But the very first batch of stars came out looking like they had contracted a king-hell case of warts. Looked like raspberries – all bumpy all around. Actually, there was an easy fix, but I didn’t have a clue about it at the time.

Over the next couple of days, I’d like to find out about YOUR problems in making stars.

Please take a few minutes and tell us all what sort of problems you have or had making stars. Or what has stopped you from being able to make stars. What kind of stars were you making? What went wrong? How was the process difficult or unsatisfactory for you? It’s star problems I’m especially looking for. How come?

I want to see if the problems you’re having can be solved by a radical new star making method that Ned came up with. And Monday, I have a great new article on stars for you from Ned.

Just add your comments on star making problems down below.

Thanks.

Harry

PS: The cure for star warts is to dampen them and keep rolling ‘em. Don’t add any more dry powder just yet—just spray them with water or water and alcohol. As you spritz ‘em, the warts soften, and they get rolled out flat. Once they’re perfectly round again, you can resume building them up with powder and water. The warts are caused by using too little water.

Star Warts is a post from: Confessions of a Fireworks Man

Because even if you really do already know how to make a smoke bomb, you can still have problems getting your colored smoke to work…problems you may not expect.

How to Make a Smoke Bomb the Failsafe Way—We Thought!

Skylighter has been offering organic powdered dye pre-mixed with the other necessary colored smoke chemicals for years. These premixed colored smoke components make it a lot faster and easier to make smoke grenades and make smoke bombs. We even got Ned Gorski to write an excellent and detailed project article on How to Make Smoke Bombs, complete with color photos, and even videos.

Skylighter sells that pre-mix as “colored smoke mix.” You buy a pound of the colored smoke mix, combine it with a pre-measured amount of just one other chemical, potassium chlorate, load it into a capped tube, and voila. You have a homemade smoke bomb, ready to light.

Usually.

Except, now people were having problems getting their colored smoke to light.

When this problem started to show up repeatedly, I finally decided to roll up my sleeves and look into it. What I found, though anything but earthshaking, is a good little lesson in simple pyrotechnic detective work.

And it is exactly the same kind of problem diagnosis and solution, which anyone who makes fireworks will eventually run into.

So, ride along with me a ways. It won’t take long, and there are a couple of good tips and tidbits that anyone can use.

What we try to do with our colored smoke bomb kits is make it really simple, fast, and idiot-proof to make a smoke bomb. But in trying to make it too simple, we may have overlooked the obvious.

Here was the problem: Customers were mixing the correct weights of the two-part colored smoke components (smoke mix and potassium chlorate) correctly—according to the instructions Skylighter provided. But when they tried to light the stuff it wouldn’t burn. Or it would light, and then go out.

Now when you light colored smoke it is supposed to smolder, not catch on fire.

The key is having exactly the right ratio of the potassium chlorate oxidizer to the smoke mix fuel. Screw the ratio up one way and your mix will burn too fast.

This is very important. If your mix actually burns, you won’t get the colored smoke you want. Just black, brown, or some other characteristic dark color of burning material.

Screw the ratio up the other way, and your colored smoke mix will not ignite at all.

Colored Smoke Detective Work

When we first heard about the problem with a single colored smoke color, we simply took some of our smoke mix here, mixed it properly with the potassium chlorate, and burned some outside.

Hmmm… there is some kind of problem. Perhaps the company, which formulates our colored smoke mixes, changed the brew in some way. They said not, but chemicals can be different, from batch to batch, or year to year. And unless you do time consuming and expensive testing of each batch you get, you might never know. So, we all tend to rely on good suppliers, brands, and model/spec numbers instead.

Making our smoke mixes does involve carefully weighing and blending at least 3 different chemicals.

It did visually appear that the blending/mixing was not as thorough.

But hundreds of pounds of these colored smoke mixes were already out on the street in customers’ hands. What to do?

We found that if we increased the amount of chlorate added to the smoke mix, that we could get it to burn. So that’s what we recommended to people who were having problems. We even sent out additional potassium chlorate at no charge, and replacement smoke bomb kits.

The problem reports continued nonetheless. Some people were not able to add additional chlorate and solve the problem. And then other colors started to have the same problem.

Hmmm… what else could be wrong?

A little background will help here. Because colored smoke dyes are “dirty” to work with, we recommended that folks use “bag mixing” to mix the chlorate and smoke mix.

Basically, this involves dumping the two parts into a big zip-lock, sealing it, and then mushing the contents around for a while until there’s a homogeneously colored powder inside with no lumps.

The theorem I developed was that for reasons unknown, either or both of the two-part smoke mixture had either increased in particle size and/or gotten “clumpy”—a scientific term describing what happens when a chemical gets a little bit of moisture in it.

Well, for sure the chlorate had. You could look at it and tell.

I ran some of our blue smoke through a 30-mesh kitchen strainer and found the same thing. More clumps. Maybe even larger particles.

So, here’s a lesson in pyro 101.

