Alford doing the HE consulting (BBC programme I think))

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTFFSPy8Vsg

 

Early shells were made as wooden cases with wooden lids and the stars and burst put inside, the result was probably more like a horsetail dump in the sky and the lid and container would each come down again. ( See Weingart's book.)

Edited by Arthur
Posted
The 1" wooden salutes are for aerials only...they are cut with a plug cutter so there is no real grain/splintering problem......especially at 100+feet....
Posted

I've actually been taken out by hot glue plugs in salutes. They hurt pretty badly, but I don't believe they would be lethal. Wood is much less dense than hot glue, so it should slow quite quickly in air when in the form of tiny splinters. If the salutes were made with the core parallel to the grain, as I assume is the most convenient way, none of the splinters could be propelled from one end like an arrow. Worst case scenario, if a splinter were thrown like an arrow from a salute, there's no way in the world that it could penetrate the quality pair of safety glasses that anyone firing shells should be wearing.

 

what size salute was it from ? did it bruise ?

Posted

The 1" wooden salutes are for aerials only...they are cut with a plug cutter so there is no real grain/splintering problem......especially at 100+feet....

 

How are they made?

Posted

what size salute was it from ? did it bruise ?

The salute was just over a half inch in diameter, about two inches long. The plug was a hot glue cylinder about 1/2x1/2". It did bruise, comparable to a paintball.

  • 2 years later...
Posted

LOL, doing some research and ran across this thread. The OP plainly stated he was talking about a wood constuction ball mill, and tossing out the possibility of making them available should any others have interest.

 

From there it was one series of misinterpretations after the other, the one single respondant that got it right was Arthur, who then turned right around and contributed to the off topic hijack as well.

 

Got to hand it to the OP, he could have read davis the riot act, davis was so intent on showing he doesn't have a "kewL" bone in his body he couldn't even sort through the plain English presented by Sparks.

 

DAS

Posted

This thread is 3 years old. Not sure threads need an opinionated summary.

 

And the OP mentioned his wooden salutes. Not sure how talking about a safety issue in regards to something that was mentioned is a hijack? We are dealing with a dangerous hobby. If someone talks about something that is not safe it will be discussed. So that person can know it is dangerous as well as someone reading it 3 years later. Someone new doesn't need to think making salutes with scrap wood in their garage is a safe practise. It isn't no matter how much someone wants to try and justify it.

 

In case you missed it:

 

Sparks - "...The construction of 1" salutes from wood are easy for me and low/no cost. Can add 'comet' tails..."

 

Also, Sparks hasn't been active on the forum for over 2 1/2 years and will never see this.

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