633 replies to this topic

[The_Djinn]

Brilliant post BurlHorse, very well documented.. that is all I can say with adding a lot of anglo saxon words to fully describe how good I think it is. Makes you want to rush out and start whipping up a batch right away.

Mark

[Yugen-biki]

I think you can replace dechlorane with PVC (or maby parlon). I use a comp. from "Chemistry of J.A.Conkling".

"Blue flame comp. I":
KClO4 68,5
PVC 9
CuO 15
Red Gum 7,5
Rice starch 5 (additional %)

This gives a dark blue and Conkling states this one as "Blue flame-"excellent"". The flame is not as big or intense as the ones using Ammonium Perc.

Using some H3 (+Red gum) as a primer, 1-2mm thick, works fine in my shells. I can burst them quite hard with no blind stars.

[BurlHorse]

Brilliant post BurlHorse, very well documented.. that is all I can say with adding a lot of anglo saxon words to fully describe how good I think it is. Makes you want to rush out and start whipping up a batch right away.

Mark

Well......Thank you first off, and second off, get out there and do it!! You'll love the color(s)!! More to follow.....

Regards, Stay Green,

Bear

[Phoenix]

(Nice one BurlHorse :-) )

I just tried a gram of the Jerronimo Red (potassium chlorate, stontium carbonate, sucrose). Gave a very nice, bright red. Thanks Jerronimo.

I also tried some with shellac instead, and this gave almost identical results, and shellac ain't hygroscopic. However, I didn't weigh these out, so I haven't got a formula to post. This will be the first colour I make stars from, I think, but I'll stick to my word and get Ofca 10 before I do anything more than small experiments.

[Rhodri]

Just to add to the 'back slapping'.....

Well done Mr Horse. An excellent post with all the necessary safety detail too - what more could we ask for?

Explains how those blues are made once and for all!



Rhod

[Jerronimo]

(Nice one BurlHorse :-) )

I just tried a gram of the Jerronimo Red (potassium chlorate, stontium carbonate, sucrose). Gave a very nice, bright red. Thanks Jerronimo.

I also tried some with shellac instead, and this gave almost identical results, and shellac ain't hygroscopic. However, I didn't weigh these out, so I haven't got a formula to post. This will be the first colour I make stars from, I think, but I'll stick to my word and get Ofca 10 before I do anything more than small experiments.

Thanks .

But make shure that you prime those stars with a layer of sulferless BP when you mix them with compositions containing sulfer.

And yes, schellac or red gum will work just nicely, but I use sugar because it's certainly alot cheaper.

The comp will get hard to handle when wet, very sticky.
Just put the wetted composition in the freezer for a couple of minutes and handroll the stars, let them dry for 1? weeks, and they will become rock hard.

[Creepin_pyro]

I've been experimenting with the "Veline colour system" stars. The red star composition is as follows:

Potassium perchlorate.............................55
Strontium carbonate...............................15
Parlon............................................15
Red gum...........................................9
Magnalium (50/50), 200 mesh.......................6
Dextrin...........................................+4

Due to lack of chemicals, I have altered to formula to this:

Potassium perchlorate.............................55
Strontium carbonate...............................15
Sculpey............................................15
Red gum...........................................9
Aluminium 200 mesh..........................3
Magnesium powder............................3
Dextrin...........................................+4

Sculpey (I used blue with sparkles) was cooked as instructions, and then powdered as best I could. I used slightly larger amounts of Sculpey (as it is not pure PVC), Mg and Red gum (don't ask why). These stars were pumped and dried for 4 days. They take fire surprisingly well, and test firings (unprimed) with 1.4g lift provided no blind blowers. Obviously, due to inclusion of Mg and Al instead of Magnalium, this composition is more dangerous to make/dry/store than Veline's normal formula.

Is using both MG and Al in a composition a bad idea?. I have followed the usual safety precautions for Mg and Al compositions ( boric acid, Potassium Dichromate )

The stars burn quickly, with a large amount of smoke and a deep pinky/crimson flame, and are certainly the best red I have produced. Oh, I used the syringe pump method.

