3 replies to this topic

[dave]

hi,
some of you may already be familiar with this but ...........

i thought this article was interesting, and am sure it could be utilised for giving a pretty accurate time measurement of the burn time for lengths of fuse or even sploolettes as well as blackpowder.
it is written by dan williams (also on pyrobin.com) and the relevant section is

pages 143 to 151, especially the use of 3 microswitches with an ordinary stopwatch, which are on the last 2 pages.

http://www.pyrobin.c...an.williams.pdf

dave

[Candle]

At the AGM in 2009 there was a powder speed tester being demonstrated that activated its microswitches by burning thro attached threads; the switches were then wired to a smart bit of electronics which linked the microswitches to a computer to show the speed, very impressive!

I am sure the basic testing platform is always going to be very similar with various levels of sophistication attached.

I once owned a 200 year old stubby barelled flintlock pistol that when fired impacted a ratcheted scale to indicate the power of the said powder. Clearly power and consistency are a historic aspiration / need but unfortunately as an investment it never got the chance to show its fire.

I would imagine that from the levels of expertise clearly apparent on this forum, there are likely to be some very reasonable 'batches' around.

[alany]

I video spoulette burns with my camera and extract the timing from the audio track using spectrogram software. If you measure and weigh the grain carefully before you can achieve very repeatable results.

[dave]

I video spoulette burns with my camera and extract the timing from the audio track using spectrogram software. If you measure and weigh the grain carefully before you can achieve very repeatable results.

spectrogram software ?................whats that ?

dave