Dragon Eggs Recipe

[giod]

Whats the most current and simple recipe for Dragon Eggs?

 

 

Lead Tetraoxide, or CuO1lbs or 3Cuo

 

 

so many variations it seems..

[leedrill]

it really seems a lot of the questions you have asked recently are kind of pointless. yes there is so many different variations out there because people experiment with different comps, for some people can get things cheaper than others. if you do some reading you will find the differences in these comps and what will suit you price and performance wise. if your lucky you might get some replies from people willing to help but to be honest from your question it dosnt even sound like you have googled dragon eggs for longer than 5 minutes. please read more before asking questions for helping someone who might not understand would be a waste of the more experienced guys on here's time.

 

and you are obviously looking for NC lacquer for this project in future include all your questions relating to one thing in one post

 

sorry if i seem rude but all im saying is the info is out there and it dosnt seem like you read any of it before asking about it

[Bonny]

Do some searching on here...there is a lot of experience and info to be found in old posts.

[giod]

it really seems a lot of the questions you have asked recently are kind of pointless. yes there is so many different variations out there because people experiment with different comps, for some people can get things cheaper than others. if you do some reading you will find the differences in these comps and what will suit you price and performance wise. if your lucky you might get some replies from people willing to help but to be honest from your question it dosnt even sound like you have googled dragon eggs for longer than 5 minutes. please read more before asking questions for helping someone who might not understand would be a waste of the more experienced guys on here's time.

 

and you are obviously looking for NC lacquer for this project in future include all your questions relating to one thing in one post

 

sorry if i seem rude but all im saying is the info is out there and it dosnt seem like you read any of it before asking about it

 

Yeah seemed a little cross, but I can handle it.. I hear what your saying.. I did google it for a couple hours.. But found too many variations, I guess I thought maybe some of the "old timers" might have time to share their favorite DE recipe. Actually I wanted the NC for timed fuse prime, which brings up a good question.. Do you prefer a BP slurry or a NC for a time fuse dip prior to BP. And should the BP be granulated or powder straight out the mill.. See it's just easier to ask the question rather than filter through 8000 different techniques.. You obviously seem very "experienced" so I would rather take your advice than shoot inthe dark with other posts ya know... I love this forum, as I am excited about my new hobby, however I have gotten to the point where I m afraid to ask questions for fear of retribution.. Especially for fear of retribution.. It's seems stupid to join another forum, just to ask questions I am afraid to ask here.. After all this forum is called the "amateur pyro" but seems more like the " experienced don't ask dangerous or novice questions forum" sometimes.. I'll try to spend more time searching before asking questions.. Sorry.

 

[Seymour]

Have you tried searching this forum? I know google can be great, but with topics like this you can have a million unrelated pages for each useful one. An exaggeration, but I'm sure you know what I mean.

 

It's actually quite hard to start a genuinely unique thread on here these days. Even if something has been quiet for a few years there are usually several threads on the topic buried away. Often people, still having not found their answer, ask the question in the similar one. Consolidating information I guess, and keeping things tidy.

 

Consider how it would be if all of us asked every nagging question in a new thread. Of course we understand the strong desire to learn and the excitement when a community like this is found, it's easier for everyone if when you search for info you find a few threads with all the info instead of it spread out much more thinly.

 

We want people to ask novice questions, for sure. But we try to give the appropriate answer, which with explosives manufacture, has to include some kind of warning often. We may not have ourselves followed some of the advice in our earlier years, but that does not make it any less good advice.

 

Especially it seems, asking questions about flash powder as new members often causes friction. People have to warn of it's dangers and often suggest leaving it for later. Just as much as this is good for them to hear, it's being said to all the other readers out there who do not post. You might be awesome at this and way safer in your practices than standard good practice, but you will hear it anyway for the sake of everyone else.

 

My favorite crackle is 37.5% Bismuth trioxide, 37.5% Back Copper oxide, 25% MgAl (-100 mesh) + 4% NC. 60-100 mesh MgAl for really big dragon eggs (2-4mm) I got it off Passire. I cannot find where the name of it's creator is written. Sorry.

[giod]

Have you tried searching this forum? I know google can be great, but with topics like this you can have a million unrelated pages for each useful one. An exaggeration, but I'm sure you know what I mean.

