Microstar Manufacture?

[warthog]

This summer I am going to try and make all about ground items. Nothing that goes pop-bang-boom or the like and nothing aerial like shells or rockets. I may stray into bombettes some but for the most part I want to make gerbs, fountains, wheels and maybe some smoke. My question here though is about making MICROSTARS. These to be used in gerbs/fountains. In the past I would make regular stars for shells and those that crumbled or broke up while they dried or any of those things, I used as microstars. This gave me enough for a fountain or two and that was enough.

 

This year is different though, I am hoping to make these microstars from the start. So I am asking folks if they have done this how they did it. I was thinking it would be nice to be able to press out some small star pellets with a plate in small batches. I should also have a star roller soon, maybe I can just roll really small stars? Then there is also cutting small stars as well.

 

Any tips, tricks or help with this is greatly appreciated. I am more looking for how to make them than for formulae but those are welcome as well if you have them and have used them this way to success.

 

Thanks!

Edited February 6, 2012 by warthog

[graumann]

I've had some luck with simple greens, reds, yellows & white nitrate compositions, the usual 5% dextrin binder. Wet mixed and forced through a 3mm nozzle and then cut in 3-5mm lengths, although they do have a tendency to clog the fountain nozzle if you have too many stars in the mix. After spending a day doing that I wondered if it would be just as effective to rice the mix through a coarse seive as you would for granulating BP but I haven't tried that yet.

Any other interesting ground devices you've come up with recently? I'm hoping to try my hand at a few more wheels, roman candles & fountains with interesting effects.

[warthog]

Well, I haven't begun the "new year" here yet. I have made a few microstar fountains but I have only videoed one of them. Other than that I haven't really done anything too complex other than a set piece or two (those aren't complex, just time consuming). This year though I want to give a few of the more cool looking wheels and such in my Westech Manual. My first one will be the "Snowstorm Wheel" on page 39. No microstars for this one and it isn't too complex but I wanted to give a relatively easy one the start so I can have a win for confidence before going on to ones that are a bit harder to make work.

 

Ricing the comp is a good idea. I was also thinking of a very small diameter star plate but I would have to have that made for me. Microstars make a fountain a lot nicer IMO. Here is my one videoed Microstar fountain for your viewing pleasure.

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

This one was made with the fountain of Shimizu Purple star comp and "Granite" zinc stars. I thought the color combo looked pretty nice. I do wish there had been a bit more thrust to the fountain so the microstars had been launched better but that is for a future gerb.

[allrocketspsl]

This summer I am going to try and make all about ground items. Nothing that goes pop-bang-boom or the like and nothing aerial like shells or rockets. I may stray into bombettes some but for the most part I want to make gerbs, fountains, wheels and maybe some smoke. My question here though is about making MICROSTARS. These to be used in gerbs/fountains. In the past I would make regular stars for shells and those that crumbled or broke up while they dried or any of those things, I used as microstars. This gave me enough for a fountain or two and that was enough.

 

This year is different though, I am hoping to make these microstars from the start. So I am asking folks if they have done this how they did it. I was thinking it would be nice to be able to press out some small star pellets with a plate in small batches. I should also have a star roller soon, maybe I can just roll really small stars? Then there is also cutting small stars as well.

 

Any tips, tricks or help with this is greatly appreciated. I am more looking for how to make them than for formulae but those are welcome as well if you have them and have used them this way to success.

 

Thanks!

 

if you dont mind me asking what formula do you use to make micro stars(draggons eggs?)

[warthog]

I use any star formula that strikes my fancy actually. I have found a few special formulae specifically for microstars but I've never used them.

 

You may ask me any question you like and expect me to answer you to the best of my ability.

[Col]

I used cut stars in my wheel drivers, i made them 1/8" so they`d fit through the nozzle easily and still be big enough to burn for a while. I guess if they`re really small they might be gone before leaving the tube

I havent tried any in a gerb but i don`t see why they shouldn`t work.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8ZiimMYjDA

Edited February 7, 2012 by Col

[warthog]

That was SWEET Col! I liked the effect of the stars flipping out here and there. Really spiced up the wheel nicely.

 

Essentially that is how I made mine as well. I just cut the stars the size f the nozzle I was going to use as I was of the mind that they would burn a bit before they hit the nozzle and were ejected. It works pretty well though now and then two stars hit the nozzle at the same time and this gums it all up until they are burnt out of the way.

 

I think I am going to give graumann's way a try too. If I understand him properly, I am going to get out my old cake decorating icing bag and nozzles. Then I will fill the bag with star comp and squeeze it out at a small enough diameter exit the nozzle then cut the long line of it into small "pellets" and let them dry. I haven't found a need to prime microstars as the inside of the gerb/fountain/driver is plenty hot to start the star burning.

 

Once actual Spring is sprung here, I will try some of this stuff out and see how it goes. I will be able to get my stuff to dry rather than freeze or just sit there and turn to a puddle then.

 

Here is what I use as a basic fountain mix for testing things:

 

KNO₃------------------66%

Airfloat Charcoal---24%

Sulfur------------------10%

to this I add 10% of what I want t try out, be it metals, different sizes/types of charcoal or microstars. I screen it together rather than mill it, I tried it milled but it is way to hot and it tends to just explode when you mill. It is also a pretty nice basic fountain mix to use period IMO.

