nater Posted July 30, 2012 Posted July 30, 2012 Recently I tried pumping a batch of tiger tail stars. Stars are 1/2", comp was ball milled with Southern Yellow Pine charcoal and bound with SGRS. They seem soft to me, although when they are dropped from shoulder height they do not break or chip. They are strong if pushed on the ends of the cylinder, but snap in half with moderate effort. They were dried in the sun until they stopped loosing weight and when they sit out in a sealed ziplock bag, there is no condensation on the inside. As you can see in the video, they throw sparks but leave a ton of residue. Is that normal? They seem too fragile and I am wondering if I messed up somewhere. I still plan on using them in a shell, but I don't have high hopes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5WT3Ejujmg
The504 Posted July 30, 2012 Posted July 30, 2012 (edited) My TT look like that. I cut them with a ruler and they dried in the sun. They look fine to me. The residue is slag. Edited July 30, 2012 by The504
Zumber Posted July 30, 2012 Posted July 30, 2012 if it indicates any residue it is a sign of impurities in the chemicals you used or perhaps it is indicating presence of water content in it.Are you sure your stars are completely dried.?Leaving any residue is not normal.
dagabu Posted July 30, 2012 Posted July 30, 2012 (edited) if it indicates any residue it is a sign of impurities in the chemicals you used or perhaps it is indicating presence of water content in it.Are you sure your stars are completely dried.?Leaving any residue is not normal. I completely disagree!!! There is a LOT of slag with TT if lit o the ground, this is what I use all the time. WTF?-dag Edited July 30, 2012 by dagabu
nater Posted July 30, 2012 Author Posted July 30, 2012 I completely disagree!!! There is a LOT of slag with TT if lit o the ground, this i s what lights ober tim ein the air. -dag That is good to know. It seemed like an excess, but it that is what makes the tail then I should be pleased when it is in the air. FYI, my chems are of good quality and they came from a very reliable source. I am also very confident the stars were dry. Like I said in the first post, the stopped shedding any weight and there was no condensation inside a bag when they were placed in the Sun.
dan999ification Posted July 30, 2012 Posted July 30, 2012 if i remember corectly tt stars and other crys stars need atmospheric oxygen to function properly,when they are travelling through the air the unburnt charcoal should stay alight a bit like blowing on embers and burn more completely, looks normal to me i have had soft tt stars both cut and pumped, compressing the pattie before cutting can help same as pumping hard but water content plays a big part imho too much and they can be driven in or be porous/soft when dry, i thought sun drying was bad news for tt stars? it seems to take longer. you could always re mill them but i think they would work fine just burn for less time than a milled and pressed star. dan.
nater Posted July 30, 2012 Author Posted July 30, 2012 The comp was milled, and I used an arbor press to pump them. It is much faster than using a mallet. I was worried that I didn't get enough water in them to activate the SGRS. I will send them up anyway, I'll need more stars at PGI so I am sure I'll get any issues worked out then.
Arthur Posted July 30, 2012 Posted July 30, 2012 TT is seriously under oxidised in the formulation, it relies of travelling through atmospheric oxygen to let the star burn. Make the stars a little smaller than you first think, You really want them to burn PART way down but not all the way.
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