79 replies to this topic

[littlejohny]

You can get Potassium Hydroxide easily enough, or Carbonates of Barium and Strontium. So if you have access to modest quantities of AN then you can make all the Nitrates you want at reasonable purity
.

What ratios would you use, when i made some NaN03 it was 1:1 Ammonium nitrate,NaOH

Honestly though, just buy the damn KNO3, it is *far* easier to get than AN.

you can get it pure in the form of instant cold packs but its VERY expensive it cost me $7.50 for about 200grams worth even then its still sketchy because it could be urea

[alany]

What ratios would you use, when i made some NaN03 it was 1:1 Ammonium nitrate,NaOH

Molar ratio?

Just work out the reaction; e.g.

BaCO3 + 2(NH4NO3) => Ba(NO3)2 + CO2 + 2(NH3) + H2O

So, 197.3 to 160.0 by mass.

Excess Carbonate is OK for Barium and Strontium because of their low solubility, you can just filter them out. I'd start with 200g of Barium Carbonate and 160 g of Ammonium Nitrate. The Ammonia and Carbon Dioxide will be displaced by boiling leaving a relatively pure Nitrate solution that you can purify by a few cycles of recrystalisation to get the best colour depth.

you can get it pure in the form of instant cold packs but its VERY expensive it cost me $7.50 for about 200grams worth even then its still sketchy because it could be urea

That's a tough way to get AN.

You can prepare Ammonium Nitrate using Potassium Nitrate and Ammonium Sulfate fairly easily, Potassium Sulfate has 10 times less solubility in water than Ammonium Nitrate making it practical to seperate. Sulfate of Ammonia is trivial to get as a fertilizer so this method of making AN for other Nitrate production is quite accessable. Using Potassium ions initially means your purification demands are not as high as with Sodium if you want good colours with the eventual Barium and Strontium Nitrates, although Sodium Sulfate is quite low in solubility so the seperation is quite practical just more demanding. Of course if you want to make KNO3 then you have a chicken and egg problem.

[Themolehole_9876]

Hey guys, just a quick question, when making the charcoal.. is it possible to turn it to ash?

Anyone???.... im just thinking if i leave it on too long it could burn it too much..

[broadsword]

So long as no oxygen is present then no i dont think it can!

What i suggest you do is...
When your tin has stopped smoking take it off the fire and leave it for about and hour.
Do NOT take it off the fire and open the lid to see if it is done! This will wreck all your charcoal because the air will rush in and the charcoal will smoulder and turn to dreaded ash!

[Themolehole_9876]

Ah okay thanks I made some last night and waited till it stopped smoking out the top and took it off the fire. Left it over night and just opened it about n10 mins ago, some of the bits seem to not have turned completely to charcoal... is it alright if i just put it back on the fire with new wood?

[adamw]

Yes, put the uncarbonised sticks back in.. I don't think you can really overcook charcoal... just don't be eager to open it up. If you do.. you will see the charcoal start to glow orange in places and you're hard work will go up in smoke (and ash)

[koobee]

I am currently having the oposite effect of my bp. It burns too fast and the rockets go BOOM ! I don't know how to slow down the mix. Thoughts? One thing that has helped me in making it burn faster, make sure that you don't stuff your mill too full. Then it won't have enough room to properly mill the ingredients, but if your powder is really fine this is likely not the problem.

[sizzle]

I tend to use CIA method meal powder for my rockets, if you use the charcoal from Phil's site (thegreenman.me.uk) you get a perfect quality for rockets (well, sometimes), also because it's Pine it leaves a nice orange trail.

Save your fast stuff for lift, 6:3:1 is fine for rockets.

[koobee]

...but I have lift. I want rockets lol are there any methods to slow the mix?

[Damp Squib]

I am currently having the oposite effect of my bp. It burns too fast and the rockets go BOOM ! I don't know how to slow down the mix. Thoughts? One thing that has helped me in making it burn faster, make sure that you don't stuff your mill too full. Then it won't have enough room to properly mill the ingredients, but if your powder is really fine this is likely not the problem.

There are so many way to stop your rockets exploding I doubt I can list them all,it mostly depends on the design of your rocket,you cant really have black powder that burns too fast,if your rockets are exploding just widen the nozzle throat and keep widening until they dont, even if this means you have a nozzleless rocket,the easiest mistake is not to press the fuel with enough pressure which can lead to cracks in the fuel grain and explosions

you can add more charcoal,mill for less time,add a few grams of magnesium sulphate 'epsom salts' the list goes on,best just describe the design,measurements and construction of your rockets I'm sure the error will reveal itself,

Also the BP your using and your production method

Edited by Damp Squib, 05 January 2006 - 11:46 PM.

[koobee]

13 KNO3
1 S
6 Air Float C
1#80 C

It has been a good mix that has served me well. It works good in 4oz rockets, but when I pound them out on an 8oz spindle they burn too fast and go splodey ! I mill it for 24hrs... normally... this time I left it in a little long. I am sure this is the cause of my magnificant exploding rockets I just don't know how to slow it down a tad. I use a dead blow hammer to pound the rockets due to my extreme lack of hydrolic presses lying around. They have always worked I think I just got the mix a bit racey this time. Thougts, or lack there of in my case?

[Themolehole_9876]

HEY! Guess what, I just finished my ball mill!, its so simple it doesnt even deserve to be called a ball mill.. none the less it is ingenious! lol so im gonna mill some BP overnight and see what happens! !

[broadsword]

I am currently having the oposite effect of my bp. It burns too fast and the rockets go BOOM ! I don't know how to slow down the mix. Thoughts? One thing that has helped me in making it burn faster, make sure that you don't stuff your mill too full. Then it won't have enough room to properly mill the ingredients, but if your powder is really fine this is likely not the problem.

Add more charcoal to he mix this will slow it down.

Or instead of willow charcoal use BBQ charcoal. I have to do that because otherwise mine used to CATO.

Also make sure your choke isnt too small or getting any 'slag' clogging it up.

[Pieman]

I tried making my first rocket yesterday. I just hammered some BP into a hand rolled paper tube (my press should be finished soon). Unfortunatly my BP is waay too fast, the 'rocket' CATO'd much to my dissapointment. I was planning to slow the BP down with more charcoal. Oh well if at first you don't succeed...

[koobee]

DOH! Next time I add Charcoal to my bp I will take careful note of how much I add. I slowed the mix down a little, or perhaps too much. The rocket kinda sat there like a pretty upside down fountain. The good news, the header worked. The stars lit and the shell broke amost perfectly symetrical. Woot! Now I am on a quest to speed the bp up once more. I figure if I speed up the bp and trim my spindle my problems will be no more.