Breakthrough in making stars

[PyroBros]

I have also used the method from Skylighter. I have made Blue, Red, White, Green and violet. The method is easy and for new pyro's its a great way to learn what it takes to make stars. Skylighter did take an old tried and true method and market it as "new", but I guess that is good marketing! Got me to take a look at it. I am not an expert, just a hobbiest trying to increase my knowlege. So I think its a great intro to the newbie and something for the verterans to take a look at. Fast doesnt mean its cheap or crappy. There is always a better way of doing things. Having said all that, I did have sucess in the stars. I tested them an hour after they were made in my star gun and they worked great! I do have to say though, I am having a bit of trouble getting the break right on my 3" shells. It seems they light to blow out pretty easy. I used the two step process just as described in the tutorial too. I thought for sure they would take to any small fire. So I am playing with different amounts of whistle mix as my booster to my BP coated rice hulls. Hope to get it down by tonight or tomm. Any one got some tips I am all ears!!!! Thanks guys!

[dagabu]

Have you tried chlorate stars?

 

Good luck with that, just a little contamination of some BP and accidentally drop a shell.... What kind of flowers do you want us to buy for your mom?

 

Not worth the risk.

[Cookieman]

I have also used the method from Skylighter. I have made Blue, Red, White, Green and violet. The method is easy and for new pyro's its a great way to learn what it takes to make stars. Skylighter did take an old tried and true method and market it as "new", but I guess that is good marketing! Got me to take a look at it. I am not an expert, just a hobbiest trying to increase my knowlege. So I think its a great intro to the newbie and something for the verterans to take a look at. Fast doesnt mean its cheap or crappy. There is always a better way of doing things. Having said all that, I did have sucess in the stars. I tested them an hour after they were made in my star gun and they worked great! I do have to say though, I am having a bit of trouble getting the break right on my 3" shells. It seems they light to blow out pretty easy. I used the two step process just as described in the tutorial too. I thought for sure they would take to any small fire. So I am playing with different amounts of whistle mix as my booster to my BP coated rice hulls. Hope to get it down by tonight or tomm. Any one got some tips I am all ears!!!! Thanks guys!

 

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, is your name Jacob and do you have a youtube channel named theBombBros? Anyhow, I've been blowing alot of stars myself and for a 3" shell 1 to 2grams of whistle or flash is enough to give you a good break without blowing your stars.

[ropyro]

Hello!

Excuse me if this is off topic, which it probably is, but I didn't want to start a new thread just for this little question...

I just happen to have about 750 grams of smokeless powder and I just wondered if it could be a good enough base for making some yellow stars, since I noticed that it does burn kind of yellow. I thought it could work and I could also add some very fine KNO3 (probably about 10%) to ensure a fiercer burn. Have you ever experimented with any comps like that? What would you suggest? And, most of all, do you think it could produce any reasonable quality stars?

Thank you in advance, and once again, sorry if this doesn't belong here!

[dagabu]

Hello!

Excuse me if this is off topic, which it probably is, but I didn't want to start a new thread just for this little question...

I just happen to have about 750 grams of smokeless powder and I just wondered if it could be a good enough base for making some yellow stars, since I noticed that it does burn kind of yellow. I thought it could work and I could also add some very fine KNO3 (probably about 10%) to ensure a fiercer burn. Have you ever experimented with any comps like that? What would you suggest? And, most of all, do you think it could produce any reasonable quality stars?

Thank you in advance, and once again, sorry if this doesn't belong here!

 

Personally, I think you should forgo the smokeless and stay with established star making ideas. Smokeless powder can be made a lot of different ways and confinement can cause a lot of undesired effects.

[xetap]

Hello!

Excuse me if this is off topic, which it probably is, but I didn't want to start a new thread just for this little question...

I just happen to have about 750 grams of smokeless powder and I just wondered if it could be a good enough base for making some yellow stars, since I noticed that it does burn kind of yellow. I thought it could work and I could also add some very fine KNO3 (probably about 10%) to ensure a fiercer burn. Have you ever experimented with any comps like that? What would you suggest? And, most of all, do you think it could produce any reasonable quality stars?

Thank you in advance, and once again, sorry if this doesn't belong here!

The best use in pyro for smokeless propellant that I've found is for making NC lacquer by mixing w/acetone.

 

During the documentary about Zambelli fireworks (see below), there was a comp for yellow made from nitrocellulose and possibly cryolite. You might do a search. IIRC, it used a water based PVA-type binder too.

Edited July 10, 2010 by xetap

[xetap]

Just to clear things up, we're talking about PVAc (White glue), as far as PVA (Polyvinyl alcohol) goes, I saw a documentary on NG about Zambelli fireworks some time ago, they mentioned the use of PVA as a binder in pressed comets. Has anyone tried this?

That was just re-aired here a few days ago. The PVA-whatever they used was water soluble. They showed them mixing the comets and pressing them, etc. Interesting show.

[Mumbles]

I would take things from Zambelli shows with a grain of salt. They're reported to intentionally give false or misleading information to "protect their trade secrets". You can see this every so often when they're having Zambelli officials explain stuff. It's hard to tell if they're trying to be misleading, or are just dumbing things down too much.

[ropyro]

The best use in pyro for smokeless propellant that I've found is for making NC lacquer by mixing w/acetone.

 

During the documentary about Zambelli fireworks (see below), there was a comp for yellow made from nitrocellulose and possibly cryolite. You might do a search. IIRC, it used a water based PVA-type binder too.

 

I've seen that show, but I wasn't thinking about making the same type of comp that they used, but rather making a kind of NC lacquer of it, adding KNO3 to the mix, and then cutting some stars using that mixture and priming them with BP; this way, there won't be any need for a binder, as the NC in the smokeless will act as the binder, although it is kind of brittle. I assume the stars should be relatively small, since I'm worried about the NC forming a crust at the surface of the stars, thus preventing the evaporation of the acetone which seems like a wrong thing to happen.

Anyway, I decided to have a go at a mixture of this kind, and the following days I shall make some of these stars (I figured that 8mm cut stars are ok) using about 15% KNO3 and see what happens. I'll come back with the result.

[Mumbles]

If you're worried about the stars getting driven in, why use acetone at all? Use lacquer thinner instead as a solvent. It will evaporate slower and allow better working times.

[ilmoam]

Ned from skylighter posted a great method of making screen cut stars that can be used the same day with acetone and parlon as the binder/chlorine donor, here is the link

 

http://www.skylighte...ubber-Stars.asp

 

There is also some new video on youtube from displayfireworks1 that uses this method at a crackerjacks convention, a series of 5 videos that show the whole shell building process.

 

I plan on trying thhis out as soon as I can find some 3 mesh strong screen to make the cutter out of. This method looks to be fast and produces a quality star without any water.

 

 

 

I have been looking for that 3 mesh screen everywhere. I get my star kit for christmas and want to be prepared. Have you had any luck finding any suitable screen?

[Peret]

4 mesh is also good, and can be had at Home Depot. There's nothing magic about 3 mesh, and the stars come out a bit bigger than the mesh anyway. If you really want bigger stars you can cut them with a knife, but 1/4 inch is a good size for small shells and mines.

[Xtreme Pyro]

ilmoam, unless your building small shells the three mesh screen makes the stars a bit to small for those rubber stars since they burn fairly quick. Although it works fine for the compositions that don't contain MgAL since they do burn slower then the rest. You would probably be better of just making cut stars like peret said.