Pretty green flame Posted September 9, 2006 Share Posted September 9, 2006 (edited) Name of composition: Silver cascade, modifiedComposition Type: Silver streamerCreator: Some guy from AFN, i just modified it a bit to suit my preferencesColor/Effect: Very bright with aluminium sparks (essentially a silver streamer) The Composition: (by weight) KNO3 - 45% Magnesium - 15% Note: The Mg should not be very fine or of the very reactive flake variety or it will result in a flash. 100mesh is the limit. Aluminium atomized - 30% Sulfur - 10% Any Precautions/Incompatabilities: Magnesium should be treated with linseed oil to minimize the chance of accidental ignition. Precedure/Preparation: Ball mill together the KNO3 and sulfur then diaper in the metal powders. Bind with a 10% solution of shellac in alcohol. The stars should be pumped. Video will be posted this evening, probably. Edited September 9, 2006 by Pretty green flame Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty green flame Posted September 9, 2006 Author Share Posted September 9, 2006 Here it is, as i promised. An action shot of the star burning (on ground, will do future tests in air) http://i2.zvhost.com/2/v/vq2q7k6k.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocket Posted September 10, 2006 Share Posted September 10, 2006 Just a quick one about the shellac as I’ve never used it before nor have I used this method to bind stars. Just say I’ve got a 10g batch do I just weight out 1g of shellac and dissolve in alcohol and add the comp. Also would methylated spirits work to dissolve the shellac? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSidewinder Posted September 10, 2006 Share Posted September 10, 2006 Yes, it's one additional gram of shellac to a 10 gram batch of comp. You're better off mixing the shellac with the meal by screening or bag-mixing, then adding the alcohol. Methylated spirits should work fine. M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocket Posted September 10, 2006 Share Posted September 10, 2006 Thanks for that, now to bunnings to get some shellac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty green flame Posted September 10, 2006 Author Share Posted September 10, 2006 Just a quick one about the shellac as I’ve never used it before nor have I used this method to bind stars. Just say I’ve got a 10g batch do I just weight out 1g of shellac and dissolve in alcohol and add the comp. Also would methylated spirits work to dissolve the shellac? You make a 10% solution of shellac and then you add the solution to the composition, only so much that until you get the right consistency for pumping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocket Posted September 10, 2006 Share Posted September 10, 2006 Ah k cool I see what you mean. I’ll do it that way then. I got shellac for $15 for 300g I don’t know if that expensive, also found some xylene during my trip to the hardware store but I don’t have a use for it as yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocket Posted September 10, 2006 Share Posted September 10, 2006 Update:I must say these star look great. Had a bit of a problem though I add to much solvent so I thought to my self I no I’ll warm it up and evaporate it, so I did the after a with I noticed a bad smell coming from it I did think much of it at the time so I continued to pumping the then drying. I ended up making the room that I had them drying in smell horrible. What I think coursed this was the sulfur. What do you guys think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty green flame Posted September 10, 2006 Author Share Posted September 10, 2006 Are they getting any warmer, if so, you might have a problem, probably water in the solvent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocket Posted September 10, 2006 Share Posted September 10, 2006 Nah there cold, well there not warm to touch any way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSidewinder Posted September 10, 2006 Share Posted September 10, 2006 That smell wasn't Ammonia, was it? If so, you're getting a reaction of some sort. Are you sure you didn't have any water in the mix? Methylated spirits can contain a fair bit of water, IIRC? M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocket Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 Well I don’t know what ammonia smell like so I don’t know, but it did smell a bit like something was rotting (as me sis found out, lol). When I first added the comp I noticed some bubble but very little I came to the conclusion that is was from me mixing it.After I took it off the heat it was a yellow colour that’s why I thought it might have had something to do with that sulfur in the comp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frozentech Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 Well I don’t know what ammonia smell like so I don’t know, but it did smell a bit like something was rotting (as me sis found out, lol). Do you have pet cats ? If so, ammonia smells like cat piss, or a cat litter box that needs cleaning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocket Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 Well I don’t know what ammonia smell like so I don’t know, but it did smell a bit like something was rotting (as me sis found out, lol).Do you have pet cats ? If so, ammonia smells like cat piss, or a cat litter box that needs cleaning. No i can say it did. It may have been the shellac. Update: It was ammonia that I smelt, I made some MgAl the other day and it smelt strongly of ammonia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonny Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Sorry to drag up a really old one here...I was itching to clean up some chems, and had some 100m Mg laying around. I made a batch of cut stars with this formula. They turned out quite crumbly... I'm going to re-wet and pump as soon as I slap together a small star pump. Anyway, I put a couple stars on a pc of visco and they took fire quite easily. The burnrate was faster than I'd have thought and the effect was a nice shower of silver sparks. I'll probably pump 3/8" stars and then step prime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonny Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 I finally got around to testing this comp in a shell. The video is not that good, but the silver great in person. This was a 3" can shell burst with 4:1BP/vermiculite and 1 tbsp of whistle as a booster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elstevo Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 do these stars need to be primed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 It's a good idea to prime everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty green flame Posted October 8, 2008 Author Share Posted October 8, 2008 Indeed it is, these stars especially, either a step prime or the Fence post prime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonny Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 IIRC, I used a 3 layer step prime with this comp. The last layer of prime (BP only) applied as a thick slurry into which I dipped the stars and then rolled them in granulated BP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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