285 replies to this topic

[alany]

Even if I had to buy a new Pt electrode every 5 kg that is insanely expensive for perc. I'll just stick to making it myself thanks!

[Pepsi]

Even if I had to buy a new Pt electrode every 5 kg that is insanely expensive for perc. I'll just stick to making it myself thanks!

Hi All,
How does A$30.00 Per Kilo sound..?
Pepsi

Edited by Pepsi, 24 January 2006 - 02:37 AM.

[littlejohny]

Even if I had to buy a new Pt electrode every 5 kg that is insanely expensive for perc. I'll just stick to making it myself thanks!

Alany how much do your platinum electrodes cost, I was looking on ebay and found 5inchs of 30gauge platinum wire for $20US is this a good price or is it to dear.

[Pepsi]

Alany how much do your platinum electrodes cost, I was looking on ebay and found 5inchs of 30gauge platinum wire for $20US is this a good price or is it to dear.

Johny,
Better off using one of these.....

http://www.palloys.com.au/prod27.htm

Have fun..
Pepsi

[maximusg]

Yeah you seem to have a better collection of sources that I.

AMPS for metals.
Walker Ceramics for various carbonates, oxides and waterglass.
Lincraft and Spotlight are good for large ID spiral cardboard tubes.
Bunnings for solvents.

I can't remember the name of the agricultural place I get my potassium nitrate from, but it is really cheap, much less than $2/kg if you buy a whole 25 kg bag. It isn't all that pure though, but it works OK for BP.

I used to get my charcoal from Coles, but they no longer carry that brand of lump charcoal, it is all bloody heat beads now. I believe BBQs Galore may still carry it, next time I run out I'll investigate. I don't really have the space to make my own.

I pay the premium on the shipping and get stuff from Skylighter too, but as they won't ship anything hazmat I stick pretty much to tubes and exotic chemicals I just can't get here. I got plastic shell parts from Pyro Plastics. I've got a few things off eBay too, potassium perchlorate and magnesium.

Heay Alany,

Do you have any approximate prices for the raw materials from walker ceramics? I am going to make an order off their site but it doesnt have any price listing? The ones i am interested in are the Strontium, Barium and Copper Carbonates.

[Tim]

Hi, This is my first post here i think. My name is Tim and i live in Mackay QLD. I'm 14 (yeah quite young) and love pyro/fireworks.

I used to have a problem finding KNO3 until i saw a hydroponics store at the bottom of the phone book. She was helpful and prepared a 5kg bag for me and we picked it up no questions asked for $12 which i thought was a very good price at that quantity. I have found a bad source of sulphur at mitre 10 that is only 80% but i have manageg to clean it a bit from its dark brown colour to a yellowy colour. I naturally figured that the chemicals would be hardest to find so i completely overlooked charcoal and thought it would be easy...wrong...it is now the only thing i cant find and i cant make it due to neighbour reasons.

All that i've been able to make is KN/Icing sugar rockets which have good thrust about a millisecond after it has curved to a horizontal angle which in turn causes the 'Oh sh*t, RUN' effect as it heads towards the neighbours house. I've still got two rockets made and i might try one from a piece of pvc tube hoping it will of gathered the required thrust by the time it comes out of it. Dimensions are 9mm ID, 2.8cm Long with a 2mm nozzle i think (rammed over a cut piece of coat hanger wire).

The first one i made with my *very* crap tooling scared the crap out of me because it made a large roar i wasnt expecting and then straight to the neighbours roof (at a high velocity i might add). However this was first first 'success' instead of upside down fountains. Propellant probably isnt the best because i just added icing sugar to powdered kno3 till it burned good and left as little residue as possible. And i added some rust from the side of my bbq which when added gave me the 'success'. I couldn't notice the difference in an open burn but it was the first one to make a roar. And i thank alans site for when i was reading it i thought 'time u dickhead....why didnt u add iron oxide before' because i knew it was a catalyst for kn/su before.

Anyway i better shut up before my first post becomes a bad impression.

also if any of the desperates for kno3 (if they still are) have charcoal i might trade some kno3 for some.

P.S i'm assuming my kno3 is quite pure because it is pure white and has ZERO insolubles when dissolves and makes a very good fast burning touch paper (even has a flame which was something i wasnt expecting)

ok sorry....my first post/novel is over

Tim

[alany]

30 gauge wire is *very* fine, that won't carry sufficient current.

The electrode Pepsi posted is what I use in my Perchlorate cell. It works great. Well worth the investment if you are making large batches. Don't abuse it (say by running it in weak Chloride solutions) and it will last a very long time. Just use it to convert Sodium Chlorate to Sodium Perchlorate, use graphite for Chloride to Chlorate, Sodium, Barium or Potassium.

maximusg: I can't recall, my last order I just went to them and purchased. Call them up and they will price stuff over the phone, they have most materials in 100 g amounts, some of the more expensive ones down to 25 g. The shipping was $25/flat IIRC and that was because of the S6 rating of Barium Carbonate. The oxides are less than $10/kg, and the carbonates about the same, except for the exotic ones like Cobalt, Nickel and Lithium. They also sell bentonite, fireclay, grog and waterglass which are handy to have.

