insutama Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 What would be a good star to make that doesnt require kclo4 (i cant aquire this chem in canada) I want to add them to the header of my 3/8" rockets. I have KNo3, magnesium, aluminum, sulphur, charcoal thats about all i can seem to get my hands on for now so what kind of effect can i add to the header of my rocket with these materials ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcherryxoxo Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Ultra Original Star 55% potassium nitrate35% charcoal10% sulfur+5% binder+15% aluminum 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insutama Posted February 17, 2015 Author Share Posted February 17, 2015 nice okay ill have to try that when my star pump gets here could i use magnesium instead of aluminum ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 The Tiger Tail stars and some Chrysanthemum stars should be possible if you have a selection of charcoal types and sizes. Locate some Titanium sponge and you can have slow gold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcherryxoxo Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Magnesium needs to be coarser than most metals to be used effectively for spark production, but you could try- What are the particle sizes of your metals? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insutama Posted February 17, 2015 Author Share Posted February 17, 2015 thats the problem there quite fine like 130mesh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcherryxoxo Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 I would stick with aluminum- good luck, and be sure to post results Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insutama Posted February 17, 2015 Author Share Posted February 17, 2015 will do thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlaMtnBkr Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 (edited) You should be able to make a glitter if you get some baking soda. Winokur 23 comes to mind. If you find other glitter formulas you might want to try you can get a workable glitter by replacing antimony trisulfide with additional sulfur. Won't be as good but should work, though the 23 is pretty nice. You also don't need a star pump and can make cut stars. Glitter and charcoal stars are perfect candidates for cut stars. Put it all in a zip lock, add the water, and massage to mix. Roll it out with a pipe or some such item and cut top of bag off with a razor blade. Then cut into cubes that are as wide as it is thick in the bag. 1/4" is a good place to start for that size rocket. Edit: Winokur #23 Potassium Nitrate 50Sulfur 20Charcoal Airfloat 10Aluminium, (Flake, bright -325 mesh, 36 micron) 8Sodium Bicarbonate 8Dextrin 4 Medium grained dense gold glitter using baking soda as a burning inhibitor and glitter enhancer. Marginally worse than #21 and 22 due to the lack of antimony sulphide. 325 mesh atomized aluminum works good but give whatever you have on hand a shot. Edited February 17, 2015 by FlaMtnBkr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schroedinger Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 You can make mg white stars. 5 kno33 S2 mg1-2 Red Gum / Shellac / other resin or 0.12 Dextrin Be carefull this star burns very aggresive and is quite close to a slow flash. If it burns to fast just raise the content of binder.Also you can make Chrys 6 or 8, Tiger Tail or Mystery of Willow from fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insutama Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 nice thats awsome can i use fine mg for that ? also the only aluminum i have is indian dark would this work ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nater Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 No, Mg or India Dark Al will not work for the glitter effect. For easy stars, a beginner can work with nothing but the basic BP chemical and a few metals like FeTi, Ti and atomized Al all in the -80+200 range and be set for a while. I would not recommend using Mg for a while unless you are well educated with the risks of it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nt8 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 (edited) Can you buy paint grade Al? (paint grade Al work for glitter) And you can make coarse or medium fine aluminium flitter from foil. Don't forget the charcoal stars (C6, C8, TT, TW, Shimizu Willow, etc.) ooopps, sorry, these were in the previous posts... Edited February 18, 2015 by nt8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insutama Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 so i can make the al from aluminum foil in a coffe grinder ? would that work for glitter ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nt8 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Maybe, or I don't know, I made from foil only coarse flake alu for alu streamer. This can be refined with ballmill, maybe... Try to find paint shop, where sold aluminium pigment paint!but it would be best to buy atomized aluminum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enanthate Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 N1 glitter. Kno3 51Sulfur 15Charcoal 10Sodium bicarb 12Aluminum(~300 mesh) 8Dex 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schroedinger Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 With a coffe grinder you cant make the al you need, maybe you can make firefly with it. The best method for making flake al from foil is to get a blender put in two cups of water. Run al foil throug a document shredder and add these to the blender. Blend for a couple minutes and let it cool down. Repeat until al is fine enough. Add the foil slowly and a normal blender ca take up to two rols of foil without problems. Do not strangle the blender too much or it will burn up.The particle size depends an the blending time, but with some runs sl foil eill be -325 mesh with about 50% being - 400 and 20 -500. Shorter periods will produce bigger al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ubehage Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 I would not recommend using Mg for a while unless you are well educated with the risks of it. I agree with this, 100%. Last summer, when I finally gathered the courage to get some Mg, it was only because I needed it for a specific composition. The first thing I did, was to take small amounts of it, and did all the things I knew not to do: Leave it in the open, make it wet, break the pieces to expose new metal, etc.Just to see what happened, and find out if the metal is as unstable and dangerous as people say... And I must admit, I never finished making the desired composition. The Mg is hidden away, sealed for whenever I feel the need to play with that again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 D1 Glitter uses spherical aluminium at about 200 - 250 mesh. This I can buy from a supplier of resin and filler for "sculpture" casting in a big town. With this aluminium and some Bicarbonate of Soda (kitchen shops) you can make nice glitter stars. If you are in a major town these things should be retail, if not then mail order is possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insutama Posted February 19, 2015 Author Share Posted February 19, 2015 what mesh is the aluminum from paint stores ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlaMtnBkr Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 The stuff I have is 325 or 400 mesh (claimed) and is bright flake meaning it had a bright silver color. It also is coated so it does not oxidize and usually has a solvent type smell. All that silver plastic that is on radios and such coming from China is painted with this type aluminum. Atomized/ spherical seems to work great for glitter if you can find some. It is all over eBay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiamPyro Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 I'm surprised nobody's mentioned this... if you want to make stars, you need a binder! Dextrin, a commonly used binder, can be made easily at home from cornstarch. Just spread some out on a cookie tray and stick it in the oven at 400 degrees for around 2 hours (until it is a nice golden/tan color) stirring every 15-20 minutes. I make mine this way, and it works great! Plus, it's extremely cheap and you can make any size batch you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insutama Posted February 20, 2015 Author Share Posted February 20, 2015 i already have a pound of dextrin and i just got a 3/8th star pump now i get to learn how to make stars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiamPyro Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Ohhhhh I didn't know that. Happy star making! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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