Mephistos Minion Posted October 4, 2006 Posted October 4, 2006 Holy shit! I corned the willow BP puck that I pressed the other day, and I burn tested some granules (approx 12 mesh). It was so goddamn fast! Rocket was there with me, so he can attest to it when he gets home (we live in different states, and he was here on holiday so we met up).
Silverturk Posted October 4, 2006 Posted October 4, 2006 Can you catually ignite black powder just because of the pressure, and if you can, how much does it take?I'm ramming my fuel, so it will be hard to convert this pressure to when I am ramming, but I think it's good to know.
Von Bass` Posted October 4, 2006 Posted October 4, 2006 Can you catually ignite black powder just because of the pressure, and if you can, how much does it take?I'm ramming my fuel, so it will be hard to convert this pressure to when I am ramming, but I think it's good to know.I think its so unlikely to happen that its classified as if it wont.
aquaman Posted October 4, 2006 Posted October 4, 2006 For Black Powder you just want to make sure that there is no flame, heat, or sparks (static) near the BP and you should be fine. When ever you ram someting, keep/aim everything away from your face so if for some wierd reason it goes off you wont get your rammer in the face. BTW remember anything can happen... and probably will when you least expect it.
ActionTekJackson Posted October 4, 2006 Posted October 4, 2006 BTW remember anything can happen... and probably will when you least expect it. Moral of the story.... always expect it
Cherbanov Posted October 5, 2006 Posted October 5, 2006 the pipe I am pressing in is 80mm or 3,2 inch. and the hight is about 5 cm or 2inch. is 5ton pressure good?
Mephistos Minion Posted October 5, 2006 Posted October 5, 2006 I use an 80mm powder die, with a 6 ton jack, it works very easily,s o I think 5 ton will be ok.
rocket Posted October 7, 2006 Posted October 7, 2006 Holy shit! I corned the willow BP puck that I pressed the other day, and I burn tested some granules (approx 12 mesh). It was so goddamn fast! Rocket was there with me, so he can attest to it when he gets home (we live in different states, and he was here on holiday so we met up). Yes I must say that pressing does make a big difference with the lift as I was there. It was surprising how much difference it did make, I would have thought that having the partials of BP closer together would slow it down but as I saw it didn’t.
moonshot Posted October 7, 2006 Posted October 7, 2006 http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4887239Anyone ever use this rock tumbler? I was going to buy it today but got a coffee grinder instead, I didn't know if it was anygood for pyro. I would make only about 30G of BP(on a budget and can't use much chems) at a time using about 15 lead balls if I can find them if not, use marbles. I don't want to buy the media online as lead is very heavy and shipping is very expensive. Thanks for any reccomendations/suggestions. That tumbler looks like a toy. Get a tumbler with a neoprene barrel. Harbor Freight sells one for 29.99 on sale. It's a loretone style tumbler and will mill good BP if your chems are decent. I mill my BP in a loretone rock tumbler using lead media made from tire weights you can usually pick up for free or very cheap from your local tire shop. Just make sure to cut the steel clamp piece from out of the center of the weight. 2 1/2 oz. or 3 oz. weights work best. I just throw my chems in dry 75 10 15 and mill them overnight. You end up with a light grey meal powder that is the basis for making lift and propellant BP. It is to the pyro what flour is to the baker. A basic ingredient that can be utilized in numerous ways. Pressed and grained for lift powder, used to prime certain types of stars, making rocket propellent and break charges.
Phildo Posted October 7, 2006 Posted October 7, 2006 I have a 3 LB Thumbler and get pretty consistent results from it. It's slow but it does work until I come up with a real mill. I bought one of the Harbor Freight dual barrel tumblers last month and took it back the next day. It was so under-powered that it wouldn't start with 2 Lbs in each barrel. The barrels would not stay aligned and kept hopping up and down. In 2 hours of use, the plastic guides were already starting to wear away. I read people giving good reviews to these and have to wonder why my experience was so different.
aquaman Posted October 7, 2006 Posted October 7, 2006 You must have gotten a bad one because I put about three to four pounds in each barrel and it runs like a champ. The plastic guides do wear away but mine haven't too badly. The only thing that sucks on mine is the belts. I ordered 15 from ebay (extras) and they only last like 48 hours before they crack and snap. I've gone through like ten this summer so I'll either be ordering more or a new tumbler.
FrankRizzo Posted October 7, 2006 Posted October 7, 2006 I have a 3 LB Thumbler and get pretty consistent results from it. It's slow but it does work until I come up with a real mill. I bought one of the Harbor Freight dual barrel tumblers last month and took it back the next day. It was so under-powered that it wouldn't start with 2 Lbs in each barrel. The barrels would not stay aligned and kept hopping up and down. In 2 hours of use, the plastic guides were already starting to wear away. I read people giving good reviews to these and have to wonder why my experience was so different. What are you using for media?
