635 replies to this topic

[pyromania]

Thats alrite then. lol I guess if you imagine it as a whole shire horse pulling your mill it kinda makes sense.

[Pieman]

I just tried my first batch of milled Bp, WOW! I mean WOW! It was absoutly stunning what a difference the ball mill made. I was a bit sceptical about shelling out ?60 but it was well worth it and i've only tried a samll amount. I put a pile of it on some computer paper in the garden and lit it with one of those extra long lighters, usuall used for barbecues. Normally the pile would burn away after a little convincing with the lighter, if i granulated it it would go a bit faster. Now as soon as I touched the lighter to it the pile was gone in a puff of smoke (literally) I even felt a wave of heat brush over my hand (I'm never trying that again with out a bit of fuse between me and the pile). Also there was not even a mark left on the paper compared to previously where the paper completly burnt away.

In a post I made awhile ago I said I managed to get a polumna to go bang by hand pressing the greenmeal a bit, the meal from my ball mill made a 'sweet' polumna with a much louder bang and this wasn't even pressed!

I guess I should mention a little bit about the ball mill;
Its a Lortone 3A rock tumbler I got from eBay (Its from a eBay shop called rons rocks if anyone is intrested), I had to pay extra to get the 220v modle because I bought it off an american seller (I live in England) and the shipping bought it up to about ?60. I got some non-sparking ceramic media from inoxia.co.uk and milled the Bp for about 8 hours. Next time I wont do it for quite so long, probably about 3-4 hours.

If you don't have one then buy, or make, one tomorrow! It will change your life, or your Bp at least!

[chemicalwazi]

I just tried my first batch of milled Bp, WOW! I mean WOW! It was absoutly stunning what a difference the ball mill made. I was a bit sceptical about shelling out ?60 but it was well worth it and i've only tried a samll amount. I put a pile of it on some computer paper in the garden and lit it with one of those extra long lighters, usuall used for barbecues. Normally the pile would burn away after a little convincing with the lighter, if i granulated it it would go a bit faster. Now as soon as I touched the lighter to it the pile was gone in a puff of smoke (literally) I even felt a wave of heat brush over my hand (I'm never trying that again with out a bit of fuse between me and the pile). Also there was not even a mark left on the paper compared to previously where the paper completly burnt away.

In a post I made awhile ago I said I managed to get a polumna to go bang by hand pressing the greenmeal a bit, the meal from my ball mill made a 'sweet' polumna with a much louder bang and this wasn't even pressed!

I guess I should mention a little bit about the ball mill;
Its a Lortone 3A rock tumbler I got from eBay (Its from a eBay shop called rons rocks if anyone is intrested), I had to pay extra to get the 220v modle because I bought it off an american seller (I live in England) and the shipping bought it up to about ?60. I got some non-sparking ceramic media from inoxia.co.uk and milled the Bp for about 8 hours. Next time I wont do it for quite so long, probably about 3-4 hours.

If you don't have one then buy, or make, one tomorrow! It will change your life, or your Bp at least!

Too right,
ballmilling is the way forward. Ball mill for 10+ hrs = quailty
Rice into 'mouse poos' = double quality.
You have found the secret to making quality, BP powder/lift

[ProfHawking]

I opened my mill this evening to find a strange thing that hasnt happened before.
The latest 24hr batch of plain BP had congealed into a large round and solid lump with the balls around it.
Has anyone had this happen to them?
The powder was pretty fine when this happened, as its well mixed as far as i can tell. Could it be because it was too damp?
The barrel was half full of lead balls. Was there too much powder in it perhaps?
But ive done batches almost as big as that before without a problem.
I think the mill was stopped somewhere along its run for a bit, would that affect it? could it have settled enough to form a lump that couldnt be broken up when turned back on?

Any suggestions would be handy please!

[pyrotechnist]

Were can i buy a nice size PVC pipe for a ball mill with a capped end in the UK from?i tried google but came up with nothing.

[karlfoxman]

Were can i buy a nice size PVC pipe for a ball mill with a capped end in the UK from?i tried google but came up with nothing.

Dont bother with google for that, just pop over to a hardware suppliers/plumber suppliers and they will have all the bits to make them up. You will also find tight fitting blanking bungs/caps.

[PYRODUDE!!!]

Can you just use rock tumblers instead of mills?

[Andrew]

Can you just use rock tumblers instead of mills?

I?m sure this has been answered before, but seems as the topic is 20 pages long:

Yes, they are different from mills though. A tumbler usually polishes stones by tumbling them around with a quantity of grit or polishing dust. A mill uses large hard media to make the contents turn to dust. They are kind of the opposite but are interchangeable; just put some milling media in the tumbler instead of grit.

[PYRODUDE!!!]

Well I coulden't really be bothered to read 20 pages of long paragraphs!

[pyrotechnist]

Dont bother with google for that, just pop over to a hardware suppliers/plumber suppliers and they will have all the bits to make them up. You will also find tight fitting blanking bungs/caps.

The only place i know is B&Q and they don't seem to do it .

[Andrew]

The only place i know is B&Q and they don't seem to do it .

Is there a jewsons near you? they sell u-pvc pipes in 4" and 6" diameter, however the latter costs a small fortune and the smallest in length is 3m.

[Draco_Americanus]

Well I just read on passfire about some ballmill media and the info had it stated that stainless steel was the best media to use but was also the most expensive. Now i feel a bit better useing stainless steel balls in my smaller mill.

[Mumbles]

Are all stainless steels sparkless, or should I be looking for a certain grade? This is something I don't want to experiment with. I am considering stainless steel for at least one jar of my new ball mill for ammonical compositions and metals specifically.

[Pretty green flames]

Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

#316 is one of the preferable alloys for milling; it's considered
"non-sparking" and is highly corrosion-resistant

Taken from rec.pyro so i guess this information is quite reliable.

[s2525]

Wasnt there someone who used stainless steel nuts and bolts (acctached obviosly) for there milling media?