D1 Glitter Questions

[PyroCube]

Hi all

 

I think I`ll build a 4" shell with 15mm pumped D1 glitter stars.

I got a few questions:

 

Are 15mm pumped stars too big for this shell size?

 

I`ve got 325mesh atomized Al, is this ok?

 

Is it better to ballmill the Kno3, sulfur and charcoal first?

 

Is a prime required to properly ignite the stars? ( Ricehulls break with 5g slow flash booster)

Thank you for your patience,

 

Greets PyroCube

Edited July 14, 2012 by PyroCube

[layedbackkustomz]

15mm is on the bigger side but not too big to worry. your AL should work just fine. i myself mill the kno3,sulfur,charcoal and dextrine then i screen in the AL and sodium bicarb. once again it doesnt have to be to work. i also prime with bp but its not needed but i just look at it like this why not take a few minutes and know it will light.

[AdmiralDonSnider]

I´ve never milled glitters but heard that it´s not beneficial for the effect, especially the delay and tail. They seem to benefit from rather coarse particles.

 

Everything else should be fine.

[californiapyro]

i personally like to mill my glitter, it gives a "creamier" effect. a thing to remember, is that if you mill it you may want to increase the delay agent. for D1, I think milling and doubling the bicarbonate makes a very nice glitter with less residual "glowing crap" than unmilled

[dagabu]

In some conversation elsewhere, I found some suggestion to ballmill all the components except for the metals and then add boiling water, granulate it, dry, ball mill just to make it a powder again and then add the metals and make stars.

 

The difference is amazing, try it once and see if this is what you are looking for.

 

-dag

[PyroCube]

I just made a few 15mm D1 stars, I`ll test them out tomorrow...

@ Dagabu sounds intresting, tell me, what`s the difference? Longer lasting, bushier tail?

I would appreciate a long burn time , but I`ve heard, D1 ones burn quite quickly...

 

 

Greets

[dagabu]

I just made a few 15mm D1 stars, I`ll test them out tomorrow...

@ Dagabu sounds intresting, tell me, what`s the difference? Longer lasting, bushier tail?

I would appreciate a long burn time , but I`ve heard, D1 ones burn quite quickly...

 

 

Greets

 

I used this method on Fireflies, not D-1 so I cannot say what the effect will be with your stars but for FF, it gave a nice bushy tail and great color. It has a real sparse tail if not nitrated like this. the boiling water and then drying (so I'm told) drives the KNO3 into the charcoal encouraging it to burn better. All I know is that I tried it and I liked it.

 

-dag

Edited July 13, 2012 by dagabu

[WonderBoy]

I have not tried this method, but I am curious; assuming the chemicals have already been milled separately, what would be the benefit of milling them together before adding the boiling water? Could you not just add the boiling water to the hand mixed chemicals, like making polverone?

 

 

WB

[dagabu]

I have not tried this method, but I am curious; assuming the chemicals have already been milled separately, what would be the benefit of milling them together before adding the boiling water? Could you not just add the boiling water to the hand mixed chemicals, like making polverone?

 

 

WB

 

I would imagine you could do that but i have no idea what would happen. I had a problem with my FFOC and a friend suggest this method to help with the orange/red fire and I loved it. I have not tried that method and unless it has been done by someone already, I am happy to try this with D-1 as well and see what happens.

 

I am by no means an expert, it's all experienced based for me.

 

-dag

[PyroCube]

I`ve just made another batch of pumped 15mm D1 stars.

I wetted the comp with 12% 80/20 water/alcohol mix, but it still looked

not very wet, just a bit more clumpy than it is dry.

When I pumped the stars, they hold together, but how can I be sure

that the dextrin is activated properly and the stars don`t shatter when the shell

bursts?

 

 

Greets

[Chuleo]

It is normal that your wet composition still looks very dry.

 

You have to wait until they are completely dry. If they are still a little wet they crumble when you handle them a little rough.

I usually wet my glitter stars with 6-8% 75/25 water/alc. Never had any problems with them shattering at burst.

