Blaf

Hi Yellowcard! See the blue plastic tube sticked into green one? - that's the weak one. Its walls are less than 1,5mm thick and when I ram my BP with rubber mallet (as I always do with those small ones), it tends to crack. It happened several times to me so far. And so, I took this 6cm long piece of green plastic tubing...its intended purpose is water pipeline (side walls are almost 5mm thick to withstand water pressure)...made a cut alongside with steel saw and there you are! My former motors were made of very similar plastic tubes but with thicker walls and they never cracked, but this batch of blue ones gave me little headache...and by the way, they come from POS terminals, you know those small machines with slots for credit cards? Blaf

Ah, words of Wisdom...thanks SoulPredator. Moloch, he's right about those plastic discs (maybe I should have pointed it out earlier)...all in all I hope you got the picture now. Blaf

Here I am to throw some light... As for production speed, I don't really need high output and turn it on only occasionally. But generally, collecting drum turns at one revolution in 2,5 – 3 sec. One full turn collects about 10cm of fuse....now you can calculate that my machine makes about 2m of fuse in one minute. That's rough estimation as I can increase voltage so that production is even quicker than that. As for waiving problem, it is not really a problem because it happens due to friction. See, upper powder die has a tiny hole of 1,5mm, upper 12 threads go through it, they're being collected into thin train which goes down into the bottom die (where additional 8 threads are being collected and wound around first 12) which turns in oposite direction! As both holes are just sufficiently wide to let 12 (upper - 1,5mm) and 20 (lower - 2mm) yarns through, the first spiral waiving of upper 12 yarns happens just between upper and lower die - between their holes, respectively. Waiving of lower 8 yarns around first 12 ones happens between lower die and small plastic pulley just below it. Hope I cleared it up for you a bit... Blaf

Well, these plastic tubes used to make BP rocket motors seem to have been too weak to withstand heavy ramming...a few of them cracked while ramming. And here is solution – plastic sleeve with a cut along its lenght which tightly fits over the tube and additional metal hose clamps which furtherly reinforce the whole setup. href> Now I can ram my small motors without being cautious... Asembled setup with clamps tightened (not too much), plastic tube in place and ready to be rammed. href> Looks like some horrifying torture gadget, doesn't it? Blaf

Here's another image...the newest production sample! <a href=http://members.pyroforum.nl/Blaf/FuseCol.JPG target=_blank><img src=http://members.pyroforum.nl/Blaf/FuseCol.JPG width=360 border=0></a href> This time I used pure cotton yarns but I could find coloured ones only. I don't mind because it doesn't affect fuse properties. It comes out even thinner than before. Blaf

I promised an image of my press with springs attached. See below... It works really good with these two coils. They only produce strange "sprong" sound when they expand...but I like it! Blaf

We were talking about springs, right? Well, I attached a pair of them to my press and it works fine. It even looks nice too! I took those two springs from an old clip-clap sofa and they proved to be of just about right dimensions for my press. Springs are attached to right and left sides of working and bottom plates, no centering or adjusting was needed. Working plate now glides perfectly...it even retains its balance. Not to mention, I don't have to apply force to get the piston back any more! I simply open the valve on my jack and it slides down in a few seconds. Image will follow soon! Blaf

Hello Exhile! Are you sure they're flitters? These ones I've got after milling are very thin flakes with mirror like surfaces, almost lighter than air. Those coming from cutting shops should be looking more like hard particles, heh... Blaf

Recently I made some Al flitters from Alu-foil that you can find in any kitchen. Foil was first cut into irregular chunks and tossed into plastic yar (see Ball mill topic) and topped with two dozens of steel balls from ball bearings. The ball mill was then switched on and left to roll almost 12 hours. Then, I checked what happened inside and found chunks divided into smaller flitters. Why flitters? Because if you take some between your fingers and throw it in the air, particles fly flittering. You should consult your English dictionary about this one. Anyhow, these were some 6-10mm in diameter and too large for anything Pyro....so I left my mill to roll another 5-6 hours (or so...) and what I've got at the end are more or less round flitter particles of 0,5-3mm in diameter. These could be sifted and divided into few desired sizes. I tried a small pinch mixed with my granulated BP and the result is more than satisfactory. Bright and rich white sparks bursted when this small pile went off and I thought this could be ideal for waterfall or some kind of sparkler. Sparks were burning longer that my paint grade Al I used in fountains and tourbillions and we'll see what their future use is going to be... So, it's possible to get usable Al particles by ball-milling the Alu-foil but it really takes some time. Hope it pays off one day... Blaf p.s. Image will be posted soon...

