Click here: TultepecFireworks

A whole buncha my pyro pals from the Florida Club are down there as I write this. And I am NOT.

I HATE when that happens!

Enjoy the video. And tell me what you think of it.

Harry

Insane Fireworks in Tultepec is a post from: Confessions of a Fireworks Man

Reducing particle sizes is commonly done with thumb and forefinger, screening, blade milling, ball milling, and more exotic and expensive alternatives. Each has its pros and cons.

A blade mill is a cheap chemical grinding mill, available everywhere, and incredibly efficient and fast. They are not suited for grinding large quantities of stuff, but for a pound or less of a single chemical, they are hard to beat. They mill faster, and are quick and easy to clean up. Bigger, ball mills have a place, too. Eventually, you will want to have both.

A spinning blade-type coffee grinder is what I use. They’re cheap, and available at Walmarts everywhere in several models. My advice is to get three. One for oxidizers, one for everything else, and a backup. Look for simplicity. Higher cost is a waste of money. Cheap and simple is best. Avoid tops that are tricky to get on and off, or having locking mechanisms on them.

How to use a blade mill. Use them this way and they will last and last: Put your chemicals into the mill. Put the top on, and holding the mill in your hands, off the table, turn the mill on and off intermittently for a few seconds at a time while you shake the mill at the same time to really circulate the material around inside.

How to burn out your mill. Turn it on and leave it on for a few minutes. It’s simple and foolproof. You can reliably burn it out every time this way. The most common reason blade mills burn up is the way they are used. I have two (out of 3 purchased originally) that have been used regularly for nearly 15 years. Cost me $12 each at Walmart.

The secret is not to leave them running very long. I run mine for very short periods, 15-30 seconds max, shaking the grinder at the same time it is on. Then I shut it off, and repeat the process *IF I HAVE TO*. Which I almost never do. I don’t get much additional reduction in particle size after 30 seconds of milling.

How to grind a lot of chemicals fast: I can blade mill a pound of potassium nitrate rocks into fine fluffy powder in 5 minutes or less. Just use small batches in your mill. Be sure and shake the mill at the same time you’re milling the powder. It speeds up the process and you can actually hear the coarse particles getting smaller. Don’t try and put too much in at a time. Smaller batches mill up faster. Bigger batches bog the mill down and slow the process.

Cleaning blade mills: Dump and tap as much powder out as you can get out that way. Then use a paintbrush to get down into the mill and the top to remove the rest. Remove everything you can see. The tops can usually be run through a dishwasher, but be sure they’re completely dry before reuse. The base unit with the motor cannot be submerged, but you can certainly use a damp cloth on the inside of them.

Lifetime of a blade mill: Mills used for oxidizers will break sooner. The corrosive action of the oxidizer dust will eventually kill the little mill. Not to worry. You have a spare.

Milling fuels and oxidizers together. You can only do this once. If you survive the first attempt, you will certainly never do it again. Depending on the reactivity of the particular chemicals you’re trying to mill together, your injuries may range from bad burns to death. Never attempt to blade-mill oxidizers and fuels together.

Tell Me What You Think: Was this Article Helpful to You or Not?

Just leave a comment below. Thanks.

- Harry

Fireworks Chemical Milling – Fast is a post from: Confessions of a Fireworks Man

Here’s your link for Turbo Pyro:

http://www.turbopyro.com

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I DON’T KNOW WHETHER YOU HEARD THIS YET
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I’ve added *more* stuff to Turbo Pyro. I want to make sure you have fun with your projects, so I added a bonus Smoke Bomb Kit and project–Making Jumbo Smoke Canisters eBook (including videos).

Be sure and get online fast and place your order. Again, there are only 400 Turbo Pyro Supplies Kits available.

Grab yours here:

http://www.turbopyro.com

P. S. You get instant access to the Turbo Pyro eBook and the Smoke-Making eBook right after you order.

P. P. S. Be sure ahead of time your credit card has enough $$ left on it to make the charge. Otherwise you may miss out. (V, MC, Amex, Disc.)

Harry

Turbo Pyro goes LIVE at 12:00 Noon Eastern time today, June 19th is a post from: Confessions of a Fireworks Man

We’re getting very close to releasing Turbo Pyro this week.

Here’s some info on 2 new bonuses I have added to the Turbo Pyro Supplies Kits, as well as some tips on getting your order to go through on product launch day.

Early Bird Bonus #1-limited number: If you are one of the first 75 people who buy the Turbo Pyro Supplies Kit, you’ll get a free copy of the North American Fireworks Trade Directory, a $44 value.

The Trade Directory lists all of the important fireworks related companies on the continent. This included importers, distributors, wholesale/retail, manufacturers, consumer fireworks, special effects, display fireworks, consultants, companies who offer shooter training, attorneys, display shooters, clubs, shooter training, trade associations, fireworks transportation, fireworks insurance, publishers/booksellers, lab services, customs brokers, and suppliers of everything pyrotechnic you can imagine.

This is a book everyone in fireworks should keep on hand forever. If your order arrives without one of the Trade Directories, it is because we ran out before your order was placed. Sorry, we don’t have but 75 of these.

