(2) Egg Shells

[bmarley5780]

Since eggs are now in large supply...

 

The D1 was uneven as I left out the break tube. I had to see for

myself if that really made a diffenence

 

 

http://www.apcforum.net/files/EggShellD1.avi

 

 

http://www.apcforum.net/files/Egg-TTStars.avi

[aa92td]

mmm the TT looks pretty good for 2" shell , what charcoal did you used there?

The D1 was bad one , what is your aluminum size?

and if you can upload some pictures of the egg it will be nice.

In conclusion pretty nice work.

 

Sorry about my English.

cheers AgwA.

[bmarley5780]

All my charcoal used in pyro is the Cowboy brand available at Lowes.

 

The Aluminum I used for the D1 was Atomized 25/30 micron from Hawk Mt. I milled everything minus the Al for 15 min. the screened in the Al.

 

My lift was pressed/corned BP (1/7th the weight of shell)

 

Break was also pressed/corned BP...

 

1 layer of masking tape to close the egg

4 total strips of strapping tape crossed

then masking tape around that to make it look better...

 

AgWa- You say the D1 was the bad one.

Where you sayin the symmetry was, or the Al used in the D1 was not suitable?

 

-Joe

[qwezxc12]

Not to jump in where I'm not asked, but I think AqwA meant the D1 glitter didn't glitter much. The larger grades of Hawk Mtn atomized should work fine - it's what I use as well. Perhaps the stars weren't completely dry...that's probably one of the most typical glitter problems.

 

That TT shell was excellent, especially for an Easter Egg.

[aa92td]

Ok look I am sorry about my English (i am not native speaker)

 

i will try to explain myself better.

 

The problem with the D1 glitter is that they didnt had the glitter effect maybe because you used to much water when you made them and caused reaction between some left over sulfuric acid and Sodium bicarbonate.

and just few of the stars ignited.

 

but TT was good one , good symetric and great Firedust tail effect.

[BPinthemorning]

Good TT! I have 2 of those to be launched, and filmed, (video to come), as well as a 2 other TT with 1 inch double petal shells. I hope mine do as good as yours!

[Apollofrost]

Nice work man.

[bmarley5780]

Would the atomized Al make that much of a difference then the spherical Al?

 

-Joe

[qwezxc12]

http://www.skylighter.com/images/newsletter/87/shape.gif

 

Atomized Al is generaly classified as either spherical or spheroidal. No real difference in properties in the actual shape to my knowledge, just size of the particles.

 

Good resource for particle size/shape info:

Skylighter newsletter

[bmarley5780]

So -

 

Is that Hawk Mt. suitable for D1?

 

If so, it is then my process of making the stars (to wet) as Agwa says...

 

And yes they were dried for a week...

[qwezxc12]

Yes, it is...I use Alcoa 1620 (the larger grade) spherical Al in mine. I only use ~6% 75:25 water/alc for D1. It takes several runs through a screen to distribute it evenly. Don't get impatient and over wet the comp - let it rest in a zip-lock bag for 15-20 minutes if necessary. I also only use home-made Dextrin - not sure it that matters.

 

Incendentally, go here to see the difference in Aluminum particle size:

D1 Glitter Thread

[hst45]

AgwA, no problem with your English. I understand that this isn't your native tongue, yet you communicate your meaning just fine. You format you questions and answers in a thoughtful and intelligent way, which is all we ask. English speaking is not a prerequisite for intelligence, and your experience, questions, and thoughts are welcome here.

 

I have heard that glitter can be killed with too much water as you said, but personally I haven't had the problem. Guess I just live right... or dry my stars hard. Is it the amount of water used to roll/press/cut the stars, or is it the retained water that retards the glitter, if in fact it does?

[jlmemt]

I believe that too much water is the cause, reguardless of how long it is left. I have also read that if they are not fully dry they do not act properly either.

[hst45]

I believe that too much water is the cause, reguardless of how long it is left.  I have also read that if they are not fully dry they do not act properly either.

