633 replies to this topic

[Mnemotron]

I'm sure this has been brought up but I feel like asking again since I can't find the answer.

How good is this blue? It feels like this would be very hygroscopic with the sulfate in there.
Is chlorate even compatible with SO4 componds?

The reason I'm asking is that I have a bunch of CuSO4 just lying around.

After 2-3 weeks my stars made with that comps auto-ignite!!!.Very dangerous mix!!!.The blu is good

[Potassium chlorate]

Mmmmm. Rolled up some Veline Magenta the other day, the strange thing is, I can hear the lead core rattling around I understand how this could happen but will the star be weaker? Anyone else had this happen?

Yes. It happened with my Hardt Green#6 after storing it for some months. They worked pretty well, though.

[MDH]

After 2-3 weeks my stars made with that comps auto-ignite!!!.Very dangerous mix!!!.The blu is good

That's why you stabilize it. Did you know about adding 5% barium carbonate?

[seymour]

Hello,
Can I replace Parlon with Chlorowax?

Yes and No.

You can, and often you should get a good colour.

However it WILL change the formula, sometimes negligibly, but at other times noticeably.

It may mean that you need to optimise the new formula by tweaking things.

[Potassium chlorate]

I just made a batch of Hardt Green #6 again, where I excluded the potassium perchlorate and raised the barium chlorate and parlon ratios to compensate more than enough for the loss of chlorine. They are parlon bound and haven't dried yet, but the moist stars actually seem inferior to the ones with potassium perchlorate, which I excluded to get rid of the potassium chloride in the flame.

[Mnemotron]

That's why you stabilize it. Did you know about adding 5% barium carbonate?

Thank you for your suggestion,next time i'll try adding somo Baco3.Do you think that with it the stars won't ignite again?

[MDH]

There is no garuntee. You can't garuntee anything. What BaCO3 does is act as a buffer - when sulfuric acid forms, it produces barium sulfate. Otherwise, when sulfuric acid is formed, it undergoes an extremely fast double decomposition reaction forming potassium sulfate and chloric acid, which will ignite most of your compositions. The reasons CuSO4 is bad is because it forms hydrates which accelerate the formation of that sulfuric acid trace.

[Mnemotron]

There is no garuntee. You can't garuntee anything. What BaCO3 does is act as a buffer - when sulfuric acid forms, it produces barium sulfate. Otherwise, when sulfuric acid is formed, it undergoes an extremely fast double decomposition reaction forming potassium sulfate and chloric acid, which will ignite most of your compositions. The reasons CuSO4 is bad is because it forms hydrates which accelerate the formation of that sulfuric acid trace.

Ok thank you,i'll try to avoid Cuso4 with kclo3.Can I use Cucl2 and Bacl2 for blue and green stars with kclo3?.Can you write me some comps with these chemicals if possible?.Thank you!!!

Edited by Mnemotron, 21 September 2010 - 07:51 PM.

[Potassium chlorate]

For green the best you can ever use is barium chlorate. Barium chlorate/shellac, 88-90:10-12 makes an excellent organic green. This can be improved in compositions like Hardt Green #6, where you add parlon and MgAl, but barium chlorate/shellac is simply marvellous on its own.

[phildunford]

Agree with this.

Barium Chlorate greens are very saturated and very simple to make, but they are a very sensitive mix. Historically they were used extensively - don't think they are used much now due to ease of accidental combustion...

High temp greens are also very good, with magnalium & Barium Nitrate, but they don't have quite the same shade of green as the chlorate greens.

Low temp Barium Nitrate greens are pretty weak.

There was some work on low toxicity greens usling Barium Sulphate. Never seen one but heard they are not very good. Will have to try some time!

Edited by phildunford, 21 September 2010 - 09:19 PM.

[MDH]

They're about as good as copper borate greens, or zinc.

Mnemotron - Copper Dichloride does work excellently with potassium chlorate and a wide variety of fuels. One I remember being quite impressed by was a polish fellow who had a mixture of KClO3, Copper Dichloride and Stearine (though I'm sure many other fuels will work as long as they don't burn too hotly).

I should also mention - keep CuCl2 far away from any metals.

Edited by MDH, 22 September 2010 - 02:19 AM.

[Mnemotron]

For green the best you can ever use is barium chlorate. Barium chlorate/shellac, 88-90:10-12 makes an excellent organic green. This can be improved in compositions like Hardt Green #6, where you add parlon and MgAl, but barium chlorate/shellac is simply marvellous on its own.

Yes,i know about barium chlorate.But with Bacl2 or Cucl2 can I obtain any nice colour?.I tried radiant green formula with baco3 kclo3 mgal and pvc but the comps burns white instead of green

Edited by Mnemotron, 22 September 2010 - 06:55 AM.

[Mnemotron]

They're about as good as copper borate greens, or zinc.

Mnemotron - Copper Dichloride does work excellently with potassium chlorate and a wide variety of fuels. One I remember being quite impressed by was a polish fellow who had a mixture of KClO3, Copper Dichloride and Stearine (though I'm sure many other fuels will work as long as they don't burn too hotly).

I should also mention - keep CuCl2 far away from any metals.

Ok thank you!.Can I also obtain a nice gree using bacl2?.Can you also post me a couple of compatible formulas with cucl2 and bacl2?.Thank you in advance!!!
This is my last red star test: do you think it's acceptable?

[MDH]

I would say try these:

KClO3, 55
CuCl2, 23
PVC, 10
Shellac, 7
Dextrin, 5

KClO3, 57
BaCl2, 20
Shellac, 8
PVC, 10
Dextrin, 5

Only try them in small amounts at first if you scale is capable of measuring in 1/10 or 1/100 of a gram. Raise or lower the fuel value until you recieve a preferable burn rate or light output. Raise the KClO3 for a higher light output. Once you've found the right composition, make a larger amount.

It would help if you told me what chemicals you have so I'm not troubleshooting my way through this...

Edited by MDH, 24 September 2010 - 08:11 PM.

[Mnemotron]

I would say try these:

KClO3, 55
CuCl2, 23
PVC, 10
Shellac, 7
Dextrin, 5

KClO3, 57
BaCl2, 20
Shellac, 8
PVC, 10
Dextrin, 5

Only try them in small amounts at first if you scale is capable of measuring in 1/10 or 1/100 of a gram. Raise or lower the fuel value until you recieve a preferable burn rate or light output. Raise the KClO3 for a higher light output. Once you've found the right composition, make a larger amount.

It would help if you told me what chemicals you have so I'm not troubleshooting my way through this...

Hi,
thank you fot the formulas.For now i have those chemicals:
kclo3-kclo4
sulfur
pvc
dextrin
shellac
cuso4
baco3
srco3
magnalium 63 micron
kmno4
nano3
kno3
charcoal
sodium bicarbonate
hno3

Now I also have:
magnesium 63micron
parlon
cucl2
bacl2
silicon
hexamine

Edited by Mnemotron, 24 December 2010 - 01:35 AM.