29 replies to this topic

[completebeginner]

does anyone know of any formulas for the smoke b**bs that instead of slowly giving off smoke it just gives it all off in one poof. any help is appreciated

[Richard H]

That would be very difficult to achieve using the conventional smoke compositions. You would have to experiment with dispearsing paint pigments with a burst charge.

[adamw]

Why not just a tube full of BP

[Andrew]

As Adam suggested, bp ina bog roll with no packing is good. I did a few experiments a while ago on this.


If you seal one end with cellotape, it is inportant to not provide much confinement, two layer is the max.

Fill with bp but do not pack any of it down, it's important the allow a certain amount of air to stay in the powder.

Insert fuse and cover over the other end the same as before.


Depending on a few factors, like tape gauge, tac and length in contact with sides, you will get a pop or thud ranging to a light bang. It produces approx 16m3 of dence white smoke in an instant. Don't use grain powder, you will not get as much smoke and you will probably deathen anyone near, maybe drop the ocasional heart condition sufferer.

A different approch is the mill up some KNO3 sugar smoke mix and mix that with bp. This burns for a second or so and produces more smoke, but the down side is the immediate area gets very hot compared to the bp on it's own.

[completebeginner]

i was on the apc forums and someone saide that if you dissolve mothballs in gasoline that when lit it make a sudden poof of black smoke has anyone tried this. and i want thicker smoke than just bp as mine sucks at the moment due to lack of an accurate scale and potassium nitrate

[adamw]

I also bet you read on there that if you mix NaCLO3 and sulphur, put it in a steel pipe and hit it with a hammer it will be OK.

I do not know if mothballs (I guess we are talking napthalane) will dissolve in 'gasoline' to start off with (maybe xylene or benzene will do it) and the 'poof' will not be instant (is said person trying to suggest that the addition of the mothballs with increase the burning rate?)

Why not just burn a tire (sp) (of course that would be bad for the environment)

[Stuart]

I'm surprised nobody has suggested one of the most obvious methods as a solution if you're using KNO3/Sugar. Whats one of the simplest things you learn in chemistry which speeds up reactions?

Surface Area

Melt the two together, then grind it up when its solidified. I doubt you would even need to grind it up much, a few good whacks with a hammer into small lumps would probably have the desired effect.

[warrenizer88]

That should work well. I remember last time i made smoke comp the stuff i made with granulated sugar burned a little faster than that with powdered sugar (no idea about the mesh sizes). I couldnt think of why, because it wasnt melted together, only mixed. That would explain it well enough. I never thought i'd hear of someone corning KNO3/sugar...

[Draco_Americanus]

orginaly napalm was a mix of napathalane and gasoline but was updated to benzene and styrofoam. But why use that for smoke? it's a sticky mess that has probly no use in this hobby.
There are smoke formulas that use kclo3 that may fit your needs.

[Von Bass]

will an open pile of BP maybe with a bit more C in the mixture not work?

[sizzle]

will an open pile of BP maybe with a bit more C in the mixture not work?

Extra Charcoal would make the mixture slower, perhaps adding more KNO3 would speed up the reaction.

[completebeginner]

adding extra kn03 would slow down the mix by over oxidizing it, it would work like a portfire, and as i said before i need something that makes thick smoke quickly, bp makes very thin smoke quickly, fp makes thicker smoke but still not very thick, i am getting an order of kclo3 soon. if i were to mix it in certain proportions to sugar would that make an almost sudden, thick, white smoke mix?

[Ghost_Walker]

i believe there is a book about instant smoke devices...i know it sounds kinda corny but its about ninja smoke


its available from multiple sources but i usually order from firefox-fx;

Item #-- TRNJAS

heres the link

http://firefox-fx.com/literature.htm

[completebeginner]

i would buy the book but im kind of broke and i can most likely find the information on the internet somewhere. And i just found out that im no longer getting any kclo3 because the site i was ordering from doesnt ship to individuals

[Electron]

One time while experimenting with KNO3/Sucrose smoke composition i added a lot of sawdust to the molten mixture. When it dryed and cooled i lit it and it burned A LOT faster than it does without the sawdust. I actually wanted to slow the burn rate down so i added the sawdust as a cheap fuel. I think the sawdust just increased the surface area of the cast composition.