21 replies to this topic

[fruitfulsteve]

Does hexamine need to powdered for use in colour formulas? if so can it be ball milled? also does it absorb moisture from air?

[Creepin_pyro]

As far as I know it's not hygroscopic. According to a few MSDSs though, it is 'sensitive to humidity' whatever that means...

As far as storage/usage goes I store mine in airtight plastic and haven't had any problems with it. It does tend to cake and I don't fancy trying to ball mill it (it's quite waxy so not sure how well that'd work) so I give it a quick whizz in a coffee grinder before using it. You certainly want it to be finely powdered for use in colour formulas.

Making some blues are we?

[fruitfulsteve]

As far as I know it's not hygroscopic. According to a few MSDSs though, it is 'sensitive to humidity' whatever that means...

As far as storage/usage goes I store mine in airtight plastic and haven't had any problems with it. It does tend to cake and I don't fancy trying to ball mill it (it's quite waxy so not sure how well that'd work) so I give it a quick whizz in a coffee grinder before using it. You certainly want it to be finely powdered for use in colour formulas.

Making some blues are we?

[fruitfulsteve]

Still at it hopefully persistence will pay off

[Mumbles]

The "sensitive to moisture" means that it very slowly hydrolyses, thus the smell.

[fruitfulsteve]

that explains why the smell went when i heated it in the oven prior to ball milling

[pyrotechnist]

Nothing like the smell of fresh fish is there lol

[starseeker]

I have been looking for some hexamine for a blue comp and all i have come across are hexamine fuel tablets and was wondering are these pure hexamine?

[RFD]

Have a look on ebay,somebody was listing hexamine already powdered,200g a go at reasonable money,tablets really are for cooking stoves and a bit of a pain to grind or mill and probably dearer than already prepared stuff.

[digger]

I will be getting a big delivery of hexamine in about two weeks time. I will able to do abaout a kilo for the price of the 200g on ebay!

[pyrotechnist]

Ill wait out until then digger for my chemical order as I think I will be adding that to it :>

[starseeker]

I will be getting a big delivery of hexamine in about two weeks time. I will able to do abaout a kilo for the price of the 200g on ebay!

Smashing digger,i was going to place a order for a few bits so i will just hang on a bit longer.

[pyromaniac303]

I've never understood the use of hexamine in blue compositions. Surely you are trying to lower the flame temperature, whereas hexamine has an extremely high heat output when compared to other organic fuels?

I've used it successfully in reds for this very reason as I was making bengal matches - I was worried that a metallic fuel may spit sparks in close proximity to the users hand.

Edited by pyromaniac303, 04 April 2010 - 03:20 PM.

[pyrotechnist]

I have made dodgy strobing comps using hexamine that seems to work pretty darn well. I think hexamine is a whole new world to explore which has not yet been explored. I also thought hexamine was not dangerous to handle?

[digger]

I've never understood the use of hexamine in blue compositions. Surely you are trying to lower the flame temperature, whereas hexamine has an extremely high heat output when compared to other organic fuels?

I've used it successfully in reds for this very reason as I was making bengal matches - I was worried that a metallic fuel may spit sparks in close proximity to the users hand.

The reason for the use of hexamine is that it dramatically increases the size of the flame envelope. Thus it has two functions, to increase the size of the light source and to reduce the temperature as the heat is spread over a larger volume.

It does work, my best blue to date had hexamine in it.

Edited by digger, 04 April 2010 - 05:51 PM.