You know, we've all heard that water kills glitter, but I wonder if it's one of those ideas that propagates its'self through the pyro community. We've all heard things like "you can't store a car battery on a concrete floor; it'll drain the charge," or "if you thaw meat you can't re-freeze or it will go bad," or other such ideas, some of which are right and some aren't.

 

If anyone here has definitive *experience* with this I'd love to know the answer. Not "Hell yeah, my brother 's been making fireworks for 14 years, and he told me...", tell us YOUR experience. Or else, I'll have to do the testing. (sigh) ... just have to make a bunch of glitter shell and shoot them.....such a burden (poor hst....and self-pity is so attractive). I'd just love to know the chemistry behind this if it's true, or to de-bunk it if it's wrong.

[Frozentech]

I believe that too much water is the cause, reguardless of how long it is left.  I have also read that if they are not fully dry they do not act properly either.

You know, we've all heard that water kills glitter, but I wonder if it's one of those ideas that propagates its'self through the pyro community. We've all heard things like "you can't store a car battery on a concrete floor; it'll drain the charge," or "if you thaw meat you can't re-freeze or it will go bad," or other such ideas, some of which are right and some aren't.

 

If anyone here has definitive *experience* with this I'd love to know the answer. Not "Hell yeah, my brother 's been making fireworks for 14 years, and he told me...", tell us YOUR experience. Or else, I'll have to do the testing. (sigh) ... just have to make a bunch of glitter shell and shoot them.....such a burden (poor hst....and self-pity is so attractive). I'd just love to know the chemistry behind this if it's true, or to de-bunk it if it's wrong.

I've made D1 as cut stars with too much water. Definitely over wetted, it was almost like trying to cut mud. Was maybe my third time making stars? They looked more like pearl. And not "Better Pearl", just white stars with barely any tail. It was another year before I made D1 again, then pumped with about 10% water and they worked fine.

 

The other ruination of glitter is chlorine. Tried that one too, despite being told by a major manufacturer that Cl wrecks gliiter. Quick way to waste antimony is what it turned out to be.

 

I don't know where the cut off point is, so I guess it's still not definitive ? Like others posted, I dampen to 6% now for pumped stars and comets. That seems to always work for me.

[Mumbles]

From my experience, and the experience of others sodium bicarbonate seems to be the key player here. Glitter stars with sodium bicarbonate, at least at high levels, are the only ones I hear regular complaints about. In the same way that sodium hydroxide can dissolve aluminum, I believe sodium bicarbonate acts in a similar manner. It corrodes the metal to some degree, and for whatever reason it kills the effect. Maybe it is hygroscopic and dampens the star, maybe it messes with the glitter surface reactions, maybe it makes it too liquidy and it can't give a proper delay. Whatever it does, it seems to be caused by sodium bicarbonate.

 

I've over wet many compositions in my day. The bicarbonate ones are the only ones that ever seem to get worse. Some compositions are more forgiving. Win20 for instance seems to work well if overwet. Win39 I've see made into practically a sludge, and it still burnt just fine. I have a video somewhere of someone who inadvertently did a test of this nature with better pearl stars. Half pumped, half cut and got over wet. The over wet ones actually looked better in my opinion, but that is probably of little use here.

 

I asked the same manufacturer as Frozen, and neither of us could make much sense of why it happens, but it does. I then asked why perchlorate glitters can be made to work, to which he responded that he didn't know they existed. I've made the compositions once, and they all blew blind. Turns out perchlorate glitters arn't as forgiving as nitrate ones in their ignitablility, so the one test I've done was completely useless. Burning them on the ground gave a similar result to other nitrate glitters; a few sparks flying around, but mostly slag.

 

Anyway, back to the original question. That size of aluminum is just fine, not too big, not too small.

[GalFisk]

I only have experience with win20 as of yet, and as Mumbles said it's pretty forgiving. In my experience it starts to smell bad (not H2S but sour) when it gets wet, but I haven't experienced any heat buildup and the smell disappears when it's dry.

I think the problem with sodium bicarb is that it catalyzes the nitrale/Al reaction by maintaining a basic pH.