Round microstar production

[shouldnoteatindat]

I am looking to make microstars for a gerb. i have looked around on how to do this and all i see is things like rolling it with your hand or using a screen. but i have looked in things like those crackling balls and the stars in those are perfectly round. anyone know how to make them like this? any help would be appreciated

[Shizznt]

To get them perfectly round, you need a lot of practice. I have been making them for about 5 months and I am able to get them pretty round, but their not really smooth. Mine have little bumps on the stars, but their pretty good.

It also depends on what kind of core you start out with. Using heavier cores are easier to work with.

Using smaller lighter cores like mustard seed or millet is a lot harder to use. I've tried using mustard seed, and they started clumping together. So my stars turned out a little bumpy. I've been practicing with them, and I have been able to get them smoother.

The only advice I can give you is try not to over wet the cores. They will clump together and it becomes a pain.

I use a star roller, so I don't know what to do when hand rolling.

I suggest using heavier cores when you start out till you get the hang of rolling. That way, it would be a lot easier when you try out mustard seed or millet.

 

 

-Ryan

[Mumbles]

If you screen the composition and tumble it in a star roller, the granules come out pretty round.

[dan999ification]

+1

I granulate a few grams of comp then roll the granules, I start most of my stars like this now.

It's possible to have very round stars that are under 1mm but they have no real use being perfect in small devices.

 

It's worth noting that to roll from granulated comp or small cores that fine powder is needed, typically coarse material will not adhere without some trial and error ( usually my parlon )

 

Dan.

[dan999ification]

Wet dry wet

 

A small atomiser is useful for small droplets, screen the stars as they grow, crush the large ones and scrape the jar, this makes new cores.

The batch above was 5 grams of granulated for 100g of comp I ended with around 45g of 2mm and the same of 3mm ( ish )

Be patient, they grow slowly and are easy stick together, even wetting and letting them roll is key.

I find hand rolling cores easier than using a star roller, especially with small batches.. There are pros and cons to both.

 

Dan.

Edited February 15, 2014 by dan999ification

[spitfire]

I have been trying the same too. First of all, the Chinese factories don't use any core material at all. I haven't seen how they do it (yet). In my attempt similar to what dan999ification mentioned, i started with damp granulated comp and roll them. Different granulating methods gave different results, but all under 50% of useful material and consistent in size. That's the same to me as NOT GOOD ENOUGH. The second post of dan with the really nice pictures got me thinking though. This must be the way to do it. If not, we are all missing some key clue! My only consideration is, how do you scale this up? I tried rolling stars with batches of 1000g to 2500g, and the dust forming when dry powder is added was a real problem. Talking about the torro method here, dry- soup - dry- and so on. So, let's speculate i start with- let's say 200 g dry material, place it in the roller and add droplets of water. (with just an atomizer?) This must give a huge amount of dust?? There must be a simple method to get this done otherwise the chinese won't use it for mass production.

 

questions... questions... this hobby never gets boring

[spitfire]

just for the record: i need microstars to make big charcoal fountains with colored microstars in them. Commercial fireworks have them all the time.