When we first started offering two-part colored smoke kits, it’s a fact that both the colored smoke fuel and the potassium chlorate were very fine (particle size), free flowing powders, something you almost always want in your fireworks chemicals.

And we had no reports of problems igniting the smokes.

Now, with lumpy, clumpy material, what has happened? Well think about it. It’s simple. The particle size of both parts has increased. When particle sizes are larger, surface area is decreased.

Since the pyrotechnic burn we want depends on many little particles of fuel and oxidizer being in close contact with each other AND since we know we had that balance exactly right when the two powders used to be fine powders that were free flowing, then the surface area is no longer adequate for the ratios we were using.

And that’s exactly why adding a little more potassium chlorate had solved the problem for some people. The large surface area problem meant that if we changed the ratio of oxidizer to smoke fuel, we could indeed get the smoke to light again.

But over time as BOTH fuel AND oxidizer got clumpier and clumpier, even that solution didn’t work.

Why? Because the mix was simply too coarse to take fire using the bag mix with the two chemical components we were providing.

The Tests

Experiments proved this out. Armed with the info above and my theorem that it was merely a particle size problem, I set out to solve the problem AND try to do it in a way that would involve the least hassle and expense for both Skylighter and our customers.

It took about two hours. Like most of my testing, I try to work with very small batches. This speeds up the process by reducing weighing, milling, and mixing. And reduces the cost of materials, a lot of which is often wasted doing the testing.

I was pressed for time; so I had the guys in the warehouse, first pre-measure a lot of little baggies of potassium chlorate and colored smoke mixes.

I took the box of this stuff home, realizing only later that the little white powder bags could have brought big smoke down on me, had I been stopped with them. (“No, no, no, ossifer. Those little white powder baggies aren’t what you think at all. Actually, if I mix the white stuff in with this colored stuff, and light it, you will get purple colored smoke! Wait, ossifer, I am not trying to burn the evidence. No, wait. Stop. Those things are too tight on my wrists. I wanna call my mama, ahhh lawyer!”)

First problem was finding someplace that wasn’t windy. I don’t do this stuff indoors in my shop any more, and smoke dyes are easily blown around by even stray puffs of wind.

I found a corner against a shed, out of the wind, and set up my scale, two coffee grinders, some mixing cups, a small kitchen strainer screen, and my trusty pyro notebook.

I aimed for a ratio of 14.2 grams of smoke mix to 5.2 grams of potassium chlorate. That’s the ratio we devised early on that would work with all of our smoke mixes, regardless of color. And we knew from history it used to work.

My test burn container for all experiments was a 9/16” ID x 1-1/2” long tube (called an M80 tube in some circles) with a cardboard plug in one end, the other end open.

FYI, colored smokes do not have to be confined to do their thing. I left one end of each test-tube open for the tests.

Experiment 1: I added the two chemicals together in a zip lock and sqwooshed ‘em together for ten minutes. The now infamous, bag mix method. Filled a test tube, inserted a piece of Visco and lit it. Failed to light. This mix would not even light when directly blasted with a blowtorch.

Experiment 2: I repeated the process in Experiment 1, but with an additional 10% potassium chlorate. Lit the fuse, and it too failed to ignite. Blowtorching the loose mix caused it to light, but it could not sustain the burn, and went out.

Experiment 3: Repeated #2 again adding +10% chlorate, but instead of bag mixing, screened the mix 3 times. Lit the fuse, and the smoke mix ignited, the burn was sustained, but with a “sputtering” burn, and an okay, but not rich blue smoke.

Experiment 4: Since the potassium chlorate was the lumpier of the two components, I used a coffee and spice grinder to grind the chlorate to a fine, fluffy powder, with about 20 seconds of pulse milling. Weighed the two components in the original 14.2/5.2 grams ratio. Screened the two components together 3 times. The mix burned correctly.

Experiment 5: Repeated #4, but I also blade milled the smoke mix for 20-30 seconds as well, before screen mixing together 3 times. The mix burned even better. Full rich blue smoke. The volume of smoke was the greatest of all the test burns.

Conclusion

The particle sizes of both components need to be as small as possible. If there is a problem getting the smoke mix to burn, then milling both components separately to a finer particle size, as well as using a better mixing method will likely solve the problem.

This will not solve all fireworks mix problems. But if you think particle size or clumping may be your problem, the method described above is a quick and simple test to find out.

Cost: Cost to solve the problem at Walmart–$34: 2 coffee mills, $14 each; one small wire strainer, $6. And everything is reusable later on in my fireworks shop.

More on cheap chemical milling using a coffee (blade) mill.

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

Just leave a comment below. Thanks.

- Harry

How to Make a Smoke Bomb the Failsafe Way—We Thought! 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

———————————————————————-
I DON’T KNOW WHETHER YOU HEARD THIS YET
———————————————————————-

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

I’ve covered many safety issues involved in making fireworks in my introductory essay to Kyle Kelley’s The Pyrotechnist Survival Guide, Bill Ofca’s Fireworks Safety Manual, and Dr. Takeo Shimizu’s treatise on Preventing Accident.