Bonus #2: Colored Smoke Bomb Kit, a $60 value. You get a complete kit containing smoke mix, potassium chlorate oxidizer, tubes, end caps, fuse, and a new smoke bomb project written by Ned Gorski, never published before. This project and kit give you step-by-step instructions for making up to 20 big, fat smoke canisters.

Great for daytime effects. Definitely a step up from the consumer smokes you’ve probably seen. Very easy and fast to make. The chemicals and supplies for this one will be included in your Turbo Pyro Supplies boxes. The project, “Making Jumbo Smoke Canisters,” will be available to you as a free downloadable .pdf document.

More about the Turbo Pyro Supplies Kits. Once you order your Kit, it will be shipped from Skylighter right away. We want you to have them as soon as possible before the 4th of July. The kits are shipped in two boxes. They have to be shipped that way to keep oxidizers separate from flammable items. Since both boxes contain hazardous items, they have to be shipped by US Mail Parcel Post. Occasionally, the post office will not deliver both boxes on the same day. Please be patient. The second box will arrive.

The Turbo Pyro eBook. Once you order your eBook, you will be given instructions on downloading it. It is a big file, over 10 megabytes. You will want to use the fastest Internet connection you can get. It cannot be emailed to you. The book comes in Adobe .pdf format. Sorry, no other formats, and no printed versions are available. Please read Chapter 1 immediately for more information about using the book, and playing the videos.

How to Order Turbo Pyro. If you are on our mailing list, you will receive a notice telling the exact time the link to the Ordering page will open.

When that time comes, as quickly as you can, go there and place your order. You will not see the familiar Skylighter.com shopping cart. Don’t worry. Just follow the instructions onscreen and place your order as quickly as you can. Please do not start an order and not finish it; you may lose your chance at the book and/or the Kit.

We cannot predict how many people will be trying to get through the same process at the same time. You may experience delays. Just keep trying. Have your credit card ready before you start.

Your credit card will not be charged at the time you place your order. We will charge your card on the day we actually ship, which will most likely be this Friday. You will be emailed a shipping notice and tracking number at that time. So be sure you whitelist any Skylighter.com email, to be sure and receive your shipping info. Your card will be charged the exact amount showing on your receipt. It would be a good idea to print that out and keep it.

That’s about it for now.

Harry Gilliam

2 New Bonuses Added to Turbo Pyro is a post from: Confessions of a Fireworks Man

In my experience, there are three basic machines, which become necessary as one gets deeply into fireworking: a ball mill, a star roller, and a hydraulic press. Ball mills were discussed extensively in Fireworks Tips #91, and I showed some options for star rollers in #92. Now it’s time to look more deeply at rocket presses.

Commercial Rocket Presses

In past newsletters I have shown several of my hydraulic presses in action as I’ve made rockets, comets, pressed stars, black powder pucks, or fountains.

Some devices, like simple gerbs or black powder rocket motors, can be made by simply hand-ramming them with a rawhide mallet and a pounding post. Or they can be pressed with a hydraulic press.

Other devices such as whistle rockets or strobe rockets utilize more sensitive fuels, and require hydraulic pressing for their manufacture. Hand-ramming these motors is simply asking for a disaster.

Since I’m about to present projects showing how to make whistles, whistle rockets, and strobe rockets, I thought an introductory essay on hydraulic presses would be in order.

In the previous articles mentioned above I’ve shown my small Hobby Fireworks press. It’s a nice press and was not too expensive. It sits on top of my workbench and is light and portable. I can take it to club events like the PGI convention. Unfortunately, Hobby Fireworks has gone out of business.

Over the years I made some modifications to the press so that it suited my needs better. I replaced the 1/4-inch-thick steel plate on the top of the bottle jack with one that is 3/4-inch thick. The thinner one started bending a bit, and I want that plate to be perfectly flat.

I replaced the original 4-ton bottle-jack with a fast-action 6-ton one. The new jack can exert forces up to 12,000 pounds, which is about all I ever need, even when pressing large 4-inch comets and large rockets. Additionally, the new jack raises very quickly compared to standard-lift models.

The jack is available at Northern Tool, and currently it sells for $28, including a nice, collapsible lug wrench.

When I showed an advance copy of this article to my friend, Dan Creagan, he sent me a photo of a jack he had just found at WalMart, apparently identical to this one except it was painted black and had the Torin Brand name on it. It only cost Dan about $19.

I had the welding shop reinforce the press’s adjustable cross “bridge” so that it would withstand the additional force exerted by the 6-ton jack.

I drilled holes in the back of each horizontal leg-support so that I could bolt the press down to the workbench to secure it during use.

The pressure release knob had a hole drilled through it and a 3/16-inch rod-handle installed for fast and easy operation.

This press has gotten a lot of use over the years, and if I had welding capabilities and I wanted a nice little press, I’d duplicate this model.

There are H-frame shop-presses available at various suppliers. In the past I’ve referred to one such press sold by Greg Smith Equipment. It’s a floor standing unit, and weighs over 150 pounds, but it looks like a pretty nice press, has a good range of adjustability, comes with a pressure gauge, and sells for only slightly more than $200.

