635 replies to this topic

[Richard H]

Perhaps you should have been aware of Customs & Excise . Usually you have to pay Excise duty, and also VAT at 17.5%

[italteen3]

How much lift did you use?

I've found I have to use considerably more lift for these tiny shells than I'd expect.
If I use the 1/10-1/16 shell weight rule, I get similar results. With the small size we're dealing with, the gap around the shell is proportionally much more and the super light shells probably don't do very much for increasing pressure.

United Nuclear suggests 1/8 teaspoon?  What good is that? What mesh? Commercial or amatuer? Level, or heaping like they show in the photo? You'd think nuclear scientists would measure by mass, huh?

Using a moderate pulverone, I've used up to nearly shell weight (3-4g for a 5g. shell) in lift to get 35-50 ft. (10+ metres).

Anyone else firing these tiny shells?
If so, how much lift are you using?

If not, give it a go, loaded with 1/4" sections of flying fish instead of a salute, they're great little garden shells, pretty, quiet, and demonstrate how a real shell works in a less scary scale (good for first shells or nervous spouses  )


Admins: Off topic I realise, please sort as needed, but being a question to an earlier post, I wasn't sure Italteen would catch a new thread.

I milled it for 16 hours, but for half of the time it was with double the media... Dont ask

That is my first variable which I will try to overcome by doing another batch for 16 hours then testing. If not succesful then 24 hours and to see how it goes then.

Well its not my proportions, its my BP. It was first batch ever so I didnt expect grand success, but rather mistakes to learn from. Dont know what I did wrong but I guess I need to figure out right rpm's and possibly add some brass cylinders.

Then I will and see if I have the right rpm's for my jars.

Then I will see if it is the charcoal and Sulfur I bought from UN instead of from a more reputable place like Skylighter. Or should I do this first before worrying about rpms?

Back on topic about ball mills.
How effective will brass media mixed in be?

EDIT: BurlHorse are you sure that the article on the magic of grinding things is in Best of AFN III? Searced but could not find it because I am trying to figure out some things about my tumbler and mill. This is back on your post on the 6th page concerning some mathematical formulas that could be of some help.

Edited by italteen3, 09 July 2004 - 02:50 AM.

[kaltogulash]

I am placing and order for the 3 Lb. capacity Ball Mill on www.unitednuclear.com

I went through what they can and cant' export, and nothing about ball mills not being allowed.
Seems a prime buy, at $70, comes to just under ?40! Don't care about shipping etc, for ?40 its a bargain.

Just wondering if its a better experience for a beginner to make a ball mill, rather than purchase one.
All i've made is green meal, with a very small morter and pestle. But that alone has been surprisingly fun.

Im sure most of you know of the whereabouts of these ball mills, but for those who don't Ball Mills .

Im getting the top one.

- Sam

[Creepin_pyro]

Just beware of the customs fees. You might be unpleasantly surprised. Also, I would be interested to know if you're ordering media with the mill, and what you end up paying in total. I expect the shipping costs would be rather high :-)

[Jerronimo]

Yes, make sure you get enough media with that ballmill.
From the stories I heard untited nuclear suplies their ballmills with an insufficient
amount of media, so please be absolutely sure.

[chim-chim]

I got mine at UN and it is true, the drum is considerably less than half full of media.
There is enough to mill 100g or so of most powders, but you'll likely want more.

Harbor Freight sells the same model much cheaper (half-ish, wish I knew then...), I believe it comes with no media, but if you were getting more anyhow-cheaper mill, same brand
Don't know if they ship to U.K.

[miniskinny]

Hm, United Nuclear's 3 pound ball mills look a lot like the one chim-chim just mentioned...But as for me, I found that a cheap little rock tumbler, and some fishing weights (I believe they mostly stopped making them out of lead, since fish eat them and get fairly sick ) milled up my Potassium Chlorate 80 % and red wood charcoal 20 %, came up with some plenty fine gun powder. I suppose I may be needing a larger-sized rock tumbler later, or perhaps I'll make one. That formula up above works fine despite it not having any sulfur in it, since it's not a good idea to have sulfur and chlorate getting mashed together.
mini

[Phoenix]

That was a typo, wasn't it?

[bmiller14]

I just got a "Rock tumbler" harbor frieght and it works great i made AL powder from the foil in about 12 hours with about 1/4 the jar with fishing weights. I cannot belive that UN is charging that much its a rip off I spent 30$ on mill and media.

[miniskinny]

I keep hearing about people making aluminum flitter by ball-milling aluminum foil...Yet I can't seem to picture that working...Can someone re-assure me on here before I actually go about wasting a good deal of mill time?

[italteen3]

I got mine at UN and it is true, the drum is considerably less than half full of media.
There is enough to mill 100g or so of most powders, but you'll likely want more.

Harbor Freight sells the same model much cheaper (half-ish, wish I knew then...), I believe it comes with no media, but if you were getting more anyhow-cheaper mill, same brand
Don't know if they ship to U.K.

Yeah I will not be doing my next batch of BP until I get some 1/2" brass rods cut up and mixed in to help fill in the void. Hopefully this will solve problem of cruddy BP, which my guess was not enough media.

I recomend the tumbler from Harborfreight because it is rather quiet, small, and the heat generated by the motor is shielded rather well from the drums and I have yet to notice any heat on the drums. Though the loads it can handle are small due to the 3lb capacity limit of each drum I think I will be mixing in brass media as well because if the jar was half full with lead media it would be well over 3lbs not counting the charge...

[Jerronimo]

milled up my Potassium Chlorate 80 % and red wood charcoal 20 %, came up with some plenty fine gun powder. I suppose I may be needing a larger-sized rock tumbler later, or perhaps I'll make one. That formula up above works fine despite it not having any sulfur in it, since it's not a good idea to have sulfur and chlorate getting mashed together.
mini

It's not a good idea to mill chlorate with any fuel!!!
Do you want to blow up your house or something?

[bmiller14]

It works I do it all the time.

[italteen3]

It works I do it all the time.

Please tell me that was directed towards my post of mixing in cylindrical media to fill in void and not the chlorate BP?

IF so I will be getting some brass rod soon!

[bmiller14]

Actually it was to mini about AL flitter, and I would never ball mill a chlorate with a fual. I never even use chlorates I am to much of a beginer to mess with them. Sorry for not being more clear.

Edited by bmiller14, 12 July 2004 - 06:46 PM.