4 replies to this topic

[Willis]

I've been having a read up on making a flash gun for theatrical pyro. I need flash paper and flash cotton. I don’t want to buy them. I would rather make them and i currently don’t have the cash to spend. Is it possible to incorporate using flash powder to make the paper? Rather than using sulphic and nitric acid. Maybe the same idea could be applied to cotton wool to create flash cotton. Maybe trying to dissolve a flash mix in water then soaking paper. The Al would not dissolve so I am stuck with any other variations.


Thanks

James

[Arthur Brown]

For the cost of proper flash paper and flash cotton it isn't worth making anything!

from the 07 le Maitre price list:
FLASH PAPER (4 sheets) EACH £9
FLASH COTTON (4 grams) EACH £7

Using a nitrating mixture for wet chemistry is beyond the remit of this forum and could easily be considered and act of illegal manufacture. Obtaining the necessary concentrations and purity of the chemicals involved would certainly attract the wrong sort of interest from men in suits and uniforms.

Also If you have a pre-made product you should be able to do tests to determine the product behaviour. If you use home made you cannot rely on batch consistency.

[seymour]

There is already a thread on flash paper, including a tutorial on its manufacture by one of UKPS forum's resident chemists, YT2095.
www.pyrosociety.org.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=3121&hl=flash+paper

However when you stray beyond personal use (which I cannot see being more illegal than home production of pyrotechnic compositions) I agree with Arthur, it is probably unwise to use home made nitrocellulose.

[Willis]

I had a quick search for any existing threads. Apologies I didnt see that thread it is very useful. Its annoying there is no way of using chemicals i already have.

thanks
James

[Arthur Brown]

It's perfectly simple to make flash paper/cotton/string. However doing nitrations using conc acids could cause you a lot of adverse publicity as the papers will assume that you are really nitrating something more evil than loo roll! Also you need to deal with the lab issues of corrosive strong acids and temperature control and brown fumes!