2 replies to this topic

[Zinginex]

Hey I want to fire my first ever cake today for mothers day lol
It will only be two devices, a fountain and then a small starmine, but i just need a few questions answered.
I only have access to charcoal at the moment and I have some meal powder. I don't have a set of mesh screens yet so i can't measure the mesh of my charcoal but how coarse should the charcoal be to use in a fountain for nice orange "sparks"? I have a very fine metal sieve, like flour, and i sieved out all the fine charcoal and got left with big lumps and very coarse like flakes of charcoal that didn't get ground up. You can see the flakes with the naked eye. Is that too coarse or just right for fountains? My starmine is ready and I'm hoping it will work out well
Thanks

[seymour]

Well, anything smaller than the ID of the choke can be added without the fountain catastrophically failing.

Obviously particles quite a bit smaller than that will still reach the ground burning, but size is not the only factor here. Also as always the charcoal type, which is why no one will be able to say "this mesh charcoal is the very best for fountains!"

To make it more complicated for you, different sized charcoal particles give different effects, and you might want one effect or the other! Fine charcoal will give a denser, "fluffier" plume, while coarser charcoal will give you a sparser but larger spray.

However anything that fits through a kitchen sieve (do not hold me liable for domestic disputes, and preferably buy your own) should work fine. For plain charcoal effects I quite like 1 hour ball milled 6/3/1 with a choke 1/6th the ID of the tube, but see what works for you!

Edited by seymour, 04 March 2008 - 04:22 AM.

[Zinginex]

Well, anything smaller than the ID of the choke can be added without the fountain catastrophically failing.

Obviously particles quite a bit smaller than that will still reach the ground burning, but size is not the only factor here. Also as always the charcoal type, which is why no one will be able to say "this mesh charcoal is the very best for fountains!"

To make it more complicated for you, different sized charcoal particles give different effects, and you might want one effect or the other! Fine charcoal will give a denser, "fluffier" plume, while coarser charcoal will give you a sparser but larger spray.

However anything that fits through a kitchen sieve (do not hold me liable for domestic disputes, and preferably buy your own) should work fine. For plain charcoal effects I quite like 1 hour ball milled 6/3/1 with a choke 1/6th the ID of the tube, but see what works for you!

Ok thanks very much I'll try some tests with different meshes of pine charcoal but thanks for the reply.