Need Help

[bleedin label]

Hello,

I need help....

I have a paintball team and we make paintgrenades outto firecrackers (water proof)

 

We can no longer get the firecrackers we used...

How can I make my own? Cheaply and with eazy materials to find.. It also has to be water proof and about 5 second fuse...

 

Thanks for your help!

[pa_pyro]

If you are at all interested in pyrotechnics you should start with something safer and easier like smoke bombs. Salutes are not something you want to start out with.

 

Cheaply and with eazy materials to find..

 

As you will find out pyrotechnics is not a cheap hobby. You first need to get basic safety equipment/measuring tools(scales, scoops, etc...), and you will not likely find chems except from a chemical supplier. Just my thought on things...

[bleedin label]

Thanks

 

I know what you mean..

 

I dont need somthing realy powerfull... Just somthing that will spray paint

But I understand about starting with somthing safer..

 

Making a smoke grenade or somthing would be cool..

If I could get help on that thatd be great!

 

Thanks

[styropyro]

If you want to make some smoke grenades (I'm assuming you mean smoke bombs) I'd start with a basic 60/40 mix of Potassium Nitrate and Sugar (by weight of course). They do work better melted together (and that is what I used to do but I read too many bad storys of people getting severly injured doing that) but they work just fine when mixed dry and finely powdered.

[pa_pyro]

Or you can use my method. Make the usual mix(60/40 kno3 sucrose) and mix it well. In a seperate container melt 4 parts paraffin wax. While the wax is still molten add the smoke mix to it and mix it up really well. Take the resulting lump of mix and drop it into a 4" by whatever length piece of aluminum foil and insert a length of fuse and some black powder as a primer. Then roll up the aluminum into a ball/tube and pinch the ends. Then poke holes into the bottom and into the smoke mix., the mix needs to be enclosed or the wax mix will catch on fire and produce very little smoke. When you are ready to set it off make sure the holes are pointing towards the ground. I hope I have helped.

 

Here is a video:

(ignore the darn flickering porch light )

[bleedin label]

Thanks guys Your a true help!

[styropyro]

Pa Pyro, that is the EXACT same mixture I use to fill my smoke cannister! (f you mean 10 parts 60/40 smoke mix and 4 parts wax.) I melt it and mix it up until its is hardening while mixung so I get a bunch of ~5 mesh clumps of smoke mix. I put it in a reusable tin can with about 10 holes punched in the top and I throw my smoke pellets at the bottom of the can. Then I heat up the side with a propane torch and it throws out a bunch of smoke. My problem is I can never get it to work in its own casing because it either dosen't light or it melts through the casing. But I haven't ever tried using aluminum foil as the casing so I'll give that a try tommorow.

[pa_pyro]

If you can make your own/have access to black powder you should make fuse to light these.(or make a trail of smoke mix in a napkin or paper towel, this is how I started out before I had good visco/blackmatch.) This mix is really picky if not kept away from oxygen and bursts into flame.

[bleedin label]

Hey guys..

 

Where Can I get Potassium Nitrate? It it in anything l find at home?

 

Thanks

[styropyro]

Most stump removers are pretty pure potassium nitrate. I know that Dexol and Specracide work, but I'm sure others do too. It is sold at hardware stores for about 4-5 bucks a pound. But for a nice cheaper (but you have to buy more of it) source try eBay. But for a quick at home sorce just try stump remover. If it isn't very fine you may have to grind it up.

 

pa_pyro I tried your setup and it worked awesome! Thanks for the help

[bleedin label]

Thanks bro.. This board is great I found another board to post on

[pa_pyro]

I find this the best place for buying pot. nitrate. The total price for 10 pounds of KNO3, including shipping, is 22$

 

http://www.clayartcenter.net/

[bleedin label]

Thanks Pyro

 

Looks like im gonna have sum potassium Nitrate

 

 

As For sulfur....

 

Isnt it in yellow rocks? I have a Mine near here And there are tons of yellow rocks but is this a to raw of form to work with?

 

Thanks

[styropyro]

Most likely there isn't much sulfur, if at all in those rocks. But there are some rocks that might have sulfur in it, but it isn't really worth it. Heck a garden store a few miles from my house sells sulfur powder for 29¢ a pound. It isn't super pure but it works just fine for black powder, my black powder is as good as the commercial stuff. But you can probably make higher quality black powder out of stuff from sites like skylighter or eBay, but a garden store would be a great place to start.

[bleedin label]

Thanks bro

 

I had no idea that these chemicals can be found in so many places pottery shops, Garden stores.. lol