karliWadt Posted August 31, 2013 Posted August 31, 2013 Hey guys new to this site but finding it informative just wanted to share a useful little trinket my mother in law bought me for the kitchen and ended up being a superb adjustable nozzle! Its actually for cutting tomatos into a decorative star pattern but has metal petal blades that open and close with a turn. Much like convergant/divergent nozzles used in aerospace! I know for most hobby uses bentonite is fine but have found it useful to experiment with nozzle diameter. You can pick them up for around €1 in supermarkets and the like eventually intend to fit a modified version that will allow in flight thrust vectoring ^.^ Made me curious has anyone else found a pyro use for household items such as this? Even failed attempts welcome i find this stuff interesting.
Davidg1 Posted September 1, 2013 Posted September 1, 2013 I've used a garlic press for ricing dragon-egg mixtures
karliWadt Posted September 1, 2013 Author Posted September 1, 2013 That's actually a really good idea lol
Col Posted September 1, 2013 Posted September 1, 2013 A herb roller cutter is useful for cut stars, dragon eggs and microstars. You can create custom spacing between the discs with m8 washers.
Col Posted September 2, 2013 Posted September 2, 2013 Dont forget ex-kitchen appliances, easy to find in charity shops.A slow cooker (thermostatic type with a ceramic pot) is great for drying individual chems and for drying tubes glued together with wheat starch paste (no good for pva)A repurposed food processor is ideal for grinding cat litter into a fine sand consistancy, makes helluva racket but its ideal for nozzles,bulkheads and bungs. The processor also comes in handy for making wheat starch paste without lumps.
karliWadt Posted September 2, 2013 Author Posted September 2, 2013 Im lucky enough to have access to a lab at work so can dry chems but yeah that'd work well Tried the kitty litter in a blender technique actually and works never tried it to make wheat starch less lumpy and actually that is a problem i come up against occasionally. My favourite is ball milling using my finances laythe ^.^ he has an extension piece off the clutch for me and everything lol. Once also a salad drier works astonishingly well as a centrifuge when you retrofit a car wiper motor! Yet to find a pyro use but might one day
karliWadt Posted September 2, 2013 Author Posted September 2, 2013 I mean on ball mills we do have a very good planetary mill at work. But if you've ever seen a laboratory ball mill you'll know the reason i had my man jury rig his workshop lol. They're tiny! We're talking like maybe twice the size of a film canister
Col Posted September 5, 2013 Posted September 5, 2013 Making wheat starch paste in the microwave is another way to solve the lump issues, you just have to mind it doesnt boil over. A salad spinner is good for taking the excess water out of hulls, but swinging a pillow case around your head works just as well.The lathe will cost more to run than a typical ballmill motor, if its not located outside i wouldnt use it for milling live comps.
karliWadt Posted September 5, 2013 Author Posted September 5, 2013 The extension actually runs outside when i put the pieces on its a strange Heath Robinson setup lol. I know it costs more to run but he's an engineer and has it running almost constantly anyway. Only ever really gets used to mill Al and KNO3 (not together) might get round to making a proper ball mill soon.
karliWadt Posted September 5, 2013 Author Posted September 5, 2013 I've seen cordite MD processed with a pasta roller too that's probably the strangest I've seen. I don't like anything involving NG though. Too scary! My old chemistry lecturer in university used to make it as a show piece and i just don't like anything that sensitive. I managed to injure myself once with NitrogenTriiodide and that's always been seen as nothing but a prank explosive. Not when you try to make adult snappers though
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