Simple Do-It-Yourself, Hydraulic Press

Note: My friend, Jim B, has a favorite saying; “For every 10 pyros, you’ll get a dozen different ideas on how to do any task in pyro.” The ideas I present in the following project are designed to simply get your creative juices flowing. I seriously doubt anyone will build a model that is exactly like mine. But maybe these ideas can point you in the right direction.

In addition to the commercially-manufactured options described above, I got to thinking about a sturdy, relatively lightweight, bench-top press which did not require much welding. I’ll describe one possibility that came to mind.

The setup and operation of the hydraulic bottle-jack is similar to the Hobby Fireworks press. I had six, 4×4-inch, 3/4-inch-thick, steel-plate shims cut at my local steel supply, to augment the adjustability of the press. Between the 5.5-inch travel of the bottle jack’s piston, and the 4.5-inches of adjustability the shims provide, the press has a total of 10 inches of travel between all the way down and all the way up.

This allows me to adjust the press’s top plate with the hex-nuts only one time per the particular device that I’m pressing. I never needed more than that 10 inches of adjustability for any of the devices I make. I’ve tripled-up the top hex-nuts because of the forces they endure during pressing. I don’t want to be stripping any threads.

The Press’s Main Frame:

The main frame of the press is made from four 3/4-inch x 36-inch threaded rods, nuts and washers from Home Depot. I had my local steel supply-house cut the bottom and top plates, which are 12-inch long pieces of 1-inch (thick) x 9-inch steel plate.

One-inch-thick steel plate is obviously very strong, and that strength is necessary to withstand the forces, which will be involved in pressing fireworks devices. I wouldn’t want to use steel plates that are thinner than the ones I used, and I also wouldn’t want to make them larger and spread the threaded rods out farther. This could lead to bending the plates.

The PVC plumbing pipe sections on the threaded rod uprights are there to keep me from cutting my knuckles on the threaded rod as I insert and remove devices in the press.

Installing a Blast-Shield

When I’m pressing whistle or strobe rocket motors, which use pressure sensitive, powerful fuels, the installation of a blast-shield is a good idea. The 1/2-inch thick plastic sheet will offer some protection just in case a motor “goes off” while it is being pressed.

The blast-shield is attached to the press and held in place with 3/8-inch eye-bolts, large fender washers, and hex nuts. Polycarbonate plastic such as Lexan is used in bullet-resistant windows, and serves well for blast-shields.

The other benefit of the PVC pipe on the threaded rods is to hold up the bottom blast-shield, eye-bolt supports.

Jack Return Springs

The two 7-inch springs, also from Home Depot, serve to return the bottle jack to its “down” position when the pressure-relief valve is opened. The top of each spring is attached to the 4×4-inch plate that is welded to the screw-out jack-post. The bottoms of the springs are attached to eye-bolts that are mounted in holes drilled through the bottom steel plate.

I had my welding-shop weld on small hex nuts for the top spring attachment at the same time they welded the plate to the jack post. This was the only welding required in this project.

Pressure Relief Valve Handle

To create an easily-operated handle for the jack’s pressure-relief valve, a hole was drilled through the end of the relief valve. A piece of 3/16-inch galvanized steel rod, bent in an L-shape was inserted through the hole, and the small end was pounded flat on a vise-anvil to hold it in place.

Holes in the Steel Plates

The holes in the top and bottom steel plates were drilled using a drill-press. That was the only large piece of equipment that was necessary in the fabrication of the rocket press. The threaded-rod holes were drilled at 9.5-inch centers, side to side, and 5.5-inch centers, front to back.

The jack is attached to the bottom plate with three, 5/16-inch bolts, which go up through the steel plate and into holes I drilled and tapped in the bottom of the jack. (Threading holes in metal is done with a tool called a “tap.”)

Two extra holes were drilled toward the back of the bottom steel plate, through which bolts will go to attach the press to my workbench. This will make the press nice and steady as I’m pressing rockets.

I used a hand-held grinder to smooth all the edges and corners of the steel plates. Then I primed and painted the plates using spray primer and finish paint.

Hydraulic Pressure Gauge

There are a few pressure-to-force (PtoF) hydraulic pressure gauges available to the pyro-hobbyist community. These gauges employ a one-square-inch-area piston, so they directly read out the number of pounds of force being applied to the item being pressed.

For example, if the PtoF gauge is reading 2000 psi, the actual force being applied to the tooling is 2000 pounds, the equivalent of 2000 pounds of concrete sitting on top of the tool.

An advantage to using one of these gauges is that you won’t need to install a pressure gauge on the press’s bottle jack.

I personally like to use a gauge that is actually installed in the bottom of the bottle-jack. Doing so enables me to eliminate one loose, movable component, like the PtoF gauge, when I’m aligning and pressing devices in the press.

Using a gauge on the jack, though, requires that the gauge’s reading be multiplied by the area of the jack’s piston, in order to determine the actual force being exerted by the jack. I’ll show what that means in a minute.

