21 replies to this topic

[pyromad]

i am currently making solid rocket fuel
and have a sodium chlorate and sugar
mixture (as personally i feel this has a
very good power to weight ratio) and i
need to know how to bond the stuff
together so it goes hard, and i dont want
to loose any of it power. please help
what should i use??????????????

[nickpatts]

you could try using dextrin say add 5% mix well and lighty wet,then compress into your tubes,you can get dexrin from the link below and at most home bew supplies.

http://www.the-home-...uk/itm01233.htm

[Pyromaster2003]

could home-made dextrin be used aswel?

[robert johnson]

You could also use some home made red gum.

[Rhodri]

Hi Rob

I'm intersteed in red gum for colour compositions. Is it difficult to make at home?

What are the starting ingredients?

Thanks

Rhod

[robert johnson]

A tree and a warmer climate. ha ha !

Oh and a sense of humour!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers Rob

[pyromad]

is there any way of making
home made dextrin or red gum?
and if so how???

[Richard H]

Hi,

Dextrin is easy to make, you just need to perform a basic hydrolysis of starch. To do this place a good amount of corn flour on a baking tray, and flatten it into a 1cm thick layer.

Place it in your oven at near full temperature for at least 3.5 hours.

The result is a slightly yellow powder that forms a very good adhesive with water.

Red gum manufacture at home would be rather difficult (Unless you have some gum trees, a sap tapping kit, and a lot of time)

Red gum can be bought on this forum from rob johnsohn if you ask him nicely, or from food ingrediant suppliers.

[bernie]

i have made some traditional bp rockets
and never found it necessary to use a binder. The pressure applied either by way of a press or ramming w/ a mallet was adequate. I always riced the composition for ease in handling. This may not be a suitable process for your chlorate mix however due to the ricing procedure itself. I would think that as little as 3 or 4 % water would be adequate if your using dextrin. All your trying to do is keep your composition in a consolidated state after pressing. Failure to achieve this will result in fissures or cracks and cause explosions. Red gum is a bit more expensive though a favorite among the pyros I associate with when they are making whistle rockets. Red gum is dissolved with alcohol but if my memory serves me they did not use a solvent. The
application was of rather small diameter devices of approx. 1/2"-3/4". Yet another binder of sorts that I have personally used with good results was petrolleum jelly dissolved in the appropriate solvent.
2 or 3 percent of jelly to the total weight of your propellant. The solvent(which was camp fuel for a coleman stove) evaporates
and leaves a well dispersed jelly. This was for a whistle comp. that included a food preservative (the fuel)that tended to pull moisture into the comp. and render it
less effective. The petroleum jelly made it more or less moisture proof. It had a better shelf life here in Florida were it is normally very humid.

[bernie]

Before I get dragged over the coals I would like to amend my binder suggestion
by pointing out this very important point.
It was used with perchlorate. In a whistle mix. Glad I live over here on the other side of the pond. Please forgive my negligence. I will make every effort to be more thoughtful in the future. Please do not ban me. I really like this place.

[pyromad]

Thanks guys for your help i really appresiate it..
I wonder if you could help me with another request. I have just used up my last batch of black powder and would like some more. I fire very large firework displays (with my brothers, wifes, sisters, boyfriend - who owns a black cat firework shop) and in nearly every cat4 show ive done there have been duds. this was my sorce of black powder.
Anyway i have been running low for a while now and yesterday ran out.
Now this is where you can help me, is there somewhere 'safe & secure' i can buy black powder or the ingrediends (potassium nitrate, sulphur etc) either on the internet or from a shop here in the uk. And/or is there a suitable substitute i can home make or buy.
thanks again
pyromad!!!!:cool:

[pyromad]

richard h, when making this dextrin should the cornflour bubble and go browny black or does this mean the temp is too high. if so i have a electric oven so could you give me a temp in degree C, thanks.

[Richard H]

Originally posted by pyromad
richard h, when making this dextrin should the cornflour bubble and go browny black or does this mean the temp is too high. if so i have a electric oven so could you give me a temp in degree C, thanks.

It should'nt be doing that :-) Sounds like your cremating that corn flour! Try around 200 degrees, all you want at the end is a golden yellow coloured powder. Remember to stir the powder occasionally too - this ensures it all gets hydrolysed.

[bernie]

At the risk of seeming to enthusiastic(I know it's to late) my father owned and operated a bakery here in town for many years. He remarked that not all corn starch is created equal. Logically, certain brands are derived from different variaties of corn and some have inherently
more adhesive prperties than others. I may have this wrong......the term was gluten.
I make life easy on myself and just buy the stuff from a pyro supplier and have it mailed to me.
Depending on the star comp. wheat paste can be a great binder. Fluffy, high content charcoal stars such as willow etc......


[Edited on 20-4-2003 by bernie briden]

[Rhodri]

Cheers Rob!

I think I'll start off at making some amber.....whoops! now you know that I'm a novice!

:-)