152 replies to this topic

[BigG]

I was doing this for many years, and you are right, in the UK you just don’t seem to sell any, which is strange because in Germany and Swaziland they seem to be in any hobby shop. Mind you, I never had luck in filling more the half a meter at a time, any longer then that, and the powder seem to get stack in the cotton wire, and start pushing out of the walls…

[tajmiester]

I have considered trying to greatly simplify the method of making visco to allow the average joe to make it more or less by hand. I had the idea when I noticed the similarity between braiding hair and making visco ( ). Here's a possible diagram of the setup. Crappy diagram...The dry (or possibly damp) blackmatch would be passed in the top kept taught by holding it at the top and bottom. Now turn on the motor and start the cotton wraping around the BM. Adjust the speed and then slowly pull throught the BM so that there are no gaps and you get a consistant covering of thread. Once covered brush the fuse with NC laquer and leave to dry.

Tris

The problem I forsee is getting it to spin fast enough and making sure that the thread that is being spun stays taught.

[alany]

Using at least two thread spools makes it a little easier, as they can pull from each side evenly keeping the blackmatch centered.

[The_Djinn]

Reading Tajmiesters post about the similarity with braiding hair made me think of a product that winds cotton thread around hair, loads of kids seem to have them. Found one on THIS web site, Might be worth a try.

Mark

Edited by The_Djinn, 12 January 2004 - 11:29 AM.

[tajmiester]

Mark, I saw that in the argos catalogue, but it seems from the photo that it does not produce a solid braid, there are many gaps although perhaps if the blackmatch was pulled slow enough you could achieve a consitant solid covering of thread. So I have just bought one to give it a "whirl".

Alany, Ideally I would use more than one but the problem is I cannot see how you can keep the threads seperate, perhaps some sort of comb or similar but I cannot really visualise it. Surely the threads would pile on top of each other and get in a god awful mess!

Tris

Edited by tajmiester, 12 January 2004 - 12:44 PM.

[The_Djinn]

Tris, other option is to run the black match through twice, once from each side and as you say if you do it slowly you would probably get a better cover. By the way, Argos is expensive coimpaired to the other link I set up but they are normally close to everyone. Maybe one of the forum members has a daughter / wife / girlfriend with one of these and could give it a whirl and let us know otherwise I may just buy one to give a try.

Mark

[tajmiester]

Too late, I just bought one of the link you gave us. Besides someone's goto try it and I very much doubt anyone is going to lend you one if they are aware of your reasoning and purpose...

Tris

Edited by tajmiester, 12 January 2004 - 01:26 PM.

[The_Djinn]

Have to let us know how it goes, can always buy the braider as well that way you can braid the black match before wrapping it to get visco and a hair dryer to dry it all off and possibly curling tongs to coil the finished product.

Jokes aside, at the end of the day there are probably various items that are normaly non pyro related that can be used by the hobbiest for various things.

Mark.

[Pazza]

Now THAT's a good idea!

Keep us posted Tris, my sister has one of those that i could use. (Although getting it out of her bedroom poses a problem)

[tajmiester]

FUSE 1

I have just tried my first experiment. Here is what I did:

• 1) I took a few inches of blackmatch and split it down the middle (I have 2 stranded BM) to yield one strand.
• 2) I took some of the cotton yarn that I made the BM with and split it up so that I ended up with several thin threads.
• 3) I wrapped the BM tightly in the thread leaving no gaps.
• 4) Wrap around another layer.
• 5) Lit the fuse and observered it.

This first prototype burned with a consistant rate and no side spit! The flame stayed mostly contained (you could see it through the thread) and only emerged when it reached the far end and acted like traditional visco jetting off under it's own propulsion. I suspect the reason the outer thread doesnt burn as it goes is there is not enough BP in the core as my BM uses quite thick yarn unlike the thin threads used within common visco. When I get some more acetone I will try treating this fuse with NC laquer, but so far so good. I'll keep you posted

FUSE 2

This time I did a 'quicker to make' version by splitting the cotton string into two quite thick bits of string instead of individual strands. I wrapped the BM with a single layer of this string and then lit it. This time it burn just like visco at about 3s an inch, burning the entire fuse as it goes (leaving virtually no residue) and shooting around like those little go getter inserts.

Tris

Edited by tajmiester, 12 January 2004 - 06:54 PM.

[adamw]

Good work! I do like madcap inventions indeed! Now try laquering it. Please still be careful when using this fuse though. If you make a large batch always test parts of it to ensure consitency.

Is it possible to see any pictures?

[tajmiester]

As I have said I have run out of NC laquer and so I have just coated some in nail varnish!!! I'll gets some pics if I can get me webcam working.

Tris

[Stuart]

Sounds good. Sounds very good indeed. What are the things that wrap around it like? Are they expensive or could normal string be used? I aint an expert on female products

Stuart

[tajmiester]

Just cotton string, try unraveling the stuff you use for blackmatch.

Tris

[pyrotechnist]

Sounds nice how many strands does it take in the string rapping thing I seen on TV advertise.