Givat Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Hi all,I wanted to share with you my new try in burst charge - BP coated Popcorn! =]I was looking for a good carrier for my BP in shells burst charge, and remembered I have a popcorn machine in my house.The process was to pass the popcorn in my 8 m"m star plate to break it to small pieces, than screening it from every thing that smaller than 3 m"m.This popcorn was coated in my naskar roller with 6:1 BP:popcorn. I hope to soon try this in a shell, but it looks promising. left-good popcorn. right-too small popcornhttp://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h479/questl/2012-02-05113914.jpgbefore:http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h479/questl/2012-02-05113924.jpgafterhttp://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h479/questl/2012-02-05122333.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
californiapyro Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 LOL looks like "buncha crunch" good idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sid101 Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Seems a good idea, much easier to get hold of than rice husks.Does it perform pretty similar?And BP wont kill me if i get tempted will it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essohbe Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 You'd eat that? Lol! Popcorn is a resourceful idea. I got these stupid little styrofoam balls I bet would work good too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFeve81 Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 I'm wanting to see how this performs as well. I'm guessing it acts like BP coated cereal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFeve81 Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 You'd eat that? Lol! Popcorn is a resourceful idea. I got these stupid little styrofoam balls I bet would work good too. I don't know how big your styrofoam balls are but I would be worried about it coming down as either molten debris or flaming molten debris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mxman123 Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 I don't know how big your styrofoam balls are but I would be worried about it coming down as either molten debris or flaming molten debris. But maybe they would make that same cool sound (vvvvvffffppp) as burning, black smoke spewing, plastic dripping to the ground that I used to do as a kid... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 People have tried to use polystyrene balls before. They actually work quite poorly. Polystyrene is quite hydrophobic which makes them extremely difficult to coat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essohbe Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 They're about 1/8" diameter from some kind of packaging I think. Lol. They are static prone also, so probably not the best idea for pyrotechnics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonesy Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 haha! good idea. Have you tested them out yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Givat Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 I used the whole popcorn (no breaking) for a 5" shell break charge. the smaller. when I tried to break the popcorn to make it better for smaller shell I't lost it volume when wet and I got a really dens break charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldguy Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 PERLITE PUFFED RICE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Algenco Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 quite a few of the carriers used leave burning embers that are distracting, puffed rice for certain Good old rice hulls are the best all around Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rednight637 Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 do people ever use blackpowder coated sunflower seed shells? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Potassiumchlorate Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 do people ever use blackpowder coated sunflower seed shells? I don't know, but I have been thinking about it myself for larger shells. We use sunflower seed as winter food for birds, so I have plenty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldguy Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 If you live anywhere near where rice is grown? You can often find rice hulls cheaper than dirt in 50 lb bags or bigger. Below is a link on Sacramento Ca area Craig list 50lb bag for $9. http://sacramento.craigslist.org/fod/2978326649.html I can get rice hulls for about twice price that from a local place that uses rice hulls for horse bedding. But, that is still far cheaper than most pyro supply places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldguy Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 (edited) People have tried to use polystyrene balls before. They actually work quite poorly. Polystyrene is quite hydrophobic which makes them extremely difficult to coat. From arms length you just give them little polystyrene balls a few mild blasts from a $1.49 cent can of of womens firm set type HAIR SPRAY.Matter of fact, if you want to coat about anything with meal powder or larger BP, hair spray works great as an adhesive . Edited April 25, 2012 by oldguy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Givat Posted April 25, 2012 Author Share Posted April 25, 2012 this is really interesting oldguy, have you used perlite in the past?I never saw this stuff but from googling it I see it's very chip in my country. is this material is light like puffed rice? does the BP adhere to it easily? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldguy Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 (edited) BP sticks to Perlite as well as it does popcorn or rice hulls. Edited April 26, 2012 by oldguy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdfbq Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 (edited) Yes Givat, perlite is very light.The problem might be that its hard, so you can not, or more difficultly close your shell like an over-packed suitcase. Vermiculite (same supplier, they have it both) might be a better alternative because its a bit more flexible. Where I live we have three sizes, small medium and large.You need large. It sucks indeed that we have to pay $10,- for a kilo of rice hulls! Edited April 26, 2012 by pdfbq Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldguy Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 Yes Givat, perlite is very light.The problem might be that its hard, so you can not, or more difficultly close your shell like an over-packed suitcase. The density of raw perlite or the unexpanded perlite is around 1100 kg/m3 (1.1 g/cm3). The density of typically expanded perlite is 30 - 150 kg/m3. The perlite I have is the expanded type.With only very slight pressure, I can crush it between my fingers. Or grind it into smaller pieces in my own hands.I would not call that hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdfbq Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 I would not call that hard.Well, you nailed me on my English there! What I mend is exactly what I wrote with the over-packed suitcase.You can not squeeze perlite at all while vermiclulite is a bit squeezable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Givat Posted April 29, 2012 Author Share Posted April 29, 2012 what particle size of Perlite do you use?I think I will order the V4 (which is 2.8-8 m"m in size, and separating it with a mash it the smaller ones will be good for 3-4" break and the bigger for 5" break) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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