15 replies to this topic

[ELEMINATOR]

Hi Folks,

Just a quick one, I am a 40yr old and basicly new to this. I am looking to start off my making some sort of firework to impress the kids and my brothers on bonfire night. Yeah I know DIY is not safe, that is why I am asking your advice. I used to load my own 38 shells and also had 12g, so I am used to handling powder. What I want to know (and if poss a very basic "how to") is what I can make with this and as I do not have scales, assume a 5 pence piece as a spoon. what can I make and how...

Black Aluminum
Potassium Perchlorate
Air float charcoal powder (lumpwood) 400 mesh
Sulpher powder

and I have another ingredient that looks exactly the same as salt, but I have lost the label, is it possibly (potassium Nitrate) ?

What can I make and how do I do it ?

I would expect the first reply to be along the lines of " This is very dangerous if you dont know what your doing, so stick to buying fireworks from Asda, you could blow your fingers off, blah blah blah" if you were gona type this then please don't.

I want to learn and have to start somewere !

Oh and yes I have my own ball mill.

thanks

Eliminator

[ELEMINATOR]

Oh, forgot to mention...... HELLO EVERYONE


And I also know what happens if I put the first 2 together in a 50/50 mix..........Damn I must find a smaller spoon, lol

[rick87]

start by reading a book

[digger]

Buy some scales, 0.1g division scales are cheap on ebay.

Do a good bit of reading, there are plenty of good topics on the forum already.

Treat it as experimentation and record all of your practical work in a book.

Know the law, again there is plenty on the forum regarding this.

and welcome...........

[wjames]

"this is very dangerous if you dont know what your doing, so stick to buying fireworks from Asda, you could blow your fingers off"

Sorry, someone had to.

Anyway, if it is pot nitrate you have, then your on your way to making BP - go do some reading, then some more. then start with SMALL batches.

forget the perc/AL at the moment, from your post it seems quite clear that you considered mixing the 2, and as such, making flash powder.....Master your BP, THEN look at flash.

in all honesty though, its a tad late, you have around a week........

[ELEMINATOR]

Thanks guys, but I have made a few batches of BP over the last year and that works fine, I have also tried some flash mixes and they work fine. I understand the basics and how chemicals react and what mesh for diff things and reaction times and so on..

What I don't know is what kind of tube would make something burn longer. At the moment, the things I have in stock just make things go BANG, so I can make a banger !

I just wanted to know with the powders I have, is there a "method" of mixing or a procedure that will make them burn longer and maybe some sparks that will shoot in the air at least a few inches.

Can you make your own firework tubes or do you have to but them, is it all in the packing order, or is it a chemical mix

that sort of thing.

I know I can make a bang, but thats not what I want.

Anyone ?

[Deano 1]

Welcome Eliminator, Have a read on this site.

http://www.pyroguide...title=Main_Page

I think you need a few more chems, they really aren't that expensive if you shop around. There is one or two on here that supply chems, my favourite is

http://www.inoxia.co.uk/

Stay safe.

[MDH]

First of all, ensure that for certain your white crystal product is potassium nitrate by adding a small amount of sulfur to it and attempting to make it burn. If it doesn't burn, it is potassium nitrate. If it does, it is something else. And if you want to make fountains, grind the potassium nitrate to a fine quality and mix it crudely with charcoal and a small amount of sulfur. That will produce all of the sparks you need, and adding a small amount of aluminum and something typically intert (rust powder or Fe2O3, baking soda, etc) to the composition will also give it a slight sparkle.

At this point, you probably won't be making any shells. You asked about this rather late, with only five days to go. So it'd be best for you at this point to stick to making fountains. Simply rolling thick paper tubes and crimping them just slightly at the top will allow you to make excellent, quick production fountains which have a far greater and taller spray than is available from commercial products.

Edited by MDH, 30 October 2010 - 09:39 PM.

[ELEMINATOR]

First of all, ensure that for certain your white crystal product is potassium nitrate by adding a small amount of sulfur to it and attempting to make it burn. If it doesn't burn, it is potassium . And if you want to make fountains, grind the potassium nitrate to a fine quality and mix it crudely with charcoal and a small amount of sulfur. That will produce all of the sparks you need, and adding a small amount of aluminum and something typically intert (rust powder or Fe2O3, baking soda, etc) to the composition will also give it a slight sparkle.

At this point, you probably won't be making any shells. You asked about this rather late, with only five days to go. So it'd be best for you at this point to stick to making fountains. Simply rolling thick paper tubes and crimping them just slightly at the top will allow you to make excellent, quick production fountains which have a far greater and taller spray than is available from commercial products.

