51 replies to this topic

[MDH]

Should I go for this fellow's aluminum powder?

http://search.ebay.c..._full_orchestra

[marble]

What do you want to use it for?

/ive purchased magnesium ribbon off that seller before, nice guy

[MDH]

Flash cores and glitter effects mostly, perhaps a rare strobe composition, or a black power burst charge enhancer.

[Bonny]

Flash cores and glitter effects mostly, perhaps a rare strobe composition, or a black power burst charge enhancer.

Should work fine... I'm going to buy a lb, as he ships to Canada. Can always use more Al powder. Thanks for the tip MDH, hadn't really looked on ebay lately.

[MDH]

No probleme -- there is a fellow from germany who is also willing to ship barium and strontium nitrate to Canada if you look it up on ebay, and TONS of ceramic suppliers with chemicals such as copper oxychloride, etc.

As halloween is coming quickly and that is the time I launch most of my work off, I think I'll be ordering quite a lot in the next few days with more expensive shipping .

[Bonny]

No probleme -- there is a fellow from germany who is also willing to ship barium and strontium nitrate to Canada if you look it up on ebay, and TONS of ceramic suppliers with chemicals such as copper oxychloride, etc.

As halloween is coming quickly and that is the time I launch most of my work off, I think I'll be ordering quite a lot in the next few days with more expensive shipping .

I have some local ceramic suppliers, no copper oxychloride though... i'm a bit concerned about ordering nitrates as far as customs go. I did have one package of Ba(NO3)2 that never arrived. Anyway I plan on making some of that as well as Sr(NO3)2 as soon as I get my nitric acid. I'm pretty well set for other chems ATM.

[MDH]

Potassium Nitrate will arrive. It is customs who are concerned not about who it is arriving at, but who is shipping it. If the product is not already being shipped as a hazardous item they will stop it for safety measures at the border. Soluble barium compounds tend to be considered dangerous.

[Techohead]

i don't know if it helps, but i have angle grinded alluminium blocks and collected the dust, but found the chemical properties of the Al had changed because it got soo hot during grinding. i may be wrong but for me this Al proved extremely inneffective. as for ball milling, i've tried to mill alluminium before, but it is an extremely soft metal, which means that milling may just bend the pieces, rather than shatter them like it would with brital substances like rust.

i know from experience that hand filing Al seems to give good results, but you will be doing it all day for 50 grams of the stuff.

if anyone has a good way of making/collecting the stuff yourself, let me know.

[Bonny]

i don't know if it helps, but i have angle grinded alluminium blocks and collected the dust, but found the chemical properties of the Al had changed because it got soo hot during grinding. i may be wrong but for me this Al proved extremely inneffective. as for ball milling, i've tried to mill alluminium before, but it is an extremely soft metal, which means that milling may just bend the pieces, rather than shatter them like it would with brital substances like rust.

i know from experience that hand filing Al seems to give good results, but you will be doing it all day for 50 grams of the stuff.

if anyone has a good way of making/collecting the stuff yourself, let me know.

If you have access to a metal bandsaw you can collect the shavings. Set the blade speed fast and the feed slow to get fine cuttings. These can be sieved to -100mesh, maybe even finer. Another method is to collect aluminum drill shavings and grind in a coffeee grinder.

[paul]

I can get loads of Al, left over fram a Al-saw..

http://pyrobin.com/f...diff_mesh_1.jpg
http://pyrobin.com/f...arse_bucket.jpg

This was of use for thermite-fun only because its just too coarse to use in pyro I guess. The macro shot shows
the sieved AL which passes a normal kitchen sieve, so it might look bigger than the particles really are...

Edited by paul, 23 October 2007 - 03:53 PM.

[MDH]

All canadians should not order. Period...

Today, I got a letter telling me that the postal service is not willing to ship essentially anything. Due to the "nature" of potassium perchlorate (as though it may spontaneously explode at any given moment), they had to destroy it.

The thing that bothers me is that they just did it right away even though they told me they only destroy their inventory once every few months. And not only that, they failed to tell me for the first 20-some-odd days they had it.

This is where our tax dollars are going.

You can't order anything flammable (you shouldn't be able to ship packages they have cardboard and paper on them). All oxidizers, even organic once, or "potential" ones, are a no-no.

Edited by MDH, 23 October 2007 - 09:06 PM.

[Bonny]

All canadians should not order. Period...

Today, I got a letter telling me that the postal service is not willing to ship essentially anything. Due to the "nature" of potassium perchlorate (as though it may spontaneously explode at any given moment), they had to destroy it.

The thing that bothers me is that they just did it right away even though they told me they only destroy their inventory once every few months. And not only that, they failed to tell me for the first 20-some-odd days they had it.

This is where our tax dollars are going.

You can't order anything flammable (you shouldn't be able to ship packages they have cardboard and paper on them). All oxidizers, even organic once, or "potential" ones, are a no-no.

That really sucks. I've never had a problem with Al powders or even KNO3. I've never actually tried to order KClO4 though.

[W.P]

Due to the "nature" of potassium perchlorate (as though it may spontaneously explode at any given moment), they had to destroy it.

Haha, typical ignorant fools. I find it funny when these people instantly assume anything to do with pyrotechnics involves gunpowder and anything can spontaneously explode when unmixed.

Edited by W.P, 24 October 2007 - 06:22 AM.

[Asteroid]

I think they are just pyro enthusiasts looking for cheap chems. They're only feigning ignorant!

[MDH]

Wow. That guy I posted previously has 3500 mesh aluminum powder now. If anyone is daring enough please order some for us and show us how well it works.

Flawless glitter much?

Anyway, I got a call apologizing for the destruction of the item without prior information. However, they apparently gain ownership and can do essentially anything they want with the chemical as soon as it's in their hands. They seemed to be under the impression that it was a danger to their postal service.

Basically, DIY science is not their idea. They sent me an email list of the things they couldn't ship.

Oxidizers or potential oxidizers,
fuels, matches, fireworks, sparklers,
strong magnets, self inflating devices,
a selection of batteries,

Among many things.

I think pitbulls are a bigger danger to their service than perchlorate though.

So, anyone here willing to get me my shipping+item $30 for a pound back?