What did you do today in pyro?

[lloyd]

It's probably just the opposite. IF you had relatively pure ammonium nitrate, and put a weak solution of NaOH on it, the reaction would have reacted weakly.

 

You probably needed to "titrate" the mass (and likely heat it), just until ammonia release began to diminish near zero. THEN it would have been neutralized (fairly well).

 

Then, since you were using an unknown concentration of NaOH, you'd have to test the neutral condition with litmus paper or phenolpthalein to determine whether or not it was still strongly basic.

 

THEN, you'd have to collect the sodium nitrate by recrystalization. But with all that trouble, you could have synthesized KNO3, instead, using KOH, instead of NaOH!

 

LLoyd

[memo]

the only castic soda I could get was a liquid base and no way the figure out the formula.

----------------------------------------

Not true! You could safely assume that it was mostly water and the main constituent, and figure the concentration based upon its specific gravity.

 

Lacking that, you could have determined the pH, and indirectly calculated the concentration.

 

And more than likely, the ingredients list on the packaging would have given the concentration!

 

There's ALWAYS a way to get the proportions right.

 

 

Lloyd

no data sheet Lloyd, I live in central America and in the jungle no less. the big town is 40 k from me and is about 10,000 people. also

if I knew how to make the calculations it would help

 

memo

the only castic soda I could get was a liquid base and no way the figure out the formula.

----------------------------------------

Not true! You could safely assume that it was mostly water and the main constituent, and figure the concentration based upon its specific gravity.

 

Lacking that, you could have determined the pH, and indirectly calculated the concentration.

 

And more than likely, the ingredients list on the packaging would have given the concentration!

 

There's ALWAYS a way to get the proportions right.

 

 

Lloyd

no data sheet Lloyd, I live in central America and in the jungle no less. the big town is 40 k from me and is about 10,000 people. also

if I knew how to make the calculations it would help

 

memo

[memo]

our Russian buddy maxim has a diy video that is good, going to give it a shot. not muck drying time left

[OldMarine]

Practiced chain fusing a row of fountains with Quickmatch. I strapped them about 5' apart on a chain link fence. It lit perfectly but unfortunately my camera girl was so busy gawking she forgot to hit record.

[lloyd]

The most difficult thing about pipe-matching long rows of fixed cues is the tendency for the exploding match to rip off of the items before fire gets there.

 

To that end, the match should be secured on both sides of each device to some other support besides the device's nosing, and the nosing should be pierced to help relieve some of the explosive pressure inside, due to the fairly large amount of bare match inside it.

 

It also helps to have a couple of strands of bare match - separate, entirely, from the match in the piping - J-hooked down into the muzzle or fuse hole of each device. The nosing should be tied to the piped match, but not to the separate strands that are added. That way, if fire gets into the nosing and blows the nosing off, you still have a 'backup' fire path to ignite the item.

 

It's always a great disappointment when a large front or falls setup has 'gaps' in the front due to failure to ignite. This early in your exploration of the art, you were fortunate to get 100% ignition -- unless you'd already researched those issues, and used techniques to mitigate them.

 

Lloyd

 

PS.... 'hate to say this, but you should expect your chain link fence to begin corroding badly, now! (oops!)

Edited December 27, 2015 by lloyd

[OldMarine]

I didn't have enough of my own QM ready so I used the perc type -3 strands. I wove it through the fence to keep it from running wild. I used some BM inside the nozzle/nosing but didn't vent it.

Would a couple of punches with the awl be enough?

On a separate note: my clove hitches suck! I ended up using square knots which were a pain to get tight enough. Hopefully I'll have the knots and some less violent QM before NYE.

The fence is actually just the one remaining side of a large dog run and is already due to go to the scrap yard. It's the perfect height to get the full effect from my gerbs with the large spherical titanium. Sparks die out just before the ground and makes the effect much taller.

Edited December 27, 2015 by OldMarine

[lloyd]

Ok, you got most of the basics, even if you'd not read them before.

 

"Would a couple of punches with the awl be enough?"

Yep... down around where the nosing intersects the effect is where I put mine.

 

You'll really gain from learning the clove hitch by muscle memory. FWIW, the method I teach in my shell class is NOT the 'standard' way for fireworkers, because they don't often have the luxury of being able to slip the knot over a bitter end of something, but must tie it onto a "standing part".

 

I could show you in ten seconds, and have you tying them correctly in a couple of minutes, but I don't think I could describe it here without slow-mo video, and don't have the time or resources to provide one.

 

Lloyd

[OldMarine]

Believe me, I've done more reading than experimenting. I've probably worn everyone on this forum out with questions. I joined FW just so I'd have a new crowd to pester!

I hope to meet both you and Ned one day so I'll keep working on my hitches until I can talk you into a lesson.

[Ubehage]

I just finished drying 1kg of BP, and making 4 spolettes to 5" shells.

Later I will cut some Winokur #20-stars and apply second layer of spiking for a 5" salute.

 

I have had issues with my spiking-string, where I needed 2 layers of spiking to make a simple 2" BP-salute.

I got a different string now, but for the sake of doing everything right I will apply another layer of spiking for this big salute.