Mumbles Posted October 7, 2006 Posted October 7, 2006 I found high quality belts at one of ths bigger home improvement stores. They are sold as a replacement o-ring for water filtration units. I don't remember the model number, but by looking at it you should be able to tell. It's lasted me a good few months, and probably 100 hour aready. Beats the hell out of using rubber bands.
Cherbanov Posted October 8, 2006 Posted October 8, 2006 the BP puck are there some good tips on how to brake it in to pises. wen it wet or wen it dry? wen i brake it wen it wet i got a lots of powder that i hade to press one more time.
Pretty green flame Posted October 8, 2006 Posted October 8, 2006 I break my pucks when they are wet, well i chop them up with a kitchen knife and i get very little powder that is finer than 30mesh
Phildo Posted October 8, 2006 Posted October 8, 2006 What are you using for media? I was using .490 musket balls. Now, I'm using 1/2" pieces of copper tube filled with lead. It seems to have cut down my milling time and makes much better BP. Thanks for the tip Mumbles. I'm going to take my belt to the box store today and get some replacements.
Cherbanov Posted October 9, 2006 Posted October 9, 2006 8mm and 15mm round leadballs 50/50 works fine
Mumbles Posted October 9, 2006 Posted October 9, 2006 I don't know where I heard this, but a fairly efficient way to crush pucks is to put them in a jean leg. Cut off a leg and tie it off at the ankle. Add some pucks and smack them on the ground. The big pieces break up, and once they get so small, they don't have the momentum to break up anymore.
Mephistos Minion Posted October 9, 2006 Posted October 9, 2006 Wow, interesting idea there mumblebum. Is dextrine 100% needed when pressing pucks? I assume so as my BP sans dextrine pucks make fairly weak arse granules. Has anyone noticed a great decrease in speed if you mill dextrin with your powder? Perhaps adding dex for the last hour of milling is a good comprimise? Also is it 5% I need or do you think I can get away with 3%?
Cherbanov Posted October 9, 2006 Posted October 9, 2006 can some one explain to me what mesh is? 10 mesh in millimeters? for example
Mumbles Posted October 9, 2006 Posted October 9, 2006 From my experience, no noticeable decrease in speed is noticed in my BP with milling dextrin with the BP the whole time. Some say mill with it, some say don't. If you are pressing, I have heard people getting better results even with 3% dextrin. Less is needed. Higher percentages of dextrin create harder pucks, which neccesitates more force to break it. I would imagine this could potentially result in more powder. I have recently acquired a variety of binders that I would like to try with pressing pucks. See what kind of speed increase/decrease is resulted, what kind of hardness is resulted, fragmentation results. As for the question of mesh, it is a measure of particle size. It is number of openings in 1 linear inch. There is another measure in the metric system, but it is pretty much equivalent. I think it is # of openings per 2.5 cm or so. For any more, you can use google. 10 mesh will be about 2.5 mm.
Mardec Posted October 14, 2006 Posted October 14, 2006 WOW I tried my new Black powder today, 24 hours ball milled with willow charcoal and 10 % dextrin. Coated it on wood filings 7:1 ratio. I tested it by putting it into a small platic egg. The kind they use to put into chocalate candy. Very bendable plastic, very hard to crack. Usually the 2 hemi's pop off. Even with the weaker flash I used to make. Now I filled it half with my BP wood filings and didn't even press it down. So it wasn't more than a few grams. Taped it shut with a lil bit of bp and tested it. Very sharp bang, didn't sound powerfull. But when I went to have a look I noticed the egg was completly destroyed The fragments staid on the tape but they weren't dangerrous anyway. Never ever cracked one of these eggs before, even not with 250 mesh al flash. But wow, I mean the stuff has some potential in airial shells
Mumbles Posted October 14, 2006 Posted October 14, 2006 Use less dextrin, and it will be even better. Also 250 mesh Al will make shitty shitty flash. I am not suprised it didn't fragment the egg. It was probably spherical on top of that too.
maximusg Posted October 15, 2006 Posted October 15, 2006 8g of my hottest willow will lift a >110g 3"shell.... my scales went wacko the other day and wont go past 110g for some reason, heh also dont know how good that is as ive never used commercial BP.
Mardec Posted October 16, 2006 Posted October 16, 2006 Grr I did it agian Every time I try to granulate my BP I make it to wet It this bad for it's preformance? Or will it only make crappy granules?
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