Blaf

I use portions of grey water drain tubing. They come in standard diameters and pieces I made my yars from are short intersections which can be ended (and sealed) by appropriate end caps. Ends of those intersection tubings come equipped with rubber O-rings so when you press end cap in it's water and air sealed....I should post an image of it so that you can see it in all its beauty. I'm not sure what material they're made of but I had no problems so far. As for BP milling, I do that with glass marbles of some 15mm diameter...no sparks here for sure. Blaf

I know you all wait to hear if MarkII with reduced charge ever flew... Sorry, I didn't make that second attempt yet. The rocket still proudly stands on one of my shelves begging to get some action. No rocket will ever dictate my life. I'll pick the best time and place but not yet... Blaf

Hello Deadman! Personally, I never tried to make Al dust by grinding Al stock with angle grinder. I suppose that if you grind pure Al, the wheel would get clogged very quickly and you get nothing but semi-molten crumbles. But I saw images somewhere on the Net, where some guy was grinding beer and Coca Cola cans held in a vice against plastic bucket and he really got something...aside what purity of the powder he actually got at the end. Anyhow, even if you succeeded in this grinding endeavour, the powder you get would still be more or less unusable in flash composition while in fountains and stars would behave quite OK. Blaf

Ah, I forgot that little detail about mentioning (and discussing) any suppliers here. I'll say something in my defence - I did not post any links to their respective sites...if this means anything. But as a principle, I agree about not mentioning any of those proscribed ones. Sorry if I broke any rules by doing so. My lips are sealed now guys... Blaf p.s. My VISCO machine is almost finished, he, he...

Hello there! You're from USA and therefore you shouldn't have any problems getting chemical pyro supplies. Firms such as Edit by Nick do mail order most of their stuff. Try to check their sites on the Net. Unfortunately, sacrificial anodes are the only way I could get Magnesium too...amount you mentioned is quite OK with me, you don't need that much Mg in compositions and small piece should last long time... Regards (and welcome) from Blaf

Ah, smoke effect...it brings memories from highschool. We (I mean we, a few of us avantguard of the Pyro movement) would wrap a half of a comb made of celluloid into aluminium foil and then punch a small hole at one corner. The same corner would be heated by open flame (i.e. matches) until white smoke thrusted out. This smoking piece would be regularily thrown among youngsters smoking their first cigarettes in school toilet so that the fun was great. If you ever experienced breathing that white smoke with fulll lungs, well, it's nasty experience believe me. It even provokes your eyes to produce fair quantity of tears. All in all, one hell of a fun for bystanders. Unfortunately, they don't make combs of celluloid any more. As for well known mixture of KNO3 and sugar, I made it a lot in my time...usually in form of thicker or thinner sticks wrapped in some fancy paper. We would hold them like road flares or so but blody things would have produced a lot of hot dross and you couldn't hold them for long. The smoke is not so dense but it's more or less harmless to breathe. I remember once, one of the guys from my school brought a humungous smoke bomb (KNO3 & Sugar) casted into 1kg paint tin. I didn't know what it was until lunatic lit the fuse (common sparkler) and rolled it down the main city square full of high-schoolers chatting and laughing. Boy, you should have seen the panic...everyone was trying to get away from it but damn device propelled itself somehow and fizzzed around in least expected directions. Girls were screaming and boys were cursing loudly...simply beautiful foreplay for Christmas night. Personally, I never tried those with parafine wax. They say that mixture tends to burn with open flame so that it should be tightly closed inside sealed vessel with small holes punched so that almost no Oxigen could get in. Quantity of O seems to be critical here....the less O, the thicker cloud of smoke comes out... Blaf

Pk, there you are (whichever rock I turn, you pop up...)! You can see only one rotating base mounted on Aluminium arm. There will be two of them (the other one is asembled too) fixed on vertical construction at the certain distance, one above other. These rotating bases support round plates (diameter little less than common table plate), each supports one of them. Upper plate will have 12 vertical spindles holding cotton threads, while lower one should have 8 spindles. Threads from all upper 12 bundles will be wound and pushed down through middle of the rotating axis (aluminium tube) and down through lower tube (second plate) where they'll meet additional 8 threads from lower plate. The secret is that upper plate rotates clockwise while lower spins counterclockwise so that "rope" has two layers wound in oposite direction relative to each other. This should give the whole thing (read: fuse) strenght to keep the powdered core in the middle. There are other little details about construction but I won't bother you with that. All rotating parts will be driven by rubber belts of various diameter wound over plastic pulleys, etc. Stop. No more. The powder flow will be solved through conicaly shaped (mounted upside-down) vessel with little hole on the bottom. There are other consideratons regarding free powder flow but more of that when the time comes. Pk, I know you're sweating now... Blaf

