633 replies to this topic

[Wyvern]

I just have some stars drying off now, my own formula (well as far as i know)

KNO3 50
Charcoal- airfloat 10
S 10
AL-flake-140 micron 10
AL-Spherical-325mesh 5
Sb - metel powder 5
Sb2S3 5
Dextrin 5

[chris17]

Yesterday I experimented with pine rosin as fuel in organic color comps. I substituted red gum with the rosin in some original red and green formulas, and the results are very promising. It turns out that pine rosin works very well as fuel, and it seems even superior to red gum. I couldn't find many formulas containing rosin, so I was wondering are there some sort of incompatibilities as it isn't used more widely?

[Wyvern]

Already posted in the shells section but i think it is more relevant here. Quite a time consuming process to make and quite a few chems
needed but a beautiful end result.

http://tompearceltd.co.uk/goldblue.wmv

40g Potassium nitrate
10g Barium nitrate
10g Antimony Trisuphide (400 mesh)
20g Willow charcoal (bag ranges from airfloat to 40 mesh)
5g AL flake (40-120 mesh)
5g Al Sherical (325 mesh)
7g Willow charcoal ( same as above but added post milling)
3g Mg (170 mesh)(coated)
10g Sulphur
5g boric acid

Mill the 40g Potassium nitrate, 10g Barium nitrate, 20g Charcoal, 10g Sulphur, Boric Acid and Dextrin for 4 hours, then mix in the rest of the ingredients through mesh screen until thoroughly mixed wet with a 50/50 water alcohol and pump

[Creepin_pyro]

Looks very interesting, but the video downloads as a 4Kb file which doesn't work.... is this just me?

[Wyvern]

Try http://tompearceltd.co.uk/ and clicking the file or try right clicking the link and "save target as"

Edited by Wyvern, 24 April 2007 - 04:54 PM.

[maxman]

For winokur 20 glitter is it best to use -200 mesh magnalium as per the formula or I also have -60 +120 mesh.

Before I make these do other members use boric acid in the comp and if so is 1% ok?

Also will I need the boric in Blesers white strobe formula?

[Wyvern]

i like to use Boric acid for all metal comps which i bend with Water for peace of mind. im my opinion the alternative does not bare thinking about

Edited by Wyvern, 26 April 2007 - 02:34 PM.

[Mumbles]

The 60 to 120 should work fine if you wanted to use it. Personally for a longer tail for rising tails or something I might use 8 parts -200 mesh, 4 parts of the coarser stuff. This is the MgAl breakdown used in the formula direct from Pyrotechnica II.

16.5% +325 mesh
22.5% 200-325 mesh
32% 120-200 mesh
29% 50-80 mesh

[koobee]

I've been experimenting with small shells for a few years now with little to no success. Recently I began using a different type of star and my results have become much much better. I am using parlon based stars with a 70/30 mix of MEK and Acetone for solvent. Sprinkle a generous amount of your favorite prime on a piece of tin foil, next add the solvent to a parlon based formula untill a very thick consistency is aquired. Place this thick glob of composition on the tin foil in the center of the prime. Then add more prime (generously) to the top side of the composition and place a second piece of foil on the top so the order is as follows:
Foil>Prime>Star Comp>Prime>Foil
This keeps the very thick and friendly comp from sticking (in a very stubborn manner) to the foil. Spread evenly and cut the stars. You can also spray the topside prime lightly to ensure the prime sticks well. These stars will dry VERY fast and are very sensitive to heat. I tested some out and they caught fire almost instantaneously from a simple match, and in a shell they are extremely reliable. For others who are having the same issue, try using some magnesium parlon stars. They are very reliable and bright. I've noticed that parlon stars are also very difficult to blow out, so for really really hard breaks, try these! Any parlon star should produce similar results. Let me know if this helps anyone! Or if anyone has any questions, comments, and what not!

Edited by koobee, 12 June 2007 - 07:27 PM.

[MMMMMM Pyro]

Hello!

Im expecting C2Cl6 from my next keten order.... Does anyone by any chance know any really good, preferably blue comps that use this as a Cl2 donor?
Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Mike

[Deafaid]

anybody tried this formula:

Golden Wave no. 3 Shimizu
potassium nitrate - 37
sulfur - 9
aluminium flake - 47
boric acid - 1
dextrin - 6
35% alcohol

[pyrotrev]

For winokur 20 glitter is it best to use -200 mesh magnalium as per the formula or I also have -60 +120 mesh.