[BurlHorse]

CP,

Looking at the formula, I can see why they take fire easily. Yes, MG and AL can be used together with a relative degree of safety. what percentage of alcohol did you use with the water to bind them? The reason I ask is because if enough alcohol is introduced, it will activate the red gum and provide "Some" protection for the mag nesium in the formula. Since you were pumping them I think youre onto a good formula. The strontium Carbonate should also act as a bit of a buffer for any exothermic reaction, looks good to me!

Take Care, Stay Green,

Bear

[Creepin_pyro]

I used 25% isopropyl to bind the comp. I haven't got around to making any different concentrations yet, as I'm waiting on a vapour respirator before I re-open any of my solvents. I shall try the comp without Magnesium, to improve safety, and also with a different chlorine donor, hopefully. Will post some vids/pics soon (thanks for the hosting offer, Stuart), so y'all can see how my test firings went, and how this knarly red glows without the aid of the normal chlorine donors.

Edited by BigG, 25 February 2004 - 07:30 PM.

[BurlHorse]

CP,

Good Idea on the Respirator, a dear but essential investment. I have a couple of Sculpy formulas, variations on a theme I guess we could say, I'll post later today as I need to run.....

Cheers, Stay Green,

Bear

[Creepin_pyro]

Does anyone have any "low perc" formulas?........ I mean coloured star compositions which use less than 65% Potassium Perchlorate. I'm trying to make my small quantity of Perc last, and making compositions with 70% Perc doesn't help. Veline's Magnesium fueled stars have a nice, low Perc content, but I can't seem to find similair comps.

Thanks

[maxman]

Just tried,

Silver shower star #3

From http://huizen.dds.nl...B.html#chapter9

Flitter Aluminum (or any grade except the finest pyro grades).....15
Potassium nitrate.................................55
Boric acid........................................2
Fine charcoal.....................................10
Dextrin...........................................5

Didnt work at all!! I tried milling the kn03 &C together 1st then adding the rest.
I just tried it by mixing together everything as well. I was using my best willow charcoal and 200 mesh AL

Has anyone any ideas? Is this just a bum comp? The burn rate was so slow that it was hardly alight at all even with a 1300 deg lighter on it.

I was looking to make a silver star out of the above chems, so I was wondering if something like D1 glitter would work without the sodium bicarbonate???, therefore keeping it silver rather than yellow/gold. Or would just adding excess Al to meal work?

Anyone with any formulas would be appreciated

Thanks

[BigG]

Well, didn’t try it myself – but it should work.

Let’s look at the things that might gone wrong.

First, this is a composition without sulphur. This means a much higher ignition point. This also mean you will benefit from extensive milling to make sure that the composition ignite more easily.

Second, the formula calls for flitter and you used 200 mesh, which is by far NOT flitter. I would suspect that on 200 mesh you will need to reduce the amount to about 7-8 to get it to work well.

Third, I must say that the amount of boric acid looks high to me. 0.5g to 1g is more like it.

Fourth, I would advise to mill the dextrin WITH the KNO3 and C… Dextrin is a great flame choker if it’s not well powdered.

Last, you really did not give us info about what sort of starts you were doing. Even a small cut stars require some time to dry. Are you sure the star was properly dry?

As for the glitter formula – take out the sodium bicarbonate and it’s not glitter anymore.

Try the following – it’s blesser’s bloned streamer:

KNO3 45
Sulfur 6
C 29
Dextrin 5
Fe/Ti 100 mesh 15

Just replace the Fe/Ti with Al and add 0.5g boric acid. Mill the KNO3, S,C and D WELL before screening in the rest.

Edited by BigG, 12 March 2004 - 02:45 PM.

[Phoenix]

Did you actually wet and form stars from the composition, or just test burn some loose powder? If you didn't, it probaby wouldn't seem very ignitable. For example, my general purpose star, tiger tail, is almost unignitable as a loose powder, but burns fiercely once cosolidated into a star.

[maxman]

Yeah only tried to light loose powder without the boric acid and dextrin. Also Big G thinks the 200mesh Al would prob be too fine.