shagaKahn Posted March 5, 2011 Posted March 5, 2011 In all references to this item there seems to be a limit as to how much comp can be added; everyone says "fill paper cup no more than 1 inch." Is there a reason for this? Critical mass if it's deeper than 1"? (Nice if I could get my strobe pots to burn a little longer--but I don't wanna blow anything up). Thanx for the width,s
Siegmund Posted March 5, 2011 Posted March 5, 2011 I think it has more to do with wanting the strobing to be visible to the viewers rather than hidden down inside the tube. The composition burns at its surface, rather than being blasted into the air like a fountain. Even a one-inch thickness gives quite a long burn time. With some compositions there may well be reasons to not to want a big block of it on the ground, but with something simple like a Winokur glitter comp pushed into a tube, just your choice really. For diameter rather than depth, there will be a point of diminishing returns too where the effect gets lost when the burning surface is so large that you have light and dark randomly distributed everywhere all the time instead of seeing distinct flashes. Hope others with more experience will chime in too.
gislasn Posted March 12, 2011 Posted March 12, 2011 As a part of a 4th of July show I do every year, we start with 1.5" x 1.5" strobes (using large spherical Mg for a slow flash (about 1Hz), and 200 micron AP to slow it down as well). They work great, burn time is long (about a minute), and I don't see why you couldn't go bigger if you wanted longer burn or more light output....
shagaKahn Posted March 12, 2011 Author Posted March 12, 2011 My tubes are thin-walled and burn away as the strobe progresses. Will try loading them a little more than 1" as I've never gotten anything close to a full minute of burn time. Thanx for the advice,s
shagaKahn Posted March 13, 2011 Author Posted March 13, 2011 Siegmund I notice you mention a Winokur comp and I'm wondering if anyone has experience with this formula: Winokur green Twinkler #149 Barium nitrate18 Sulfur11 MgAl, Granular, -60 mesh9 MgAl, Granular, -200 mesh6 Hexachloroethane5 Dextrin2 Potassium dichromate0.5 Boric acid In my experiment I used NC lacquer for binder and sub'd 3.5 parts PVC for the Hexa-. Packed into thin-walled paper tubes and drying now so time will tell if perhaps I should have used water/alcohol for binder to better activate the dexcrin . . . Anyone tried strobe pots with the above formula? Thanx,s
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