nater Posted August 28, 2012 Posted August 28, 2012 What happens if someone makes up a "strobe" rocket with a strobe star comp made with Nitrate? Too long burn? No strobe? I asked a few rocket guys about this at PGI. It is on my list of things to try this fall. I will let you know what I find out.
dagabu Posted August 28, 2012 Posted August 28, 2012 (edited) What happens if someone makes up a "strobe" rocket with a strobe star comp made with Nitrate? Too long burn? No strobe? Already tried it this year at PGI, the stars strobe very nicely but the rockets only have a while flame, no strobe. Trust me, I was really hoping that it could be done... @ WSM- Do you have the formula for the pink and red? I would love to add them to my repertoire. -dag Edited August 28, 2012 by dagabu
nater Posted August 28, 2012 Posted August 28, 2012 Already tried it this year at PGI, the stars strobe very nicely but the rockets only have a while flame, no strobe. Trust me, I was really hoping that it could be done... @ WSM- Do you have the formula for the pink and red? I would love to add them to my repertoire. -dag Guess I didn't ask the right ones. I will still try it. You never know if I will have a different result. My plan was to press a barium nitrate strobe as delay with a whistle core.
dagabu Posted August 28, 2012 Posted August 28, 2012 Guess I didn't ask the right ones. I will still try it. You never know if I will have a different result. My plan was to press a barium nitrate strobe as delay with a whistle core. Hmmmm, you may have good luck with it as the delay, i used it on the spindle and it didn't strobe at all. Lets see some video?!? -dag
nater Posted August 28, 2012 Posted August 28, 2012 I am not sure if I will get to it for our next shoot or if it will wait until October. We will see how things go. I have a color to report cylinder to finish and put on a motor for the next shoot.
WSM Posted August 29, 2012 Posted August 29, 2012 Already tried it this year at PGI, the stars strobe very nicely but the rockets only have a while flame, no strobe. Trust me, I was really hoping that it could be done...@ WSM- Do you have the formula for the pink and red? I would love to add them to my repertoire. -dag The formula below is reported to be Chinese in origin, by John Reilly about five years ago.58 Strontium Nitrate 5 Potassium Nitrate 18 Mg/Al powder 4 Sulfur 15 HCB The original formula calls for 25% additional binder. I still need to try this composition myself and I have great hopes for it... WSM
dagabu Posted August 29, 2012 Posted August 29, 2012 The formula below is reported to be Chinese in origin, by John Reilly about five years ago. 58 Strontium Nitrate 5 Potassium Nitrate 18 Mg/Al powder 4 Sulfur 15 HCB The original formula calls for 25% additional binder. I still need to try this composition myself and I have great hopes for it... WSM Well, that's too bad. There is no chance I am going to be getting HCB, what can i sub? -dag
WSM Posted August 29, 2012 Posted August 29, 2012 Well, that's too bad. There is no chance I am going to be getting HCB, what can i sub?-dag Some folks substitute dechlorane (and I have no idea what the ratio is). You can hit up cracker and see if he has any HCB (or dechlorane, for that matter) since he seems to get his hands on all sorts of esoteric materials. I have an old sample of HCB I thought I'd use to test old formulae for comparison (sort of like calomel, realgar and Paris green). WSM
dagabu Posted August 29, 2012 Posted August 29, 2012 Some folks substitute dechlorane (and I have no idea what the ratio is). You can hit up cracker and see if he has any HCB (or dechlorane, for that matter) since he seems to get his hands on all sorts of esoteric materials. I have an old sample of HCB I thought I'd use to test old formulae for comparison (sort of like calomel, realgar and Paris green). WSM Same issue, unobtainium chem. Any idea for 'common' subs? -dag
Mumbles Posted August 29, 2012 Posted August 29, 2012 Saran is often called for as the direct sub, but that seems to be more for colored stars. Saran just seems to burn too clean to work here. I wonder if you could get some ratio of parlon to saran worked out to approximate the properties of HCB. I've seen some colored strobe formula using parlon, but never really got the chance to try them out. I was told that the issue with nitrate strobes is that they're too irregular to be used in strobe rockets. The AP formulas give you that cool helicopter sound and have extremely even strobe rates. The nitrate strobe pots I've made at least were much more random in their flashes, and some could see this as a defect after being used to the AP stuff.
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