Hmm, it broke into few pieces you say...it shouldn't happen if you use right Dextrin ratio. When those stars are dry they're very hard...so check your formulation again. As for priming, I shoot them with corned BP and several times I had a blind shot. If they had been in some kind of shell there would have been even more blind stars, I believe. They need priming to ensure 100% ignition because Reeper S. stars contain fairly high percentage of Al. You shot them with (as you say) kind of Mg Thermite which surely produced much higher temperature than simple BP and therefore, there was no need for additional layer of primer. At least it's my opinion... Blaf

OK Moloch, this is quite OK as far as I'm concerned. Well, those pressed stars look funny with fuses attached but if they work, why not. The Reeper Silver formula is really a good one but stars definitely need priming...do not forget to coat them with Meal...maybe even two layers of it. The silver tail is long and bright eventhough they produce fair amount of grey smoke. And finally, I never tried them laying on the ground, I always shot them from some sort of tube. Just go ahead and post imgs or vids. Blaf

No, it's not necessary, JPGs are quite sufficient...eventhough little blurred. The fuse is primed at the top, isn't it? Blaf

And so, I took out a small single shot RC made of plastic tube of 15mm dia, 7cm in lenght, glued to carborad square 5x5cm. My cousines sons kept their eyes wide open waiting to see it working. We placed it on their balcony and lit the fuse. Here I admit, the fuse was piece of original Chinese green Visco...I swear I won't use it any more. The star was Reeper Silver one (see Stars topic) and it shot at more that 10m up, burning brilliantly with long silver tail. The smile on kids faces told me it worked fine...they asked for more but my bag of wonders was unfortunately empty. I should make a few bigger stars these days and try it...but it would look better in Comets topic. Blaf

At the same time with latest fountain burn, I fired two small rockets...ehm, naked BP rocket engines made of those plastic tubes taken from calculator paper roles. Those wore newly rammed bentonite nozzles (see Tools, Nozzle forming tool) that are perfectly centered and smooth as a baby butt. Stabilizer sticks were made of two shorter wooden barbecue sticks taped together and worked OK. Both rockets flew straight up and ended somewhere in night sky. No payload was attached so I couldn't estimate their apogee but it's well over 50m. I couldn't get away from my cousines sons with just two small rockets fired....so I took out....well, check Roman candle topic. Blaf

Hello there! Again, last weekend I fired one of my fountains for no specific reason. It was beautiful evening and my cousines kids were watching me in anticipation...so I said, why not. I took one with my new fuse out of my pyro-bag and placed it on the balcony. Of course, this balcony wasn't exposed too much, it's on the north side of their house so nobody saw anything except us lucky ones. The botom line is - it worked perfectly and lasted well over 10sec. which is fairly long burn time. My cousines closest neighbour obviously heard fountain hisssss and clapped her hands all the way and asking for more. So, this one worked nice, no clogging, no burn rate changes. Nice shower of silver (Al) and reddish (Charcoal) sparks was rushing up with little smoke. Kids loved it... Blaf

Yeah, yeah....you're right, bottom end could be rammed but other end should be well glued. Sorry for using unclear expression, heh. Any news on your side Duvel? Blaf

This morning I fired a firecracker made of commercial cardboard tube of 15mm inner dia, walls were 3mm thick while tube lenght was 6cm. Composition was my well known KMNO4 flash. Scarry looking one, doesn't it? Its's a dead season for bangers, right? So, I took my device to our local shooting range to test it. The 25m portion of the range is of open type and was simply crying for a nice little bang. And so, when all other shooters left the range I placed my cracker on the ground, lit the fuse and took cover...ehmm, retreated 5m from it. The tube was surrounded by grass and I thought bang wouldn't be so loud....but on the contrary, it WAS LOUD! My ears still tremble. One additional witness of this detonation was an older shooter, half-deaf but still young in heart. He, as expected, claimed it wasn't so loud. But the truth was it has gone off loud as Hell! I took off my ear-protection for full enjoyment and it payed off 100%... Guys, this KMNO4 flash works fine but the tube should be well glued or rammed at both ends. Or it just happens that I came accros the right tube size...don't know but this worked more than good. Blaf

