9 replies to this topic

[nocker1]

Hi i was wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction for a suitable solvent for making whistle rocket fuel. would white spirt be ok?

cheers.

[Richard H]

What are you adding to the composition that requires a solvent? What are you aiming to do?

[Andrew]

Rich I reckon he/she is trying to make solid rocket grains without compressing it.

Nocker, If your new to rocketry/pyro your barking up the wrong tree. Whistle mix is very dangerous, it's quite sensitive to friction and shock. Obviously it depends on the composition but you do need to be careful. As rich said what is it for??

[nocker1]

i'm adding red iron oxide, and it says i need petrolium jelly and a solvent to disolve it in.

this is from pyro guide

Gently melt the petroleum jelly in a beaker on low heat. Make sure no sources of heat or sparks are present before proceeding with the next steps. Remove it from the heat and add about 5 portions of toluene or lacquer thinner--ie. for a 500g batch, melt 20g of petroleum jelly, mix with 80 millilitres of toluene

i dont have any toluene so i asking of other suitable solvents to use.

cheers

[Andrew]

Not having any toluene is a good thing.

It's a prescribed product which means you can't just buy it. It's also carcinogenic.

Why dissolve petroleum jelly anyway? An exact description on the desired end product is required to effectively advise on such things!

It is soluble in almost any fraction from petroleum distillate. i.e. paraffin, petrol, diesel, and veg oils, light oils, pretty much any solvent other than water for petroleum jelly, Christ even fairy liquid is miseble with paraffin wax! It's best to try a few things and see what works best for you and you application.

[BrightStar]

Hi noker1, You are quite right to ask - for most applications, adding Vaseline or candle wax as a phlegmatiser will stabilise the whistle mix somewhat and allow you to granulate it. This is very helpful when pressing or adding as a 'mixed in' booster for break charges.

In my recent experience, using Vaseline to produce soft whistle granules will allow you to hand tamp (not ram!!!) whistle spolettes, drivers and ground effects. I haven't yet tried rockets. Hand tamping would be less reliable with 'raw' 70/30 mix.

For solvent, I suggest Naptha or Coleman camping fuel - it's just purified unleaded petrol / gasoline. You can dissolve parraffin wax (great for rocket nozzle mixes) or Vaseline in it, but it takes a little time - I suggest shaking in a jam jar for half an hour until done. It is much less toxic than Toluene but EXTREMELY flammable - this must be done outside....

See my earlier post here for details:

http://www.pyrosocie...?showtopic=2604

Be aware though that whistle can and does go 'high order' when you get things wrong and if confined may detonate rather than deflagrate. As such it really is very dangerous.

Edited by BrightStar, 29 April 2007 - 01:52 PM.

[Gavin]

In a rocket video by Steve La Duke he melts the vaseline and adds lacquer thinner. The now dissolved vaseline is added to the prepared dry comp. Ask for lacquer thinner in the UK and you'll be met with a glazed look. What works well is standard cellulose thinners available from any car spares factor & e-bay sellers. About £7 for 5 litres.

[nocker1]

cheers for all the replys, i can get cellulose thinners though my work so i'll go with that option.

thanks again.

[Ritual33]

I can't believe noone has suggested colemans and mineral oil (unperfumed baby oil in the uk (check ingredients)). If it's perfumed then your rockets will zoom into the sky with baby-butt freshness.

All you do is mill your ingredients up very very well, add the iron oxide to the fuel and mill that up for a bit. Then put the mixture in a big glass bowl and add your mineral oil and colemans fuel. Once you've mixed this all up, carefully and I mean carefully add the oxidizer and kneed and squeeze until it's mixed completely (wear LATEX gloves, no rubber, it disolves ). You'll get very dizzy if you don't wear the correct resperator. The mixture will eventually thicken as the solvent is disolving and finally you'll be left with a flakey red-pink plasticy substance which is your whistle mix. Store this is a paper tube of some sorts (gravy granuals tube for example).

Do not take this procedure lightly, don't think that it's acceptable to make this on your bedroom windowcill or similar. Make it away from your house with nobody smoking and NOBODY apart from you working with the stuff.

If you need to store the stuff, make sure you store it in a suitable place, somewhere away from humans and static. I couldn't even imaging what would happen if a 500g tube of whistle went off in some kids cuboard.

Take Care,
Drew

Edited by Ritual33, 02 May 2007 - 09:55 AM.

[cplmac]

I usually diaper all the dry ingredients together, then add enough acetone to make it the consistancy of modeling clay, then melt the vaseline and add it to the mix and knead the hell out of it for about ten minutes. If you do melt the vaseline make sure you let it cool just a bit before adding it. If your mix sizzles when you add the vaseline, it's still to hot. Next time you'll know better.