272 replies to this topic

[Stuart]

And brass is harder so it wont get 'milled down' itself

Stuart

[phildunford]

I use home-made lead balls, but found when I added a few lead 'cylinders' it made the media tumble better and reduced the milling time...

[Stuart]

I use brass nuts with lead cast into them and they milled charcoal down to almost air float in 15 minutes. They milled KNO3 down to flour in 30 minutes. There are about 30 brass nuts and the milling jar rotates at about 90rmp. Very efficent if you ask me.

Stuart

BTW I have changed the milling jar now to a bigger, clear one so I can see whats happening.

Edited by Stuart, 25 October 2003 - 06:17 AM.

[brightonben]

Everyone is talking about ball mills and milling media. I would like to point out that you can make a very successful lift powder without a ball mill. someone once showed me that as long as the ingredients are ground fine enough, you can mix your meal powder with a small amount of dextrin and water then add loads of meths mix thoroughly, drain the liquid, spread onto a flat surface and roll it out evenly with a rolling pin and leave to dry. It works great. I haven't tried it with BBQ charcoal tho.

[Matt]

Yea its called CIA.....
how do you suppose we get the chems fine enough? with a ball mill! or ofcourse if you do buy chems from pyro suppliers then they can come fine enough, its only really the charcoal thet needs to be thoroughly milled. and a ball mill isnt only good for BP, it is in general a great tool for pyro.

As a bit of "get to know the new guy" what kind of devices do you/have you made? I always like to hear what people are up to

-Matt

[brightonben]

Coffee grinders! So much easier, cheaper and quicker for a beginer than making a ball mill. I've made all sorts of things in my time, shells being my favourite. I hadn't relised there was such a wealth of information on the internet, what you hear on the news, it sounded like it was just for people who like blowing things up. I cant believe there are so many people that share my hobby. PS I collected my anual Aluminium powder supply today and its gone down in price, just under ?12 for a kg!

[BigG]

Coffee grinders!  So much easier, cheaper and quicker for a beginer than making a ball mill.  I've made all sorts of things in my time, shells being my favourite.  I hadn't relised there was such a wealth of information on the internet, what you hear on the news, it sounded like it was just for people who like blowing things up. I cant believe there are so many people that share my hobby. PS I collected my anual Aluminium powder supply today and its gone down in price, just under ?12 for a kg!

And how do you mill BP in a coffee grinder?

What type of AL you are using?

[Matt]

Ummm... have you ever used a ball mill? I used to usa a coffee grinder and trust me IT DOESNT COMPARE TO A MILL! im sure everyone on this board will agree with me on this. Make a mill! you will never regret it!

-Matt

[brightonben]

I have a mill but I never find the time to use it. I'm just pointing out, you dont need to ball mill to make decent compositions, and suitable powder for lift. I know its been done for years, but I still feel it to be dangerous to mill any oxidiser/fuel mix.

-And how do you mill BP in a coffee grinder?
I dont mill BP, i mill the separate chemicals.
-What type of AL you are using?
All my Aluminium comes from a paint supplier, I belive it to be 500mesh flake

[phildunford]

Coffee grinders are great for preparing coarse charcoal from lump, but I would think it would be quite dangerous to prepare sensitive mixtures in them.

They are far too violent and also tend to get hot...

[PanMaster]

brightonben
heres ANOTHER method from the inventive people i used to know
put the charcoal or whatever it is into a plastic bag or several shets of newpaper folded over and wallop it with a hammer a few hundred times on a hard concrete floor, i recommend at least 1000 times, real hard, it makes very good quality if done correctly, if you want to get it really fine put it under a huge hammer such as a steel tube with a big weight at the end and give it an almighty pulverising
pestles and mortars are the next best thing to a ball mill, they are usually inexpensive and if made of good smooth porcelain can grind powder extremely fine if you have enough stamina to grind it for 30mins to an hour, in fact you can easily replicate ball mill quality if you put in enough effort.
A good trick is to wet the powder and keep pestling it until it is dry, works real good

[Stuart]

A coffie grinder will make caster sugar fine chems. A ball mill will make it a lot finner than flour

Stuart

[brightonben]

seems funny. I must have the worlds best coffee grinders! my chemicals are super fine when I've milled them. maybe I just a knack with them. I do make a mean cappuccino too!

[Rhodri]

Coffee mills do indeed produce very fine powders.

There is a danger though. You really need to have at least two. The reason being that even though the 'bowl' of the grinder has a pretty good gasket seal, over time very fine powders will accumulate around the motor. Not such a risk for C but with KNO3 and C you may be running a risk. You can reduce this risk by using one for KNO3 and one for C.

[tajmiester]

Back to the milling media...

I use round lead fishing weights.

Tris