The Pyrotechnic Workshop Reference

[asilentbob]

"The Pyrotechnic Workshop Reference" would (could) be a easily printable refrence sheet that we could use in our workshops whenever we are making pyrotechnic goodies. So if you need a quick rough conversion of mesh/microns, or need to see what the common size breakdown for sporting grade black powders is, you will have it on hand. Good handly stuff like that. Remember, that this is aimed toward pyrotechnics more than chemistry, BUT, having a very small condensed periodic table would be nice. One thing that needs to be decided is what format the finished page(s) will be in. For instance, MS word, .txt, .rtf, etc. So, untill that is decided we will just gather all the info.

 

==

Charts of common BP grainsizes for various uses and the grain sizes of the FG and FA commercial powders both in mesh and mm, rough table for mesh/mircon/etc, table of PSI/kPa for hydralic presses and common pressures that are called for in whistle and mabey BP comps, some basic rule of thumb suggestions for lift of various sizes of spherical/canister shells and starmines (Like the "1oz of 2Fa per lb." guideline.), common unit conversions, like inches/cm/mm, the whole which diameter tube corresponds to calling it a xlb rocket/fountain, and their common lengths, common diameter/lengths for other fireworks and mortors of various sizes, actual common shell diameters before wrapping and the mortors they fire from, mabey recommended temperature ranges to cook your charcoal too, common hardware store ID/Wall/OD of HDPE pipe and common price range? Common carrier/burst ratios? General burst ammount for shells What concentration of what solvent is most commonly used for what composition genre (glitter/charcoal streamers/perchlorate metallic fueled color stars/etc). Common chemical incompatibilitys. some common oxidizer and fuel properties, flame coloring species (created through the reactions usually.), Chlorine donors and the percent of chlorine by weight (still need a few more),

==

I'll edit in suggestions. Bold faced are already found and posted, plain text is everything else. If having all the possible things to include in a vertical list unstead of separated with commas is preferred ill change it, just tell me.

 

Format:

(THE INFO, if its a chart or something, i suggest just puting "chart" or "table," because it may be hard to import it into the forum. Though code tags might work if the table was made with PRE tags on the site originally. If its a short bit of text, just copy/paste it with quote tags i guess.

(source of info, a HTML link for instance, or the ref needed to find the book, author, title, publisher, etc)

 

I'm sure someone else has thought of something like this before, so i don't want to steal credit or anything if that is the case. Just making that clear.

 

I'll give 2 examples:

INFO:

Sporting grades (G) Grain Size (mm)
Cannon Grade 4.76-1.68
1FG                1.68-1.19
2FG                1.19-.59
3FG                .84-.29
4FG                .42-.15
5FG                .149
Blasting Grades (A) Grain Size (mm)
1FA                8.0-4.0
2FA                4.76-1.68
4FA                1.68-.84
5FA                .84-.297
7FA                .42-.149
Meal D           .42
Fine               .149

SOURCE:

Skylighter bullitin

 

INFO:

GOEX specs

Sporting Powders:
-0.5+4 mesh Whaling
-6+12 mesh Cannon/Life Saving
-10+20 mesh Saluting
-12+15 mesh Fg
-16+30 mesh FFg
-20+50 mesh FFFg
-40+100 mesh FFFFg

Blasting Powders:
-0.3+5 mesh FA
-4+12 mesh 2FA
-10+16 mesh 3FA
-12+20 mesh 4FA
-20+50 mesh 5FA
-30+50 mesh 6FA
-40+100 mesh 7FA

Meal Powders:
-40 mesh Meal D
-100 mesh Meal F
-140 mesh Meal XF

SOURCE:

Alan Yates VK2ZAY - Corned BP

[Cherbanov]

keep up the good work, MS word is good allmost evry one has it

and dont you have it you sertenly now some one that does. it would be real god to have something like that to look in wen you are in your workshop

[ActionTekJackson]

Even better, let me know what you want converted to HTML and it'll be done. Everyone has a web browser... guarunteed, as long as there are no pictures involved then there's no need for any real hosting. Just have to include a disclaimer on the download link to right click and save as.

[cplmac]

Open Office is a really good open source format as well.