Installing a gauge on the bottle-jack presents what is probably the most challenging aspect of this project–drilling and tapping/threading the bottom of the bottle-jack, and installing a hydraulic pressure gauge. But, it’s good to know how to do this, even if a PtoF gauge is going to be used.

Installing a gauge on a bottle jack requires the partial disassembly of the jack, drilling a couple of holes, tapping/threading the hole where the gauge will be installed, cleaning debris out of the jack, and reassembling it.

One of the nice things about the bottle-jack I’m specifying in this project is that it is relatively easy to take apart and put back together.

First, the rubber drain/fill plug on the back of the jack’s cylindrical body is removed, and the oil that fills the jack is emptied into a clean pot. This oil can be filtered through a coffee filter and reused in the jack when it is reassembled.

When draining the oil, it helps to remove the pressure-relief valve. This valve has a 1/4″ steel ball bearing down in the hole into which it is screwed. Carefully set the ball and valve aside, and finish draining the oil. Pumping the lever assembly a few times works the rest of the oil out. Now is a good time to drill the hole in the pressure-relief valve and install the L-handle.

The lever-arm has a couple of steel pins, held in with spring-clips, and is easily disassembled. (You are making mental notes of how all this goes back together, right?)

It’s time to remove the large hex-nut at the top of the jack now. This requires that the base of the jack be held securely in a vise or a rocket press. (Waitaminnit, I’m making my rocket press! How can I hold the jack in my rocket press? I have 3 presses, and this will be my fourth.)

The hex-nut is then loosened with channel-lock-pliers or a large pipe-wrench. It may be necessary to whack the wrench with a rubber mallet or similar heavy object. The nut is screwed off when it is loose, and the central jack piston and outer jack shell-body can also be removed. The nut has a plastic O-ring gasket on it where it hits the main body, but this gasket is usually “glued” on with paint and does not need to be removed.

There is a “tapered” large rubber O-ring which sits in the groove that the shell-body came out of. Remove this O-ring. Remember that it was in there with the thin edge up, and the wide edge down.

Inside the jack, there will be a small, wire-mesh filter shoved in one of the holes in the base. Make a note of which hole it’s in, and then remove it. Actually, this is a good recommendation, which has never worked for me in real life. Each time I’ve disassembled a jack, the filter has dropped out before I get to notice where it was in the first place. I’m not sure how they get the darn thing to stay in during shipping and/or operation.

I’ll show in a moment how to determine which hole the filter ought to go back into when the jack is reassembled.

The screw-post will only unscrew so far as it extends out of the jack’s piston. It is not necessary to remove this screw-post all the way. The whole jack can be taken to the welding shop when the 4×4 plate is welded to the screw-post. If one wants to remove the post all the way, some filing/grinding is necessary to remove the small “indents” which have been knocked into the top of the cylinder to hold the post in place.

Now is a good time to measure and make note of the diameter of the bottom of the piston. In this case it measures 1.375 inches. Squaring half that diameter (the radius) and multiplying that by Pi (3.1416) yields an area of the bottom of the piston of 1.5 square inches. (3.1416 x .6875 x .6875 = 1.5 square inches)

Because of that, when my new, jack-mounted pressure gauge is reading, say, 1000 pounds-per-square-inch (psi), I’ll multiply that gauge’s reading by 1.5 to determine the actual amount of force the jack is exerting on the tooling in the press, which in this example would be 1500 pounds.

Once again holding the base of the jack in a vise or rocket press, I now carefully use a pipe wrench to loosen the jack’s inner cylinder. I apply the wrench right down at the bottom of that cylinder in order to avoid crushing or distorting the tube as I loosen it.

Once the inner cylinder has been removed, another plastic O-ring gasket can be seen inside the base where the cylinder bottoms out. This O-ring does not need to be removed. Notice that there is a top and a bottom to the inner cylinder. The top is beveled on the inside lip to make insertion of the piston easy. The bottom has a flattened edge, which bears on the O-ring seal.

The small lever-operated jacking piston/cylinder should also be removed at this time. There is a metal washer and a 1/4″ steel ball down in the base’s recess which should also be removed.

And, now, finally we’ve arrived at the final disassembly step. There is another 1/4-inch metal ball in the bottom recess of the base, held in with a plastic retainer. This can be seen in the base’s large recess in the photo above. The retainer is removed by prying it with a screwdriver, and the ball is also removed.

I’m keeping all the little parts in a clean paper cup to prevent me from losing them as I go along.

There is also an over-pressure, safety relief valve, covered by a plastic cap. This assembly, including the cap, screw-out post, spring, metal-mushroom, and very small metal ball, is all removed and placed in the paper cup.

I can just hear ya hollering, “Crikey, Ned, what the heck have you gotten me into?”

It’s really not as bad as it all sounds and looks. If you keep track of all the little parts, and remember how they all go back together, this can be fun. Really! There’s learnin’ happenin’ here.

At this point, for my own education, I spent a bit of time envisioning how the jack works when it is being operated. The small jacking-piston and cylinder create high pressure using the principle of mechanical leverage. The pressurized oil is forced through the small hole in the bottom of that recess and up past the ball/hole/retainer in the large base recess.