And so, the last tourbillion with wooden wings has been launched two days ago and here is report: 1. The fuse (see Fuse Machine topic) worked perfectly. 2. The composition burned fine with rich spark spray. 3. The spin speed looked just about right as well as humming sound. 4. The device did not fly. Possible reasons of failure to fly: 1. Propeller wings angle too low. 2. Exhaust hole eroded and widened too quickly. Overall, the device looked seriously efficient but performed poorly. Next one should have propeller even more twisted and we'll see what happens. Now, do not be too critic about humble me.... Blaf

Don't really know Pirate...but general rule of thumb suggests nothing is perfect. And yes, I'm having a Hell of a time with this little machine. I didn't know you played with it in school, lucky you...I'm completely self-taught in this field but so far I'm doing well using common sense and caliper. As for the valve, I don't know what kind of engine it was but it should have been taken from 4-stroke 1100-1300ccm engine...that's derived from its size. The valve "hat" dia was originally 25mm which I turned down to 20mm and shortened its "leg" down to 40mm. Some facing and polishing was done then and here it is. But the truth is; this steel valve can be used as it is, just with shortened spindle...I made all this polishing to impress girls that might read this post... Blaf

This is enlarged version of the same nozzle forming tool, but for 20mm inner dia motor. Note that both of those spindles are relatively short, which means they do not form long core. It is beacuse I discovered that my motors (using given tube dia & nozzle dia ratio) don't need long cores for fair thrust. Finished nozzle on the right is just about perfect, with shiny finish, eventhough it's not clearly seen on photo. href> The spindle is made of steel car engine valve, polished and screwed onto round aluminium base. Test launch is yet to come.... Blaf

Half a minute lasting burn, hey Pirate!!! Sounds too long to me...and about choking thrust at half of its burn, it could be caused by clogged nozzle or unevenly rammed comp. But leave it to history to decide.... Finally, a few lines on how the fountain should be mounted and fuse attached to it as well as its overall look when assembled. I'm sure you all know this, maybe better than me...but I've taken images before you did, heh... href> So, presuming that fountain is already rammed, we need cardboard base, hot-melt glue stick, gas-torch...that's for start. href> The body is glued to cardboard base and meal slurry mixed with a plastic applicator stick...If you look closer into the nozzle you could see Alu-foil punched... href> And this is it, with home made fuse sticked in, ready to go hissss... Blaf

Yes, you're right, sometimes they call it "Rocket tool" as well... Blaf

Since I've recently purchased a nice small Lathe machine, I turned it on the other day and dared to make a nozzle forming spindle and corresponding aluminium base. And it wasn't hard to do it at all! On the contrary, it was pure pleasure to work with this precise piece of machinery. Material used for spindle was Brass rod of 6mm dia while round base is made of Aluminium cylinder of 55mm dia. Center (base) hole is drilled with 4mm dril and tapped with M5 tap die. Of course, the same thread was made on spindle bottom so that it could be screwed on the base. As you can see, spindle has a slight tapper so that nozzles come out conically shaped and (what's the most important) in the very center of the tube. href> You can see the wooden dowel with center hole corresponding to the spindle dia on the left and two blank BP motors on the right...one made by Bentonite and other by ground Kitty-liter. Both look pretty handsome, don't they? Haven't tested this perfected versions yet, though.... Blaf

Humbleness is a nice little virtue... Blaf

Yes, that's exactly the procedure I follow. My screen (kitchen sieve) is relatively fine with openings between 0,5 - 1mm, don't know for sure and granules coming out are very small. These are left to dry over night on a piece of news paper and later stored in plastic container. Granulation is done first because burn rate is more consistent and second, granules don't make powdery mess like meal does. Blaf