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How to fine tune colours?


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#1 sasman

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Posted 21 October 2005 - 08:36 PM

Hi

I have just tried making a small 100 g batch of Ruby red & Emerald green ..

I have made some Strontium Carbonate Based reds before and they were Not to bad but they were pinkish red...Not real Red..

Now i have got some Strontium Nitrate & Barium Nitrate i thought the colours would be much better than the carbonates..

Well i burnt a few small piles and i was very dissapionted in the colour :( ...Passfire mentions that you cant beat this Red!!.. The Green was even worse..

I filmed a small pile burning..now the camera captures the Red pretty good I would say a fair representation.. The Green doesn't capture as good..It Looked far greener than the video but still very poor..

What have i done wrong? Everything was well mixed & weighed to within 0.01g

The Strontium Nitrate is 99.9% Pure.. Barium Nitrate is General Reagant Grade..( i belive its at least 98%)

What Chemical can destroy the green? and wash out the Red?

How do i go about Fine tuning the Formulas?.. What do i need to increase or reduce?

I remember Adamw saying you can alter the Charcoal to make it less pink?..

Over the weekend i hope i can find a cheap firework with good reds and greens in it so i can compare my batch with a known good colour producing firework..and film them side by side..

i know you cant really judge the colour by burning on the ground...So i will test fire a few stars when they have dried..

Here are 2 clips of them burning..Emerald Green Ruby Red

Thanks to infernolabs for hosting the clips...

Please post a video clip of your reds...greens ...blues...on the ground in the air?

Cheers

#2 karlfoxman

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Posted 21 October 2005 - 08:48 PM

The red looks quite nice, but the green looks almost white....not helped by the camera. Can the potassium perchlorate be reduced to make the green deeper? And i have read somewhere that you can up the chlorine donor to change saturation in greens. The Electric green Al on passfire is very nice and is a cracking green to use, its a bitch to light though!!! Not much help i know but keep trying because i for one would love to see the solution to this.

Edited by karlfoxman, 21 October 2005 - 09:01 PM.


#3 Richard H

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Posted 21 October 2005 - 09:45 PM

Bear in mind that colours may appear washed out up close and often appear better from a distance. That red looks good to me. I would try it in a star before you complain!

It helps if you understand the chemistry behind the pyrotechnic effect you are trying to produce. The composition above contains a good source of chlorine to encourage strontium monochoride formation, a metallic fuel to increase the flame temperature, and a good oxygen hungry organic fuel. It should produce a very good red.

Try them in the air and see what you think.

#4 raiderzone

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Posted 22 October 2005 - 12:36 AM

Please post a video clip of your reds...greens ...blues...on the ground in the air?

Cheers


Hello all,

Here are a couple of videos of some small gerbs I made up with various color formulas I did as a test.

Blesser KP Organic Red to Better Pearl:
http://raiderzon.pyr..._pearl_gerb.mpg

DJ Blue Strobe Rocket to Blesser White Strobe:
http://raiderzon.pyr...o/blue_gerb.mpg

I'm waiting for a set of pumped Blesser Red stars to dry so I can test in a small shell. I'll post a video when this is complete so we can compare reds!

Edited by raiderzone, 22 October 2005 - 12:38 AM.


#5 sasman

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Posted 02 November 2005 - 08:31 PM

Well i found out why my greens and reds were poor... i Added PVC to the formula instead of Dextrin?..Anyway after Making a new small batch of EmerladGreen i lit a pile and what a difference :D .Really Nice Deep Green compared to the first batch...I have a few drying and when dry i will upload a video clip..

Here is a batch of EmeraldGreen WITH to much PVC added ..The camera cant handle the Brightness but in reality the green was pretty good...

I put about 40 stars no prime + a few grams of Flash in a plastic bag and just stuffed it in to the rocket tube i didnt cap the end it was just sealed with some selltoape..A real bodge but wasnt to bad for my first Rocket of the year :) ..Faulty EmeraldGreen Test 1

I will post another Clip of proper green when they are dry enough?..

#6 karlfoxman

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Posted 02 November 2005 - 08:42 PM

Well i found out why my greens and reds were poor... i Added PVC to the formula instead of Dextrin?..Anyway after Making a new small batch of EmerladGreen i lit a pile and what a difference :D .Really Nice Deep Green compared to the first batch...I have a few drying and when dry i will upload a video clip..

Here is a batch of EmeraldGreen WITH to much PVC added ..The camera cant handle the Brightness but in reality the green was pretty good...

I put about 40 stars no prime + a few grams of Flash in a plastic bag and just stuffed it in to the rocket tube i didnt cap the end it was just sealed with some selltoape..A real bodge but wasnt to bad for my first Rocket of the year :) ..Faulty EmeraldGreen Test 1

I will post another Clip of proper green when they are dry enough?..


Nice greens Rob!! Good rocket too, you should be very proud. You said no prime, thats not bad as it looks like they all lit. What prime will you be using? They would look fantastic inside a peony shell, very bright!

Well done!! :D

#7 Chaz

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Posted 07 November 2005 - 08:31 PM

Hm... I need to get/make some magnalium. :)

#8 sasman

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Posted 07 November 2005 - 10:11 PM

Here is the only homemade pyro i set off on the 5th!!! :) ..

It was a test of RubyRed & Emerald green stars with dextrin not PVC?!!..The camera washes out the green and seems to favour the red.. But in reality the green was very good!! as good as if not better than other reds and greens you see in real commercial fireworks... i am very happy with the colours..I filmed it with a Canon ixus 750 digital still camera..Here is the clip RubyRedEmeraldGreen2

I hope the clip works ok? . I just got a new laptop and it plays ok on my old Toshiba but it dont play correctly on the Dell? no idea why?...

#9 JamesH

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Posted 07 November 2005 - 10:53 PM

Those magnalium colours look great Rob, nice depth and colour saturation!
I'm glad to see you sorted it out. The rocket was also pretty neat.
Nice work!
HE WHO HATH ONCE SMELT THE SMOKE IS NE'ER AGAIN FREE

#10 Jerronimo

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Posted 20 December 2005 - 08:03 PM

I'm going to make some of those emerald green and ruby red formulas.
What prime do you use for these? just plain 75/15/10 meal?
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#11 RegimentalPyro

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Posted 20 December 2005 - 08:43 PM

Meal wasn't hot enough for my Rubyred stars. I had to use a 2 stage prime with "hot dragons egg ignitor" from passfire and meal rolled onto that.




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