[ewest]

Excellent idea. Whatever format someone chooses I would suggest at least posting a file that is editable by others. For example, if I make a nice little chart on something, I might post a PDF but also include the MS Word file I first created. That way someone can download the MS Word file and add to the chart on their own if they like.

[asilentbob]

Great suggestions on the format issue. Remember, if your looking around for something and stumble over something that you think might be good for this, go ahead and post it.

 

INFO:

Name    ID   Stick*   payload*

2 oz    3/8"
4 oz    1/2"
8 oz    5/8"  30"     120g
1 lb    3/4"   36"     180g
2 lb    7/8"
3 lb    1"      48"     500g
4 lb    1 1/4"
6 lb    1 1/2"
* stick length and payload weight general suggestions

Also:
Conventional drag stabilised core-burners usually have a case 10 IDs
long, but stingers must use shorter cases for stability, typically 4 IDs
long. OD is 1.25 to 1.5 IDs

SOURCE:

Alan Yates post at rec.pyrotechnics

SOURCE2:

Stick length and payload weight from:

pyrotooling.com

[asilentbob]

INFO:

Plastic spherical hemi actual diameters before spiking/pasting and the mortor ID they fire from.
Acutal shell OD | Mortor ID
7/8"                   1"
1-5/8"                1-3/4"
2-1/4"                2-1/2"
2-5/8"                3"
3-3/4"                4"
4-3/4"                5"
5-5/8"                6"
7-9/16"              8"

Paper hemis
1-3/8"               1-1/2"
1-13/16"           2"
2-1/4"              2-1/2"
2-5/8"              3"
3-5/8"              4"
4-5/8"              5"
5-1/2"              6"
7-1/2"              8"
9-1/4"              10"
11"                  12"
14-15/16"         16"

SOURCE:

Cannonfuses plastic and paper hemis as of 10-6-06

[asilentbob]

INFO:

 Optimum pressing pressures for rockets using whistle type mixes.

   Core burner type rockets 6500 PSI
   End burner type rockets  8800 PSI

Square inch area of most common rocket motor tooling:

   1/2” diameter .196 square inches of area
   5/8” diameter .307 square inches of area
   3/4” diameter .441 square inches of area
   7/8” diameter .600 square inches of area
   1” diameter .785 square inches of area
   1-1/4” diameter 1.226 square inches of area
   1-1/2” diameter 1.766 square inches of area

Below is an example calculation of how to find pressing pressure’s when you factor in the diameter of the hydraulic cylinder on your press along with the square inch area of your rocket tool using 6500 PSI as the desired pressing pressure. For example we will use a ¾” diameter tool set and a 1-3/4” diameter hydraulic cylinder in our calculation.

Example: .441 square inches x 6500 PSI = 2866. Divide this number by the square inch area of our cylinder 2.405= 1191 pounds actual gauge pressure to achieve 6500 pounds pressure on the propellant grain.

To calculate square inch area of a cylinder multiply the radius of the cylinder by itself then multiply by 3.1416

Example: for 1-3/4” diameter cylinder radius = .875 x .875 = .7656 x 3.1416 = 2.405 square inches.

SOURCE:

Wolter Pyro Tools - Tips and Tricks

[asilentbob]

INFO:

(2 charts of mesh, micron, and millimeters, applicable to pyrotechnics)

SOURCE:

Meshmicron

[asilentbob]

INFO:

pg. 138

Table with some properties of common oxidizers (oxygen available, heat of decomposition, MP, MW, density)

pgs. 141 & 142

Table of some common fuels and some props. (heat of combustion kcal/gram, combustion product, product state at 2000 K)

pg. 144

Table of some flame coloring species and the color they make. (SrCl=deep red, MgO=black body radiator, SrCl + CuCl=purple, SrOH=orange red, etc.)

SOURCE:

Introductory Practical Pyrotechnics by Tom Perigrin Pages 138, 141, 142, and 144.

[asilentbob]

INFO:

Chlorine % by weight

Ammonium chloride 66
Chlorowax               30-70
Dechlorane              78
HCB                        75
HCE                        90
Lead chloride           25
Lindane                   73
Mercurous chloride    15
Parlon                    64-68
PVC                        57
PVDC (Saran)           73

SOURCE:

Skylighter bullitin

 

Thanks go to Ultrabuf's post on page 34 of the PRRT for giving me the idea.