It is important that your solvent is very well distributed. You can distribute it by pressing the wet comp 2 or 3 times trough a 20mesh screen.

[mabuse00]

It is important that your solvent is very well distributed. You can distribute it by pressing the wet comp 2 or 3 times trough a 20mesh screen.

 

Another technique is to leave the dextrine out of the composition and dissolve it in the water/alcohol mix before wetting the composition with it.

[PyroCube]

I tested out a few 15mm stars, here`s a video:

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=hYoNTQVIS1s

I think the tail was a bit short, but they tare glittering at least;)

 

Next time I`ll test out the method from dagabu...

 

Can I just add more delay agent to make longer lasting flashes?

 

 

 

Greets

Edited July 14, 2012 by PyroCube

[californiapyro]

d1 is a good comp to do that, adding 7% extra sodium bicarb works very well for a longer tail was this mix milled or unmilled?

[chemball]

hey guys, sorry to bring this back from the dead..

 

I am a new member and had a question about the aluminum in the d1 glitter stars. a little background first; I am relatively new to creating fireworks, i have made 2-3 inch shells for about a year now. Mainly charcoal streamer compositions and white stars, i have limited access to chems. Anyway, my question is can I use dark aluminum in the d1 glitter stars? I do not crrently have access to the proper aluminum.

 

Thanks for any replies and i look forward to learning about and creating fireworks for years to come!

[dagabu]

Sorry but the Al size is important to the spritzles you want from the D1. Aluminium (-325 mesh, spherical) is the key.

[chemball]

If I use the formula and substituted the 325 mesh Al for the dark aluminum would the stars just be a short-lived silver streamer?

[schroedinger]

No, they won't have a tail. The Dark A, will straight burn off

[psypuls]

Can I borrow this topic, What happens if you double the aluminium and double the bicarbonate? will the d1 glitter improve? i.e. more delay and more flashes?

[Respirator]

Not sure, but I would never "double" any part of a comp, maybe only increase up to 3% - 5%. Try it.

 

I tend to only mill my nitrate for 10 mins but screen everything else. Makes a quicker and cleaner burn but a nice tail.

[abbykarim]

forgive me if my question is poor, but can D1glitter be kneeded with NC lacquer and the cut?......?

[schroedinger]

Yeah it can, but propably will stop the glitter effect and turn into a normal star.

[Mumbles]

The binder has a big impact on the final effect. I suppose you never know until you try. I'm with Schroedinger on this one though. My inclination would be that it doesn't work very well. Not at all based on experience, or any real facts, just a hunch.

[abbykarim]

i keep asking questions because chemicals are so damn expensive to come by here in trinidad. just yesterday i got come strontium and barium nitrate shipped to me from prochem store on amazon...the only reason it shipped is because they labelled them as cosmetic chemicals and i assume the custom officials didnt look further. it cost me about $5 usd per pound of which i bought one pound each them parlon and red gum cost like $10 per pound, and then the shipping and customs charges were like twice that...so my nitrates actually cost me about $20.00Usd per pound. ... other things i have made for my self like bp which works fine, and kno3 which i have made almost 99,9% pure, im about to make my kclo4 which i am still trying to find the best method of synthesizing. so all in all im well on my way to making my first real fire works. but to conserve my limited chemicals i dont have much room for trial and error. i have spent the better part of a year reading as much as i can and watching you tube videos.....i dont know of any pyro techs or pyro resources locally so i am trying my best to find these resources online and this forum really helps.....i want to thank everyone thus far who has responded to my wierd questions.

[schroedinger]

You can make dextrin yourself, it's cheap and works for example with d1 or tt. The only real thing where you will need nc for a long time is dragon eggs and these have some time, before you really need them.

 

From what i read in yourbpost above, you really should start and make your first couple shells and use something like C6, C8, or TT to get them working. Beatifull stars and one the best stars for a beginner to work with. No perc or fancy nitrates needed, only kno3, charcoal, sulfur and dextrin i these shells.