flamingsquirrel

please don't be scared off by my wall o text.. plz

I'm in the USA, BTW

I am homeschooled. There are good points, and bad, but i wont get into that right
now. An incredibly awesome point, is that I have convinced my parents to let me
attempt to make flash powder, as a "school project" they will fund it, as long as I
do everything in an orderly manner, and have some kind of presentable portfolio at
the end.

I decided that some kind of KNO3 mixture would be best, because I can start making
KNO3 and Sugar smoke things, as well as expiriment with fuses etc.
I know there are several different mixtures, but I decided, again, to go with
something that uses KNO3 because I can use it for other things as well. Now most
guides that use KNO3 say to use KNO3 and Sulpher and Aluminium powder. Acording to
this guide, I can use just KNO3 and Al, 60/40 by weight, like .6 grams Al, .4 grams KNO3.
I know the KNO3 is an oxidizer, which is why it is often used in tree stump remover,
as it would speed up decomposition, and Al is the fuel, Sulpher is used to help light
it, correct? So would I be able to do without the Sulpher in my mixture? That guide
is listed as a reliable source in one of the stickys at the TOTSE Backyard Ballistics forum.

So for the school project part, I am video taping all efforts, and will make some
kind of video showing how I made it, the results, etc. I am also documenting
everything in a notebook (casing making methods, the results and how I made/detonated each device, etc)

I was planning on using these supplies:

Scale

KNO3

Al

would these work?

Once the KNO3 arrives, I would start by experimenting with different fuses, KNO3
dissolved in water, soak paper and string in water, let dry, test, see if there is a
difference between paper and string, do the same with KNO3 and sugar disolved in
water, and KNO3 and sugar with a bit of water to make a paste. And with the KNO3 and
sugar mixtures, test wrapping them in foil and "baking" them with a flame until a
puff of smoke comes from one end, to bond the sugar and KNO3 (no idea if that works,
or does anything, saw it in a youtube video) then try different ratios of KNO3 and
Sugar, 1/1, 70/40, etc

Once I'm satisfied with Fuse tests, I will move on to smoke things, with the KNO3 and
Sugar in a pan. I'm not totally familiar with this, as I haven't researched that very
much at this point. I think you add somewhere around a 1/1 ratio of sugar and KNO3
with water, and heat it, untill it becomes , paste, keep stirring until I get waxy
liquid like stuff, which would be when the sugar caramelizes, then pour into some
container, let it dry, then light, and it burns very hotly, no? Again, experiment
with different ratios and methods, add the weakest and best to my video, once I'm
satisfied with the smoke, move onto Flash powder itself (I may need more KNO3 at this
point, I have no idea how much im going to go through, I hope 1lb will last me a while)

As for the flash itself, I would first try the 60/40, if that's what you guys suggest, unconfined, in a very small amount, and record it of course. Then try changing it slightly, maybe 70/40, or 60/50 etc, see the results, unless that is some terrible mistake that will cost me fingers, which is why I'm asking you guys to help me out Once I got a nice mixture down, I will probably start experimenting with different casings, or little fire crackers.

As for what kind of casings, I actually developed something VERY similar to the method described in the "Hardware Store Flash Powder" tutorial, I took a 3x5 notecard, cut in in half lengthwise, and wrapped it around a thich pen tightly, then took the 2nd half and wrapped it around the first, and taped it shut very tightly, this made some nice sized little casings. To plug up the ends, I wadded up some paper, and shoved it down the tube with the pen, smooshing it flat, then put some Gorilla Glue on the outside end. The Gorilla Glue expanded, and filled up quite nicely, then I put some hot glue on the inside of the tube to cover the paper on the inside. I broke out some old model rocket engines, cut them open, and took the powder (everything, not just the BP, unfortunately) after packing the powder in tightly, I added a layer of aluminum foil on top of it. Then I took part of a sparkler as a fuse, and wrapped the middle in aluminum foil, and left both ends uncovered, I poked one end through the aluminum foil into the powder, then put hot glue on top the of the foil (it didn't hurt the fuse, because it was covered by the foil wrapping I gave it) then put wadded paper on top of the glue before it dried. Once the hot glue dried I added some Gorilla Glue on the outside to seal everything up. The fuse was poking out of the top.

Unfortunatley when I tried this cracker today, it didn't work so well. I suspect the fuse left too big of a hole and the gas just escaped out of that. Here is a .zip with 3 videos in it, test 1 is the test described in this paragraph. The .zip is only 3.3mb. Here is a mirror if you don't like megaupload. You can see the 2nd camera, that was supposed to get a nice view, but malfunctioned and decided not to write to the SD card :/

I took the rest of my powder, and made the same thing, but on a much larger scale, with a film canister. First filling the bottom part with hot glue, then tin foil, then powder, then tin foil, sticking in my fuse, then lots of hot glue keeping the cap on, then glue around the seam of the lid, then covered it in masking tape. Unfortunatley, it took longer for the glue to dry on the top, because it wasn't open to the air, the lid was on top, and I didn't check the see if it was all the way dry, I just came back after 30 min. In the video you can see the lid shoot off and all my powder fly into the air. Here is a .zip with 3 videos in it, test 2 is the test described in this paragraph. The .zip is only 3.3mb. Here is a mirror if you don't like megaupload.
(pre-masking tape of course)

I did get a LITTLE bit of powder back from the 2nd one, it was unburnt in the bottom of the casing, I decided to make a triangle cracker with it. This actually worked the best of all 3, lol. The video test 3 has the triangle. my plan was to light it, throw it, then pick up the camera and record the result, but the fuse was shorter than expected, and it blew up in the air, so you don't get a very good view (I left the camera recording while I lit it) It made a nice pop that you can barely hear in the video, and shot the sparkler fuse into a nearby bush. you can hear my weird laugh, as I was happy something finally worked, instead of fizzling out. Here is a .zip with 3 videos in it, test 3 is the test described in this paragraph. The .zip is only 3.3mb. Here is a mirror if you don't like megaupload.

So if you actually read my wall-o-text, I congratulate you! If not, you can skip the last three paragraphs, and just read the rest, and give me suggestions/tips etc.

Thanks!

PS: Just thought I'd mention I am interested in a safe, stable mixture, I like my hands with all fingers intact thanks. When I tested even those small things in the video, I was wearing safety glasses and hearing protection. This is fun, but losing your hearing, and getting chunks of homemade firecrackers in you eye is not.