[asilentbob]

INFO:

Some pressure conversions
1 PSI = 1lb (453.59237g) / in^2 (or 2.54 cm^2)
1 PSI = 6,894.76 Pa
1 Pa = 1 N / m^2
1 kPa = 1,000 Pa

1 N = Kg * m / s^2
A newton is the amount of force required to accelerate a mass of one kilogram by one metre per second squared.

SOURCE:

Wikipedia - pressure

Wikipedia - Newton

 

Some other pressure units may be helpful for big experimental rocketry buffs that routinely calculate the internal pressure of the engines at various points in the burn. Or to calculate thrust. So, yeah, if you have a unit in mind, just post it and a conversion like 1x=5y.

[asilentbob]

INFO:

Table of burst composition to carrier ratios for <3" to >8" shells.

 

INFO:

"Bursting charge amounts for chrysanthemum shells"

Table of 3" to 12"

 

SOURCE:

PFP database

Under bursting charges

 

INFO:

"Shells generally go 100 feet up for every inch in diameter they are. Thus, an 8-inch shell will go approximately 800 feet into the air before bursting."

SOURCE:

Pyro universe

 

INFO:

Size Burst Height

(in) (ft)

 

3" - 400

4" - 500

5" - 600

6" - 700

8" - 900

10" - 1050

12" - 1150

 

SOURCE:

APC - aerial shells thread - Frozentech's post on page 2, he got it from the "Illustrated Dictionary of Pyrotechnics"

 

I don't know which is "right" so i would put between x and y ft in a table or something.

[asilentbob]

INFO:

 

Shells:

Lift for spherical aerial shells:

"One ounce of 2FA per pound of shell weight"

or 1/16th of the shells weight is the recommended ammount of 2FA that should be used as lift. ex. A 200g shell with (200/16) 12.5g of 2FA lift.

Lift for canister/italian style aerial shells:

Under 3" (?)

1/5 the canister weight of 2FA for loose fit.

1/6 the canister weight of 2FA for tight fit.

3" and over (?)

1/16 the canister weight of 2FA

 

Mines:

Lift for bag style star mines

1/5 the payload weight (stars, bees, etc) of 2FA

Lift for preforated disk style star mines:

Same(?)

 

*Note cannon sporting grade powder is often considered as the equivalent to 2FA in size and performance.

**Note "the ratio of lift to throw weight is a declining function of

size." -robgood of rec.pyrotechnics

***Note smaller shells that are not commonly used in pro displays, IE under 3" usually are usually made to break at a significantly lower altitude, a 1" breaking at 3" altitude would not be very impressive.

****Note mortor length also factors in a bit, though small.

 

SOURCE:

Various threads and posts from rec.pyrotechnics. Lightly cross-refrenced with separate threads having the same generalizations posted.

Google Groups: rec.pyrotechnics

 

Can i get some corrections? I'm sure some of this has got to be a bit off

 

rec.pyro thread This guys idea to make a chart of shell sizes and weights vs. lift is pretty neat.

 

"The industry standard is 1 oz. of 2FA powder per pound of shell weight up to 10

pounds, and half an ounce for every pound over 10 pounds." -Mike Swisher of rec.pyrotechnics (this will be edited in later)

 

INFO:

s(t) = -16(t)^2 + Vo(t) + Ho

t = Time in seconds

Vo = Initial velocity

Ho = Initial height

-or-

Y = -16x^2 + Vo(x) + Ho

Plug this into a graphing calculator and plug in your numbers to approximate things. Velocity is in FPS, initial height in feet, and the maximum y value will be the theoretical maximum height in feet. The graph will be a parabola. You can use these graphs to find alot of different stats.

 

ex. Y = -16x^2 + 200x + 0

A projectile fired at 200FPS (muzzle velocity) at an initial height of 0 (ground level). Once graphed we can see that the highest point on the graph (has max y value) is ~(6.25, 625), so at 6.25 seconds into the flight (exactly halfway) the projectile reached its theoretical max height of 625ft. We can also use this to estimate time fuse lengths for breaks, do you want a perfect break or do you want your shell to break throwing your stars up or down slightly.

SOURCE:

My College algebra course . You can also find it on rec.pyrotechnics and many websites all over im sure.

