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3lb strobe issues


ronmoper76

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I recently bought a 3lb extreme strobe spindle and i have had great success with benz/oxychloride fuel. It rocks and will put 6 inch shells up in the clouds everytime,i even made a few decent green magnalium and a few LWS rockets that all worked excellent,my only limit seems to be over 3 sali increments and it pops ususally. i use a heaping tablespoon per increment,wax all my tubes,i have a great tube support as well. I made 3 whte strobe rockets so far,two with sali and one with benz, stopped at line on first rammer with whistle fuel,about a increment and a half and switch to strobe ,stop right above spindle at next rammer mark,switch fuel,etc... They are like sticks of dynamite,3rd one made my one ear ring....What could possibly be wrong guys?

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Nevermind guys,i think i got it figured out now. Didnt realize how much more you gotta press 3lb vs a 1lb.because of the larger diameter rammer i was getting lucky with the benz under pressing it some but these strobes dont work for me unless i press the guts out of them and the fuel grain looks like glass when im done. Caleb gave me the advice and he was right. thanks guys

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  • 2 weeks later...
Someone please help. 3lb strobe flying great but just not getting that helicopter noise. Followed Neds formula to a t. Using a 4inch spindle 1/2 wide and tapered with 1 degree down to 1/3. Any suggestions?
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I have the same issue my 3lber's fly great but dont pop at all,im in the process of making a new batch of fuel,it has to be it i think because my tooling was bought from a reputable source,it has marks for everything on the rammers. The only part of the process that can be messed up is my own,the process of "making the fuel" I can guarantee it isn't my tools. I already asked elsewhere on here and found the same thing as when i googled my ass off, that the magnalium can be a issue and that "shining it up" seems to help along with the addition of a small amount of magnesium,but i already tried that........... Good luck and if i work it out before you i will share my process and results.

Edited by ronmoper76
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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey Ron.. got mine to work. Turns outs the barium sulfate I had wasnt great. Strange situation I ordered it from skylighter and it comes labeled Barium sulfate(borax). Borax is not barium sulfate unless Im missing something but when I ordered some BS from fireworkscookbooks I got some impressive strobe fuel and some loud pops. Not sure if this is same problem your having but hope it helps

Hey Ron.. got mine to work. Turns outs the barium sulfate I had wasnt great. Strange situation I ordered it from skylighter and it comes labeled Barium sulfate(borax). Borax is not barium sulfate unless Im missing something but when I ordered some BS from fireworkscookbooks I got some impressive strobe fuel and some loud pops. Not sure if this is same problem your having but hope it helps

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MrBOOMbastic, there are a lot of folks having problems with strobe rockets lately. If there is a mislabeled chemical being sold, people really need to know about it. Folks could not only waste their time, but they could have a nasty accident. An accident involving strobe could be quite unpleasant. If this is an isolated incident, that would be different. By the sound of it, there could very well be others in your boat. In my opinion, this should be followed up. The community at large should be warned. Skylighter should do their due diligence to prevent a potential accident, but I wouldn't count on that happening. When the information is solid, the folks on Ned's site should be informed too. My guess is that borax might cause an unwanted reaction with the magnalium, if moisture got involved. Maybe a warning in the safety section would be prudent- after the facts of the issue are confirmed. Thank you very much for reporting this.

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Just to be clear I did reach out to skylighter. Was told some people call barium sulfate borax. Found that strange because they are different chemicals but they sent me another bag. Havent had a chance to try it yet but the stuff from fwcookbook worked very well. Skylighter customer service was very good and I am not trying to talk bad about them. Maybe the barium was just not the best quality from original purchase.
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If anyone is actually calling barium sulfate mistakenly as borax, they should probably brush up on their chemistry a bit.

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Just to be clear I did reach out to skylighter. Was told some people call barium sulfate borax.

If that's true, that's a "huge" fail... What a stupid thing to say to cover sending you the wrong stuff.