 

After that, I will use it as a bottom-shot for a 5" shell with 0.5" Winokur #20-stars and 1" "Sunrise yellow"-stars, and dragon eggs.

If my planning is right, the bottom-shot should go off right as the last sparks are dying out.

[MrB]

Believe me, I've done more reading than experimenting. I've probably worn everyone on this forum out with questions. I joined FW just so I'd have a new crowd to pester!

 

Oh, so we are not good enough for you anymore? Everyone here loves answering questions, as long as there is even just a hint to show that who-ever thats asking is actually thinking and reading for them self, rather then just trying to be spoon feed. If that was your only reason to join Fireworking, you need to quit, now. ;- )

B!

[OldMarine]

Haha! No MrB, I know I sometimes ask repetitive questions because things are unclear to me and I don't want to burn people out.

Also FW was recommended by many on this (my primary) forum.

Most of the knowledge I've gained thus far was from APC and I'd like to keep in the good graces of all here.

Happy New Year!

[mikeee]

Worked on a couple of Pyro tools today, this is a 12" case former that is about 1/2 way done.

 

[lloyd]

"Lam" means "work" in Vietnamese! <G>

 

Lloyd

[MrB]

Worked on a couple of Pyro tools today, this is a 12" case former that is about 1/2 way done.

 

Segmented 12 halves.JPG

 

That looks... sick. Hollowing it out, so it will be possible to handle?

B!

[mikeee]

 

That looks... sick. Hollowing it out, so it will be possible to handle?

B!

MrB

 

The segment rings are made of pine which is light weight, the top and bottom is capped with

hard maple to give a hard durable surface to pound on. It is also partially hollowed on the inside,

i am making it in two sections and will weigh them when ready to complete, I can always remove

some of the inner interior wood to reduce the weight. I am working on a larger tool next month, that

one will be made in a barrel stave design and will be hollow to keep the weight down.

Edited December 28, 2015 by mikeee

[Mumbles]

I'd love to see some of those fronts of gerbs if you can ever get the camera girl to focus OldMarine.

 

As far as the NaOH goes, the specific gravity suggestion is probably the most direct way. You'll probably want a graduated cylinder around for that. As I'm sure you've noticed, you'll want to probably use glass or polyethylene plastic in the future. I'm not sure if the pH will really help directly. Anything more than a 4% solution will have a pH of around 14 or higher. Past 14 things start to get harder to measure conveniently with strips or a meter. You could dilute it and try. Otherwise, a chemical titration is easiest.

 

I would personally use a different kind of titration. You can get a ball park idea based on precipitation of a salt. There are more insoluble than soluble hydroxides. I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has any ideas. Strontium nitrate would be my first choice. You'll probably want to dilute the NaOH first somewhat. The reaction is kind of exothermic, especially if your NaOH is concentrated. Add NaOH to an excess of strontium nitrate, cool the solution, filter off the precipitate, wash with plenty of water, and dry it gently. When it precipitates, it will form Sr(OH)*8H2O. Ideally you could use a filter flask to dry it with air, but you can lay it out and leave it to dry. You just need all the clinging water gone, and ideally all the soluble salts washed away. I would avoid heating it too much though, so you know the hydration state. I've seen values from about 50C-90C as to when it starts dehydrating. If you know how much strontium hydroxide you're forming, you can figure out how much hydroxide was in the solution to start with. Barium nitrate would be even better, but it easier to partly dehydrate.

 

There are some issues. Strontium hydroxide isn't totally insoluble in water. It also will absorb CO2 from the atmosphere over time. Given that your NaOH probably has also absorb some CO2, I wouldn't be too concerned about that. This will ball park your concentration, not give an absolute number.

[OldMarine]

Lord have mercy! I'm glad I'm only having trouble getting video rather than trying to get sodium nitrate!

Video can be stored without desert conditions unlike Na and I've had my fill of deserts.

[OldMarine]

Got my boards laid out and most of my fusing ready for the commercial stuff I bought for NYE. Hopefully tomorrow all I have to do is set up my tubes, place the cakes and connect some ignitors.

[BlueComet24]

Finished the 8 ball shells (1.75") I'd been working on for the past few days. It was a lot of work, but should be well worth it! After this, I really respect those who hand-paste lots of larger shells that each take many more layers than one of these little ones.

[Col]

Finished a couple of cakes last night, just rocket headers to attach and a few whistle motors to press.

[OldMarine]

We fired 92 1.75" shells and a brickyard load of cakes. My granddaughter was ooohing and aaahhhing so much I almost wish we'd had more (almost).

My son decided he wanted to fuse our smaller tube pallet. He got 100% ignition with almost perfect timing!

Edited January 1, 2016 by OldMarine

[mikeee]

While waiting for glue to dry on another project I finished turning a spalted maple case former.

 

[mikeee]

Still have some work to finish on this 12" segmented case former.

 

[MrB]

That 12" is absurd... I like it. But it's almost a shame to make one that large, and not but the segments in a pattern.

Extra labor costs, of course, so i can se why not, but still... Damn, all that surface, it could have been crazy.

B!

[OldMarine]

Pressed some leftover fountain comp in 1x2½ tubes with a nozzle. Wow, they don't burn long but make a heckuva spray and sound.