I tried making some Win20 using 100 -150 mesh MgAl (no small stuff) expecting a longer delay and fewer, bigger spritzels, but the effect was quite different - a more dense glitter with a shorter delay! I wonder whether the fine MgAl forms drops of a sort of metal/polysulphide "soup" whereas the coarser stuff is individual metal particles coated with polysulphide.

10g Antimony Trisuphide (400 mesh)
20g Willow charcoal (bag ranges from airfloat to 40 mesh)
5g AL flake (40-120 mesh)
5g Al Sherical (325 mesh)
7g Willow charcoal ( same as above but added post milling)

Might you be able to divulge where you got the Al flake from please? I've found plenty of sources of fine stuff or very coarse, but intermediate sizes seem to be quite hard to find
Nice effecct BTW.

Edited by pyrotrev, 17 November 2007 - 09:26 AM.

[KarlosH]

Hallo. I need youre help. I am looking for any barium nitrate based green strobe composition without BHC. PVC not work in composition, good colour but not twinkling. AP compositions are maybe good, but potasium bichromate is cancerogenic, and i want try any easy composition with BaN and sulphur, however must be nice green. Do you know any kind of this?
Sorry: poor english.
Thanks.

[portfire]

Hallo. I need youre help. I am looking for any barium nitrate based green strobe composition without BHC. PVC not work in composition, good colour but not twinkling. AP compositions are maybe good, but potasium bichromate is cancerogenic, and i want try any easy composition with BaN and sulphur, however must be nice green. Do you know any kind of this?
Sorry: poor english.
Thanks.

I can't comment on the color,but this is from the pfp database

Kinsei -Green Strobe

Barium nitrate-40
Magnalium (80 mesh)-18
Benzene hexachloride-5
Sulfur-30
Antimony trisulfide-7
10% NC lacquer

Here's the link to the site.

http://members.shaw.ca/gryphon223/PFP/

Hope it helps
dean

[MMMMMM Pyro]

without BHC.

Ahem...

From cannonfuse.com, I cant vouch for the quality/safety and they do use K2Cr2O7... but:

Twinkling green star #1
Source: rec.pyrotechnics, posted by Bill Nelson <billn@peak.org, from "Pyrotechnica VII"[3] by T. Fish
Comments: Magnesium reacts slowly with ammonium perchlorate producing ammonia and magnesium perchlorate, especially in the presence of moisture. Thus, the twinklers cannot be stored for more than 6 months, and they must be kept in a closed bag. During the smoulder phase, magnesium reacts with ammonium perchlorate in the dark. In the flash phase, magnesium reacts with barium sulfate, producing hot MgO and creating a green flame. The flash is followed by another cycle, since the flash rapidly consumes the reactants in the flash zone.
Preparation: 1) Binder solution: Dissolve 3 parts of nitrocellulose (smokeless powder or celluloid film) into 30 parts (w/v) of boiling acetone. If you're going to prepare these stars more than once, prepare more of the solution, since nitrocellulose dissolves slowly even in refluxing acetone. Approx. 30 parts of the solution (v/w) is used each time. Nitrocellulose is used as a binder, since other binders tend to interfere with the twinkling. 2) Mix the ingredients into the binder solution in the order they appear here. Proceed as usual. Note that acetone evaporates very rapidly and the stars usually dry within a few hours.

Magnesium powder (any lab grade powder)...........23
Ammonium perchlorate..............................60
Barium sulfate....................................17

Twinkling green star #2
Source: Composition from Shimizu[1], page 224. Listed as "Twinklers of the ammonium perchlorate base, green"
Comments: Frequenty: 3.1 Hz.
Preparation: Add 25 parts 10% nitrocellulose solution in acetone to 100 parts of the composition, and make cut stars. Roll these stars in "priming composition #8", using the same NC paste until stars are round. Add a final layer of black powder in NC paste to ensure ignition.

Magnesium, 60 mesh (treated with potassium bichromate).....23
Ammonium perchlorate..............................60
Barium sulfate....................................17
Potassium dichromate (as a stabilizer)............+5%

Hope this helps...

Mike