10 replies to this topic

[Atom Fireworks]

Hi guy's

A mate of mine wants to make some flares, does anybody know any compositions for them?

Prefferably perchlorate or potassium nitrate based, Also whats the best technique to make them and out of what materials.

Jay

[vaslop2005]

There are plenty of formulas... but what kind of flares are you after? small colourful ones? illumination? aerial illumination? and what oxidisers do you have?

[Atom Fireworks]

long burning time per gram is what hes looking for and also brightness, they will only be for abit of fun. Red Green Blue and white colours. He currently has ali flake, potassium perch, strontium nitrate and carb, copper sulphate barium nitrate and carb sulfur and zinc.

I have easy access to a chems supplier so gettin extra chems wouldnt be too much of a problem however something he could nock up and test within a few days would be nice ( hes had the chems for over a month and cannot get anything to work properly when its pressed into a 1/4 tube. Hes made a green but will only burn in a pile on the ground and not when pressed into a tube.

Jay

[vaslop2005]

A good place to start is looking at is Bengal illuminations, you will need some red gum (or even better, shellac) and some parlon (for the blues) and you will need to make/buy some copper oxide or carbonate but blue will be hard to make look good unless you get hold of ammonium perchlorate...

but for a few ideas,
red

30 KClO4
30 Sr(NO3)2
10 PVC
20 shellac
10 Magnalium or magnesium (250#)

green

20 KClO4
40 Ba(NO3)2
14 PVC
16 shellac
10 magnalium or magnesium

white

50 KClO4
20 Al (flake)
10 shellac
20 wood meal (fine sawdust

these are just starting points, but are good colours. if they are too fast, just add sawdust to them.

[crystal palace fireworks]

Dumper Truck,

I would think twice before having some fun using a RED FLARE, technically it is classed as a international SOS distress signal, so you might attract some unwanted attention from the coastguard or other emergency services.

Not only that, the MCA (coastguard) will look upon you with distain, if they are called out to a false alarm.

[BrightStar]

Not only that, the MCA (coastguard) will look upon you with distain, if they are called out to a false alarm.

I did recently call in a sequence of red flares off the South coast of Cornwall. You can't really ignore them in the area. While on the phone to the coast guard, a merchant vessel called in the same sighting so there was some discussion to triangulate co-ordinates and estimate range. Less than 12 minutes later we had a Sea King overhead and presumably a life boat on its way.

[Atom Fireworks]

I appreciate your concearns guys thank you for your imput. I dont live anywhere near the sea infact over a hundred miles away from the nearest shore so no problems with coastguards.

They wouldnt be used in a manner to attract attention only let off in the garden.

Jay

[seymour]

Essentially, you'll need a chlorine donor for blue, green and red.

For the green and red I suggest using a high-metal type composition for brightness. this will increase burn speed. To compensate, you can of course lengthen the burn time by putting the composition in longer, smaller ID tubes.

A green I like very much for stars is...

60% Barium nitrate
18% Parlon
15% MgAl
4% Sulfur
3% Rosin

While rosin is a nice fuel, I do not expect any significant change to the colour if you swapped it with red gum, dextrin, shellac, or almost anything.

For red you can of course swap the barium nitrate with Strontium nitrate.

For white, it might be easiest to go right back to the basics.

75% Potassium nitrate
15% Sulfur
5% Charcoal
5% MgAl/Flake Al

[crystal palace fireworks]

I did recently call in a sequence of red flares off the South coast of Cornwall. You can't really ignore them in the area. While on the phone to the coast guard, a merchant vessel called in the same sighting so there was some discussion to triangulate co-ordinates and estimate range. Less than 12 minutes later we had a Sea King overhead and presumably a life boat on its way.

Were you part of a firework display event?

[BrightStar]

Were you part of a firework display event?

No, just spending the evening at my parents house out in the garden chopping up wood for mortar racks.

They have a good view of the coast and red para flares launched at 1 minute intervals seemed a fairly clear distress signal to me. Looking at the lights in the distance and checking the OS map, my guess was somewhere between Looe and Polperro. The coastguard thought they were a bit further West, possibly in the Fal Estury.

As I say, they didn't hang about though... It's certainly made me think twice of firing anything red and long-hanging in the area!

[crystal palace fireworks]

No, just spending the evening at my parents house out in the garden chopping up wood for mortar racks.

They have a good view of the coast and red para flares launched at 1 minute intervals seemed a fairly clear distress signal to me. Looking at the lights in the distance and checking the OS map, my guess was somewhere between Looe and Polperro. The coastguard thought they were a bit further West, possibly in the Fal Estury.

As I say, they didn't hang about though... It's certainly made me think twice of firing anything red and long-hanging in the area!

That was decent of you to phone-in your co-ordinates. Apparently the coastguard has to respond to every red flare signal (some maritime law), which reminded me of the news story a few weeks back on how the National Union of Farmers and the MCA are up in arms about chinese lanterns.