dagabu Posted August 5, 2011 Posted August 5, 2011 Eric, I am going to get some flack for saying this but I hate American visco. the Chinese stuff throws out way more fire and is hotter, I wouldn't not trade it for anything. It is Chinese visco in a roll of 500' and it was $20.00 last year, it is likely $25.00 this year but you never know. Yes, it can ship ORM-D via USPS and a roll will fit into a USPS small box for $5.00. A medium box will hold four rolls. That is the first place I go, pink and green visco, fast and regular speed. I am not in commerce so we will talk offline about the details if you don't mind. -dag
oldmanbeefjerky Posted August 5, 2011 Posted August 5, 2011 one dollar a foot! WOW! i know right! but of course there are the obvious issues with postage and potentially being seized despite saying its all good. not worth the risk when i could build a machine for the same amount of money
Mumbles Posted August 5, 2011 Posted August 5, 2011 You know, there are very few applications that really require visco. If I use more than 5ft a year it's rather obscene. Most applications blackmatch works just as well, and it is easily made by the manufacturer.
dagabu Posted August 5, 2011 Posted August 5, 2011 You know, there are very few applications that really require visco. If I use more than 5ft a year it's rather obscene. Most applications blackmatch works just as well, and it is easily made by the manufacturer. Lighting rockets would be one. For my class, I cut 100' of visco alone. It is also exceptional at small scale timing for cakes and such. -dag
guntoteninfadel Posted August 6, 2011 Posted August 6, 2011 I just use it for convience, but of course it is available in the US. BM would work fine but the whole making process is such I generally just use super fast fuse. And the timing thing like Dag said.
snow Posted August 13, 2011 Posted August 13, 2011 hey guys,do you have an ideas how to dose the BP into the visco?i have a friend that tryed to build such a machine but the visco had lots of points enpty of BP and it was highly unreliable.
dagabu Posted August 14, 2011 Posted August 14, 2011 hey guys,do you have an ideas how to dose the BP into the visco?i have a friend that tryed to build such a machine but the visco had lots of points enpty of BP and it was highly unreliable. A fellow member here was demonstrating his visco machine this past week, he used a Wilton #3 cake decorating cone for the puller threads and fuse powder. I lit several rockets with it and it worked just as planned. I will dig it out and post pictures of the fuse later in the week. -dag
dagabu Posted August 15, 2011 Posted August 15, 2011 Hey! Family wanted to see some videos.... Looks like its gonna be a one day pyro-vacation, looks like we are going to boom-town! Wanna come with? -dag
snow Posted August 19, 2011 Posted August 19, 2011 i saw people do that but as i sayed its comeing out highly unrelayable
Mumbles Posted August 19, 2011 Posted August 19, 2011 A fellow member here was demonstrating his visco machine this past week, he used a Wilton #3 cake decorating cone for the puller threads and fuse powder. I lit several rockets with it and it worked just as planned. I will dig it out and post pictures of the fuse later in the week. -dag To maybe partly answer snow's question, do you know what kind of powder he was using in the machine? The 116 fuse powder is a pretty reasonable choice, but I was just wondering if it was homemade or commercial mostly. Snow, these visco machines typically are fed with granulated composition. It is pretty fine, but granulated none the less, and possibly coated with graphite. This allows for a much more consistent feed. Using meal powder straight from the mill would almost certainly result in clogging and poor results. This is just one of the many factors that make things a non-trivial task. There is a saying in line of work "If it was easy, it wouldn't be research".
Algenco Posted August 19, 2011 Posted August 19, 2011 To maybe partly answer snow's question, do you know what kind of powder he was using in the machine? The 116 fuse powder is a pretty reasonable choice, but I was just wondering if it was homemade or commercial mostly. Snow, these visco machines typically are fed with granulated composition. It is pretty fine, but granulated none the less, and possibly coated with graphite. This allows for a much more consistent feed. Using meal powder straight from the mill would almost certainly result in clogging and poor results. This is just one of the many factors that make things a non-trivial task. There is a saying in line of work "If it was easy, it wouldn't be research". he said it was 116 fuse powder
spitfire Posted August 19, 2011 Posted August 19, 2011 ..or try silicon dioxide... it makes powdered materials flow easier. I use it in a visco machine for years, and it works good. Make sure you have some kind of vibration to the funnel though. A simple 6v motor works great. It is not professional, but it works well for the amateur. You can take out 25 feet within 10 minutes. Oh, and make sure you use chlorate as an oxidizer. The Chinese use that too.
