15 replies to this topic

[Creepin_pyro]

A little help please

I've coated some vermiculite with meal to use in shells. I guessed all the ratios. I'm a little worried about it - a pile of it almost refuses to take fire from flame in the open, and when it does, it does not flash through completely. I made a pouch of the stuff with 4 turns of craft, and it seems to burst OK, with a nice little crack (could upload a vid...)

Should the coated vermiculite take fire easily on the open, or does it need to be confined to work properly?

I would also like to know wether adding whistle to the break for 2"-3" shells is a good idea.

Thanks for any help.

[alany]

Never tried Vermiculite but hulls flash though like wild fire. A cup full goes *whomp* when you drop a glowing splint into it. Are you sure it is completely dry? How thick is the coating?

Post a link to the video, might give us a better idea, how big was is physically?

[Phoenix]

I've used vermiculite in the past, and that also went whoomp when ignited in a pile. It was coated at 1:4 vermiculite to BP, by weight.

I have started to use puffed rice cereal instead, as it is less compressable than vermiculite, which doesn't contribute a lot to the integrity of the shell. For small shells, I also just fill them with stars completely, then shake pulverone in between the spaces.

Tom Perigrin suggests adding whistle to the shells he describes in IPP. I've got excellent breaks just using BP or BP on a filler, though I've never had the opportunity to add whistle anyway.

[Creepin_pyro]

I think I must've done something weird with the weighing. I tried some at 1:4 by weight, and the vermiculite was still barely coated. Surely I didn't weigh the Vermiculite wet . Anyway, I did another coating and they are fine now. How were you guys wetting the granules - did you soak them and spin out the excess, or spray them lightly? Any alcohol?

I did another little pouch to compare to my first one. It was about a heaped teaspoon of granules - 3 turns of kraft.

aah... much better

How does this look?

[sasman]

I dont know much about this vermiculite break charge but that looks Good to me...But is it strong enough to create a Big break for a small shell?..Cant wait to see your video of the shell in action.... Tom Perigrin Added whistle mix to his Bp coated rice hulls for his 2.5" plastic shells..In his book IPP

[sasman]

Has any other member had success with vermiculite? ..I have made only a few Plastic Ball shells and all used puffed rice crispies as the burst charge..

I am hoping to make a few 6" and 8" Ball shells in the next few months, and it takes lots of burst charge!!.So i am looking to cut down the cost of the inert filler?..Vermiculite is cheaper than rice crispies but does it perform well?.Is the Vermiculite totaly inert? so there are no reactions with the BP coating..

Are there any other good "CHEAP & SAFE" fillers out there easily available to UK members..

Also after filling the Plastic hemis i found i had to Bang on the Hemis to get them to close together..The rice crispies when coated with the BP were very hard.. with no "give " in them... Some time i had to bang the Hemis pretty hard.. which i was always worried about..I would prefer a nice soft filler like rice hulls? .But i cant find any supplier ..

If my Finshed shell had only BP as the burst charge i would feel safe banging the halves together but beacause the shells contain either a Flash or Whistle Booster is this a safe construction method?

[LadyKate]

  Are there any other good "CHEAP & SAFE" fillers out there easily available to UK members..

You could try grass seeds if you can find a source for them. I don't know your particular circumstances but getting a free kilo or two of grass seed is not too hard if you know someone in the biz.

If my Finshed shell had only BP as the burst charge i would feel safe banging the halves together but beacause the shells contain either a Flash or Whistle Booster is this a safe construction method?

No. I cringe just thinking about it.

[Pretty green flames]

@Sasman

If you're looking for something cheap, i found that straw chopped down works just as good as rice hulls.
Grass seads also work well as mentioned above but take care not to wet the seeds too much or you'll have grass growing on your burst charge

[Phoenix]

I've only used vermiculite briefly (more into cylinder shells with grain BP burst charges now) and found it was more spongy than rice crispies. It will squash more as you push the hemis together, but is not very elastic, as I guess rice hulls would be. Plenty of people use it with good success though.

[JamesH]

I use corn cob as a burst carrier in my shells. I find this material ideal with regards to particle shape/size and its non-compressibility.

[LadyKate]

I use corn cob as a burst carrier in my shells. I find this material ideal with regards to particle shape/size and its non-compressibility.

Where do you get it?

[JamesH]

I get it from here:-
http://www.redmap.co...log/Litter.html

[sasman]

When i coated my puffed rice crispies with BP , the BP was straight from the ball mill?..Is this the correct way of coating ?..

Or should i have pressed and corned the BP first then used the gritty meal D that was left to coat the puffed rice?.I found that when coating the puffed rice instead of a nice light fluffy mass ,what was left was heavy pebbles? ..
Maybe because i used ball milled powder which is very fine maybe it compacts on to the rice and forms a hard dense coating?.. maybe using coarse grained powder may avoid this hard compact coating..

Also pressed and corned BP is denser? therefore i dont need to apply as much ..which = thinner coating?

any ideas?

Ps..

JamesH Thanks for that link for the corn cob.. i will order some shortly..

[LadyKate]

I get it from here:-
http://www.redmap.co...log/Litter.html

Ahhh! Pet supplies. Thanks! I'll scrounge around some of our local stores.

[karlfoxman]

I have 500g of corn cob coated with bp drying in the sun. (at last) I will be putting this in my second 5 inch shell, Willow w/ blue pistil. I will let you know how it gets on, to be honest it looks like it will be perfect for the job as it will not compact. I will post the results soon. I also have JamesH thank for recomending it, Cheers

Edited by karlfoxman, 12 September 2005 - 03:42 PM.