bp problems

[realfirewurx]

Well i mixed up some bp with my new chems being in and made some shells 2'' and tried using my bp for lift but it didnt come out of the tube but about 10ft . I also tried with small roman candels same story.

ps(how could i granulate my bp)is this just making like small bp stars ?

[Mephistos Minion]

First off, search before asking a question, but luckily for you I am sitting here killing time before the missus comes over so I'll help.

 

Secondly make sure your meal burns at a decent rate and has been milled for long enough, then you can make good lift.

 

There are 2 ways to granulate BP. The first being making a hydralic press, and compressing it into cakes, then cracking theese cakes into granules and sorting them into sizes. This method is said to make the best lift.

 

The second one which you will probbably use it to add 5% dextrin by weight to the meal powder. Then add around 10% water (more may be required). Run this mix through the screen and then compact it into more solid chunks. (running it through the screen the first time will distribute the moisture more evenly amongst the powder). Once your BP is in a nice solid mass, take a chunck of it and press is against a ~10 mesh screen, this will cause it to fall through the screen (onto newspaper which you have laid down) as small granules. When these granules are dry they are able to be used as lift.

 

Havnt got any pics sorry, but I made 200g of lift this way just yesterday, but my camera was flat.

[RUUUUUN]

Did you search AT ALL before asking to be spoonfed? If you would have searched for about 5 mins you could have found an answer.

[realfirewurx]

Well plz dont flam but yes ive been serching the web for how too's for about an hour now.

[rocket]

I just did a quick search and found this.

Scroll to the bottom of the page.

 

http://www.unitednuclear.com/bp.htm

 

It tells you how to make lift.

[aquaman]

I granulated about 200g of BP yesterday and it took me like half an hour just to figure out today that it was crap (didn't check the burn rate after milling). So I threw it in the mill for another four hours and I'm just about to take it off to granulate it again.

 

Edit: Just checked it and it burns much better!

[PyroJoe]

I just got done granulating 2 lbs. of fast black powder. Now that it is granulated it burns even faster. Charcoal REALLY does make a difference though. I cooked my own willow charcoal instead of using my regular cowboy hardwood charcoal from the store. My lift is at least twice as fast as some other lift I made with hardwood charcoal. Hardwood charcoal works great for everything else though, like blackmatch and primes. It produces a lot more sparks than willow charcoal.

[rocket]

The last lot of granulated black powder I made hadn’t mixed well in the ball mill I could still see the sulfur (the sulfur I have is like sand I have to grind it into a powder) but it turned out to be just a fast as the other lift I had made which had mixed fine in the ball mill.

[realfirewurx]

Thx for all the tips guys ill keep this in mind

[shadopyro]

I have asked this on the UKrocketry forum as well but no one so far have seemed to know whats wrong with my BP. i have a few kilos of KNO3 from a garden chem supplier.

i know how to make good BP, as it has worked very well previously uing KNO3 from other sources.

Does anyone know how to remove this fire suppressant from this KNO3?

When burnt it leaves a red coloured residue, the BP is slow burning, i use standard 70:15:10, wetted and screened to make granules, this mix at the moment is useless as lift, for salutes, even blackmatch.

 

thanks

shadowpyro

[Mephistos Minion]

Have you tried dissolving your KNO3 in water to see if there are any insoluble contaminents left?

If there are just filter them out and boil down the KNO3 solution.

 

EDIT: 100 posts

[Douchermann]

There are 2 ways to granulate BP. The first being making a hydralic press, and compressing it into cakes, then cracking theese cakes into granules and sorting them into sizes. This method is said to make the best lift.

that method is called corning.

 

As for me, I have yet to ball mill blackpowder. I just grind it up as fine as I can in a mortar and pestle. Sometimes i throw the components in a plastic bottle with some marbles and roll it around a bit, then mix all the parts together. It works fine for 2" shells, but you have to use a crapload of that for 4" shells. I ordered a ball mill last monday, so I'll be expecting that soon.

[Mumbles]

Shadopyro, are you milling your BP? It isn't clear from your post. If not, you should be, and that is the reason you are getting the "red residue". The red residue is called slag by the way. Also be sure all your chemicals are as fine as possible.

[joe609]

It must take you ages to make BP using a mortar and pestle, and also you cant really make more than 30grams in one of those. And even when you have made it, it must be low quality stuff.

[Mumbles]

It's actually possible to make fairly good quality BP in a mortar and pestle. It is of course much more labor intensive than using a ball mill.