Edited February 7, 2012 by warthog

[Col]

cheers mate, they`re ideal for adding a bit of colour.

I use a wheel type herb cutter for the stars. I bought two and use the extra cutting discs along with washers to reduce the spacing. It only takes a few seconds to cut hundreds of stars

[graumann]

Thats exactly the way I did it! Cake decorating gun and all. Have I mentioned I make a mean cookie?

 

I tried a few different sizes, about 2/3 the nozzle diameter seems to provide the best longevity with still being freely ejected. The pellets were either mixed in with 60/30/10 meal or in alternate layers.

[warthog]

I make brownies myself.

 

So far I have jut mixed everything up as uniformly as I can but I will try the layered approach as well to see how that goes too.

 

 

I am going to give this a try soon actually since these little things should dry pretty fast. I should be able to mix them up the night before then make them early the next day and let them dry without any sort of trouble with the weather issues. Once I get some made, I plan on some small batches first, I will start making some fountains and see how I like them and weed out what I don't like. Hopefully by the time full on summer arrives I will have this down and be making these regularly.

[allrocketspsl]

I used cut stars in my wheel drivers, i made them 1/8" so they`d fit through the nozzle easily and still be big enough to burn for a while. I guess if they`re really small they might be gone before leaving the tube

I havent tried any in a gerb but i don`t see why they shouldn`t work.

 

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=G8ZiimMYjDA

 

HEY Col thats was really awesome,loved the color coming off the drivers,I have the perfect screen to make micro stars so I will put in the drivers mixing it up.Thanks!

[mabuse00]

How do you prepare your fountains and drivers with the microstars?

I could imagine that both pressing or even ramming will crunch the stars...?

Since I have no press I could only ram the stuff...

[Mumbles]

I've never noticed either to be an issue. I always kind of imagine the soft gerb comp conforming around the hard stars, and flowing into the available space.

[warthog]

I only hand ram for now as I am still trying to get my press to a point where it will be safe to use for pyro.

I think it works the way Mumbles says though as I have seen plenty of these work well that have been pressed.

[Col]

I press everything for consistancy but hand ramming should work fine. I find its better to mix a small scoop of stars in with each increment (via a quick swirl in a paper cup). If you mix the lot into the comp they can sink to the bottom.

 

Jeff, the drivers on the wheel had 3 sections, cool bp (cored) for initial boost, hot bp with stars or fe-ti and a final section of coloured comp. The transition to the next driver were made at the start of the coloured fuel so it would be burning as the next drivers thrust kicked in. It kind of worked

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx341/colinspyro/wheeldriverdesign.jpg

Edited February 8, 2012 by Col

[warthog]

thanks for the diagram Col. For color comps were you using anything you might share for some of the basic colors? Or were these just star comps of whatever color? I have found that many star comps are energetic enough to use as a a good driver or gerb/fountain comp as well. I am also wondering about the hot vs cool BP, did you simply vary the amount of charcoal or ise different charcoals all together?

 

I hope to get my press sussed out as soon as I can find a decent welder that doesn't charge an arm & a leg.

Until then I hand ram which has serve me well enough so far at least.

 

Thans for all of this info, I can hardly wait for the weather to make up its mind so I can give some of this a try.

Edited February 8, 2012 by warthog

[Col]

I just used basic coloured gerb comps, nothing exotic. I had pine in the cool section (60/30/10) and willow in the hot (75/15/10). The willow gave me a decent amount of thrust and a fairly muted firedust background that helped highlight the colours a bit.

[allrocketspsl]

I used cut stars in my wheel drivers, i made them 1/8" so they`d fit through the nozzle easily and still be big enough to burn for a while. I guess if they`re really small they might be gone before leaving the tube

I havent tried any in a gerb but i don`t see why they shouldn`t work.

 

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=G8ZiimMYjDA

 

hey Col,

what was the red comp it looked like at the end or second driver to the end?Im doing clour pot test tonight for my wheel.Purple and c .green

[Dragonflightpyro]

I used cut stars in my wheel drivers, i made them 1/8" so they`d fit through the nozzle easily and still be big enough to burn for a while.

 

Hi,

 

I know this is an old thread, but I just had a basic question. Is it possible to grind composition through whatever screen size and then try to immediately roll them to form round stars? Or will they break up? I'm having trouble starting stars without using some kind of starter like seeds when rolling. Maybe not grind the composition through, but more like normal screen sliced stars or cut stars to get uniform sizes to use as starters for rolling. I was looking to use them for Gerbs and drivers also and just wanted longest burn time from microstars. Thanks.

 

Alex

Edited August 8, 2015 by Dragonflightpyro

[schroedinger]

Yes just take sieve and hold it into your star roller. Now twist the ball of comp on the screen, thats all. Depending on your comp you may need a bit more solvent then normally. Also dropping in some prime in the beginning and if there is nearly no prime left over can help against clogging up the stars.

[Dragonflightpyro]

Thanks, I will definitely try this though I'm hand rolling them in a big bowl. I haven't found the right star rolling solution for me yet