40 replies to this topic

[seymour]

You would do well in mind, body and wallet to learn a lot by reading both www places and real hard copy books.

Exactly, with good information you will save money. For example you seemed keen to buy Magnesium ribbon, but with the knowledge that it is of no practical use in fireworks, you have saved money by not buying it, and considering the absurd prices many people sell it at, you might have saved a lot of money.

If you doubt that passfire is worth splashing out on, do the free trial. Remember, what you get there is a small fraction of what lies inside for paying members!!

We all know how you feel, having been in your position before. You have just started learning about firework manufacture, and the volume of information is overwhelmingly immense. Every time you find the answer to a question, many more questions pop up. After a while you will get to a point where you realise that you already know the answers to these questions, and you realise that you know more information than in a three volume encyclopedia!!

Here is a website that I particularly valued when I was getting started. Note that it has a links page. Most of the links go to websites with even more links. You will be reading for many hours to come!!
http://www.wfvisser....nl/indexEN.html

Just remember that the internet contains misinformation as well as information. Do not believe anything until it has been verified by several sources, particularly ones that are reputable enough to have been published (books) or at the least ones that use capital letters, correct spelling and punctuation!

Edited by seymour, 04 February 2009 - 01:32 AM.

[king lerock]

in the near future i am going to recive money and plan to buy some tools, a ball mill and star pumps and i was wondering first has anyone got good site from where to buy them in the uk(dose not really matter as i have already found site but it is allways wise to look for cheaper prices) so what milling media should i get for Pb, metals, and other common chemicals and what size of star pump should i buy and is their any diffrent types?.

[seymour]

You have had fortunate to have many of your questions answered on the spot, but also there have been abundant replies requesting you to search to find all this information yourself. It is just not possible to keep this place running smoothly if every new member posts every question they have.

There are hundreds of posts containing the answers to your questions again and again. I know reading the ball mill thread is a large task, but it will answer your questions. There are threads on star plates too, along with all the other methods used to make stars. Star plates are not used as frequently to make stars as other methods like rolling and cutting. But yes, a star plate might be a good idea to start. There are many different sized star plates because there are many different effects that call for very different sized stars. As for getting a star plate, we cannot tell you what to get, because it's a matter of your taste and what you alone desire. Remember that some stars burn much faster than others.

If you cannot figure out what people mean by "search", we mean using the search function at the top right hand corner of the page. It's between 'members' and 'help'.

I'm not trying to put you off asking questions, but most of what you have asked is answered on the forum. If you cannot find the answer to a question, and you have genuinely searched extensively, then please do ask us. I'm not telling you off, and nor do I want to put you off being a valued addition to our community.

Kindest regards

Edited by seymour, 03 February 2009 - 10:30 PM.

[digger]

I agree with everything said above.

But Aaaaarrrrrgghhhhhhh the cheapest is not always the best. If you are serious and this is not just a fad then quality counts as the cheap tools with inevitably be superceded by good quality items.

Also if you are just starting out then there are many tools you can make for free or next to nothing to get you started on trying the different techniques so that you can evaluate what suits you before splashing out on the quality kit.

If I had been a little more patient then I would have saved many hundreds of pounds (and I was certainly more patient than you sound, no disrespect meant).

Please please do some reading. I know you want to master the hobby yesterday, but patience is your friend to getting the best results for the lowest cost (I only mention cost as it seems to be a key factor in your decisions).

[portfire]

king lerock, you are very lucky to have a thread this long and with so much advice for a beginner....... Take the advice and research!!!!!! This hobby is fantastic! but your not building model boats!.....Read Read Read and then Read somemore

BTW, seymour great posts (not just this thread) IMO you need to become an 'Advanced Member'...... Rich ????

[spanner]

...what milling media should i get for Pb, metals, and other common chemicals... *And* ...i have yet another question mainly about Pb production and yes i have read the threads and so on but i have also had advive from a very reliable source of my own and so my question is this. my process for creating Pb is this take your ingredients 5g potasium nitrate, 1 g carbon/charcol, and 0.67 g sulpher.

I have seen you reference "Pb" several times in your threads (Pb= lead, you know, the gray, heavy metal). And the references really left me scratching my head.

I think what you are meaning to write is BP, as in black powder. But Pb is good media for BP!

Regards.

Edited by spanner, 04 February 2009 - 12:17 AM.

[seymour]

Portfire, thank you for your kind compliments.

Spanner, I'm very pleased you are keen to add to my list and you have my permission to do so. See the PM I sent you...

Thanks everyone

[spanner]

Spanner, I'm very pleased you are keen to add to my list and you have my permission to do so. See the PM I sent you...

You are welcome, it's really my pleasure to do so.

The list is rather long, something like 76 pages in Word, using Times New Roman in 14 font size (248 KB) so, yeah.

I've sent the list to you via PM. I hope you're able to figure out how to make it available to the forum members.

Regards!

Edited by spanner, 04 February 2009 - 12:22 PM.

[Arthur Brown]

IMO Your first purchase should be Lancaster's book, a real hard copy! Spend a whole year reading it, reading the www and looking for the next book to buy. If you go to a proper firework display look hard and really notice the effects in each device that you see working. ONLY THEN should you consider some basic safety items (gloves overall mask for a start) and some basic chemicals. When you know the effect that you want you can start trying to make a simple device if you have a safe place to work, and fire it.

[king lerock]

i dont actually plan to make rockets and all that im more intrested in small things like crackers small fountains stars ect dose that make a diffrence to what i buy

[Arthur Brown]

Whatever you plan you MUST learn a lot about it first. Yes it's boring, but plain learning is essential to good pyro.

Unless you learn to work safely you are just as "at risk" from small things as big things.