Tim: Hydroponic is typically very pure and has to be 100% soluable like all hydro chemicals. Big W sells 5 kg of Sulfur in a yellow/orange bag that is high purity. It is farily granular unfortunately, but it will quickly break up in the mill to a very fine powder. I have no idea about its acid content (but it is not Resublimed Sulfur), I just use it for BP variants and keep the rubber makers Sulfur Flour for more critical applications. Bunnings sell a 3 kg box of Charcoal that is pretty crap, but it is better than nothing if you have no other source. You can get pure Iron Oxide from Bunnings, Mitre Ten, or Walkers.

Take your rockets to a park mate. You really don't want to annoy your neighbours, let along risk injuring them.

[Pepsi]

Heay Alany,

Do you have any approximate prices for the raw materials from walker ceramics? I am going to make an order off their site but it doesnt have any price listing? The ones i am interested in are the Strontium, Barium and Copper Carbonates.

Maximusg,
Have a look here, a bit pricey, but hey!! inQld.

http://search.ebay.c...Q3aMEFSQ3aMESOI

Keep it safe...but have fun!

[maximusg]

Maximusg,
Have a look here, a bit pricey, but hey!! inQld.

http://search.ebay.c...Q3aMEFSQ3aMESOI

Keep it safe...but have fun!

Cool thanks man, a little pricey but tempting!

[Pepsi]

Heay Alany,

Do you have any approximate prices for the raw materials from walker ceramics? I am going to make an order off their site but it doesnt have any price listing? The ones i am interested in are the Strontium, Barium and Copper Carbonates.

Here in Vic. RAYS OUTDOORS sell charcoal in an aluminium Outdoor BBQ Kit for about $6.99.

However, just recently made my best batch of Charcoal ever purchased an old ALUMINIUM PRESSURE COOKER From the Salvo's OP Shop for $5.00, in this put some Mulga/Hardwood and cooked it on top of a Gas camp stove till it stopped smoking, then I run the Charcoal through a (also $5.00 from OP Shop) an old mincer/sausage grinder then put the resultant coal in the Ball-Mill for about 4-5 hrs comes out like Flour and makes the most superb BP. When granulated burns about 150-200mm/Sec.

So Guy's the OP shops are a great place for "Pyro" tools...

Just found a Willow tree nearby with several dead branches that i have aquired and now cooking in the pressure cooker, will let you know how the willow charcoal compares to the Mulga wood.

Regards All.
Keep it safe..
Pepsi

[littlejohny]

Johny,
Better off using one of these.....

http://www.palloys.com.au/prod27.htm

Have fun..
Pepsi

That electrode is sweet! bit to much for a experimenter.

I was going to use gouging rods to start with in my chlorate cell,but before i go and find them I have to find myself a decent DC converter.Was looking at battery chargers today the price on them is about $66 for a 12V 4.5A charger wich I think is a complete rip-off,does anyone know if you can get 6V 12A battery chargers (don't think you can ).

Tim are you going into year nine this year?

I have found a bad source of sulphur at mitre 10 that is only 80%

Go to Bunnings they sell sulphur that is 99.9% pure 500grams for about $7

[pkhow]

Titanum & Platinum coated electrodes are available in Qld much cheaper than $60. Less than $10 for an electrode 30mm x 90m. I know it depends on the efficiency but does any one know how long to produce
1kil of perch at say 30~40amps.
I beleive keeping the electrode spacing close will increase efficeincy as does keeping up the chloride solution strenght. If this is high enough the anodes should last a long time.

[littlejohny]

Titanum & Platinum coated electrodes are available in Qld much cheaper than $60. Less than $10 for an electrode 30mm x 90m.

whoa thats really cheap are they identical to these http://www.palloys.com.au/prod27.htm

go to alany's site its great

[alany]

pkhow: http://www.vk2zay.ne...s/chlorates.php

Basically 1/2 kg of Salt will make 1 kg of Sodium Perchlorate in about 5 days at 30 amps. It will need about 640 g of Potassium Chloride to precipitate it as Potassium Perchlorate. It will take about 1.5 litres of water to dissolve the Salt and almost 2 litres to dissolve the Potassium Chloride for the final precipitation. About 50 grams will be left in solution at room temp which isn't really worth chasing, just recycle the supernate liquid back into the cell, it will be mostly NaCl.

30 Amps through 1.5 litres will probably need active cooling.

I'd love to know about the cheaper electrode source?

[Pepsi]

Titanum & Platinum coated electrodes are available in Qld much cheaper than $60. Less than $10 for an electrode 30mm x 90m. I know it depends on the efficiency but does any one know how long to produce
1kil of perch at say 30~40amps.
I beleive keeping the electrode spacing close will increase efficeincy as does keeping up the chloride solution strenght. If this is high enough the anodes should last a long time.

Interesting site re Cells etc:

http://www.uq.net.au/~zzjbrait/

Regards
Pepsi