insutama Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Hey everyone this is my Second post now so i am new to the site and i have been doing some research about making flash powder. I have made lots of rockets using KN03 and Sugar plus i have milled black powder years ago with great success. I was just wondering what would be the easiest chemical to acquire in canada for a oxidizer for flash powder. I have bought KN03 With no problem about 10 years ago but it seems a very hard chemical to acquire in canada these days. I have no problem making my own fuels with AL foil and a Ball mill or magnesium from pencil sharpeners plus you can buy larger quantities on ebay of fuel but i just cant seem to find were to get any KN03 or other oxidizers. Also what about sulphates i have seen a few posts and its seems you can use copper sulphate with magnesium powder anyway any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andres1511 Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Stay off flash powder, please...You don't know what you're talking about, sulphate flash ? Persulfate flash is very sensitive and dangerous, just keep it with rockets and BP.Thanks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Hey everyone this is my Second post now so i am new to the site and i have been doing some research about making flash powder. I have made lots of rockets using KN03 and Sugar plus i have milled black powder years ago with great success. I was just wondering what would be the easiest chemical to acquire in canada for a oxidizer for flash powder. I have bought KN03 With no problem about 10 years ago but it seems a very hard chemical to acquire in canada these days. I have no problem making my own fuels with AL foil and a Ball mill or magnesium from pencil sharpeners plus you can buy larger quantities on ebay of fuel but i just cant seem to find were to get any KN03 or other oxidizers. Also what about sulphates i have seen a few posts and its seems you can use copper sulphate with magnesium powder anyway any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated thanks. You may wish to reword or retract your question especially as it's your second post here. The community here becomes leery of those that look for flash recipes and/or materials the first couple of posts. Please pull back some, read, read, read, read, get involved as a community member and work on your craft first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurritoBandito Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Actually sulfates can be used, but I am in agreement that he should not be making flash. What do you plan on making with flash and no BP? I'm sure you could find KNO3 if you look for it. Try searching for KNO3, not KN03. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insutama Posted January 21, 2015 Author Share Posted January 21, 2015 Okay fair enough thanks for the advice basically i wanted to learn about flash powder so i could make a rocket with a nice loud report. Like i said im just getting started i had read that flash powder is very sensitive and to mix very small amounts at a time. Maybe someone could send me in the right direction for making a report for my rocket engines without using dangerous flash powder. Before i had posted here i was gonna try making Magnesium/KNO3 flash powder as i had heard it was one of the more stable ones. I really had no intentions on messing around with sulphates i was just curiouse about them and you have made it quite clear to stay away from sulphates so im glad i asked about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogeryermaw Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 you can get a good (and safer) report with black powder as a rocket header. paste, paste, paste! good confinement is the key to getting a thump out of b.p. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 I think you need to find a reliable source of chemicals before you start looking for formulae. Surely KNO3 is available in agricultural, horticultural or hydroponic stores. Get out of town and look again. There is a huge thread about making chlorate and some info about making perc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insutama Posted January 22, 2015 Author Share Posted January 22, 2015 So i found KN03 as stump remover from a small garden store in town all the big chains didnt sell it. So now that i have 1lb of KN03 i coffee grinded it to a fluffy powder. I was thinking of sanding some magnesium to make the KN03 with mg powder flash powder but before i wanna dabble with that i want to know all about the safty of it and how unstable that mix is can someone send me in the right direction for the safty of flash powder. I was told that KN03 and mg powder is one of the more stable flash powder is this right ? or should i just get some sulphur and charcole and make black powder ? like i said im new to this and i would like to make a good bang for my rocket report while been safe about it. If i were to mix say 1/2 a gram of KN03 with 1/2 gram of Magnesium powder and mix it with the diaper method would this be still super unstable and not safe to keep a gram of this mix ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schroedinger Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Yes the KNO3 one is a safer type of flash, but for god sake start with blackpowder.Read on how to make a maron and you will keep your fingers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insutama Posted January 22, 2015 Author Share Posted January 22, 2015 I have made black powder in the past and it worked great i just never really got much of a bang with a little amount of black powder it seems like i always needed a large amount of black powder to make a explosion not like a half a gram worth of powder i could send up into the sky. If flash powder is so unstable how come back when they made m-80s they wouldnt explode in storage i have always wondered that do they put some sort of stablalizer in it ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schroedinger Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 M80 got mixed binary.The problem with flash is not that it con not be handled relative safe. The problem is that it is the most dangerous mixture used in pyro. And that is for a god reason. It's no problem for flash to take off a finger or a whole limb if treated wrong. Also the next problem is that too many kids are walking around making nothing else then what we consider b***s. Hurting themself/others and upsetting people. Which leads to much more strict restrictions. So do not epect too much help with help on flash here from peoples, we wan't you to stay safe and continue with this allready hard enough hobby. Thats why we want you to learn the art, risks and dangers from the beginning.Just cause you made bp a couple years ago doesn't mean you know it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurritoBandito Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Many flash powders are sensitive to heat, friction, impact, and electrostatic discharge. A small amount of flash powder can do a lot of damage to your soft flesh. I highly advise you to stick with BP. If your rocket can't lift your header, then just make a bigger engine. There are alternatives to salute headers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobosan Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 I have made black powder in the past and it worked great i just never really got much of a bang with a little amount of black powder it seems like i always needed a large amount of black powder to make a explosion not like a half a gram worth of powder i could send up into the sky. If flash powder is so unstable how come back when they made m-80s they wouldnt explode in storage i have always wondered that do they put some sort of stablalizer in it ? Try to confine your BP report charge better and you will get a decent boom. It won't be a sharp cracking report like flash but it will boom. Use hemp or sisal twine to confine the BP charge in the casing. Some folks, including me, have even used fiberglass reinforced packing tape to confine a casing. It's not the best enviromentally but it works Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nater Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 (edited) If you can only lift half a gram, you are doing something wrong with your rockets. Even my 1/4" BP bottle rockets can easily lift 20 gram headers quite high. I would not call flash powder unstable, it is just dangerous to work with. We get cases and cases of salutes shipped over from China. They survive hot containers, loading on and off trucks and being fired from mortars without spontaneously igniting. Loose flash poses a risk for ignition from many sources and requires care when loading it into devices. Edited January 22, 2015 by nater Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddewees Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 When I see posts like this, it makes me think we need a "what's the easiest way to take down a building" section. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobosan Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 When I see posts like this, it makes me think we need a "what's the easiest way to take down a building" section. If we did, it wouldn't get read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nater Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Here is how you take down a building. We had had fun setting up that demonstration and some close prox effects for those guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddewees Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Heh, that looked like Dags shed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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