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Please suggest a formula for very small stars


dangerousamateur

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Hi,

 

I want to put very small stars in the center of a cylinder shell, to have a colored cloud in the middle and maybe an outer ring of larger glitter stars or something.

 

Can you suggest me a formula that has a bright, pure red or green color, does not burn to fast and most important, lights without to much prime?

 

I mean I don't want stars that consist of 50% prime...

 

 

I want to cut them. Or rub the dough through a sieve - not sure at this moment.

 

 

I allready found this here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20101222002229/http://pyroguide.com/index.php?title=Microstars

 

But I really prefer something metallic.

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I'd suggest looking at formulas for lances. They're usually metallic and slow burning, and might fit your needs. I don't off hand know of too many that require very heavy priming. The one issue you may run into is that lances do not have to deal with much wind velocity in their intended uses. I don't know how well they'd stay lit. Only one way to find out.

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Maybe also have try with Mg, Carbonate, pvc/parlon (2:4:0.5)

I will try that, but i dont like magnesium. It's to easily attacked by moisture and the stars dont bind to good. The only interesting thing is saving oxidizers.

 

 

formulas for lances. They're usually metallic and slow burning, and might fit your needs

I dont find others than the old formulas by Mr. Weingart, and they are mostly chlorate and shellac based.

Do you now of something metallic?

 

I like to just use the "brilliant rubber star" formulas with strontium or barium nitrate, but they need a good prime. Is there some way to make them more sensitive, like adding sulphur or perchlorate?

 

 

And what exactly is a "lance"?

I think of some bengal illumination mix in a handheld paper thing, is that about correct?

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I wouldn't use the brilliant rubber stars because they burn extremely fast, or atleast when I made them.

They do need a lot of prime as well. a hot prime and a black powder prime.

The only good thing about them is that they dry fast, since they use alcohol and acetone.

 

 

-Ryan

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Lancaster has some lance formulas in his book of a more contemporary nature. I don't have the book on hand with me, but from the looks of the passfire database, there is a set of potassium perchlorate and a set of ammonium perchlorate formulas. They're mostly organic based stars though. I guess when you have a bunch of lance together, you don't necessarily need metallic compositions to get the point across. It looks like I was mistaken.

 

My next idea would be to use colored fountain mixtures, just without the Ti. I know for a fact that these are metal fueled, and seem to actually light fairly easily. John Glasswick has published several formulas for basically a rainbow of colors.

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Perhaps the complete opposite of what your asking but you may be intersted in yankies flash stars. They are a very simple strobe variety of star and could easily make the centre of a coloured shell or the edges of a burst if so required. They light quite easily, even without prime and are dirt cheap...

 

http://www.amateurpyro.com/forums/topic/2866-yankies-flash-stars/

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Thank you, but i want colors in there.

 

Sinken, the stars you posted are the same like on Pyroguide.

 

I will try them, but i prefer metallic, i need brightness.

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I think we have to take a look at Chinese formula, for fountains. Consumer fountains sometimes have very small colored stars. I know the blue use HexaChloroBenzene, i suggest you don't use that if you want to stay healthy. I don't have any formula for you at hand, but i'm very interested in colored microstars too. So, i''ll dig in to it.

 

EDIT: on the other hand... how do those guys make round microstars without a core...???

Edited by spitfire
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EDIT: on the other hand... how do those guys make round microstars without a core...???

For making round microstar, moderately damp star composition with solvent; mix it well make small ball out of it and rub it over 20 mesh screen then throw it in star roller & roll it adding solvent and dry composition until you get desired star.

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I used powder aluminum 18 mesh. Particles are spheres and ellipses.

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