Dragon Eggs

[JimWoodson]

Hi

I noticed this tutorial on You Tube for makings Dragon Eggs which looks quite effective

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkDfRKDLA-E&index=2&list=UUZm_FJmuAECpPzIrYvkPKjA

 

I'll have a go at this once I get some gear

[asdercks]

That is exactly how I used to make my dragon eggs, now I just screen sliced them, by the way I think the guy exagerated a bit by letting his DE to dry for three days, mine dry within an hour or so, I like the video though

[Jakenbake]

I have seen worse videos on you tube. His roller/mixer was not impressive neither was the hot glue holding the "square bowl" to the arbor. And I would definitely want to get a bigger tub to prime them in. I would have got my hand stuck in that one lol. But yeah you got the basic concept down.

[JimWoodson]

I've only got You Tube and here to get info and I know nothing ! I do have a good knowledge of chemistry and engineering skills from a distant education. I'm going to bore everyone soon with stories of my pyro activities before the internet was invented

[Mumbles]

I've certainly seen worse tutorials, but this one did leave some things to be desired. I could at least do without the music. I was with him 100% until he started mixing the composition

 

The formula itself is one of the good ones. Good and loud, and generally non-toxic. You can use different sizes of MgAl to control the delay, loudness of the pop, and whether the granules will go off in one or several pops. You can notice them going off a few times, which I don't prefer, but its still good.

 

The mixing however, I don't recommend. The only reason it works is because everything is quite dense, and doesn't really clump. Trying this with basically any other composition would lead to a dangerous situation, or at the very least a mess. Just use a screen and you'll get better mixing in a fraction of the time.

 

The wetting with NC lacquer was fine, but I didn't catch what concentration he was using. It looked thin to me, but there are so many grades and viscosities of NC that isn't necessarily meaningfful. I'd suggest 10% solution. Don't be afraid to get it good and wet, and let it dry out some.

 

The cutting itself looked fine. However once he let it dry and the stuff broken up, the sizing didn't look nearly as good as it was when he had just cut it. I'd also suggest screening out all of the dust for reprocessing. There was so much powder in the mix that I thought he had already added the BP when he went to prime it.

 

On the note of priming, this is where I had the biggest issue. He said he was using BP with 5% red gum in it, but then wetted it with 75/25 water/alcohol. Red gum is not activated by water. I doubt the prime is adhered overly well. Also, some people have notice issues when priming dragon eggs directly with nitrate based primes. It's believed that the nitrate can degrade the MgAl.

 

The performance was fine. Like I said before, I prefer the single pop ones. They worked pretty decently though.

 

There is another video on making dragon eggs on youtube that is good, and done by one of the living masters that you might want to check out.

 

[JimWoodson]

I already watched that video which was good and he was using lead tetroxide which seems a whole lot easier to find than the Bismuth

[Niladmirari]

Composition dragon eggs sensitive to friction.

10:55 - he rubs (chops) composition. It is not dangerous?

[schroedinger]

@JimW maybe you should look up the MSDS off lead tetraoxide and then think again if it really is worth to save a couple bucks or is it better to use bismuthoxide. You don't need two much as you normally don't need huge amounts of DE's

[longbeard]

interesting.