25 replies to this topic

[adamw]

Thank you all for steering this chap in the right direction, even before I had chance to chip in. Heed what they say as it is very wise and sensible advice. And my own personal opinion - drop the match heads. They are good for only one thing - lighting the pyro you have made the correct way!

[The_Djinn]

Danmantdr,

First of all welcome to the BPS forum.
Seems everyone had itchy fingers after being quiet for the weekend hence you have been inundated with responses.
As a beginner, I would definitely recommend you get a copy of ?Introductory Practical Pyrotechnics by Tom Peregrin? as per previous posts. It has a lot of good information that is easy to follow as well as a section on safety. It will also give you a better understanding of some of the information within the forum and it is not outrageously priced.

As for supplies, I am sure the other lads from down under will fill you in as to what, where and how to go about acquiring necessities.
There is also a lot of miss information out on the web so don?t be afraid to query anything you read.. as they say, rather safe than sorry.

Mark

Note, even AdamW squeezed one in whilst I was typing

Edited by The_Djinn, 16 February 2004 - 07:52 PM.

[adamw]

For I am more powerful than you. Muh. Muhahaha. Muhahahhah ..choke... hahah ..splutter...

[The_Djinn]

Danmantdr,

Look out for the nutter who posted above me... he has a large stick which we keep tring to pinch off him to make some good charcoal

[italteen3]

As I said earlier Introductory Practical Pyrotechnics by Tom Peregrin. Teaches you all of the simple safe"r" projects which are probably the best and easiest to start out. I.E. blackmatch, fountains, quickmatch, small shells, etc.

I dont think I will be using Sodium Chlorate any time soon...

My best advice in which way to start is very general but start slow small kind of cheesy and work your way up to nice beautiful and booming.

[adamw]

If thou ever succeedeth in pilferating the stick of the Grand Pyro, the resultant charcoal made from the reducing of said stick will be so powerful that who ever doth touch it will be ingrained with carbon for all eternity.

Anyway....

[Hary12]

lol, thanks guys, im going to try make blackpowder and when i have enough money i will buy that book.
but in the meantime im going to try make a ballmill, and experement on tubing.
thanks agian.

[Stuart]

Stuart,

I think he, who using matchheads, asking for help, (and I applaude him for doing so...)as a novice should be afraid to do something wrong, VERY afraid.

I meant that he should not feel overwhelmed by all the information and so affraid that he should not try anything

[The_Djinn]

Good to see you are on the right track. The art of making good quality black powder is the base for nearly all formulas and compositions. The ball mill will help achieve this and there is a lot of info about ball mills on both this forum and many of the user?s personal web sites.
With regards to tubes, there is an art to it and it takes practice and once again, have a look at some of the users sites. If I recall correctly, Matt has some good instruction and information about making tubes.
Make use of the search function on the forum and most of your questions will be answered, you will also find issues that other users have had and ways to resolve the various issues.

Mark

[Stuart]

I have just added half of my ball mill page to my site. I think you should look at it as it has the design for a very simple ball mill.

Stuart

[PanMaster]

I wanna build a second ball mill since my firrst one is too slow. I have built a box with silver steel spindles, I have two motors, one is kinda dangerous with sparks and live wires, the other is very very weak. I think some kind of drive belt would serve well, I'll screw on a bolt and use a belt since the motor sparky motor is powerful.