153 replies to this topic

[Mephistos Minion]

I made D1 glitter for the first time the other day. I milled the comp sans the Al for 20 minutes and then screened the Al in. I only milled the comp because I read that 20 min wont hurt if you need to make your chems finer as I did. I cut some stars and pumped 19 3/4" comets with it. I tested the powder that stuck to my screen after granulating (to help distribute the moisture) and fuck me was it awsome. I didn't expect it to work, so when I saw the awsome glittering fireball generated from the small pile of powder I almost fell on my arse laughing with delight like a looney.

I'll post a vid when the stars are dry.

[d4j0n]

Does the type of charcoal used play any role? Wouldn't slower burning charcoals make the sodium bicarb redundant?

Shimizu says it should be wet with boric acid, is that necessary?

[Givat]

Almost one month has past and no answer to d4j0n question?
I'm intrested in the answer too.

[Mumbles]

Of course the type of charcoal plays a role. And no, a slower burning charcoal would not replace the bicarbonate. It does serve as a retarding agent. However it also serves as the delay agent for the glitter. Without the bicarbonate, you'd just have a charocoal/Al streamer instead of the, IMO prettier glitter effect. I don't know if there is really a superior charcoal in terms of glitter. I've used commercial airfloat, and cowboy hardwood charcoal both with excellent but very similar results.

Wetting it with boric acid may be counter intuitive. There is bicarbonate in there. It will react with the boric acid both killing the protective properties of the boric acid, and the delay properties of the bicarbonate. Trust me on this, I just went down to the lab to check, and sprained my ankle in the process by falling off a bucket. (lab needs to be cleaned and reorganised)

[optimus]

I did a search on rec.pyro about this a while back. Cannot find the exact post right now, but it seems that a fair few reputable people consider certain types of charcoal better for certain types of glitter. IIRC, noone really proposed why some worked better than others...

Do an exhaustive rec.pyro search and I'm sure you'll find the specifics.

Here's something I did manage to find.

"AECI (African Explosive & Chemical Industries) used to make BP with
Black Wattle charcoal, which is, as far as I know, native to Australia.
It is also, in my opinion, the *best* type of charcoal for glitter
compositions."

[Pretty green flame]

One question.

I can get the cheap ass 0-100micron aluminium (spherical), could i use this in D1 and still get a similar effect or does the aluminium have to be a specific size?

[al93535]

20-60 or so micron, atomized aluminum is ideal for this glitter. So I think what you can get, would be perfect!

[weknowpyro]

Everytime i have made D1 glitters, my stars have been extremely crumbly. I am using dextrin and i do mix in water with the comp to help pump these stars. I am stumped on this, any ideas?
Thanks

[Mumbles]

How are you pressing them? If you are using low amounts of water(say less that 8%), you really need to compress them well, such as with an arbor press, or some other sort of press. It also depends on how large of stars/comets you are pressing. If you are using high amounts of water, the binder may be leaching out.

Honestly, the most probable answer is that it isn't dry yet. Damp stars, and EXPECIALLY driven in stars are not firm at all.

[deadman]

I know this thread has been dead for a while, but I want to put this out there for others that haven't done D1 before. I used 6% water (well 75/25 H2O/Alcohol) by mixing the comp and water in a container as much as possible. Of course this just resulted in lumps. I then forced the "wet" comp through a windows screen several times. The moisture was spread evenly after about the 3rd time. I used a homemade ½" star pump. After loading the pump each time I gave it a decent whack with a deadblow and popped them out. I dried for 5 days and these have been the hardest stars I've ever made. I plan on uploading a video of a mine or shell with these as soon as I take one.

[tentacles]

it's funny, I saw the D1 glitter mentioned all over, and looked all over for the formula (even here) and must have just passed it over

Thanks for the bump!

[crazyboy25]

i have a question eveyone is saying how ballmilling D1 glitter deystroys the effect i am assuming this is becasue it crushes the aluminum. couldn't you ballmill all the components exept the aluminum then sieve the aluminum in without deystroing the effect?

[Mumbles]

You never ball mill comps with metal. It destroys the effect because it burns too fast if you will. You want it to burn a little slaggy. The slag is what causes the glitter effect.

[crazyboy25]

i got a question:
i know D1 glitter is easy to ignite but do you prime it? according to united nuclear stars with only potassium nitrate should be primed with a 1mm meal prime i was planing on doing this by rolling my stars untill they are 1/2" diameter let them dry for 20 minutes then spray them with water and roll them in meal powder would this be an acceptable way to prime them?

[pudidotdk]

D1 ignites pretty easy. It isn't really neccesary to prime them, but if you are afraid they won't light, a bit of prime won't hurt.

[qwezxc12]

I've never primed them in either mines or aerial shells.

In mines, I pipe the quickmatch into the stars - they ignite lighting the lift in turn. Here's a 3in mine w/D1 and FF#3 stars: Mine

In aerial shells I've used 3/8" pumped in 3in ball shells. Burst was 4:1 KP on crispies with ~3g whistle boost: 3in D1 Glitter shell

[crazyboy25]

rooster said he rolled his stars without deystroying the effect so that is what i will do becasue i prefer rolling. would it be ok if i used 75/25 rubbing alcohol to water as solvent? i realize too much solvent could ruin the effect so i would use it sparingly does this sound ok?

[blaadjes]

Question:

Is D1-Glitter often used in professional shows?

Yesterday I saw similar effects in a show, so I was wondering if they used the same composition.

It was a big break with a cloud of golden sparks, then it changed in to tiny tingling silver/white sort like strobe effect, slowly falling into the sea.

Here's a video of it, the quality is poor, so mby hard to see.

[asilentbob]

Wow thats a really really long delay glitter...

And no, D1 isn't likely to be used in pro shows. As i understand it all of the glitters used in pro shows use pre-made meal powder as a feed stock, then adding aluminum or magnalium, antimony trisulfide, strontium carbonate, sulfur, charcoal, etc. Winokur's compositions and other glitter compositions may be "translated" over into a formula based on meal powder that has a similar effect... then they might be used commercially.

[crazyboy25]

that was nice it kinda reminds me of something i saw they looked like large canister shells at least 5 of em were shot up and had huge orange waterfalls that lasted a LONG LONG time. no flashing though so i suppose it isn't glitter. im curious to know hat it was sorry no vid.