oldguy Posted March 6, 2012 Posted March 6, 2012 Other than ball milling. What is the best method to thoroughly integrate paraffin, Sterine (Stearic Acid) or any other medium to hard waxy substance into fair size batches of composition (without any metals in it). I am thinking of using a kitchenaide pro mixer with a nylon coated flat beater paddle & Pyrex glass bowl . http://www.kitchenaid220.com/Flat-Beater-46.html Is there a better method?
dan999ification Posted March 6, 2012 Posted March 6, 2012 could you melt them or dissolve them in a solvent or both? i imagine it would be a pain to mix a few percent evenly without the additional solvent or thinner. obviously compatible with the comp! dan.
allrocketspsl Posted March 6, 2012 Posted March 6, 2012 Other than ball milling. What is the best method to thoroughly integrate paraffin, Sterine (Stearic Acid) or any other medium to hard waxy substance into fair size batches of composition (without any metals in it). I am thinking of using a kitchenaide pro mixer with a nylon coated flat beater paddle & Pyrex glass bowl . http://www.kitchenaid220.com/Flat-Beater-46.html Is there a better method? Jim, curious what star comp are you making I have some sterin ans have seen comps with it but off hand dont remember which ones
warthog Posted March 6, 2012 Posted March 6, 2012 Depending on the composition, I have ball milled this sort of thing into the composition, leaving the metals out of it of course. Once everything is well incorporated, I mix in the metals and granulate the whole thing through a #4 screen. Then you can press the granulated comp into the tubes. No doubt this is not the best way to do this as I will soon find out when a more experience member gets around to posting. If that's the case I will alter the way I do things as well .
oldguy Posted March 6, 2012 Author Posted March 6, 2012 Depending on the composition, I have ball milled this sort of thing into the composition, leaving the metals out of it of course. Once everything is well incorporated, I mix in the metals and granulate the whole thing through a #4 screen. Then you can press the granulated comp into the tubes. No doubt this is not the best way to do this as I will soon find out when a more experience member gets around to posting. If that's the case I will alter the way I do things as well . I do the same.Just looking for a faster way.
warthog Posted March 6, 2012 Posted March 6, 2012 Faster usually winds up producing a less favorable result in the end on my experience. Meaning the fountains may not look nearly as nice if you do it some other way. The reason I started ball milling the comps this way was t make my fountains burn nicer and look better. This may not be the case with this sort of thing but I do know it has made many of my other stars & fountain comps perform a lot better. Nothing incorporates like ball milling IMO. Are these batches too large for your mill then? Is this the problem?
oldguy Posted March 6, 2012 Author Posted March 6, 2012 (edited) Are these batches too large for your mill then? Is this the problem? True, what you say.I have a large capacity BM.Maybe in my old age, I am just getting lazy. Edited March 6, 2012 by oldguy
warthog Posted March 6, 2012 Posted March 6, 2012 (edited) Yeah, I knew you had a humogomill. Not like my little mills The big green jar will handle 4 pounds of a BP-like comp but winds up weighing 80 lb. with the media so I don't use it much since I can't lift it w/o help anymore. Purple & green handles a pound of the same sort of comp and orange and green handles just under a pound, finally purple & orange makes 10 ounces. These two mills were a very nice gift along with the big green jar from two of my good pyro buddies over on Passfire. The older, more used looking one came without any jars which is what caused me to make the 3 more wild colored ones. I usually just paint a stripe on them so I can tll from a distance they are still turning for certain but this past winter I got really bored. Before this all I had was a single jar and a double jar Harbor Freight rock tumbler. Those make about eight ounces of BP per jar. Edited March 6, 2012 by warthog
Gilmour Posted March 25, 2012 Posted March 25, 2012 I regularly incorporate 5% of a compositions weight of paraffin into my black powder mix to help reduce the dust while making fountains and rockets. For a 5kg batch i first melt 250g of wax and then add in 1 liter of Heptane i then pour this into the power and mix well. i then granulate it through a sieve onto paper to dry. Other than ball milling. What is the best method to thoroughly integrate paraffin, Sterine (Stearic Acid) or any other medium to hard waxy substance into fair size batches of composition (without any metals in it). I am thinking of using a kitchenaide pro mixer with a nylon coated flat beater paddle & Pyrex glass bowl . http://www.kitchenaid220.com/Flat-Beater-46.html Is there a better method?
Potassiumchlorate Posted March 25, 2012 Posted March 25, 2012 (edited) I bought that stearin that I spoke about in another thread. It is in form of granules, but I can easily crush them by gently pushing them through a 40 mesh tea strainer with my fingers. Once mixed in a composition the pure weight of the other chemicals should make them even finer, when sieved once again. Edited March 25, 2012 by Potassiumchlorate
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