Here I am as promised The first one shows parts of which the thing should be assembled: Roller bearing of 10mm inner dia, aluminium bar with plastic clamps at one end, aluminium rod of 10mm outher dia, two washers, plastic drive pulley and a plate stand. Plate means round piece of something thin on which rolls with cotton threads should be mounted...those of you familiar with the VISCO machine look should know what I'm talking about... ' alt='' class='ipsImage' > target=_blank>' alt='' class='ipsImage' > width=360 border=0>href> This is the arm (which will hold round plate one day...or sooner) wiewed from aside. Sorry for imperfections... ' alt='' class='ipsImage' > target=_blank>' alt='' class='ipsImage' > width=360 border=0>href> This one is razor sharp close image of rotating part of the arm – you can see all parts put together and I must say – it really rotates when you push it. Now I have to find suitable material for plates. Since all the rest is Alu and plastic, wood I guess doesn't belong here... ' alt='' class='ipsImage' > target=_blank>' alt='' class='ipsImage' > width=360 border=0>href> Questions and suggestions are welcome! Blaf

I know, you expect to see something new here. Well, you're about to witness the birth of my fuse making machine. It will make wound threads for sure which should contain BP core in the middle - we'll see what comes out when I finish it. I should place some photos of the assembly process so that you guys could do the same. Blaf

Ah, there you are coming out of the shade. Your comments are a great relief to my badly hurt selfconfidence. Thank you guys... Blaf

C'mon guys! Anyone else has anything to confes? No? So, in other words it implies that I'm the only one making mistakes here... Blaf p.s. Thanks Duvel for support.

Alexio, your words brought a bit of relief...unpredictability is what makes this so thrilling. Anyhow, I feel little incomplete because of the last CATO and therefore I made an exact copy of it (without payload, of course) but with a shorter grain and larger dia nozzle...we'll see what happens this time. Blaf

Hi Exhile! Glad to hear from you again. Sadly, you couldn't be at the site because of flu...it must have been owesome to stay at home and watch your devices going off on video. Better luck next time! As for core, one of the problems that caused my rocket to explode could be the core lenght and its dia. Let me see...nozzle dia=5mm, grain dia=20mm, grain lenght=80mm, core dia=3mm (yes, I drilled it after ramming), core lenght=30mm. It's not too much but it just might have caused pressure build-up. Next time I'll make one of the same proportions but with a larger nozzle and see what happens. The truth is - I never tested a rocket engine of this size before. But hay, how much testing took NASA to perfect their rockets!?! See? Blaf p.s. I just wonder what happened to other guys...

The latest report: The Big Day came....but I have to disappoint you guys. The truth is, I'm the most disappointed one here. But that's life. We all learn from our own errors....or so. I must say I had high expectations regarding the Big One but it all turned out to be opposite. At about 23,00 hours I took my Pyro Bag (yes, I've got one for the purpose), 10 pcs of small rockets with salutes (you've seen them already), spare fuses, lighter, some BP in a small container just in case, some isolating tape, an umbrella (it was raining slightly...), the Big One and finally my humble self. An commercial firework display was planned at midnight and I wanted to fire all of my stuff before it starts. Walking downtown was very nice and I thought I could do it more often instead of using a car all the time. It would be much healthier. And so, I thought about launch site...hmmmm, somewhere between my block and city center there's a wide empty space with playgrounds and a big concrete building almost abandoned. Perfect place for something that you're not sure of working at all. Everyone has already gone downtown and I saw almost no people on the streets. But boy, city blocks were rumbling with constant thundering and flashes. Sporadically, here and there, rockets would leave their tails accross night sky followed by various effects. Nice scenery for things yet to come. I picked place in shade, a flat piece of ground with fence all around, away from curious eyes of bypassers. There, I mounted my launching device, a piece of aluminium tube of 12mm diameter with sharp pick at lower end, sticked almost vertically just slightly slanted to south. Here I had a dilemma – what to fire first, those small ones or the Big One. After a short consideration, I decided to set the Big One first. Someone said it resembled a German hand-grenade...it's true. And so, everything was done by the book, much longer fuse was used as to leave more time to retreat. I lit the fuse, ran some 10 meters away and turned to the scene just on time to see it exploding right at the site! It went one meter up and exploded blowing stars vertically. The BANG was very loud but of rather low frequency. I had no time to take cover at all...as a matter of fact I didn't have to as all stars burned in their apogee. What a shame, what a waste of good stars and wooden stick, a nice strong tube, my work...everything. The thing is – I don't know what went wrong! Maybe, just maybe, I left the nozzle too small...5mm...it maybe should have been at least 6-7 for this tube diameter. In despair, I wanted to collect my equipment and turn back home...but my curious mind prevailed again and I stayed. Hidden from public, discredited and sad...I stayed for some time sorting impressions. What a hell, it's once in a year event and I should fire everything I have. Having said that, small rockets were taken out and one by one launched without a single problem. All of them went up over 50m in height and ended with a loud bang! Huh, 5 minutes of glory that I waited for finally came. After the last one went off, I took my gear and slowly walked downtown, thinking about my future moves and at the end attended a nice commercial display in the city port. But frankly, there was much more fireworks of all kinds thrown by citizens that night...it's something you could compare with Beiruth some 20 years ago. That's it guys...wish I could give you a nice, immaculate report but Mrs. Faith (or my negligence) spoiled the fun. Hope you all forgive me one day...or even sooner. Blaf (the surviving one...)

