28 replies to this topic

[Creepin_pyro]

I'm certainly no authority on the subject, but I don't think you need to worry so much.

I think the "watchers" will be concentrating on "drug precursors" and the more exotic explosive precursors.

In short, alarm bells WILL start to ring if you attempt to order massive amounts of Red Phosphorus or Methylamine from a lab supply company, but the chemicals you mentioned shouldn't get you into trouble. I think it really depends on where you're buying from - a well respected lab supply company that gets a request for Perchlorates from an individual could be quite concerned, and possibly report you. They certainly don't need your business!.... A smaller, less well known (possibly pyrotechnic related) supply company is much less likely to get big brother onto you. Then of course, there is Ebay.com - they seem to be allowing Perchlorates trough the net, but again - I don't know who/what is watching that...

[The_Djinn]

In most cases it is not always wheat you want to buy, but how much you wish to purchase that can cause alarm bells. Lab companies should not see anything out of the ordinary with someone wishing to purchase small quantity?s of various chemicals as that is the purpose of there existence? to supply chemicals for experiments etc. Large chemical suppliers are more used to doing business with corporate clients who order bulk material used in manufacturing hence an individual trying to obtain a large amount of certain chemicals may arouse curiosity. When I purchased a 50kg drum of perc there were a couple of questions but I was open and honest about its use and had no problems .. then again, my schools days are very distant memories as well.

As for being watched, it has been said before that even this forum probably gets a certain amount of scrutiny which is why we try to keep it clean and above board and disallow discussions based around certain topics as well as some formulas.

Mark

[Dan]

In most cases it is not always wheat you want to buy, but how much you wish to purchase that can cause alarm bells. Lab companies should not see anything out of the ordinary with someone wishing to purchase small quantity?s of various chemicals as that is the purpose of there existence? to supply chemicals for experiments etc. Large chemical suppliers are more used to doing business with corporate clients who order bulk material used in manufacturing hence an individual trying to obtain a large amount of certain chemicals may arouse curiosity. When I purchased a 50kg drum of perc there were a couple of questions but I was open and honest about its use and had no problems .. then again, my schools days are very distant memories as well.

As for being watched, it has been said before that even this forum probably gets a certain amount of scrutiny which is why we try to keep it clean and above board and disallow discussions based around certain topics as well as some formulas.

Mark

would buying 3LBS of perclorate raise alarm bells?
I hope it doesnt.

Then i guess i will place an order for 3LBS of potassium perclorate, 1LBS of red iron oxide, 5LBS KNO3, 1LBS red gum, 1LBS saran, 1LBS sodium benzoate, and 1LBS of strontium carbonate form pyrohobby.com
I hope it isnt too much

[sasman]

This corning dust isnt realy dusty it like very fine grit... Very nice to work with much better than balled milled Meal..I have decided to make more Pucks from it and then what ever is left from that will save for Priming etc...I have made this New Batch of BP specifically for Lift so i made a fairly large batch to eliminate small batch to batch constistancy. it took well over a week and im still not finshed!

.I milled each component on ther own for 2 hours using a 50% media 25% charge.I then dumped all 3 components into the Barrel and left it milling for 5 hours.. i did 2 batches a day for 5 days..Even tho i had pre milled the chemicals first i was surprised to see how much they expanded after further milling..Before and After..

Once all the milling was complete i combined all the green meal in to one big batch and mixed it all together to make 1 big homogenous mass.. i then split in into smaller batches and added 10% water (with 5% alcohol added). following the same procedure as on passfire, i began to press the pucks using my 4" Powder Die .

Notice the hose clamps are a bit grotty? thats because they kept snapping? i decided to aneal them with a welding torch to hopefully soften the metal so they wouldnt snap..the white discoloration is the zinc coating that burnt off.. I loaded the Aluminium Disc in to the Die then added about 170 grams of BP then added another Aluminium disc and repeated this 4 times..

After applying about 8 tons pressure and waiting about 10 mins i noticed water began seeping from the Powder Die.also after 10 minutes you could see the pressure had dropped so i increased the pressure waited 10 mins . then increased pressure again ..total time in press was 30 mins..

...When i split the powder die i wiped up the excess water with a towel and the Pucks fell apart easily... Pucks ..

..I let them dry for a few days before i started to corn them , i used an old 6" PVC milling jar to crush the pucks in .A Big Steel bar which weighed about 30 lbs was used to smash the pucks(I know you shouldnt use steel because it can spark but as there is no metal in the PVC tube or the BP it should be a very small risk of sparks? ). Pucks to Be Bashed..
, the heavy iron bar made short work of the pucks Bashed..I screened the contents in to 4 to 10 mesh for 2FA & 10 to 20 mesh for 3FA.. It didnt take long at all to corn the BP... After all this hard work i was rewared with....
2FA 7 1/2 lbs
3FA 5 1/2 lbs
Corning Dust 6 1/2lbs which is about to recorned ..

..........All in all im very happy with the resulting BP it's very labour intensive but once i see my 8" willow shell break in the sky i Know its going to be worth it ... i will post some videos of the BP burning later with side by side commercial BP as a comparison..

[chim-chim]

I live in the U.S. and order chemicals on a regular basis.

Am I on a government list somewhere?

Yes I am.

But I've been on that list since I was 12, My stepfather worked on cold war tech docs and Men in Black use to question all my neighbors about us. Friends in the military have pulled up my file. It shows all legal contacts I've had, that I had pychologists as a teen and was freinds with a foriegn exchange student.

So what? Are they going to arrest me (and the other millions of people who must be on this list, especially if they add everyone who orders a knife or 3 lbs of oxidiser)?

No.

But if something in my neighborhood, my work, my ex-girlfriends house blows up, guess who's on their suspect list.

I don't know if buying things online will get you on "the list", but being on it, I can tell you not to worry about it. Enough of the other people on the list speak arabic, bought perchlorate and rented a truck, or took flying lessons etc.

I'm glad I've been on the list so long, they know I've been into rocketry for 25 years. You're much less likely to panic watching someone than suddenly noticing them.

[Dan]

cool thanks chim-chim.

[Pyromaster2003]

Great job of the Black Powder sasman Looks great! Im going to have to get myself a press sometime soon, i keep meaning to get one but i never do!

[pyrotechnist]

Nice stuff on your web site sasman. You live in america i guess? Your web site sometimes on certain picys froze my navigator and then said i had the picture on my temp directory and run slow it was realy slow. I don't no why thu does it do with you sasman? Thanks

[alany]

The index page is busted because FrontPage in its infinite wisdom has decided to use the wrong slashes. Should be / not \.

[paul]

I managed to upload a video of my bp (ball milled for 2 hours only)

http://www.250free.c...ion=site_backup
pw: notforeveryoneseyes

Ah hotlinking permitted

The first part is a few gramms pressed/corned BP i a cap from a water bottle. The second part is BP loosely on a piece of cardboard.

Edited by paul, 19 July 2004 - 05:42 PM.

[pyrotechnist]

Your vidio is not showing it says to register.

[paul]

I?ll fix that problem. Sry for these complications......

Edited by paul, 21 July 2004 - 12:41 PM.

[bmiller14]

Has any one ever made bp with just charcoal and kno3 i just tryed and it works great and burns very fast just a burn mark where I lit it. When i figure out how to up load a .wmv file on to geocities I will link it.

[pyrotechnist]

Yer i made stars with it. They are good not used them yet thu waiting lol . I have tested one thu thats how i know i got it out of Dr shimizues book on fireworks making.