 

Glad they made it right, but, seriously...

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Just to be clear I did reach out to skylighter. Was told some people call barium sulfate borax. Found that strange because they are different chemicals but they sent me another bag. Havent had a chance to try it yet but the stuff from fwcookbook worked very well. Skylighter customer service was very good and I am not trying to talk bad about them. Maybe the barium was just not the best quality from original purchase.

If they put both names on the label or on the invoice, regardless of what they said on the phone, they mislabeled it and you should be refunded. And they should be educated between the differences of sodium borate (uh...borax...) and barium sulfate (not/never was "borax")--two different animals entirely. Unbelievably naive and outright wrong explanation you received. They sure shouldn't have gotten an "uhh, ok, thanks" response for that crap explanation. Not knowing and blowing smoke up your ass? Bad information should not ever be associated with chemical sales, especially fireworking chems. Maybe they sent you another bag of crap? Either way, if both names are on it, too, it is mislabeled and thus remains a problem. If it is even modestly soluble in water, it is not barium sulfate, which is essentially water-insoluble (think barium enemas/drinks for GI contrast). Borax is slightly but obviously soluble in water. Barium sulfate is also heavy stuff, less dense than CuO but will be around twice as dense as any borax, the latter which will more closely approximate table salt in density.

Edited by SharkWhisperer
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2nd bag they shipped also came labeled Barium Sulfate (Borax). Another weird thing was the MgAL I ordered was supposed to ship .5lb MgAL and .5 mag shavings but I got 1lb of just MgAL. Not complaining there as I will gladly take the extra weight.

 

Side note - what do you guys do about rocket sticks falling back down after successfull launch. I had one land about 50yrds away and it stuck in the ground about 6 inches. That thing could probably kill someone. Anyone add a parachute or is there a better option?

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Some folks use small salutes (stick busters) to bust the stick and tube. They time it to go off after the main effect. I like the idea of using a length of flying fish fuse, taped to the rocket, so its descent can be seen. Obviously this would be a bad idea under very dry conditions. I use 2 sticks on my rockets, taped together like a crutch. The rockets fly very true, so I have a good idea where that motor is coming back down. In SoCal they are setting off 3lb strobe rockets with 4" salutes on them. Somebody's gonna get killed. There are videos everywhere of it.

 

MrBOOMbastic, do you mind if I relate your experience on Fireworking.com, in case somebody else is trying to make strobe rockets with borax? Also, is the second bag any different than the first? Suddenly it occurs to me: natural barium sulfate is called 'barytes'. I bet you bought barytes, not borax. Either way- no good for strobes, in the experience of many.

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You can share on fireworking.com. I actually bought the strobe bundle which no longer seems to be available on the site. It was definitely Barium Sulfate on original order. When I emailed them asking why it said borax they they sent me another bag but it came labeled the same way just like this Barium Sulfate(Borax).

 

The person told me Borax is just another name for Barium Sulfate. Pretty much all chemicals have at least 3 to 4 names depending on its use. Pyros call it one thing, Artists & Architects call it something else. that was copied paste from email.

 

If you would like I can send you a picture if you give me your email. I only noticed the borax when the strobe formula wasnt strobing and only producing a strong white/green flame. I am by no means trying to discredit skylighter. There site has awesome post from Ned an others and Everything else I received from them was perfect quality. Whistle formula worked great and when I was having issue they worked with me to resolve issue. Before they had got back to me I had already ordered BS from fireworkcookbook. I have not tried the new BS they sent but will update when I do.

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You can share on fireworking.com. I actually bought the strobe bundle which no longer seems to be available on the site. It was definitely Barium Sulfate on original order. When I emailed them asking why it said borax they they sent me another bag but it came labeled the same way just like this Barium Sulfate(Borax).

 

The person told me Borax is just another name for Barium Sulfate. Pretty much all chemicals have at least 3 to 4 names depending on its use. Pyros call it one thing, Artists & Architects call it something else. that was copied paste from email.

