What could be wrong with my BP?

[FieryCreations]

All chems are from skylighter. Standard 75/15/10 mix.

I tried following these instructions to make Bp by screening and ricing. It worked but seemed pretty weak. 

https://www.skylighter.com/blogs/how-to-make-fireworks/rocket-shell-kit-instructions

I tried corning black powder by ball milling for 4+ hours, pressing with a 6 ton press into pucks, grinding, and sorting by mesh. It still seems weak.

Any tips on what the problem could be? Is it just the "mixed charcoal" from Skylighter? I've made quite a few pucks, stars, and MCRH with this mix. Are they all trash? Here's a video testing 4-20, 20-30, and 30-50 mesh. 

[ThrownBiscuit]

It's good for stars in that state, I generally don't want my stars burning up super quickly.

I'd say the mixed charcoal could be the issue with it, you need to mill a lot longer with poor charcoal in order to produce decently hot bp. 

I'd also be curious about your mill and how you are loading it. If you are overloading the mill, it will not integrate as well and can produce slower bp. (Learned that one the hard way, now with my small mill I only produce 12 oz. per batch)

I'd also be aware that in humid conditions, it will take the pucks a very long time to fully dry out and moisture will interfere with combustion as well.

 

[TXpyro]

First of all, I would recommend buying a harbor freight ball mill along with some 1/2 inch lead balls which can be found at most sporting goods stores.

I have found that using skylighter charcoal works ok for most purposes but I would definitely recommend making your own if you want to make powerful lift. I recently learned that most toilet papers work well when made into charcoal and used in black powder so there's no need to source special woods. 

You should also check the burn rate of the meal powder before you corn it. This will allow you to get an estimate on how well your final product will perform before going through the corning process. 

[FieryCreations]

15 hours ago, TXpyro said:

First of all, I would recommend buying a harbor freight ball mill along with some 1/2 inch lead balls which can be found at most sporting goods stores.

I have found that using skylighter charcoal works ok for most purposes but I would definitely recommend making your own if you want to make powerful lift. I recently learned that most toilet papers work well when made into charcoal and used in black powder so there's no need to source special woods. 

You should also check the burn rate of the meal powder before you corn it. This will allow you to get an estimate on how well your final product will perform before going through the corning process. 

All of this was made using the harbor freight POS. I just hacked up a treadmill and made one that actually works. I tried making TP charcoal last night but I think I messed it up. 

I didn't think you could check meal, mine would barely light. Good to know! 

[Aileron]

Bro I had the exact same problem a few weeks ago when I first started making BP. And the problem was the charcoal! Once I switched to cedar charcoal the BP was super fast. I bought cedar charcoal from fireworks cookbook (also much cheaper website than skylighter). But you can also make your own, pine charcoal is really really good too. 

This is a really good research on BP speed vs charcoal:

http://www.wichitabuggywhip.com/fireworks/charcoal_tests.html

Good luck and here is my cedar BP test:

https://youtube.com/shorts/98qA4J6LsLg?feature=shared

https://youtube.com/shorts/NwD2pLwfE_c?feature=shared

[Aileron]

You can still use the slow BP for a lot of things: black match, spolette, Gerb filling, modifying the proportion to get glitter stars etc...

[Arthur]

Skylighter charcoal supplied in their BP package is hard. It needs much more milling, in an optimised mill. Try 8 hours or 12 hours. For any charcoal 4hours is a very sort time.

Look at the red cedar pet bedding to make your own, also look at builder's pine lumber offcuts if you can find them FOC. 

[SKC]

Nothing can match the power of ball milled BP. But considering the hazard I still refrain myself from using  ball-mill. Incidents happened and has been reported in this forum earlier. I lift my shells with considerable ease only the amount of BP is higher. The crux is charcoal is very fine.

[FieryCreations]

15 hours ago, Aileron said:

You can still use the slow BP for a lot of things: black match, spolette, Gerb filling, modifying the proportion to get glitter stars etc...

Really glad to here this. My spollete stuff comes tomorrow so I think I will figure out timing with this crap BP for those, then make some stars and blackmatch with it until it's gone.


 

 

15 hours ago, Aileron said:

Bro I had the exact same problem a few weeks ago when I first started making BP. And the problem was the charcoal! Once I switched to cedar charcoal the BP was super fast. I bought cedar charcoal from fireworks cookbook (also much cheaper website than skylighter). But you can also make your own, pine charcoal is really really good too. 

This is a really good research on BP speed vs charcoal:

http://www.wichitabuggywhip.com/fireworks/charcoal_tests.html

Good luck and here is my cedar BP test:

https://youtube.com/shorts/98qA4J6LsLg?feature=shared

https://youtube.com/shorts/NwD2pLwfE_c?feature=shared

Man were you right. I chucked the skylighter charcoal and made a new batch with Cottonelle charcoal. WAYYYYY faster and I only ball milled for 4 hours as well.