Mach25 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Hi All...well I finally made my first batch of BP by double ball mill and the results were very good. Here is a question. I ball milled 100% of the KNo3 and 1/3 of the charcoal. I then milled 2/3C with all of the Sulfur. I'm using a heavy duty 5 gallon speedy burr ball mill with ceramic media. I didn't notice it but the mill had a small leak and was leaking out powder in both batches in an area hidden by the frame. After I discovered this I just weight out both batches and found that and the sulfur and charcoal batch had lost more of it's volume and that after combining I was left with 190 more grams of MIX A. I combined the correct weights by volume used redgum to granulate and was surprised by the results . Stuff was amazing as it burned instantly bright and had no residue.My question is there anyway to determine how much of each chemical remained after leaking throughout a small hole during the 3 hour mill on each A and B mix? How about that for a brain teaser! Logic would tell me the heavier material would tend to exit first but what proportion I haven't a clue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taiwanluthiers Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 I have worked out that you use 80% mix A, and 20% mix B (Mix a is potassium nitrate and 1/3 of the charcoal, mix B is rest of the charcoal and all of the sulfur). This is assuming you use a 75:15:10 mix. I am using it for my foot powered ball mill.... I found that I needed to make more mix B than mix A because mix B took up less volume than mix A, so I worked this formula out so that I can recombine them as needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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