Milling Sodium Salicylate

[Wiley]

I've heard that, when making whistle mix, it's always a good idea to ball mill the catalyst and fuel together, thereby obtaining a homogenous airfloat powder. When milling sodium salicylate, it tends to clump. I emailed Dan Creagan and asked him about this. He noted that drying the salicylate before milling and then milling it in the cold are two of the best ways to keep the stuff from clumping. Would it also be advisable to check the contents of the jar every 5-10 minutes and break up any clumps that may form? Any other tips would be appreciated.

[FlaMtnBkr]

I have tried to ball mill benzoate and maybe salicylate but don't remember for sure. However, they behave about the same. They are both waxy and like to stick to everything long before I was able to get an airfloat powder. Drying the chems out will help as the drier it is the less it sticks. Since it is also waxy, putting it in the freezer makes it harder and less sticky. For ball milling those are the two best things I know of to do but still doesn't make it an easy task. I was never able to get it fine enough with this method in a ball mill. It will burn and make a fairly powerful fuel, it just doesn't make one with very good sound in my experience.

 

The best way to grind it up is to go and buy a bullet blender from somewhere like Walmart. It is basically a small blender that the blade screws onto a cup and is inverted into the motor during blending. I think Walmart has one that has 4 or 5 cups that can be used for different things, though it only comes with one blade and are around 20 bucks. Supposed to be quite a bit better than coffee mills and food processors. I think this will be your best bet, especially if you dry and freeze ahead of time like suggested with the ball mill. A cup and blade is much easier to clean than a big jar and hundreds of pieces of media.

 

Good luck. I have given up trying to reduce particle size and just pay the premium for airfloat material. I don't make huge rockets though so 5 pounds of airfloat will make a lot of whistle mix when used in smaller motors.