brad224 Posted July 5 Posted July 5 i made a couple of 3” ball shells for independence Day. blue, ted and winikur 20, with a couple of white strobes thrown in the second one. winokur 20 rising tails, kKP burst coated 5-1 on rice hulls for burst, and for the first time pasted with5” by 5” pieces of kraft paper brushed with wheat paste INSTEAD of my usual gummed tape. i found it was much quicker to build this way, and no loss in burst pattern. IMG_3828.mov IMG_3828.mov IMG_3827.mov 1
brad224 Posted July 6 Author Posted July 6 the KP burst was the standard pyrodata formula, 70% potassium perchlorate sifted through a 40 mesh screen, 18% eastern red cedar charcoal and 12% sulfur. i ball mill the sulfur and charcoal together (BUT NOT THE PERCHLORATE!!!) for an hour or so, then screen them together with the perchlorate. the resulting fine dusty mix is then coated on dampened rice hulls at a ratio of 5-1 (5 grams kp mix to every 1 gram of pre-wetted rice hulls) and dried for a day in my drying box on a metal cookie sheet.
Zumber Posted July 7 Posted July 7 7 hours ago, Almostparadise said: Any slow flash booster needed w the KP burst? Not necessary it would be preferable with bp burst.
Zumber Posted July 7 Posted July 7 (edited) 18 hours ago, brad224 said: the KP burst was the standard pyrodata formula, 70% potassium perchlorate sifted through a 40 mesh screen, 18% eastern red cedar charcoal and 12% sulfur. i ball mill the sulfur and charcoal together (BUT NOT THE PERCHLORATE!!!) for an hour or so, then screen them together with the perchlorate. the resulting fine dusty mix is then coated on dampened rice hulls at a ratio of 5-1 (5 grams kp mix to every 1 gram of pre-wetted rice hulls) and dried for a day in my drying box on a metal cookie sheet. Dry it in sunshine with wooden sheet over kraft paper instead of metal sheet. Edited July 7 by Zumber
Almostparadise Posted July 7 Posted July 7 2 hours ago, Zumber said: Not necessary it would be preferable with bp burst. I do generally use a small amount w bp burst depending on how much i want the shells to pop. I like the idea of using kp on the burst carrier because then I would have more ball milled bp for other things. 🤔
brad224 Posted July 7 Author Posted July 7 i have never tried slow flash in a burst charge. what formula do you use?
Zumber Posted July 7 Posted July 7 1 hour ago, Almostparadise said: I do generally use a small amount w bp burst depending on how much i want the shells to pop. I like the idea of using kp on the burst carrier because then I would have more ball milled bp for other things. 🤔 Please refer Dr.Shimizu FAST book page no 207. 1
LiamPyro Posted July 9 Posted July 9 (edited) Nice shells, how big (diameter) were the ascending tail comets? They look great! Funnily enough, of the roughly dozen shells I shot on the 4th, the Winokur 20 shell was the one that blew blind. Edited July 9 by LiamPyro
Almostparadise Posted July 9 Posted July 9 On 7/7/2025 at 8:26 AM, brad224 said: i have never tried slow flash in a burst charge. what formula do you use I use 50/30/20 Kno3, sulfur, aluminum. Most use German dark aluminum or the like. Latley i've been using my -325 bright flake aluminum instead. I can't tell much of a difference and it allows me to keep the German dark for better things and put the bright flake to good use since it is so incredibly messy to work with, I avoid using it for most things. I find the slow flash to be much more forgiving and easy to dial in.
Almostparadise Posted July 9 Posted July 9 A small pile of the KP i made burns much slower than my mill dust. I only screen mixed (well) and didn't mill the airfloat and sulfer together since all the ingredients are very fine. I coated rice hulls w it 7:1 and the burn rate was still not very impressive. I assume it is like slow flash where the performance relies on confinement? That or i didn't mix it as well as i thought. 🫤
Zumber Posted July 9 Posted July 9 What kind of charcoal did you used? If all ingredients were fine enough and screened well together it should work well. You dried coated hulls well? I again repeat you please refer Dr.Shimizu FAST book page no 207, also he has stated KP burst have same force of explosion as that of H3 but its burn rate is slower than that of H3. Burn rate of KP burst increases with pressure so additional no of layers pasted increase burn rate of KP charge with same force of explosion as that of H3.
brad224 Posted July 9 Author Posted July 9 you are correct, the kp doesn’t seem to burn as fast in the open, but i have found that it doesn’t take any special confinement for it to step up performance. i posted a couple of short videos some months ago comparing equal amounts of BP coated hills and KP coated hulls in 1.75” balls, confined only with a single layer of strapping tape, and ignited on the ground in daylight. the results were obvious, with the KP being much more energetic.
brad224 Posted July 9 Author Posted July 9 the winokur 20 rising tails i use are the same 3/8” pressed stars i use inside shells. i hot glue three of them spaced equally around the (bottom fused) time fuse inside the lift cup, and have never seen them fail to ingite.
Zumber Posted July 9 Posted July 9 Interesting..!! Rising tail comet is pasted near time fuse insted of top of shell. It has survived and not seperated away from the shell due to lift charge impact. I am gonna give a try. Thanks.
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