 

It's actually quite hard to start a genuinely unique thread on here these days. Even if something has been quiet for a few years there are usually several threads on the topic buried away. Often people, still having not found their answer, ask the question in the similar one. Consolidating information I guess, and keeping things tidy.

 

Consider how it would be if all of us asked every nagging question in a new thread. Of course we understand the strong desire to learn and the excitement when a community like this is found, it's easier for everyone if when you search for info you find a few threads with all the info instead of it spread out much more thinly.

 

We want people to ask novice questions, for sure. But we try to give the appropriate answer, which with explosives manufacture, has to include some kind of warning often. We may not have ourselves followed some of the advice in our earlier years, but that does not make it any less good advice.

 

Especially it seems, asking questions about flash powder as new members often causes friction. People have to warn of it's dangers and often suggest leaving it for later. Just as much as this is good for them to hear, it's being said to all the other readers out there who do not post. You might be awesome at this and way safer in your practices than standard good practice, but you will hear it anyway for the sake of everyone else.

 

My favorite crackle is 37.5% Bismuth trioxide, 37.5% Back Copper oxide, 25% MgAl (-100 mesh) + 4% NC. 60-100 mesh MgAl for really big dragon eggs (2-4mm) I got it off Passire. I cannot find where the name of it's creator is written. Sorry.

 

Thanks for the reply Seymour.. actually one of the more polite responses I've received here.. It's appreciated. Yeah I do search here before Google.. unfortunately, things don't always show up unless you search correctly.. for example i searched "Dragon Eggs Recipe" in all the forums, and I got only 2 results (other than my own) neither of which really had a recipe or instructions.. so I guess i need to just play around with phrasing or other keywords.. I'm a little impatient sometimes when searching for things, so that's why i tried to just ask, but i understand you don't want the forum clogged up with repetitive questions.. I'll search harder before posting next time. thanks.. G

[Col]

Did you see this one

http://www.amateurpy...dragon +flowers

[Jakenbake]

There is also the "chat" function on this website...find someone with a little more experience then yourself and go crazy with the questions

[leedrill]

i have found that to find info on this forum google is better than the search engine on here try typing in dragon eggs into google and youll get some things but try typing in dragon eggs apc , and youll get most of the threads on here to come up

[TYRONEEZEKIEL]

Giod, You are asking wonderful questions, do not get discouraged, but the lack of depth of your initial post is what gets to members here. It gives off the perception that you are just looking for a quick answer without any meaning to why you want the answer. Spend time formulating your story and give us more information to help us dial in a response that best suits your question. In regards to the best Dragon Egg formula, it truly depends on what kind of effect or technique you are looking for.

[leedrill]

well said tyron thats what i was getting at just frustrates me that i try so hard to do that and the some come on and ask questions that need a book length reply to answer properly

so giod please dont take offence

for i am a beginner too still have not made dragon eggs myself but have read many sources on them and im just trying to figure out a batch that works well with 325mesh mgal cause there is not many people with info on that but i know it gets done and they just have to be very small and to get the smoulder phase from not going out or just flashing seems to be the hard part with fine mesh mgal

as for the lead versions of these id rather stay away even if i can get it cheaper

[SideGlance]

** quoted from http://www.wichitabuggywhip.com/fireworks/dragonseggs.html

This formula has been circulating on the internet for years:

71 Bismuth trioxide

14 Black copper oxide

10 Magnalium (see notes)

5 fine atomized aluminum (-300 mesh, like Service Chemical "X-Fine")

The magnalium for "regular" crackle is 200-mesh. The coarser the magnalium mesh, the longer the delay between ignition and explosion. At 80-mesh, it's about three seconds, and pieces as large as ¼" will explode in a single explosion. The finer the magnalium, the smaller the pieces must be. At 200-mesh, 1/8" dia. stars are about as large as you can make them. Otherwise, they just spall small chunks, and

the body remains un-reacted.

The mixture is screened well, then mixed into a wet, sticky dough with 10% w/v nitrocellulose lacquer made from double-base powder (like Green Dot or Blue Dot or Bullseye shotshell powder).

There's a secret to making the lacquer that I've published over and over, and folks STILL think it takes a couple of days to make. In reality, it takes about 30-minutes.