All those balls in this device simply act as valves, sitting in nicely machined recesses, and only allowing oil to flow in one direction, pushing the ball slightly out of its recess. Oil pushing from the other direction forces the ball against the machined seal and shuts off the flow.

As it is needed, more oil is “sucked” into the small base recess from the main reservoir between the outer jack body and the inner cylinder.

The pressure in the cylinder jacks the piston up a small amount. The process is repeated as the piston gradually is lifted.

If too much pressure is generated inside the main cylinder, the oil can push the small ball and spring in the over-pressure relief valve and allow the excess oil to escape back into the main oil reservoir between the outer jack body and the inner cylinder. This acts as a safety to prevent the jack from being over-pressurized and dangerously rupturing.

And finally, when we want the jack to retract and go down, the pressure-relief valve is loosened. This allows oil to move past the ball at the bottom of that valve, and back into the main reservoir.

Since the only hole through which oil moves out of the main reservoir is the one leading to the bottom of the jacking-cylinder’s small recess, that is the hole that the small filter will be replaced into (so it functions to remove debris from the oil as it circulates). I find which hole that is by blowing into it to make sure the air is coming out of the ball-blocked hole in the bottom of the small base recess.

And, keeping debris out of the whole jack is why I’ve completely disassembled it. After the next drilling and tapping steps are completed, all the parts will be completely cleaned before any reassembly. Small bits of metallic debris are the enemy of a properly functioning jack. They can become lodged in the various ball-valve assemblies and allow slow leakage, preventing optimal performance.

Drilling and Tapping the Jack-Base to Receive the Pressure Gauge

You’ll notice, when looking at the jack base, that all the existing holes and inner “channels” that the oil flows through are located in the right side of the base.

Conveniently, this jack’s base has a nice flat area on its left side, and plenty of room on the left-inside of the large recess where a hole can be drilled.

This is the point we’ve been heading toward. I want to drill a 3/16-inch hole down from the bottom-inside of that main base recess, but not all the way through the base. I drill this hole about 3/8-Inch deep.

I want to drill in from the left-outside of the base with the same 3/16-inch drill bit, until that hole hits the first hole that was drilled. I only want to drill as far as that first hole so that I don’t hit any of the other inner channels in the base.

The hole coming in from the side is drilled high enough from the bottom to allow the fittings I’m going to install later to clear the press’s base plate. I also plan that hole so that it is centered in the bottom “thickness” of the base, so that the strength of the remaining metal surrounding my new fitting is maximized.

Drilling this hole, centered up 1/2 inch from the bottom of the base, accomplished all the above goals. And it kept the metal thickness between the hole and the bottom of the base no less than 5/16 inch, which is needed to withstand the internal jack pressures.

These two holes are gradually deepened until they hit each other, and no further.

The two holes will form a new channel which will allow the pressurized oil inside the inner jack cylinder to reach the new gauge which will read out the same pressure that exists inside the cylinder.

Warning: The main power tool I’m using in this process is a drill-press. Like Norm Abrams says, “Read and understand the safety precautions concerning this tool before you use it.” I do this drilling at low speeds. I firmly hold the piece I am drilling with a clamp and/or other tools. This drill-press can be my best friend, or it can slice my hands open and/or break bones. Be careful.

The hole in the side of the base is enlarged with a 5/16-inch drill bit (Q drill bit) enlarging a section about 3/4-inch deep. This side hole (only) then has threads cut in it with a 1/8-inch-pipe-thread tap.

This is also a good time to drill and tap the bolt holes, in the flanges on the base, which will attach the jack to the press’s bottom steel plate.

There, the hard part, the machining, is done. I now clean all the debris, excess paint, and metal shavings off of all the parts in a pot of clean kerosene or paint thinner. I pay special attention to the base to make sure all the small metal debris has been washed off of it and out of all its holes and channels.

After the parts have dried, the bottle jack is reassembled in the reverse order in which it was taken apart. Before adding the oil back into it, I attach the new pressure gauge using hydraulic fittings and Teflon tape. My local hydraulic-fitting supply-house was able to supply the fittings that I needed, and which would handle the pressure the jack will be exerting.

These fittings were inexpensive, and it pays to use fittings certified for hydraulic pressure, rather than plumbing fittings which might rupture under that pressure.

The gauge sells for about $22 at McMaster-Carr. It is a 2.5-inch diameter dial, glycerin filled, 0-10,000 psi range, 1/4-inch pipe-thread bottom-connected, Model #4053K16.

But, the same supply-house where I bought the fittings, had a very similar gauge for only $16. I bought one for a spare while I was there.

I have temporarily hooked up gauges to lower-pressure jacks with iron pipe fittings. But those plumbing fittings are not rated for the 8000 psi that will be developed in this new jack when it is putting out the full 6 tons of force.

Remember that when the gauge reads 8000 psi, that reading is multiplied by 1.5 to determine the force that the jack is exerting. That means an 8000 psi reading equals 12,000 pounds of force, the maximum force this jack is rated for. That’s why I chose a gauge with a range of 0-10,000 psi.

