Oinikis Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 I decided to go back, and make some firecrackers after a long times, becouse they are simple and fun. and i remembered how i took apart a comercial firecracker. it was a tube, flash inside, 2 plugs and a fuse sticking out of one plug. the plugs looks like concrete, or clay. i unrolled the tube, and the flash was in a harad tablet between plugs, look like rammed. fuel of it is brightflake Al, becouse it freakin' stains! i burned it and it burned super fast, like flash should. so here are the questions. so, my brightlake al flash burns slow, but that super fast, so it uses KClO3 or somethin'. the smoke has sulfury smell. maybe it's some sort of salute composition (KClO3/Al/S) whitch is described in fulcanelli work or something. and then other. how does they make it? do they ram the flash? becouse flash was densely packed, and plugs looks rammed. i'm making BP ones, becouse my flash is slow (no good al) and it's dangerous, and stains. but that question is still in my mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTUPyro Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 I dont know how consumer firecrackers are made, but I don't think they use kclo3 for consumer stuff. Probably kclo4, its safer. If you say it was sulfurly smell maybe they use Shimizu Thunder Flash wich is kclo4/al/s. They definitely don't ram flash for safety purposes , my guess is that they use wet clay or something like that to make plugs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eaglefireworks Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 Stay away from death mixture (KClO3/Al/S).Doesn't matter if your flash powder burns slow once flash powder (which uses dark,flake aluminium) is confined into small tube sealed with plugs it will explode.Dry flash powder should never be rammed,its likely to be wetted and then pressed.Try out KNO3/Al/S based flash.-Eagle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oinikis Posted May 24, 2013 Author Share Posted May 24, 2013 (edited) LTUpyro, i'm sure you ever handled a thing called "korsarka". that's what i'm talking about. i do only KNO3/Al/S, and i never ram, or do anything stupid with flash. i have read alot. so that's why that pressed looking flash confused me. probably yeah, pressed wet clay, then wet powder, and wet clay again with fuse. becouse these crackers are not perfectly round. they changed shape when drying probably. Edited May 24, 2013 by Oinikis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTUPyro Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 For nitrate flash I use 50/30/20 and with stronger casing it gives plenty nice bang. Just screen it several times and mix it very well. What mesh Al do you use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oinikis Posted May 24, 2013 Author Share Posted May 24, 2013 (edited) i use brightflake Al from hardware shop, ye know. i use 6/1/3 KNO3/sulfur/Al. i calculated this myself. today i made one with 4 grams, pretty nice boom. i find this works better than 5/3/2. however i added tiny bit f quickmatch in the flash( the fuse ignites the QM, whitch goes inside the flash), so it gives it a kick, becouse it is a slow flash. try mine comp, and see what happens. Edited May 24, 2013 by Oinikis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTUPyro Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 Just tried 6/1/3 and it's kinda fast ,but 5/3/2 is still faster for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie1016 Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 I use KNO3 -5Al flake 250# -4Sulphur. -1 Works great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oinikis Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 well, i might try all of them, and choose my favourite. LTUpyro, what Al are you using? also i think mine comp works better with less Al. if i would to find flash that would work good without "kicker" that would be good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTUPyro Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 I use 600 mesh Brightflake Al. Do you ballmill S and Kno3? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oinikis Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 (edited) since i do not make big batches of FP, so i just grind them in mortar and pestle, and then mix with Al. does balmilling these makes a huge diference? well, i'll try to grind it more, and see what happens. firecrackers work without the "kicker" but with it it makes a better bang. Edited May 25, 2013 by Oinikis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTUPyro Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 I make 100 gram batch everytime. I don't ballmill either, just coffee grind chemicals, then screen and mix it very very well. Tried ballmill and it is little faster, but it takes more time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie1016 Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 since i do not make big batches of FP, so i just grind them in mortar and pestle, and then mix with Al. does balmilling these makes a huge diference? well, i'll try to grind it more, and see what happens. firecrackers work without the "kicker" but with it it makes a better bang. If you ball mill the KNO3 and the Sulphur together first, then add the Al 200mesh + you should get good results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oinikis Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 well, i'll try. i did a test. i just put the FP into a tube, put some tissue, and lowered it, so the FP was no longer fluffy, and that made a fountain. with fluffy FP it would explode. so with this sort of FP i won't be able to makewet pressed firecrackers. well, but now found a way to make firecrackers with quickmatch kicker, whitch makes nice boom, and is easy to make. sadly with this sort of FP i won't make some crossetes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTUPyro Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Yeah, I used nitrated flash +5% vaseline and press with body weight to make bright flares. Well I don't see reason why to use clay plugs. Cardboard and hot glue do it's job. If you tried to wet your nitrate flash it becomes very bright and fast burning star. Work on your flash so you don't need any quickmatch. If you want to break crossete, go 70/30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oinikis Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 (edited) 7/3 is KClO3/ dark Al? i got only BP chems and that brightflake painting aluminium... you are able to make decent firecrackers with nitrate flash? Edited May 25, 2013 by Oinikis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTUPyro Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Ofc you can make 'em, just work on it until you get good result, I recommend to use strong casing and strong plugs. For 7/3 you dont have to use dark Al, other Al works too. Also standart flash is kclo4 not kclo3 since chlorates is more unstable than perchlorates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oinikis Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 yeah, i know all that theory things, about incompactibilities, and such, just no practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyco_1322 Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Chlorate based flash is just asking for something bad to happen. Even with milled chems, hot dark Al, and screened multiple times through a 300 mesh screen...nitrate flash is still slow crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oinikis Posted May 26, 2013 Author Share Posted May 26, 2013 yeah, needs these quickmatch things, and works OK only in big things. for few small farts it is not reliable. well, but i was able to make several 4 gram firecrackers (with QM) and they are pretty loud. i've got some old water filters whitch basicly are pipes of cocoa fiber (ID is like 3 cm OD is 6-7cm) destroys them pretty well without any big chunks. but these 4 gramers are too loud if you are just bored, and want to light a one, and getting smaller just requires too much effort. for smaller ones BP is probably the way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlaMtnBkr Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 You don't want to wet nitrate and aluminum as there can be a reaction. For this to be done it needs a couple percent boric acid (I think. I could be wrong! I'm tired and don't have my notebook so look it up! Might need a basic chem instead of acidic) Also, pressing just slows down a burn rate. It needs to be fluffy to burn fast. The reason you're not getting good results is your aluminum. It needs to be finer which will let it burn faster. Also, since the black match helps, try adding fast granulated black powder. I've had pretty good luck with maybe 30-40 percent BP. It helps make the BP fluffy and gets things extra hot to help with ignition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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