 

 

INFO:

"3 turns of paper for a 3" shell, 4 turns for a 4", 5 turns for a 5", etc." - Mike Swisher of rec.pyrotechnics

SOURCE:

rec.pyrotechnics

 

Some people just lit either a nice big cake or a few because damn, there are alot of small aerial shells going off about a block away. Current football game thing probably.

[asilentbob]

INFO:

Common unit conversions:

(Avoirdupois and metric systems)

1in = 2.54cm or 25.4mm

1ft = 12in or 30.48cm

1m = 39.37in or ~3.28ft

1yd = 3ft or .9144m

1micron = .001mm

 

1g = 15.432grains

1mg = 1/1000g

1grain = 64.799mg

1dram = 1.772g or 1/16th of an oz. avdp

1oz = 28.35g

1oz = 437.5grains

1lb = 16oz or 453.59g

1kg = 1000g or 2.20lbs

 

1mL = 1 cc

1teaspoon (US) = 4.93ml

1tbsp (US) = 14.79ml

1 fl oz (US) = 29.57ml

1 cup (US) = 236.59ml

1pt (US) = 473mL

1qt (US) = 946.35ml

1L = 1000mL

1gal (US) = 3785mL or 3.785L

 

SOURCE:

Google calculator.

 

 

 

[edit] fixed the mg to g conversion. You had 1mg = 1000g, it should have been 1/1000g

Edited October 20, 2006 by Mumbles

[ActionTekJackson]

Here's a more convenient way to convert basically anything.

 

Convert.exe

[asilentbob]

V1.0, post corrections if you see something that you think is messed up.

 

Edit: attachment fucked up

[TheSidewinder]

Hmm... for some reason, that file extension (.wps) isn't recognized as a binary file (which would "download" with a right-cick). And if you open it, you get a scrambled data window. Can you ZIP that file up, asilentbob?

 

M

[asilentbob]

Zipped with WinRAR.

 

I went ahead and saved it into .rtf (Rich text format) and .html (hyper text markup language)...

 

I don't know how the .rtf file turned out, but the HTML file works, though it is a little wasteful of space, if it was to be put on a website (as ill do when i finish most of my pyro site editing) it would need a bit of editing.

 

If anyone is going to put it on their site, it would be nice to give credit to all the information sources, and me for bringing it together. Mabey next version when alot of corrections are made and mabey other things added ill make a credits page for it.

 

But hey, as is it looks pretty great!

 

Edit: Ok, its not working for anyone and i don't know why, so its down until further notice.

[itwasntme]

Zipped with WinRAR.

 

I went ahead and saved it into .rtf (Rich text format) and .html (hyper text markup language)...

 

I don't know how the .rtf file turned out, but the HTML file works, though it is a little wasteful of space, if it was to be put on a website (as ill do when i finish most of my pyro site editing) it would need a bit of editing.

 

If anyone is going to put it on their site, it would be nice to give credit to all the information sources, and me for bringing it together. Mabey next version when alot of corrections are made and mabey other things added ill make a credits page for it.

 

But hey, as is it looks pretty great!

I think the download is messed up. It just gives me a page of weird letters, I'm guessing it's the files contents in a language that my browser doesn't understand.

[asilentbob]

No, its not that, because its not working for me either, its likely something with the hosting or file type.

 

So, its down until further notice.

[asilentbob]

Ok, trying this again, chances are that it still wont work, but whatever...

 

Edit: .zip failed, trying .html

Edit2: Schweet! It works for me, formating is shit right now, but that can be changed later to make it easyer to read. Does it work for anyone else?

ref_v1.htm

[Mumbles]

If you guys need or want anything specific, don't be afraid to ask. I've been too busy lately to get anything together. I'd be more than happy to help if you tell me what you need. I have plenty of the literature to pull from if you need it.

[asilentbob]

Thanks Mumbles, im pretty much brain dead on what would be good for it though...

 

Heres a slightly edited one. Enjoy.

(please look for errors and think of other stuff for it too)

ref_v1_edited.html

[ewest]

Handy cross reference Gram-Ounce-Pound chart. I have this in an Excel spreadsheet, if anyone wants the source file PM me and I'll send it, I just can't post it on the forum in that format.

 

Source: ME

WEIGHT_CONVERSION_CHART.pdf