46 replies to this topic

[pyromaniac]

has ne1 tried sodium chlorate and sugar and a string (kinda slow burnin reliable fuse..kinda... ) ? pretty gd fuse though coz sodium chlorate hyrdospcopic (is that the word i dunno, u know the stuff whcih absorbs water out the air) it gets kinda wet. if i put nitro cellulose laquer over it wuld it work and wuld this affect the burn rate?

[Richard H]

Nope, Never tried it, and it sounds very bad besides.

People need to get it into their heads that using sodium chlorate for anything else than making potassium chlorate is not a wise thing to do. If you need fuse simply make some blackmatch.

[adamw]

Yes, hydroscopic is the right word. Would it work with nitrocellulose laquer? Try it!!... man never knew that toast would be nice until he/she heated bread! Ask if you think it might be dangerous (ie. "Is it ok to bind chlorate stars with sulphuric acid"), but it doesnt hurt to try some things...

[Dave Angel]

hey all I just joined! whats this about making potassium chlorate from sodium chlorate? I dunno how to make it but you can get small amounts from wilko's in their pet>fish department I found recently its 98% pure, oxygenating tablets for your aquarium

[lord_dranack]

the first fuse i made was NaClO3+sugar, and it worked great as slowmatch, but was not much good for fireworks. Try blackmatch (coat string boiled in KNO3 with a 90%bp 10%dextrine paste and leave to dry)

[leniol]

Being at work & hence not having my periodic table to hand, I can't give you the exact quantities BUT I have made KClO3 from NaClO3 & KCl in lo salt. The key things to remeber is that lo salt is only 66% KCl so you need to factor that into your solubility calculations. I find that the resulting KClO3 is great for stars, H3, making an improvised flash powder with magnesium filings... The only downside is that it is slightly hygroscopic, presumably due to low level salt contamination. If you need full procedures, calculations etc, let me know.

[Steve]

Garden direct sells pure KCl which i use to make KClO4 or good quality. You have to phone and ask for it though. Not sure why, but its not in the main catalouge.

Steve

[Dave Angel]

was doing a bit of shopping/research today and found that holland and barratts (you know, the health foods shop) sells pure KCl (along with a range of other salts which may or may not be useful for stuff)... I bet their KCl sales go up now

[Pyromaster2003]

BRILIANT:D how much for what quantity?

[Dave Angel]

I'm not quite sure unfortunately... tho I think I was very annoyed when I saw the rip off price - something like 4 quid!!! plus it wasn't in a massive quantity.... maybe better to try steve's suggestion of garden direct, you can probably get 3 tonnes for a fiver, heheh. Anyways thought it was worth a mention, you never know when you'll need a quick KCl fix

[Pyromaster2003]

ye thanks for that:)

[Ritual33]

You know them fuses you get on commercial fireworks, them really thin fuses that just look like thin cotton string, how are they made? they also come on portfires and they burn pretty hot with a white sparking flame, these type of things would be really nice to make for things where u want a really thin fuse, anybody know how they are made? If this just really thin visco or something? I don't notice a bp trail inside.

Thanks,
Drew

P.S, would nitrating thin cotton string work or does it turn it into slush?; i've never nitrated anything before.

Edited by Ritual33, 07 November 2005 - 01:36 AM.

[Mumbles]

If you nitrated string it would still be in the form of string as long as it is done correctly. It wouldn't make sparks like that. I know someone who nitrated string, I will ask him how it turned out.

I can't say that I know what you are talking about with the fuse, so I can't be of any help.

[Stuart]

P.S, would nitrating thin cotton string work or does it turn it into slush?; i've never nitrated anything before.

Are you sure you mean nitrating? Do you mean putting string in a Potassium Nitrate solution or actually nitrating it with H2SO4/HNO3 acids?

[Ritual33]

If you nitrated string it would still be in the form of string as long as it is done correctly. It wouldn't make sparks like that. I know someone who nitrated string, I will ask him how it turned out.

I can't say that I know what you are talking about with the fuse, so I can't be of any help.

Cool, would be nice to hear how that turned out. I think maybe it could be really thin visco, but im talking about VERY fine fuse, like a thick cotten thread like hmmm embroidary thread.

Regards,
Drew