Measure out the acetone in a vessel at least four times larger than the volume you're working with. I use a deep stainless steel mixing bowl from a kitchen mixer. With a kitchen whisk in your strong hand, and the weighed NC powder in the other, start slowly but uniformly pouring the powder into the acetone while you whisk your arm off. Mix FAST, and don't stop until the whole mass thickens up to about the consistency of heavy cream. Work lumps down off the sides of the bowl as you go. Don't _ever_ let any undissolved powder settle to the bottom.

Now, cover the bowl and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Come back and whisk again for about three or four minutes, and your lacquer is ready. You can ignore any "soft lumps"; they'll dissolve during the

kneading process. In another large, shallow bowl, "crater" your crackle mix, and start adding NC lacquer, a little at a time - just like making bread dough.

Knead it thoroughly. At first, it will become "mealy" like making pie dough. As you add more NC, it will become more and more dough-like. Knead it until it's perfectly smooth and homogenous, and quite a bit

on the sticky side of too wet. It should end up almost impossible to knead properly any more because it's too sticky to handle. It should be about the consistency of a very thick batter, rather than a dough.

This is hard work. Wear stout rubber gloves. Scrape your gloves down into the wet mix to get the dried chunks back into the mass. I know this might sound silly, but DON'T allow sweat to drip into the dough…

don't. (you will be sweating)

It's important to the loudness of the crackle to get enough NC in there. If the dough ends up too sticky to handle, that's OK… Just mush it out flat and let it dry a little. As it dries (and it dries pretty fast) it will lose its stickyness. Keep working the wet mass until it returns to the consistency of a stiff dough.

Once the dough is back to the right consistency, more "push" than "scrape" it through standard ¼" hardware cloth onto trays lined with paper. You'll get ¼" "worms" about two inches long or less. Don't

layer them more than a couple deep, or they'll all stick together. If they do, let them dry a little, knead them back into a lump, and repeat.

Let them dry slowly in the shade without molesting them JUST until you can "diaper" the mass without having the worms stick to one-another. The goal is to get them partially dry, but not so dry you cannot

further process them for smaller grains.

Now, working with a small amount at a time, push these worms through 6-mesh screening. 6-mesh gives 1/8" stars. Especially now, don't layer the mass; you must keep the stars from adhering to one-another.

As they dry a little more (the "knack" part comes now), put them back in the 6-mesh screen, and gently ROLL them back through the screen with the flat of your gloved palm. Avoid scraping or pushing straight

down. What you're doing is basically rounding off the chunks and forcing them to size in one operation.

Let these stars dry thoroughly, occasionally diapering the mass to get damp ones to the surface. In the sun, they should dry completely in an hour or so. You should detect no acetone odor, but you will smell

a "sharp" odor from the nitroglycerine in the NC lacquer.

Finally, re-screen the entire mass to remove chunks larger than 6- mesh, and sift out any "fines" smaller than about 10-mesh. The big pieces and the fines may be re-processed later simply by adding acetone and re-kneading. You can make really small stars for crackling gerbs with the -10+20 pieces, if you wish.

Now, prime them. Make up a saturated solution of potassium dichromate as your rolling solvent. DO NOT USE plain water - the stars will react with water, and can actually ignite from the heat.

Start a fairly large mass of the dried stars rolling in your star roller. They must tumble freely. They're so heavy that a small mass will just slip around in the drum. In fact, they may not tumble at all until you start to dampen them with solvent (gives a little "bite" on the surface of the drum).

Wet them with the solvent until they glisten, but still tumble freely. Lay on a layer of simple rough-mix powder (75/15/10 +7% dextrin). Do not mill this… you want it coarse; just mix it by screening repeatedly

through 20-mesh. Just like star rolling, add dry mix until they'll not take up any more, but try to keep the layer smooth, without excess dry mix in the mass.

Do only a couple of layers. The goal is NOT to build them up in size, but just to evenly coat all surfaces of each grain. There shouldn't be any grey crackle showing, but the grains should be only marginally

larger than when you started. Finish up with a large excess of dry powder to make the grains' surfaces "dusty" for easier ignition. Uniform ignition over the entire surface of the star is part of the secret to getting it LOUD.

Dry these again in the sun and gently sift out the excess priming mix, and you're done - with straight crackle.

Add up to 10% by weight of fine titanium sponge or flake to the original mixture (60-100 mesh) to get the "brocade" burst effect.

Edited September 27, 2013 by SideGlance