Merlin Posted September 2, 2018 Share Posted September 2, 2018 I plan to use monocapa prime. I have seen a modified version for use with phenolic resin and no dextrin. What would be the problem to add both phenolic resin and dextrin so that the same prime could be used with both water bound and alcohol bound comps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Posted September 2, 2018 Author Share Posted September 2, 2018 Sorry folks. Words typed are like toothpaste out the tube. No sooner than I made this post I saw that the modified version does have both dextrin and phenolic resin minus the red gum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldMarine Posted September 2, 2018 Share Posted September 2, 2018 It's about all I use now with a scratch BP on top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Posted September 2, 2018 Author Share Posted September 2, 2018 It's about all I use now with a scratch BP on top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Posted September 2, 2018 Author Share Posted September 2, 2018 Bradsen uses a lot of Jopetes formulas and with a few exceptions I will do the same this year. By the way I have used the BP/5%Si final prime and have been lucky and got good ignition. Luck because I used hot BP. I recently came across a formula that used 70% green mix, 30% hot plus 20% Si. This seemed extreme with that much Si but I tried it anyway. I also added 5% Dex and 10% phenolic. Take a green pine cone dump a tablespoon of hot BPon it and the BP will flash off without lighting the cone. Did the same with the high Si BP prime and it reduced the cone to jashes. I will try it in star gun when I can cause right now my particular location is very dry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldMarine Posted September 2, 2018 Share Posted September 2, 2018 (edited) I'll dunk phenolic bound stars in a dextrin solution and then roll them in monocapa and after that dries I mist them with water and apply BP. Edited September 2, 2018 by OldMarine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Posted September 2, 2018 Author Share Posted September 2, 2018 Why not add phenolic resin to the final BP prime and continue as you would with the monocapa?While phenolic isn't desirable for binding charcoal stars I can't see any reason it wouldn't work for BP prime layer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
braddsn Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 Merlin.... this is what I found after a lot of trial and error, and it made my pyro life much easier! Switching from red gum to phenolic was a major improvement, as you already know. But another big way that it helped, was priming! So, before I switched to phenolic, I used to prime using .5mm monocapa, followed by 1.5-2mm bp+silicon+DE. I had tried priming with ONLY .5mm monocapa, and I was not getting 100% ignition. However, when I switched to phenolic, 2 things happened. First, the stars were lighting easier. And second, the monocapa prime was lighting easier. So then I tried priming with only monocapa again, and BINGO! 100% ignition every time, (even when boosted super-hard). I went as far as 6g of 70/30 in a 3 inch color shell, and still got perfect ignition. So I would suggest trying this priming method. Prime with .5mm monocapa and see what happens. You might be surprised! I simply use a 1:1 ratio (phenolic in place of redgum). I use iso alcohol to wet. (97%). This is a big advantage, because it cut WAAAY down on how much BP I have to produce. I was making 20 to 30 lbs of bp+silicon+DE, that I don't have to make anymore. Saves a lot of chems and a lot of time. Hope this helps you! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wiley Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 Brad, when you say 7:3, are you still using 10890, or something like Indian black? And is that added loose into the (4:1?) rice hulls, or contained in a flash bag? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Posted September 20, 2018 Author Share Posted September 20, 2018 Thanks Brad that info is very helpful. Your progress with phenolic is incredible. It's like you have managed to tap into Chinese secrets all on your own. Your a great guy for sharing with the rest of us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
braddsn Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Sorry it took so long to get back on this thread! Wiley, yeah for my flash I use whatever aluminum is on sale. 10890 is fine, Indian blackhead is fine too. I have used about all of them and I don't notice enough of a difference to matter. As for how I add the flash, I line the hemisphere with stars, fill it half full with MCRH, pour flash in, then finish filling hemi with MCRH. (With both hemispheres obviously). Half of the flash goes in one hemi, the other half in the other. Merlin, I am more than happy to share. It can save a ton of time and money if someone that has been there can warn of you possible pitfalls and give tips. I have to give props to Widmann for talking me into using phenolic. I was hesitant and he assured me I would love it. Also, Jopetes had told me that when he visited the Chinese firework factories, there was heavy use of Phenolic in both stars and prime. I try to spread the word about phenolic as much as I can. It makes a WORLD of difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Posted October 3, 2018 Author Share Posted October 3, 2018 This is probably redundant but I have found phenolic does not like charcoal. I made granulated BP with phenolic as binder and it works fine except it makes a bigger mess than Dex/water. I am going to make some of the Spanish formulas for stats and I would expect them to turn out fine as there is no charcoalThe BP was just an experiment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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