The Teflon tape is carefully wrapped on the pipe threads, in the direction that will tighten the tape wraps as the male threads are screwed into the female fittings. 4-5 wraps of the tape are put on each threaded section. I’m careful not to overlap the tape down onto the end of the fittings, where bits could break off and clog the channels or valves in the jack.

After the gauge was installed and all the fittings tightened up, I filtered the oil through a coffee filter and filled the jack back up with the oil through the fill hole on the back of the jack’s body. I pumped the jack up and down a few times to work any trapped air out of the system. Then the jack was installed on the rocket press.

I topped the oil off with more, new hydraulic-jack oil until it started to run out of the fill-hole in the main jack body. Then I installed the rubber plug.

I put my Pressure-to-Force gauge on the jack-plate, and jacked the press up to various pressures. This was to make sure that, indeed, the PtoF gauge read 1.5 times what the gauge on the bottle jack was reading. I also removed the PtoF gauge, and jacked the press up to its maximum pressure and let it sit there for a while to make sure it wasn’t losing any pressure through leaks or badly sealed steel-ball valves.

Everything worked great, so I moved the press into its permanent location on my work bench and attached it there with bolts which go through the two extra holes in the back of the bottom steel plate, and on through the workbench top.

Conclusion

Great! My fourth press is now up and running. Why the heck do I need four presses? I think I’ll paint and clean up my old Hobby Fireworks press and see if I can find a new pyro who wants to give it a good home.

There’s one final thing I thought about this press when it was done: “Hey, I built that thing. I know every part of it, and if anything goes wrong with it, I know how to fix it.”

I bought an extra bottle jack while I was working on the project, and drilled and tapped it at the same time as the main one. That way I have replacement parts, or the whole complete replacement jack if necessary.

This all results in a good feeling, and I suppose that’s why I do all of this in the first place.

Stay Green, and now on to more, ahh, Pressing matters.

Ned

How to Make a Hydraulic Rocket Press is a post from: Confessions of a Fireworks Man

If one does not have a ball mill there is another option for grinding coarse potassium nitrate into a free flowing, fine powder. Coffee and spice grinders work well for grinding small batches of individual chemicals.

Even though I have a ball mill, there are times when the coffee grinders come in handy for pulverizing smaller batches of chemicals. I have some Parlon, most of which will pass through a 40-mesh screen, but which has some larger particles as well. I’ll take those larger bits and run them through the coffee grinder in order to reduce them to smaller particles.

Warning: Dedicate one grinder for use on oxidizers, and another one for use on fuels such as charcoal. We don’t want fires or explosions when we’re grinding chemicals. Never grind complete or mixed compositions such as black powder in a coffee grinder.

I have found two kinds of coffee grinders: blade-grinders and burr-mills. Don’t get a burr-mill; they don’t work as well as blade-grinders. The blade-grinders have a stainless steel blender type blade that spins at high speeds in the bottom of the material cup, chopping the material into small bits in the process.

I have purchased many of the smaller, less expensive, blade-type coffee grinders. But here’s the warning: they really don’t last too long if you mill chemicals for a minute or two at a time. To use them, mill your chemicals in pulses of a few seconds at a time. I’ve found that shaking them while pulse-grinding gives me the fastest results.

The Kitchenaid blade mill has a larger hopper, and a larger, more powerful motor, and is rated to be used often. I’m hoping that it will last longer than the $13 WalMart models I’ve been using.

I put a half-cup, 4.6 ounces, of 12-mesh potassium nitrate into its hopper, pressed down on its lid to start it, and pulse-milled the powder for just under a minute, shaking the grinder now and then in the process.

Quite a bit of fine powder started to accumulate on the inside top of the clear lid as it milled. I dumped the ground chemical onto my 100-mesh screen, and used a fine paint brush to clean off any that was clinging to the inside of the hopper or the lid.

About three-fourths of this milled powder would pass through the 100 mesh screen, and I set aside that which wouldn’t to be ground again with the next batch.

Granular potassium nitrate can be dried if necessary, and ground easily with a ball mill or with a coffee blade mill, so that it passes through a 100-mesh screen and is ready to be used in pyrotechnic compositions.

Using a Coffee/Spice Grinder to Pulverize Potassium Nitrate is a post from: Confessions of a Fireworks Man

You should use protective gloves when making colored smokes, and cover all surfaces with newspaper or some other covering to be thrown away later. Working with smoke mix can be very messy no matter how careful you are. The dyes will stain anything they come in contact with, so lay down newspaper over your work surfaces and protect your hands with rubber gloves. Skylighter’s smoke kit is already pre-measured and ready to go. If you mix all of the dye mix and oxidizer provided in your kit, you’ll end up with

about 1.25 lbs. of finished smoke composition. Just mix the smoke mix with the potassium chlorate oxidizer.

Mix the chemicals

An easy method for mixing small amounts of insensitive composition is called "bag milling."