 

If you would like I can send you a picture if you give me your email. I only noticed the borax when the strobe formula wasnt strobing and only producing a strong white/green flame. I am by no means trying to discredit skylighter. There site has awesome post from Ned an others and Everything else I received from them was perfect quality. Whistle formula worked great and when I was having issue they worked with me to resolve issue. Before they had got back to me I had already ordered BS from fireworkcookbook. I have not tried the new BS they sent but will update when I do.

"Borax" is and since the 1800s has meant sodium borate. NEVER has it meant barium sulfate. It's simply not one of it's "3 to 4 names...". Don't perpetuate the idiocy, ffs.

Edited by SharkWhisperer
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Pyrochemsource used to supply some colorants from a company called Barium and Chemicals. All of their products are purified at the very least, if not fully synthetic. It's the best stuff I've ever used for carbonates. PCS used to sort of list what the supplier was in the stock ID or product number, but it looks to they've switched to a more generic system. If you're still strugging with this, it might be worth a shot to shoot Tim at PCS an e-mail and inquire.

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Hey Ron.. got mine to work. Turns outs the barium sulfate I had wasnt great. Strange situation I ordered it from skylighter and it comes labeled Barium sulfate(borax). Borax is not barium sulfate unless Im missing something but when I ordered some BS from fireworkscookbooks I got some impressive strobe fuel and some loud pops. Not sure if this is same problem your having but hope it helps

Hey Ron.. got mine to work. Turns outs the barium sulfate I had wasnt great. Strange situation I ordered it from skylighter and it comes labeled Barium sulfate(borax). Borax is not barium sulfate unless Im missing something but when I ordered some BS from fireworkscookbooks I got some impressive strobe fuel and some loud pops. Not sure if this is same problem your having but hope it helps

THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT MY PROBLEM IS! Your right it is mis labeled as borax or something is up.....I just ordered 5lbs a couple days ago from the fireworks cookbook,hopefully when it arrives i will have better luck.. Thanks guys,i been busy working on my house for a few days and i just noticed all the responses. I made at least 6 3lbers and they were dynamite on a stick,i mean the concussion was outrageous and scared the shit out of my friend. I found if i pressed them at outrageously high pressure they would fly and not cato at least,but zero strobing... I have a couple pounds of it left in a bag that i just put away till i got another plan. I don't know what to use it for now.

Edited by ronmoper76
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  • 4 weeks later...

I have yet to re-try this. I have everything to make new fuel but to be honest,after hearing a dozen 3lb strobe motors explode in my face,i moved on to other things.....Perhaps i will revisit later on,those things shake peoples doors and windows when they cato,and i have neighbors.

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I have had 8 successful launches now.. my fav firework all time. Id say give it a shot but find a better place than your backyard to set them off
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I have had 8 successful launches now.. my fav firework all time. Id say give it a shot but find a better place than your backyard to set them off

we been taking trips out in the mountain lately just to keep a low profile. The last strobe i lit a couple months ago was outside of town,across the train tracks,and a half mile through the woods and down along the river at our campsite. When we came home i had people accusing us of lighting off bombs,lol You can hear one of those things miles away,i live in the country and people light quarter sticks around here every single week at night and they sound like kids stuff compared to a 3lb strobe detonating,Its hard to even describe. Comparable to a 400 gram salute set off at ground level with flash thunder is the best way i can describe it. The more time i spend on shells the better they have been getting and i love it,I hadn't realized how much weight a 3lb rocket could lift at first,Holy shit can they lift a lot.. I finally got a 5/8 star plate and shell construction has been my obsession as of late.Something keeps telling me to leave the strobes alone for now. And my methods continually change as i go,like with whistle rockets I realize now that that 8000psi on motors is ridiculous and unnecessary,I don't press anything nearly as much as i did anymore and i haven't had a cato in awhile.i wanna work on my processes a bit before i revisit strobes!

Edited by ronmoper76
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