Tweetybird88 Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 Ok I've been working on my crosette stars and now I want to know about these crackling microstars or dragon eggs or what not. How are they made. From what ive gathered, you make the composition and put it through a screen. You use the bits as star cores. Please correct me if this is wrong. And how dangerous is lead tetraoxide. I normally use one of those dust masks and gloves. Will I need to do anything else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cplmac Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 That's pretty much it, although most people are making them with bismuth these days. I just made three batches with the lead, and it is a pain in the ass making the stars. They are loud though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewest Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 Dragon Eggs are some of my favorites. And a dust mask and gloves are always a good idea no matter what you're doing. Like cplmac said most dragon eggs now are made with Bismuth Trioxide or Bismuth Subcarbonate, the second one being a cheaper alternative to the first. I've never made any with the Subcarbonate but ones made with Trioxide are really loud for small sand sized pellets of composition. Try to keep the batches small, like 100gr at a time. The acetone you use evaporates so fast that the comp will start to crack on you before you can screen it. I tried some different ways, but just grating it thru some window screen seems to work the best for me. We had a thread on this earlier, you might find it usefull:Dragon Eggs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
styropyro Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 Has any body made Dragon Eggs with Bismuth Subcarbonate and the Trioxide? I'm wanting to know if there is a big difference between the two before I dump some money into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadopyro Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 From what i've heard, the Lead tetraoxide( read lead) is louder compared to the bismuth trioxide/subcarbonate though the bismuth compounds make up for it by not being toxic.My mate says they both make the same amount of noise, though i would only buy the lead tetraoxide in that its a good deal cheaper than the bismuth trioxide (cant get hold of the subcarbonate here) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pa_pyro Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 I have heard that KNO3 based primes will ruin bismuth dragon eggs so be advised if you make them. I need to get a heavy metal oxidiser soon, dragon eggs are one of my favorite effects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psymon Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 I made these before. I think I still have a bit of a batch left. The only problem I have with them is the primer. Making fountains with them in the mix is quite a nice effect. How sensitive is the bismuth trioxide mix when friction is involved? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weknowpyro Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 I use bismuth trioxide all the time for dragons eggs. I would not say its exetremly sensitive to friction, but this is just coming from my experiences with it. However i have had a small pile of about 0.1g go off by accident, i put this small amount on the floor to test it but i realised that the floor was wet so the mix would probably be dud, so i ground the mix into the floor with my foot to get rid of it, when i did this there was a small crack under my foot as the mixture was set off from my body weight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psymon Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 To me that sounds enough to make it not suitable for many devices. I wont mess with it too much. Thanks for that weknowpyro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadopyro Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 So have you tried testing the minium comp? Just exacatly how sensitive is this stuff? I'll most likly treat it like flash... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weknowpyro Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 This is just me but i treat it with abit more care than just your basic flash compostion.Reason for this is because of the tremendous power these compostions have, i mean 5g unconfined can revival any salute i have made and thats worrying. When i make dragons eggs with Bi2O3 i always make it in 10g batchs never anything more. With 10g i can still produce about 30-40 dragons eggs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hashashan Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 anyone know the composition for dragon eggs with sodium thiosulfate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 Please at least give serching a try before asking a question next time. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=thios...G=Google+Search Here is the exact link you want though. http://www.pyrosociety.org.uk/forum/index....&hl=thiosulfate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hashashan Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 sorry bout that ... for some reason i missed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psymon Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 10g maximum I make of the stuff. Seems to last me ages. Quality effect for a simple not very toxic comp. Wonder why I have 1Kg of bismuth trioxide ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tse-Tse Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 Hello, it seems to be very interesting ¨crackling microstars with sodium thiosulfate.Has anyone practicle experience with it? or even a video of Na2S2O3 cracling stars?thx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 I never aquired the thiosulfate to try it out. I really don't know of anyone with practical experience with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweetybird88 Posted February 28, 2007 Author Share Posted February 28, 2007 Would it be possible to imbed these in something like a comet to have intense crackle as as shell goes up. Or would this be dangerous since you have to pump a comet so it would ignite the dragons eggs. I wouldn't know their sensitivity since i haven't worked on any yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewest Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 I know people put them in fountains and use them as cores when rolling stars. But I would tend to think if you just mixed them into a comp and pressed a large comet with it that the dragon egg would blow the comet apart once it ignited. I've never tried it but that would be my guess as to what would happen. And they're not...quite...that sensitive. I crush mine, once dry, with a rolling pin to get the size down and then sift them with different mesh screens. I've never had any go off, but I'm just lightly crushing them and not pounding on them with a hammer either. Plus I work in small 100gr batches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al93535 Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Crackling microstars are NOT that sensitive. Take some and grind them, then hammer one I have grinded them QUITE hard while making 10 KG batches in stainless steel screens. I would not hammer them, or subject them to intense friction but they are pretty safe. Eggs embeded in a comet are quite the effect! They can be pressed into a comet, and if you use the right binder, will work just fine. Most of the time the stars take a small amount of time to explode after ignition. Add extra prime to them if you want to be sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Yes, dragon eggs have a built in delay. I can't remember who has the video. There is one when he lights it, and it glows red for a bit and then makes a loud snap. This was of course done in the kitchen sink. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweetybird88 Posted February 28, 2007 Author Share Posted February 28, 2007 So I can assume that this will also work as a crossette? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
optimus Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 The start of the following clip shows what kind of effect you will get from embedding crackling microstars in a comet matrix: http://www.sandlingfireworks.co.uk/video/c...CAL%20STORM.wmv And yes, you can embed them in a crossette in exactly the same way... if that's what you meant.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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