tentacles Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 I'm copying a post by FrankRizzo from passfire over to here: Lloyd posted a formula a while back that he called "Buttered Popcorn Glitter" that gives that effect. These are the notes I copy/pasted from his post: Buttered Popcorn Glitter 5lb......Meal-D ....6oz..sodium bicarbonate ....9oz..antimony sulfide -325 mesh ....8oz..Fine spheroidal Al (service X-fine) ....6oz..dextrin "Work the bicarb up and down by 1% amounts (1% of the bicarb amount) to increase or decrease the spritzel delay. It's simple, and will work properly with from 3% to 8.5% moisture when pressed; use JUST enough to make it cohere well at the pressure you're using. For granulating, usually about 800-1000ml of water per 16lb batch works out just right. Linda named it ''Buttered Popcorn Glitter''. The spritzel puffs are roughly 3/4'' in diameter, and a rich buttery gold. I roll it into stars, press it into comets, and granulate it for pressing. SOP is that all my formulae contain binders. Even with granulated comps, the binder makes it less dusty to press, and easier to granulate with less moisture -- and too much moisture is the enema .. ur... eneMY... of glitters. BTW... the amount of water used to granulate is usually considerably higher than that used to press. The 800ml is roughly 11%. But it doesn't seem to hurt the glitter, probably because I dry granulates rapidly in very shallow layers, preventing the sort of reactions that might cause them to deteriorate." I used the fine spherical that was being sold on eBay a while back with excellent success. -- end original post -- Short story is I made 3 batches of this glitter, using hawk mountain 1620 (~325 mesh) and using some 12u/400 mesh that I got some somewhere - probably *very* similar to what's sold on ebay as 400/425 mesh. http://pyrobin.com/files/buttered%20popcor...wk%20mtn%20.a... http://pyrobin.com/files/buttered%20popcor...20hawk%20mtn+... http://pyrobin.com/files/buttered%20popcor...u%20cracker.avi And Hardt #3 from table 15-21 - used the hawk mountain stuff, but with the finer metal probably would have been a nicer coppery color. http://pyrobin.com/files/hardt%203%20-%203...0hawk%20mtn.avi The idea is to get a bright copper metal colored glitter that shimmers and has a nice hang time. The third (12u) batch is really damned close to what I wanted, I really like it. I don't think I actually got that aluminum from Cracker, though - came from a different source but I need to confirm it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankRizzo Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 Very nice! Did you substitute oxalate for the bicarb in any of those tests? I recall you saying something about using oxalate when we were talking about the glitter last weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FREAKYDUTCHMEN Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 Bicarb shouldn't be used in any glitter, simply replace it 1:1 for NaOxalate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tentacles Posted September 25, 2009 Author Share Posted September 25, 2009 Actually I'm not sure anymore. Since it calls for bicarb, I expect that's what I used. Since I still have a fair sized bag of oxalate kicking around especially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankRizzo Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 (edited) Bicarb shouldn't be used in any glitter, simply replace it 1:1 for NaOxalate. Sorry Freaky, that's incorrect. It is used in many commercial formulas as a spritzle delay agent (many of the Winokur formulas, D1, etc). The formula posted by Tentacles in the OP was from Lloyd Sponenburgh, a well-known pyrotechnician employed by Santore. Tentacles, Beautiful results in any case! The size of the spherical really makes a difference in the grain quality doesn't it. I think if you were to use a bit more bicarb, you could make the HawkMtn stuff work too. Edited September 25, 2009 by FrankRizzo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBluePyro Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 Can someone convert this into parts or a %? I want to give this a go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarbelly Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 (edited) 5lb......Meal-D ....6oz..sodium bicarbonate ....9oz..antimony sulfide -325 mesh ....8oz..Fine spheroidal Al (service X-fine) ....6oz..dextrin That's pretty much parts, but to complete it, I will give it a go. 80 - Meal-D ------------------------------- 73.4%6 - Sodium Bicarbonate ----------------------5.5%9 - Antimony Sulphide -325 mesh --------- 8.3%8 - Fine spheroidal Al (service X-fine)------- 7.3%6 - Dextrin --------------------------------- 5.5% that adds up to a total of 109 parts. Percentages are rounded, and therefore not as accurate. Edited September 27, 2009 by scarbelly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBluePyro Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 (edited) Would it work at all with Antimony TRIsulphide, because that is all I have. Or are they both the same... Edited September 27, 2009 by TrueBluePyro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarbelly Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 Based on some quick research that I just did, I believe they are the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 Pretty easy to tell the difference. Antimony trisulfide is black/grey. The only other stable form is antimony pentasulfide, is bright orange. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 antimony pentasulfide is never called for in pyro though is it i have always been under the impression it was safe to assume they always meant tri sulphide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBluePyro Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 I think I really like this comp, in the video it looks grea, I made some and just burnt the powder on the ground and even that looked good on its own and its hard to tell if a glittler will be good if it is burnt on the ground. I'll make it into stars tomoz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tentacles Posted September 27, 2009 Author Share Posted September 27, 2009 Beautiful results in any case! The size of the spherical really makes a difference in the grain quality doesn't it. I think if you were to use a bit more bicarb, you could make the HawkMtn stuff work too. Yeah, that or sieve out some of the coarser stuff, maybe run it through a 60 mesh screen or something. I'm working on getting 5 more lbs of the fine stuff, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tentacles Posted October 4, 2009 Author Share Posted October 4, 2009 I made up and shot some shells today - one 4" using the buttered popcorn w/400 mesh. (3/8-1/2" cut) http://pyrobin.com/files/buttered%20popcorn%2012u%204in.avi And one 5" with the hardt stars (1/2-5/8" cut) http://www.pyrobin.com/files/hardt%203%20-...20mtn%205in.avi The camera used for these doesn't capture the colors very well but the yellow/copper color wasn't as intense as I'd like. I need to make another batch of these and use a slower meal powder. I used some handy fast alder (lift/burst) meal and I think that hardwood/commercial meal may be much more appropriate. Slowing it down a little this way ought to bring the temp down and enhance the color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYRONEEZEKIEL Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 How fast does this comp burn? What would a good size be for a 4" ball? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts