Some folks I know use lead balls in thier tumblers and they mention that the oxidizers comes out looking a bit grey. I worry about the lead contamination in the smoke being breathed in????

First, for you and for everyone else reading your post… I have a very strong bias against ceramics for *mixed* pyro compositions.

I am aware that there are probably “safe” ceramics and unsafe ones. I have alumina media from Coors, and their piezo electric activity in the 5 gallon mill bucket in my cement mixer looked like a blue firestorm! I have absolutely no doubt that those media would cause a batch of black powder to explode so fast it would make your head spin.

I am aware that some ceramics do not produce piezo-electric sparks. But how do one really know, until one uses them? “They all LOOK the same–white, heavy things…hmmm, did they send me right ones?” I personally ain’t willing to be the guinea pig.

Ceramics are fantastic for any *individual* chemical I have ever milled, from caked oxidizers to even titanium turnings. Great results.

But if you are milling black powder or any other mixed comp, I would only recommend non-sparking lead or brass (there are other alternatives, but these are the easiest to get hold of).

(I am sure this will provoke naysayers — I’ve been in this argument before. The argument goes like this: “well I have been using ceramics for 5 years and never had an explosion.”

Which is kinda like “I have been driving for five years without wearing a seatbelt, and haven’t been killed, yet.” )

All of these milling media are heavy. Their weight will make quick work of most rock tumbler motors (the cost of ball mills appears to be proportionate to their size and horsepowder–duh!)

I dunno about them triangles. I am a simple country boy. We only had round balls when I was a pup. And bothering to mix media begins to sound complicated to my lazy, simple nature. I am lazy, and I am impatient. I just wanna do the least work to get the job done right.

Here’s my formula for successful ball milling of excellent black powder.
- Open ye mill jarre
- Fill half of the jar with lead balls (.50 caliber are nice)
- Fill 1/4 with rough mixed BP chemicals–leave 1/4 empty
- Cap it, and turn the mill on.
- Go do whatever I damn well please for 2-4 hours, or 8 or 10 (but 2-4 will do it).
- Come back and retrieve finished black powder

Works perfectly every time. I dunno about them triangle thingys–I might worry about them starting to lose their shape or something. I got enough worries. Hell, it took me 5 years to get over my phobias of the millenium bug!

The kindness of your words is exceeded only by your taste in writing! Thanks.
Go outside and LIGHT something!

What I eventually want to do is not just get one for fuels & one for oxidizers, but one for Chlorates, one for Perchlorates, one for Nitrates, one for metallic fuels, and one for organics. The chances for cross contamination are just too great. All it takes is a few stray molecules getting with some other substance they don’t get along with, and you could at least burn the place down (perhaps spectacularly), or maybe wind up eating with your feet… by Braille.

On to ball milling, I have a couple of questions about that. Right now, all I’ve got is one of those little Chinese rock tumblers with the rubber drums. Ceramic media seemed to rough up the interior of the jars a bit, but I was making a small batch of meal and didn’t have a good way at hand to see what kind of contamination I was incurring. This was 1/2″, spherical, porcelain stuff from CoorsTek mixed 50/50 by count with 5/8″ round brass, the idea being that the heavier brass stuff would exert more force on the working sufaces of the ceramic media. It worked according to theory, the unintended consequence being the above-mentioned erosion of the drum, plus the fact that the much harder ceramic permanently scarred the Hell out of the brass; no more nice & shiny. So are there any sources on mixed grinding media for ball mills, such as compatibility, contamination or simple size charts? Something like that would be mighty handy.

My other question has to do with the use of vibratory media in ball mills. I was at Harbor Freight & saw some triangular, ceramic media about 3/4″ corner to corner, about 1/4″ thick. There were smaller and larger sizes, but all had the same basic proportions. Would using these buy me any particular advantage in performance or economy? (Not in this little machine, of course.)

Thanks, TF.