Firecracker

[the antverpian pirate]

I think Blaf first soaked the paper with glue and then rammed it, because iff you do it the other way its like you say and only the top side of the paper will get some glue in it.

Pirate

[Blaf]

Ahhh, questons...my favourites. Yes, I first ram a piece of toilette paper in my tube, in approx 1cm depth looking from bottom side. The tube is then positioned upside-down so that bottom hole points upwards. Here we come to wood glue aplication. I pour two drops of it on rammed paper plug and spread it around tube walls...that's it. For exra strenght you can always fold a few inner layers of paper over the glue and leave it to dry. How long? Depends of how much glue you use...but I usually leave tubes to dry for two days...

Blaf

[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

[Duvel]

Hey Blaf,
Nice to read it was a great succes!
But:

or rammed at both ends.

How can you ram both ends, while you can't/not alowed to ram FLASH?

[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

[Duvel]

Ok thanks.. :wink:

Well, I've made a fountain..
I'll post the movie as soon as possible.. :roll:

Duvel

[Blaf]

Those among you who saw my newest post on Flash Powder knew well I would make something to check it. And here you are – two crackers of the latest production, filled by KCLO4 / AL flash powder. They're photographed aside my notorious propane lighter for size comparison. The larger one is made of craft stripe wound around 6mm brass rod while smaller one is only 3mm inner diameter. Wall thickness is 1,5mm at both versions.



Last evening, the smaller one caught some action. Namely, I took it to my balcony, light its fuse and thrown it at some 10m from me. After approximately 5 sec. It gone off with pretty loud and sharp BANG and unfortunately, triggered an alarm in nearby video-game store! I retreated, angrily complaining about stupid kids that started firing those things earlier this year. That's for my neighbours sake, of course... Overall, this flash works beyond expectations!

Blaf

[Keesthemad]

Very nice blaf. What have you used to make the end caps? Becouse that is the only thing that is still holding me down in "mass" production of crackers.

Though id probably make my casings around a 3/8" PVC electrical tube (This is a rare item in the stocks of DIY stores), because this would make a neat 9mm inner diameter. Then roll about 3-4mm wall thickness onto it and fill it up. The only problem I then still face is the end cap.

Ah well, if i start throwing with fireworks the whole neighborhood would know that it was me though they would probably not care.

[Prophet]

It seems that it was one hell of a firecracker Blaf, nice job! Must be sweet to set of an alarm from such a distance.

I retreated, angrily complaining about stupid kids that started firing those things earlier this year.

Haha, nice one.

[Blaf]

Ah, end caps... you can use several different aproaches to this and I'm sure any would work with this super fast burning Perc./Al flash. I've got an impression that no end caps were needed at all! Their only purpose is to hold flash powder inside casing and that's all. You can ram little crumble of tissue paper for bottom side, roll short & narrow strip of the same around fuse to inner tube diameter and stick (after you fill it with some flash) it more or less firmly to open end of the tube and later, apply little wood glue over those tissue parts. Or, the way I did it here, you can bend inner layers of the tube to close bottom end and upper end around fuse. Other approaches call for kitty liter bottom plug (rammed) but I don't think it's good idea since bottom is being ehmmm...accelerated of sort and could hit someone.
Hope this suffices for now.

Blaf

[Pyrostar]

HI


nice crackers blaf, very good work!

Another good way is to mix Kittylitterdust with Sodiumwaterglass
or just use a saw and saw some wood plugs from a wooden dowel and use a drill to make a fuse hole, works well even for my KClO3/Mg crackers.


Greets,



Pyrostar

[breezer]

I always use at the bottom rammed kitty-litter, and at the top I use hot gleu (is that what it is called in english) this works great and it's easy to make.

[superman21]

I wouldn't try hot glue on perc/Al crackers! That is way too dangerous... I always ram one end with bentonite clay. After that I make a mix of acetone based glue with saw dust. The other end of the cracker is filled with this mix.

[deadman]

I have personally never heard of an ignition via hot glue gun. I believe hot glue guns work about 120 degrees Celcius. I'm not sure of the auto ingition point of flash powder, but believe most black powders are around 600 degrees. Tissue wadding with a glob of glue should do fine for a fast powder.