Happy New Year guys! I'll write a thorough report on That Night soon...meanwhile, you can see what remains after firing one of those small plastic rockets topped with salute. Stick and body are separated but not from heat genearted by burning, I forced them apart just to see how the glue holds. It held OK but I used too much force... href> Best wishes from Blaf

And finally guys, if you would like to see something really nice, something of eternal beauty: href> I've never tried to launch device of such proportions...I just have to add a suitable stick, lite the fuse and hope to get away on time... Blaf

Here comes the Great One! Look at this beauty – its weight is hefty 75 grams! Feels great in hand, you've simply got that feeling of power. This box of matches is for comparison purpose only...the tube is more than twice as long as the match. href> If someone feels like seeing more, here is image of nozzle which is 5mm in diameter. href> And here, you can see the top end with passfire hole filled with rammed BP. href> Hope this nicely spices up the whole rush for New Year 2006. Blaf

As for the burning temperature issue and hot-melt glue, there's no real problem because BP fuel burns too fast to heat-up the plastic tube enough to loose holt-melt glue. Maybe, when whole thing descends and you get chance to hold it again, you would probably find the glue melting a bit. But the real problem, within those 2 to 3 seconds of thrust does not exist. The question of Big Day is the right one...I have to admit, no special device is being made yet. Knowing me, I will probably go out and watch commercial firework display taking place every NY in my city port...and all of my devices will end up in my cousines sons hands. And I never ask for any copyrights! I'm glad to be inspiring force of this forum and I would like very much to see your masterpieces guys. C'mon, do something! Blaf

At the same time, I made a few much bigger tubes from strips of craft paper some 12cm wide. Of course, I used wood glue for strenght. Sides are 3-4mm thick while inner dia is 20mm...hope these would withstand the pressure of burning fuel... href> And again, Duvel will slobber over it...no offence my friend! Blaf

As I said, there are those bottle rockets I've told you about. You can see hot-melt glue holding sticks to plastic tubes. href> Something tells me that Duvel will like this... Blaf

As an overture to NY mess I made a test of one of those small plastic engines I posted before. A live test in real time. Here I have to confes a little...as a payload I chosed commercial cracker, a big one which fits on top of the engine by its outher diameter. Well, a bit larger to be honest but it was not a problem, I wound a few additional layers of paper strip around engine and that sufficed. Crackers fuse (green Visco) was too long so I cut it to 1cm lenght and primed it with Meal+Dextrine slurry and dusted with meal right after for easier ignition. So, I mounted that big cracker on top with its primed fuse towards top of rocket engine. Of course, first I've put some granulated BP between those two and then wrapped a piece of craft paper around all. OK, stop with this tutorial crap....here comes the real thrill. A day before I bought some tree lights, you know those small lights going off and on that you hang on your Christmas tree...well, those refused to work and I had to get them back to the shop. This was only an excuse, heh. I took my latest rocket with me, showed it under my jacket, tossed my lighter in my pocket and got out ready for action. On my way to that particular shop, I walked across an open space, future building site of some 100x100m...quite enough for test flight. Searching for suitable launch tube or something I spotted a large carboard box peeping out of metal container...just waiting to be of some use. And so, stabilizer stick was inserted into the corner of the box, slightly slanted....I lit the fuse and went away. The fuse was rather slow and I went 20m away and turned to see what's gonna happen. Right on time as the rocket started hissing furiously and took off leaving short sparkled trail behind. The height it reached must have been more than 35m when the burst charge went off separating the cracker from the rest. I could see its fuse glow spinning...and then....a nice bright flash coming from apogee followed by loud BANG hit my eyes and ears. Boy, it was scary. I pulled my cap deeper on my head and walked away like nothing happened. But inside, I was singing and dancing! I made ten (10) more of those and if everything goes well I could set them off just before NY comes... Blaf

Nick, you took words from my mouth! Thanks for compliments and I wish you all a merry Christmas! Blaf

You got me by surprise Duvel! As for fountains, I have made some...yes I have. I should take some photos so that you have general idea of how they look like but it's nothing new as they look like rocket engines with a larger nozzle. I made them mostly with Aluminium and Iron particles and they all worked well. If you would like, I could post you the recipe. Sorry, no coloured flames on my side because I can't get certain chems... Blaf

Look at what is called "Mass Production"... These rocket engines are made of plastic tubes remained from counter machines. So far they never failed... I placed my gas-torch beside for size comparison. href> Hope you all like it! Blaf

Good morning you two! Duvel, as for the image – I'll take a shot next time...this starmine ended up on the sea bottom after firing (RIP) with no photos taken. Sorry! Annanas, here you are: I used Gold & Silver Rain stars (see Stars topic...) which burned completely on their way up. The fuse hole was drilled through the tube side just above the end plug so when I sticked a fuse in, it was literally touching the plug. This small device is definitely worth trying and I can only guess how bigger device would be performing like... Blaf