dagabu Posted August 19, 2011 Posted August 19, 2011 ..or try silicon dioxide... it makes powdered materials flow easier. I use it in a visco machine for years, and it works good. Make sure you have some kind of vibration to the funnel though. A simple 6v motor works great. It is not professional, but it works well for the amateur. You can take out 25 feet within 10 minutes. Oh, and make sure you use chlorate as an oxidizer. The Chinese use that too. The 116 Fuse Powder is formulated for this specifically, there is no need to add sand to your visco. There is also no need to vibrate the funnel. Dan ran 25g batches of powder with no dry spots in high humidity, tapping the funnel or vibration would be counter productive since it has the tenancy to overfill the powder core. -dag
zenen1 Posted September 4, 2011 Posted September 4, 2011 hi, i am building my own visco machine aswell, i have built the turntables the dies and the frame , i am making it according to this website: http://tutorialtub.com/info/how-to-build-a-visco-fuse-machineas you can see the whole machine is powered by a dowel running thru each stage with a crank on the top, for belts i am using rubber bands,but i need something to put around the dowel that has enough grip with the rubber band to turn it without the band slipping (on the site it refferes to it as a pulley), any ideas of what i could use would be helpful! or where i could purchase ``pulley`` for a clearer picture scroll to the bottom of the site
spitfire Posted November 3, 2011 Posted November 3, 2011 OK, my machine works great but now the finishing. I use NC lacquer to coat the visco, but i can't get the strength of commercial visco. I tried to dampen in the NC to get it more concentrated, it is like thick oil now. Still the result is the same. The fuse works great, looks great, but it is not what i want. Somehow my fuse keeps being fragile. I think the Chinese use some different coating. Next question. The fuse they use as a delay fuse in cake items, it burns aggressive with a very distinctive smell. It must be (per)chlorate based, almost like a whistle fuel. Anyone knows the formula?
spitfire Posted November 3, 2011 Posted November 3, 2011 (edited) Making a visco machine isn't that difficult. I made a perfectly working one out of scrap wood, some rods, and other simple materials laying around. No calculating ratios or anything, just trial and error. Biggest problems i have are the driving belts, they wear off too soon, and the collecting drum is a little bit hard to remove. The fuse by itself is great, the performance is all about the composition used and the lacquering. Made hundreds ft with many different powders now. I don't really need it as a supply, but i just love that machine! I make my own flying fish/falling leaves fuse with it as well. ...now convince my wife the importance of ''that odd weaving thing in the shed''...EDIT: i reply to myself.. how sad Edited November 3, 2011 by spitfire
Mumbles Posted November 3, 2011 Posted November 3, 2011 I'm curious what you mean by fragile? Is the coating cracking? The use of certain additives like camphor and certain low volatility oils can help to improve flexibility of a coating by helping to plasticize it.
spitfire Posted November 4, 2011 Posted November 4, 2011 Yep, after 2 or 3 bends on the same spot the NC seems to crack and loose it's strength. Never heard of camphor as an additive, but worth a try.
dan999ification Posted November 4, 2011 Posted November 4, 2011 (edited) Yep, after 2 or 3 bends on the same spot the NC seems to crack and loose it's strength. Never heard of camphor as an additive, but worth a try.[/quote its in ping pong balls.you could make a laquer from them but it wont dry shiny, it will be flexible, the acetone may ruin the fuse. dan. Edited November 4, 2011 by dan999ification
warthog Posted November 6, 2011 Posted November 6, 2011 (edited) What a lot of great info and pix on a subject that I have been thinking about for a while now. It is a shame that so many pix have also been moved or deleted. I wish there was a way that could be kept from happening since many of the posts loose their value without the pictures that had once been in them. This is one machine I want to build eventually though I lack skill building things, I suppose if I keep trying I have to get it to work eventually, right? NC Lacquer can also be made from smokeless powder dissolved in acetone, make sure you use a powder that is single base. I prefer Green Dot, which is a double base but it seems to add a nice SNAP to the Dragon Eggs made with it. For "run of the mill" NCL I use one of the IMR four digit powders. Edited November 6, 2011 by warthog
BubbleTrouble Posted January 1, 2012 Posted January 1, 2012 (edited) Hi In my undertaking of making flash cotton "nitrocellulose" I have found that once the nitrocellulose has dried and acetone is mixed the cellulose cotton will dissolve into a gel, that if left will turn into a hard white plastic. NopeSo from nitrocellulose to nitrocellulose lacquer. Add all your cotton in a glass bowl and slowly add acetone to the cotton until the cotton is fully dissolved. Please please please be safe. I will add a photo graphic process later on on how I make flash cotton and also on how to turn it into nitrocellulose lacquer to use to cover visco fuse into visco safety fuse Yep, don't bother with that last part outside of the HE section. Edited January 1, 2012 by Mumbles
iclazion Posted January 2, 2012 Posted January 2, 2012 (edited) Will post the process in the chemical forum Edited January 2, 2012 by iclazion
demetroy Posted February 11, 2012 Posted February 11, 2012 hey just wondering what people are using for turntables i am able to do most of the other things with things i have laying around the house and might have to buy a few items have a old fone laying aroud ill remove the vibrator from it and attach that to the funnel just an idear for all you guys and a tip from all my reading on these visco machines get the tracer threads wet it will pull the bp with it from what iv read it fixes the probs they were having anyway if anyone is willing to post me visco to Australia pm me to discuss details
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