Use a plastic bag big enough so it is not more than half full after adding all the chemicals. If you are going to mix the whole kit at one time, dump all of the smoke mix and the potassium chlorate oxidizer into the bag. Use your fingers to break up any lumps while mixing the composition. Once mixed, the material should be a consistent color and have no sign of any lumps. If you’re not sure if it’s mixed enough, keep mixing. The more you mix, the better the generated smoke will be.

If you want to mix less than the contents of the whole kit, the proportions should be 27% potassium chlorate and 73% smoke mix by weight. You must use an accurate gram scale to weigh them.

Once mixed, your smoke is basically ready to go. It will actually burn just fine in the open without any containment. This is a good way to test how well it’s mixed. The composition should light easily with a match or fuse, and burn with little or no visible flame. But to use your smoke for anything practical, you’ll need to build a container for it. In the instructions that follow, that canister will be a paper tube with cardboard end plugs.

Build a smoke canister

Place a small bead of white (Elmer’s or carpenter’s) glue around the inside lip of the paper tube

and press the plug into place. Using your fingertips, seat the plug flush with the end of the tube. You can insert the plug either way into the tube. Once this is done, set the tube aside to dry for several hours.

Make a fuse cap

Holding a paper plug between your fingers, poke a hole large enough to slide a length of visco fuse through. The fuse should be cut long enough so that you can push the fuse through the

cap and all the way to the bottom plug. Set the fuse cap assembly aside for now.

Load smoke composition and cap the tube

Using a small scoop, loosely fill the tube with smoke composition up to about one-quarter inch from the top. There is no need to compact the smoke composition. Keeping it loose and fluffy will increase the burn rate and also improve the color of the smoke produced.

In the same way that you glued the end plug in, place a small bead of glue around the inner lip of the canister and slide the fused plug in place. Once done set the canister aside to dry for a couple of hours until the glue is dry. Once it’s dry, just light the fuse and let her smoke! Enjoy.

Suggestions & troubleshooting:

Q: After lighting, the bottom or top plug pops out.
A: Be sure your plugs are thoroughly glued in and that the glue is dry. If they still pop out, increase the size of the smoke vent. Bigger smoke devices need larger orifices for smoke to vent. Try punching several holes in the top plug.

Q: How can I make the smoke comp burn faster?
A: In some instances you may want to generate a lot of smoke very quickly. The best method is to add 5% dextrin and dampen the mixture slightly until it just holds it shape when you squeeze it in your hand. If water comes out when you squeeze it, it’s too wet. Then press the dampened composition though a 10-20 mesh screen to granulate it. Once dry, load the granules loosely in a smoke canister.

Q: The smoke is vivid in color for awhile, but then fades to gray.
A: The ash is trapping the sublimed dye. You can either make a smaller or shorter device or mix 15% fine sawdust (-40+60 mesh) into the smoke mix. Either should resolve the problem.

Making colored smoke using Skylighter’s Smoke Mix Kit is a post from: Confessions of a Fireworks Man

This notice is to put you on notice that you should notice that July 4th is coming. Sooner than you think. And we researched this to be sure of what we’re predicting. “As far as we know”… July the 4th has come on the same day, every year, since it was invented by King George II back in 1776. Or was in 1789? Or George W.? Whatever.

Now, I am always asked many times around June 30th how come we A)ran out of a particular item and B)“how come you can’t ship it to me in time?”  These are silly questions, silly rabbit.  But we still get asked them between June 30th and July 3rd every single year!  Hah!

One item that we run out of every year, no matter how many more we buy this year than last year, is kits for making electric matches.

If you want to buy ready-made electric matches in the US, you need an ATF license. And, even if you have the license, they’re still expensive. But if you make your own ematches, no ATF license is required. The fastest way to ematch nirvana is to use our ready-made ematch blanks and dip kits. Then just let ‘em dry, and faster than you can say “pop,” you’re ready to go.

Why dip kits and ematch blanks? Well, primarily because they let you make literally hundreds of ematches in just a couple of hours. You can even do it while you’re watching TV. The ematch blanks are really ematch chips with two lead wires already soldered on. The dip kits are exactly the chemicals you need to make 300-500 ematches. They are premeasured, in separate bottles. You just follow the instructions and mix them up in a few minutes. You don’t have to order larger quantities of chemicals than you need, which saves you a lot of money in excess chemicals and shipping. And you DO NOT NEED AN ATF LICENSE to buy or make your own ematches. In fact, the ATF has even sent customers to us for these ematch kits! We ran out of ematch blanks twice in the past 12 months. But the new ones are now available on our web site. On the Ignition Supplies page, order

GN5040 Ematch Blanks, 1 Foot Wires $17.94 for 40
GN5050 Ematch Dip Kit $39.95-enough for 300-500 ematches

Each Dip Kit is enough to make 300-500 electric matches. So, be sure you buy enough Ematch Blanks to make as many finished ematches as you think you will need. Procrastinators, do not jump on this stuff, right away. Naw, leave it for the pyros who prepare for the Mighty Fourth in time.

EMATCH MAKING TIPS

• Follow the directions in the dip kits to the letter. They work really well if you do exactly what the instructions say. Don’t try to improve upon them, rush them, or cut corners. You’ll just waste your money, time, and materials.

