57 replies to this topic

[cplmac]

Today I mixed up a small batch of Purrington's Red Flash.
Pot. Perch. 50
Stront. Peroxide 24
Mag. 500 mesh 20
Parlon 3

Gave a loud report, good deep tone, not a lot of crack to it. Unfortunately there was no red to it whatsoever. Very bright flash though. I'm open to suggestions if anyone can figure out what is not working here, or if they have a red flash mix they know works.

[al93535]

How far away were you when it went off?

[Chemguy]

A powder that burns red that I know is Mg with Sr(NO3)2 and Ca(NO3)2 as the oxidizers, I had a about 20 grams of this and it was the brightest, redest flame I ever saw, It was so bright that even if you were wearing sunglasses it would hurt to look at. Since strontium oxidizers work best with chlorine donors, I don't see why it isn't working, try more SrO2, or use Sr(NO3)2 instead. But I guess if it is a well known recipie then you shouldn't have to change it.

[ir-russu]

If you are making red flash try with Strontium Nitrate with Mg and a little pvc Not with peroxide. ... but be carefull because its dangerous...have you made normal flash ??? if not ..first make the normal flash with (I use this you can make any comp you want..)

Potassium perchlorate 72
Aluminium 28

(this flash is dangerous but colured flash green red orange blue are even more dangerouse than this so be carefull and dont make a large ammount at a time !)

See you guys

Cheers from Malta Ir RUSSU .....

[Givat]

ir-russu, what comps do you use for your green\red\orange\blue or any colored flash you make?

[ir-russu]

In malta colured flash is used in colured beraq, many different compostions are used in every different factory around malta even with sulfer and chlorate so its very dangerouse ....last year my two friends made the red beraq (red flash) but its too dangerouse, but a few months ago some one told me this red flash comp :


Strontium nitrate 1
Magnesium 1
PVC 0.1

for next year i will make some of this for the feast.......

Take care guys .....

Ir russu

[Mumbles]

I use something similar for red flash. Green flash can be made with Barium nitrate instead of strontium nitrate. The PVC is more neccesary for the green than the red. The red looks good without the PVC, but looks a bit more rich IMO with it.

[cplmac]

I've made about a dozen different standard flash mixes. I figured the color flash would be a little more sensitive because of the magnesium. When I make new flash comps I never make more than 15 grams, it's all I need to fill my test tube. I use the same test tubes for all flash mixes so I have a consistant baseline to measure results on. I'm going to substite the Strontium Nitrate for the Peroxide and see if that works. I'll keep you posted. Oh and el, I was about 100 feet away. Does the color wash out if you are to near or far? Thanks for the advice everyone!

[cplmac]

I made the red substituting the nitrate in place of the peroxide tonight. When I lit the flashbag the red was very nice, but when I lit my test salute the red was not nearly as noticeable. It was reddish, but not the nice red I got from the fused flashbag. I wonder if it just needed the space to breath that it had with the bag. Either way I'm going to tweek the mix tomorrow, and increase the Strontium by 20% and decrease the mag by 20%. I think the mag is washing out the red a little.

The mix as I made it tonight
50 Pot. Perch.
24 Mag. 500 mesh
23 Strontium Nitrate
3 Parlon

Thanks again for the suggestion of switching to Nitrate. Really was a huge improvement.

[cplmac]

I uploaded the video of the red flash to you tube. Here is the link:

[ir-russu]

Yes it had red in it ..... now improve the colour ...i would decrease the potassium perch. and increase the strontium nitrate and the parlon (the parlon by a little).....

take care ...

ir russu....

[fizeau]

Hats off! Clearly red and a nice video! Unfortunetly my
lithium-nitrate-Composition wasn´t good at all, it exploded strongly but
with a yellow-white flash. I´ll have to try a go with strontium nitrate,
but that one I´ll have to produce first. In the meantime I´ll go
with the KClO3 and lithium salts. Again, well done, your red flash, I liked
it.

[Mardec]

I made green flash yesterday, hear me out I am not going off topic

Used this formula:

Ba(NO3)2 1
Mg 75micron 1
Parlon 0,15


Made 2 grams of it and made 2 1gram crackers of it.
I used transparant lab cable for the crackertube (so the light can get out better).
They where pretty loud for 1 gram crackers, probably the best crackers I ever made.

But now to the point. I lighted them at night. and I ran 10 meters away before they when't off. I was more blinded by the flash so I saw more white light then green. But I saw some green.
My mother was 30 meters away and wasn't blinded by the flash, and she said I was green-blue.

So the distance does play a big role in colloured flash?
Very usefull info

And does it help what I did? Putting it into transparent lab cable? Or did it do bad because the colour comes out when the cracker breaks?

[cplmac]

I don't think the tube will make a difference with flash because it sheds it's skin so fast. I tested the tweaked mix tonight, back to the drawing board. Gonna go with ir-russo's suggestion. Bring the mag back up, leave the Strontium Nitrate up and drop the perch. Tonights video will be posted tomorrow. The flash was orange tonight but it wasn't all bad news. I also tested a couple of 3lb rockets and they were very successful.

[Mardec]

I am still waiting on those video's

I want to make a multi salute shell with all different kinds of collour.
So I could use the feedback

[cplmac]

Tried ir-russo's suggestion of dropping the perch. The new mix:
Pot. Perch. 40
Stront. Nit. 24
Mag. 500 mesh 23
Parlon 3

Still just orange. Gonna go with the Stontium 1 Mag 1 Parlon .1 that mumbles and ir-russo suggested earlier. Eventually I'm gonna land on a winner. Thanks for all your help everyone!

[cplmac]

Just tried some in a diaper, about the same as the red in my video. I wonder if it will work better in the tube, but the video flash looked very red in a diaper.

[cplmac]

I think I have the mix about as good as I'm gonna get it, at least until I forget about this frustration and have another go at it.
Perch.......1
Mag.........1
Str. Nit......1
Parlon.......point 1

Best red yet in the diaper, we'll see tomorrow at the HPA get together. I headed a 3lb. red whistle rocket with a 100 gram hit of this stuff. Hopefully it looks better from a distance and in quantity. I will have the video up Sunday night. Actually I'm really hoping the rocket leaves the tube, I'm a little skeptical on the thrust of this bastard red comp I through together. It's my Frankenrocket.

[Mardec]

I am very curious after this one

But let me ask you something, a 100 gram flash header? isn't that a lil bit to much?

[pa_pyro]

I agree with mardec...If you dont know if the rocket is even going to leave the tube, maybe you should get them working before sticking that much flash on.