633 replies to this topic

[karlfoxman]

Right guys....pillbox stars!

Who has had experience in making them, they seem a lovely type of star and i want to start making them for shells. I have never seen a pill box star shell in action before. Also what defines the star composition? Does it need to be fast burning or slow burning? I have 6 of them ready for a 4 inch shell just to see what happens, they are a calcium carbonate orange formula.

Cheers

I would think someone must know about them, or had experience with making and firing them?

[Richard H]

See Passfire for an article on making them. Lancaster describes the construction as a few turns of paper, blackmatch, and a relatively slow burning composition.

[karlfoxman]

See Passfire for an article on making them. Lancaster describes the construction as a few turns of paper, blackmatch, and a relatively slow burning composition.

Cheers Richard,

I have made them before, never used in a shell though. I hear some people say use a fast composition and others say use a slow composition. Oh well lets see what happens in two weeks when i fire a few including a ring of pill box stars!

[chemicalwazi]

Dont know if anyone else has tried this, but if you take Red Blesser and substitute Lithium Carb for Strontium Carb you end up with a nice pink

[Creepin_pyro]

Dont know if anyone else has tried this, but if you take Red Blesser and substitute Lithium Carb for Strontium Carb you end up with a nice pink

Interesting - I've always wondered about Lithium carbonate reds/pinks. Sounds like a much better way of producing pink than tweaking a red Strontium Carbonate formula.

UnitedNuclear says that Lithium Carbonate can be used with Cobalt oxide to produce " interesting color effects" but whenever I've asked about Cobalt salts being used for colourants in the past, I've received a resounding "No - you idiot" kind of response.

Any thoughts?

[BigG]

Cheers Richard,

I have made them before, never used in a shell though. I hear some people say use a fast composition and others say use a slow composition. Oh well lets see what happens in two weeks when i fire a few including a ring of pill box stars!

Karlfoxman. The stars burn bright and are long burning. You are looking at an effect that lasts about 5-7 seconds. You should have fewer of them in a shell then regular stars, so you want very bright formula - magnesium / magnlium is very popular. You should use also more lift and longer delay - those should burst at higher alt.

[paul]

Lithiumcarbonate is quite expensive and Lithiumnitrate made from it is quite hygroscopic. So I think finetune is te way to go

[karlfoxman]

Dont know if anyone else has tried this, but if you take Red Blesser and substitute Lithium Carb for Strontium Carb you end up with a nice pink

And it is a very nice pink too!! Thanks for that Big i knew you would know somthing about them. They dont seem to be made/used much. I guess this is due to the production costs.

[sizzle]

On the PFP database is listed Veline Blue Metallic Fueled Stars:

Potassium perchlorate 53
Red gum 9
Magnalium, -200 mesh 6
Black copper oxide 14
Parlon 14
Dextrin 4

I have now got 50g of Magnalium and 50g of Black Copper Oxide (thanks to a forum member here ) but I don't have Parlon, I have been told PVC can be used instead, but how much should I use, the same amount or more/less?

[fishy1]

On the PFP database is listed Veline Blue Metallic Fueled Stars:

Potassium perchlorate 53
Red gum 9
Magnalium, -200 mesh 6
Black copper oxide 14
Parlon 14
Dextrin 4

I have now got 50g of Magnalium and 50g of Black Copper Oxide (thanks to a forum member here ) but I don't have Parlon, I have been told PVC can be used instead, but how much should I use, the same amount or more/less?

depends what you mean by PVC. PVC pipe won't work.

[sizzle]

As in Polyvinyl Chloride, the white powder, very fine, similar consistancy to dried flour.

[fishy1]

As in Polyvinyl Chloride, the white powder, very fine, similar consistancy to dried flour.

ah yeah, that's the good stuff. so where did you pick up the pvc powder btw?

[sizzle]

I would rather not disclose my source, I don't know wether they would be happy with that or not.

[Yugen-biki]

It is possible to replace the parlon with PVC. The color of the star may be effected differently depending on which star is modified.
I have found parlon to burn faster and give a larger flame with KClO3 then PVC. --> The stars might be harder to light with PVC, but I don't think it will be a problem.
It is allways good to make a small test batch.

[fishy1]

I would rather not disclose my source, I don't know wether they would be happy with that or not.

fine, it should work, try it and see.