Hi MDH, Yes I have tried the potassium, charcoal and sulfur in a test dish over the last week, I use 75-15-10 ratio, it does make nice sparks and is very bright, but when I burn it in open dish it burns out quite quickly, I have not tried putting it inside anything yet as I have no idea how it would react.

For safety reasons, I have always assumed that if I was to put anything like that into a carboard tube, in affect it would be a shotgun cartridge and would blow up, is this the case or would it be a controlled burn if the top is open ?

Sorry guys, It may be a daft question to you, but to me it's a safety question that I need to be sure of.

[c.brad]

there would be no compressed gas (well a little bit at the start but it will go out the top) so it shouldn't explode unless caped which it isnt so it should be safe

[ELEMINATOR]

Brilliant, thats what I needed to know.

I will try a tiny fountain tomorrow.

Oh, if I wanted to add blue sparks, what would I need to add and what ratio to what I am useing now ?

thanks

[ELEMINATOR]

Oh well, I couldn't wait so I just made my first ever fountain.

I card some A4 card and rolled it tight round a pencil and sealed it with insulation tape.

I then cut off about 2 inches and used that for my fountain.

I then inserted the rubber end of the pencil about half in inch into the bottom of the tube and secured it with tape. (to use as a ground spike)

I then inserted 6 inch of fuse, filled with my BP mix and packed down with another pencil.

Stuck it in the middle of the garden and lit it.

It had a nice slow burn of around 5 seconds, with orange sparks about 4 inches high.

Yes, I am very very chuffed at the moment.

Thanks for all the advice so far.

The next thing is, who do I make the sparks higher ? is it with a wider opening and more powder, or is it done with a different mix ?

I used 75% Potassium nitrate, 15% charcoal 400mesh, 10% Sulpher

Thanks in advance guys.

Edited by ELEMINATOR, 30 October 2010 - 09:46 PM.

[MDH]

You would need something more than potassium perchlorate. You would also need an organic compound containing chlorine. And a copper compound. And a little bit of corn starch baked until light-yellow or light brown (which is known to us as dextrin).

And you would need to start making those stars now or as soon as possible, and with what it sounds like based on your tools, you might want to roll them by hand with vynil gloves on (perchlorate goes through your skin) into stars only 3-4mm or so wide since it is going to be in a fountain.

For dense white sparks, it is far easier to create a paste from calcium sulfate and your german black aluminum, and to cast it onto a piece of wax paper and bend the paper to granulate it later (store it indoors away from living spaces - CaSO4, once dampened, is not dusty and is relatively non toxic, and right now you need it to dry very quickly).

There are a few stores where you can access the aforementioned chemicals from - Cooperman has a store which contains most of what you will need.

As I said, it's an issue of time right now. I don't think you have the time to perfect and make blue stars or anything other than fountains. Rockets are a long troubleshooting journey so I wouldn't even bother with that either.

For now, create a fountain out of this:

KNO3, 60
Fine charcoal, 20
Charcoal (slightly coarser), 12
Sulfur, 8

Thoroughly combine it until it is perfectly homogenous and press it into a paper tube with a dowel that fits nearly inside the tube (And isn't too small for it). Crimping the top end of the tube will provide greater height.

The other additives, such as the aluminum and baking soda, can be added in small amounts of 2-5 grams each. They will add a slight sparkle to the flame. But I would warn against using german aluminum fountains, as it will simply turn it into a white burning flare with no redeeming qualities. If you don't have anything other than german aluminmu, don't bother with the glitter effect at all.

Edited by MDH, 30 October 2010 - 09:53 PM.

[darkfang77]

I card some A4 card and rolled it tight round a pencil and sealed it with insulation tape.
I then cut off about 2 inches and used that for my fountain.
The next thing is, who do I make the sparks higher ? is it with a wider opening and more powder, or is it done with a different mix ?
I used 75% Potassium nitrate, 15% charcoal 400mesh, 10% Sulpher
Thanks in advance guys.

Your fountain should have a wider diameter, if the diameter is similar to a pencil it sounds more like a lance to me.
To make it higher, choke the fountain with a clay nozzle... Also some meal powder would help to create more pressure.
Fountains do not blow up like a shotgun cartridge as there is not enough pressure to do this, it might rupture but not explode..
A greater access to chemicals will allow more experimentation and make for a better fountain

[ELEMINATOR]

Thanks guys, will have a bash with a few things tomorrow. I might even video it if I manage anything worth looking at.

thanks again.