6 replies to this topic

[banga]

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone can post some pics and construction info on how to build your own press. I'm sure I'll be able to come up with my own simple creation thats easy enough to knock up but I'd like to hear and see other people's ideas and creations.

Most likely I'll use a car jack or a wind up clamp and whack together some sort of holding canister for it but I'm still keen to see what others have.

Cheers.

[Pretty green flames]

I made a press from the plans on wouter's site, works pretty good for 2 tons. The only difference is that instead of the middle wooden plate i welded a piece of steel (10x10x1cm) directly on the car jack piston. I haven't tried it with a 5 ton jack but my guess is that you would crack the wood si it'd be better to use an all steel frame for the bigger ones.

http://www.wfvisser....N/press_EN.html

[Bonny]

You can find a lot of info and different peoples' designs here:

http://www.apcforum....s...=press&st=0

[banga]

You can find a lot of info and different peoples' designs here:

http://www.apcforum....s...=press&st=0

Thanks guys

[pyroduck7]

it sounds stupid but what does a bp press do? iv never used one.

[mike_au]

it sounds stupid but what does a bp press do? iv never used one.

It is used to compress black powder to obtain a uniform density. You press your powder into a puck and then break it up into various mesh sizes. You can then measure your powder by volume rather than mass with a fair degree of accuracy.

[Arthur Brown]

BP is an intimate mixture. The powdered ingredients are mixed to make green mix. the mix is not very intimate so it burns poorly and incompletely. When the greenmix is milled -sometimes done moist!- the product is a much better incorporation of the ingredients into a more intimate mix and the powder will burn very rapidly and almost completely. When the milled powder is pressed it has it's highest density and most intimate mixture for most complete combustion, however it is slow as the pressed puck only burns from the outside. Breaking (corning) the puck produces grains of BP and these can be selected by size using sieves for fast (small grains), or slow (large grains) uses. The dust from corning is the fastest BP available from your ingredients.

Slow BP is useful for thrust in rockets and for lift (esp in larger shells). Fast BP is used for breaks and bangs.

Edited by Arthur Brown, 25 August 2008 - 08:16 AM.