[breezer]

Using hot gleu for kclo4 based flashes shouldn't be a problem at all. The hot gleu is ways not hot enough to ignite the flash. This doesn't mean that you dont have to be carefull, you always should be aware when using any pyrotechnische composition!

[mr.stijntje]

I once dropped some hot melt glue directly on a heap of flash. 'Suprisingly', nothing happened.
For the safety, I first put in some tissue paper, followed by the glue. The tissue paper isolates well, and the flash's temperature will only raise a few degrees.

[deadman]

I've heard of individuals using hot glue as the endplugs themselves. But I would definitley use the tissue to isolate and insulate the powder from the heat.

I'm planning on lifting some 3/4" ID salutes in the next couple of weeks. I'll update you guys soon.

[Blaf]

I think this is worth telling you guys. This morning I went to my shooting range and brought some newest products with me. Nothing specially new, just a few crackers filled with that Perc/Al flash I recently mixed. Two of those were moderately sized items, one was 6cm long with 7mm inner dia while other was shorter but thicker little lady. As you might expect, both exploded....uups, deflagrated with loud, sharp bang releasing fair amount of smoke and debris.
But the most interesting one wasn't even completely finished. Namely, third tube was closed at one end while other was gaping open. I've poured some flash, filled half of the tube (L=4cm / Dia=5mm), positioned it vertically in small pile of debris, added some 7cm of my fuse, lit it and retreated to where my fellow shooter was standing. Fuse hissed on open for a few seconds then smoked a bit from tube opening....for a second I thought this was a failure...but it deflagr...what a Hell, it exploded quite nicely. Like it was thoroughly confined! I'm sure, the tube could be opened at both ends and this flash would still rupture it.
And of course I enjoyed it, what kind of a question that is?

Blaf

[breezer]

That is really nice to hear blaf so I could use kclo4/Al for matchcrackers? And also I would like to now how thick your walls were of your tubes.

[Guest Rico]

Ye Perc/Al flash is really powerful, few weeks ago i used like 5 grams in a open tube, added some visco fuse and we were ready to roll. I lit the fuse and expected nothing, but then a super bang, it really suprised me :P

[mr.stijntje]

Yep, I've done that too. That was when I still made the relatively slow KMnO4/Al/S flash. About 1g in an open tube made a really low BOOM, destroying the tube.

By now, I've got GD and perchlorate, so I could try it again. :P

[Pyrostar]

HI

Yea, absolutely true, for 70/30 flash is doesn´t really matter wether the ends are closed or not, you can also close one end, pour flashpowder in it and glue a star in the tube( + a fuse) then you will have a nitraat, or thumping thuder cracker, it will shatter the tube without problems.

It is the same at my Mg/S flashpowder, 2g in a open tube that is 2,5mm thickwalled shattered totally with a loud bang.


Pyrostar

[breezer]

HI

Yea, absolutely true, for 70/30 flash is doesn´t really matter wether the ends are closed or not, you can also close one end, pour flashpowder in it and glue a star in the tube( + a fuse) then you will have a nitraat, or thumping thuder cracker, it will shatter the tube without problems.

It is the same at my Mg/S flashpowder, 2g in a open tube that is 2,5mm thickwalled shattered totally with a loud bang.
Pyrostar

? you using no oxidator with your Mg/S flash? Buth that idea with using a star is a nice idea. I would prefer a emerald green star composition, it gives a real nice green flame.

[Blaf]

As you can see, Crackers Inc. is working its brains out on miniaturization. Inner dia is 3mm, lenght 2,5cm, wall thickness cca 1mm, tissue ramed at both ends. Didn't have a chance to try it yet, though...



Blaf

[Tyneman]

Sweet petite Blaf. Looks awesome.
What kind of compo is in them, and how much of it?

I am really wondering about soundproduction of these mini-crackers.
When I make mini-crackers I usually use straws with some Primary HE to fill em, more dangerous but the biggest bang for verry little compo.