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#1 sizzle

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Posted 15 October 2005 - 10:22 PM

I was looking on vk2zay's website the other night and I saw glitter formulas, are they for stars or can they be used in fountains too? Sorry if this question has already been answered...
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#2 Zmann

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Posted 16 October 2005 - 03:14 AM

I was looking on vk2zay's website the other night and I saw glitter formulas, are they for stars or can they be used in fountains too? Sorry if this question has already been answered...

I would imagine that them formulas could be used in fountains but they tend to clog the choke maybe if you ram a hot burning mix with titanium every couple increments that might help

#3 alany

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Posted 16 October 2005 - 04:06 PM

Most glitter stars will not work properly in gerbs, they will just dross-up.

This comp was posted by Lloyd on rec.pyrotechnics:

54.8 Potassium Nitrate
11.0 Charcoal
8.4 Antimony Trisulfide (-325 mesh)
7.3 Sulfur
7.3 Aluminum (-200 mesh, spherical)
5.3 Sodium Bicarbonate
5.3 Dextrin
0.5 Boric Acid

I have had nothing but trouble getting it to work, but maybe you'll have more luck? It may not scale down well, it definately did not work for me in 3/8" and 1/4" devices, but I have not tested it in 1/2" or larger yet.

Winokur "C" is quite nice, but is better unchoked:

52 Potassium Nitrate
14 Antimony Trisulfide
10 Barium Carbonate
10 Charcoal
7 Sulfur
7 Aluminium (atomised, 20u)

Phoenix mentioned having good results with Winokur "B":

59 Potassium Nitrate
13 Charcoal
13 Iron Sulfide
10 Aluminium (atomised, 20u)
5 Sulfur

Of course Iron Sulfide needs to be sourced or prepared and Antimony Trisulfide can be difficult to source and is a bit expensive.

I've had luck using D1 microstars in a meal or whistle matrix in narrow lances or cone fountians. You may have luck using a "delayless glitter" with a low sulfur content. Try something like:

6 Potassium NItrate
2 Charcoal
1 Sulfur
1 Aluminium (atomised)

Maybe with a pinch of Baking Soda or Salt if the delay is too short. More conventional but drossy:

6 Potassium NItrate
2 Sulfur
1 Charcoal
1 Aluminium (atomised)

Adding fine Iron powder (100 mesh) with a little sulfur (5% each) can produce a suprising glitter effect with 7-10% spherical Al and meal, but unless you coat the Iron the composition must be kept dry as used quickly and coating seems to reduce the effectiveness. A glitter-like effect can easily be achieved in a conventional BP-like gerb using microstars composed of Potassium Nitrate, Sulfur and Magnalium, but it is a lot more work.

I've never had much luck with Iron Oxide based glitter gerbs, but some here have, especially with Barium Nitrate.

#4 sizzle

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Posted 16 October 2005 - 04:29 PM

So basically it CAN be used in fountains but is best saved for stars?
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#5 Frozentech

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Posted 16 October 2005 - 04:30 PM

Most glitter stars will not work properly in gerbs, they will just dross-up.

This comp was posted by Lloyd on rec.pyrotechnics:

54.8 Potassium Nitrate
11.0 Charcoal
8.4 Antimony Trisulfide (-325 mesh)
7.3 Sulfur
7.3 Aluminum (-200 mesh, spherical)
5.3 Sodium Bicarbonate
5.3 Dextrin
0.5 Boric Acid


I am surprised you had trouble with that comp. It's a favorite with my family ( tho my youngest daughter wishes it had pink fire) :)
In 3/4" size, choked to 1/4" nozzle, it sprays up to 8 ft, quite vigorously, with almost no dross. The only change I made to the formula was to substitute mixed 'firefly' aluminum +40-325 mesh.

Is there a place we can upload videos and pics ? I do not have a personal site at the moment to host one. My first attempt at filming pyro was on this gold glitter fountain.

Mark
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#6 Frozentech

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Posted 16 October 2005 - 08:46 PM

OK, trying out the "yousendit" method of sharing files.

Here is the first attempt at using my digital cam to record pyro movies. Aside from the obvious tilt due to lack of a tripod (since remedied) it came out fairly well. This is a 3/4" gerb using Lloyd Sponenburgh's gold glitter fountain comp, in a 7 inch tube.

http://s29.yousendit...FK2T26OGBINB1FT
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#7 sizzle

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Posted 17 October 2005 - 12:23 AM

I wonder if anyone can tell me if my roman candle design is correct.

http://www.flame-lab...oman_candle.htm

Edited by sizzle, 17 October 2005 - 12:26 AM.

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#8 Frozentech

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Posted 17 October 2005 - 12:43 AM

I wonder if anyone can tell me if my roman candle design is correct.

http://www.flame-lab...oman_candle.htm


no luck with that URL, got a 404 Error.
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#9 Karl

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Posted 17 October 2005 - 12:49 AM

Me too, object not found.

#10 sizzle

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Posted 17 October 2005 - 01:05 AM

Ok, try http://82.5.234.86/roman_candle.htm

EDIT: http://www.flame-lab...oman_candle.htm should be working now too. The website is not complete yet so please don't bother looking at anything but the linked page.

Edited by sizzle, 17 October 2005 - 01:11 AM.

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#11 Mortartube

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Posted 17 October 2005 - 09:47 AM

Whilst both should work okay, the one on the left would be far better from a practical point of view, as the compressed dalay would hold the first star and grain lift in place. Go with the left hand diagram.
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#12 alany

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Posted 17 October 2005 - 12:36 PM

OK, trying out the "yousendit" method of sharing files.

Here is the first attempt at using my digital cam to record pyro movies. Aside from the obvious tilt due to lack of a tripod (since remedied) it came out fairly well. This is a 3/4" gerb using Lloyd Sponenburgh's gold glitter fountain comp, in a 7 inch tube.

http://s29.yousendit...FK2T26OGBINB1FT


Very nice.

It appears it doesn't scale down well. I've made two 1/2" versions to test, I'll also make a 3/4" version because I am not feeling very confident about the 1/2" ones after seeing what happened to the 1/4" and 3/8" ones. They just roasted their casings and left lots of soild dross in the tube.

http://nexus.cable.n...90/p0004536.jpg

That video makes it appear quite a lot like my Fe/Al gerb:

17 Potassium Nitrate
6 Iron (-100 mesh)
4 Charcoal (airfloat)
3 Sulfur
2 Aluminium (~100 mesh flake flitters)

#13 Jerronimo

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Posted 17 October 2005 - 05:17 PM

Try this one:

70 % BP
15 % Al (atomized, spherical)
15 % Fe(iron fillings fine powder)

I posted it a long time ago in the fountain formulas tread, will probably give about the same results as Alany's formula.
It looks like alot of tiny explosions in the air (hard to describe it) and it makes a weird sound.

You probably want to use it unchoked, otherwise the effect will be less visible.
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#14 sizzle

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Posted 17 October 2005 - 07:17 PM

I've had an idea for a glitter starmine effect.

Take a look at the design, I'm going to build and test it next week, if it works i'll include it in my display.

http://www.flame-lab...d_starmines.htm

Edited by sizzle, 17 October 2005 - 07:18 PM.

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#15 sizzle

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Posted 17 October 2005 - 08:19 PM

Sorry, going totally off-topic here, but can anyone tell me what books would be good for me? I already have Understanding and Making Explosive Fireworks.
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