• Don’t forget to buy Shooting Wire, GN5010, to put lead wires on your ematches of the desired length.

• Homemade ematches are not perfect. Your homemade electric matches will not function 100% of the time—they are not as good as the commercially made, but considerably more expensive electric matches. But you can still make ematches which are reasonably reliable, especially if you test them ahead of time.

• Test your ematches. Commercial continuity testers will frequently generate enough test-current to fire your ematches. Instead, use our special, low-voltage Ematch Tester (GN5005) to make sure your matches are good before you use them.

• Don’t Over Dip. It only takes a very small amount of pyrotechnic composition on just the tips of each ematch to make them work. Keep your pyrogen thinned. Big, fat blobs of pyrotechnic composition are more likely to break off or crack.

• Use your Ematch Dip Kit all in one session. After you mix your dip kit contents, it is best to use it all up in one sitting. Two reasons: First, the stuff will eventually dry up if you try and store it. If it does, it’s then useless and you’ll have to throw away what’s left. The other reason is that the dry, mixed composition can ignite from friction. Friction–like that induced from screwing the bottle cap on and off. So the most cost-efficient thing is to use all of your dip kit up all at one time. This is a 2-4 hour project, but one you can do sitting in front of the television watching “Planet Earth” reruns.

Holler if you have questions. We are sitting here twiddling our collective thumbs, awaiting your bleating cries.

Harry Gilliam
Chief Cook & Bottle Washer

Last Minute Tips for Ematch Makers is a post from: Confessions of a Fireworks Man

If you don’t know what Sky Lanterns are, click here to check out the Sky Lantern Festival videos on YouTube.

Of course, I will tell you to order them right away.  You know that.  But honestly, I really don’t  care if you do or not.  I’m having too much fun lighting them every night myself.  Here are some pictures of the ones that Anne and I launched last night.  The damned things are addictive: I can’t do just one; I gotta do ten at a time!

These are absolutely wonderful little gizmos, and I am positively high on them. I brought 15 of them back in my suitcase from Hong Kong to try out over here. Everyone who has seen them has gone ga-ga over ‘em. Nobody doesn’t like ‘em!

Every time I tried to light one myself last night, Anne snatched the lighter away from me!  She wanted to do it!

A few things to know:

WHAT THEY DO 
- The "fuel" for the fire is cardboard square soaked in wax. You light it, the balloon fills with hot air, and up they go.
- They fly a mile or more up and God knows how far.
- They burn for about 4.5 minutes.
- Once the fire goes out, they drop to the ground.
- They are completely biodegradable.

CAUTIONS
- Launch them only in still air. If you have enough wind to make them difficult to lift off, don’t let them go. The wind actually deflates the lanterns, and then there’s not enough hot air in them to lift off.
- Only when they burn out will they drop. But if you launch them in a wind, they can be blown down or sideways and possibly start a fire. Don’t launch them when the wind is blowing. Got it?
- The paper shell of the balloon is fire retardant. You can burn/char it, but it does not catch fire.
– They may be illegal some places. Check your fire code and fireworks laws to be sure they’re legal in your area.
- Don’t tie anything to them. They are finely balanced–almost anything adding weight to them will cause them not to lift off. 

WHEN & HOW TO USE
- Anytime, nighttime or daytime. This variety looks best at night, but you will undoubtedly want to see what they do in daytime, so you can follow them visually.
- Weddings: launch them after the wedding vows in an outdoor ceremony, or as the bride and groom exit the reception.
- Funerals: I want them used at mine. You probably will, too.  I am not kidding.  Think about the soft, glowing, fading light as your Sky Lantern goes slowly toward heaven.
- Fireworks events: as a daytime and nighttime feature.
- July 4th: start or finish your July 4th fireworks with Sky Lanterns.
- Parties: add them to give your outdoor party a very special quality your guests will not forget.
- Anyplace you want really quiet fire effects.
- When you need to create a swarm of UFOs in your neighborhood.
- For the pure fun of it. They are absolutely wonderful.
-Watch a video of a Sky Lantern being lit.

SHIPPING
- Anytime, anywhere on the planet. No restrictions, not a hazmat.  Regular shipping or overnight.  Domestic US or to any address in the world.

Watch for more from us on these. I will be running a photo and video contest for Best Sky Lanterns, so be sure and take pictures and videos of your’s when you use them.

We only got 1500 of these in this first order. I expect we will run out before we get more. We will do our best to get another, bigger stash well before the Mighty Fourth, but one never knows, do one?

Our current Sky Lantern inventory is very limited. Order these right away! Click

NV5001, 10 Sky Lanterns $69.40

Or click here to order them one at a time 

NV5000, 1 Sky Lantern $9.79

Enjoy.  I think you will find, like I did, that these are safe, quiet, beautiful, and a lot of fun for everybody.

Now here’s the question:  what is the best way for one person to launch 10 of them at a time?

Harry Gilliam
Chief Cook & Bottlewasher

Sky Lanterns Are Available at Skylighter is a post from: Confessions of a Fireworks Man