shagaKahn Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 Always pop a search here before starting new threads so if I missed this topic spank me and put me to bed. Just scored some of this in hopes of making blue strobes and stars and such. Got this formula from an old skylighter link: Blue Strobe Pot Pyrotechnic Formula No. 1 (Clive Jennings-White, Pyrotechnica XIV)Ammonium perchlorate 50Ammonium sulfate 25Magnalium, 100-200 mesh 20Copper, atomized, 40-100 mesh 5 Also was advised that Cu powder made great blue flames in flame projectors. Never had great luck with this as anything on the cool end of the spectrum tends to get washed out by the yellow glare of the smokeless. Was told to bind the Cu with Parlon but I'm still waiting for details on this. Usually make a slurry of my metal salts with methanol and add the smokeless grains and try to incorporate everything then let it dry. Red/orange/yellow end comes out great, but greens are always washed out yellowy. Meantime, anyone here played with Cu powder? Thanx,s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Yeah Ive played with Cu powder its good fun it needs a bit of help as a fuel and Ive heard it reacts with AP (so im not sure how safe that formulla is) but you can get a very nice blue out of it rather easily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shagaKahn Posted August 14, 2011 Author Share Posted August 14, 2011 Am wondering if binding the mentioned strobe formula with NC lacquer would "protect" the Cu from being attacked by the AP. Or would a smidge of dichromate do the same trick for Cu that it does for Mg? If only there were 36 instead of 24 hours in a day to do all these experiments . . . Yeah Ive heard it reacts with AP (so im not sure how safe that formulla is) but you can get a very nice blue out of it rather easily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
optimus Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 I suppose it depends on humidity, how dry your chems are and how long you want to store, but I've never had a reaction using AP/Cu and binding with NC or PVC/MEK. Certainly something to be wary of especially if doing large batches. I've heard of dichromated Cu being used commercially. In my limited experience I've found that -325mesh can be a little fine for strobes but it should be ok for stars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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