Much physical suffering on our part and that of our loved ones can be avoided if we heed the advice in those pages. I like to go back and review them regularly to see how well my operations are conforming to those recommendations.

But there is another very significant kind of pain and suffering we and our families may have to endure unless we pay attention to a different set of precautions as we embark on this new fireworking hobby.

I’m going to go over what it takes to make fireworks legally, and I’ll even show you how to make a magazine inexpensively to use for legal storage of the fireworks you make.

The US Department of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) is charged with regulating explosives activities in the United States. Their regulations can be found in ATF Federal Explosives Law and Regulations, commonly called the Orange Book because of its orange cover.

Here is a link to a free online, PDF version of the Orange Book:

http://www.atf.gov/publications/download/p/atf-p-5400-7.pdf

The book can be obtained from the BATFE directly, also, and from Skylighter.

Individual states either defer to Federal explosives regulations or develop their own explosives laws.

Local governments such as counties, cities, and townships can adopt their own sets of laws governing explosives and their manufacture.

You might be saying right about now, “What am I getting myself into?”

The simple answer is that you’ve gotten yourself into a serious hobby and art form, one which can cause personal injury and property damage, and one in which the government takes an interest, unlike knitting or stamp-collecting.

“Well, the heck with them. I don’t care about their stupid laws,” you might reply.

Well, guess what. The various governments don’t care whether you and I consider the laws stupid. They care about the laws and they care about whether or not we are complying with them. You’d better believe it.

We could sit around for hours or even days, debating this law or that one, which one is just or unjust. But that won’t change the fact of the existence of both the law and the agency, which enforces it.

The question is not whether the law is just or not, or whether or not I agree with the law.

The question becomes a simple one: “Am I willing to suffer the consequences if I am caught breaking the law and prosecuted? Is my family willing to suffer those consequences along with me? Am I willing to ask them if they are willing to suffer those consequences.”

There have been many pyros who have been caught breaking the laws concerning the manufacture and storage of fireworks. They have suffered imprisonment, high attorney fees, exorbitant fines, broken marriages, and loss of property.

In the end a law is simple. “We the people declare this activity, done this way, to be illegal. If you are caught doing it you will suffer these consequences.”

A law states just that and only that. It simply states, such and such an action is illegal, and if you are caught doing it you may suffer this punishment.

So, the choice then becomes simple. “Am I willing to comply with the law, or break it and risk those consequences?”

And, there are several different ways to answer that question.

1) Yep, I’ll comply with the law and not take the risks involved in breaking it.

2) Nope, I’ll not comply with the law. I’m going to engage in this activity in an illegal manner, and I’m willing to risk those consequences. But, I’m not gonna tell my wife I’m taking that risk with our money and property, or give her the choice of whether or not she’s willing to take that risk.

3) Nope, I’ll not comply with the law, and I’m willing to risk those consequences, and I have discussed it with my wife and family and they are willing to back me up in this activity and risk those consequences, too.

But, comply or not, we need to take that action with an awareness of the consequences of our actions, and a willingness to face those consequences like “men”. (Most fireworkers are men, so I’m comfortable using that term. No disrespect to wimmen fireworkers, though.)

I said in my safety essay mentioned in the first paragraph above, “When we first get into this, we really don’t know how serious a pursuit it will become for us, do we? How much should we invest in tools and a workshop if it turns out to be only a passing curiosity? If we progress in the fireworks hobby, our investment in it and in the tools and facility used for it, progresses along with it. Our safety precautions usually end up tagging along a bit behind our activities. That is dangerous.”

Now, in that paragraph simply replace the word “safety” with the word “legal”, as in “our legal precautions usually end up tagging along a bit behind our activities.”

The danger in doing that is that we do indeed risk the sorts of “dangers” mentioned above: imprisonment, high attorney fees, exorbitant fines, broken marriages, and loss of property. As we make choices concerning our activities and whether or not they comply with those laws, it would be wise to become educated about the laws, the consequences of breaking them, and our responsibilities to ourselves and our loved ones.

Fortunately, US Federal law is pretty straightforward and simple when it comes to hobbyist fireworking.

Once again, from the ATF Orange Book:

Page 64, Paragraph 37. “When is a manufacturer’s license required?”

“Persons who manufacture explosives for their personal, non-business use are not required to have a manufacturer’s license. However, no person may ship, transport, cause to be transported, or receive explosive materials unless such person holds a license or permit.”

Page 68, Paragraph 72. “Who must comply with the storage requirements?”

“…all persons who store explosive materials must store them in conformity with the provisions of Subpart K of the regulations…”

Pages 47-53, Subpart K – Storage

This section details storage which is in conformity with the regulations and which will satisfy the BATFE’s requirements.

Because no license is required by the BATFE, this storage might never be known about by them or inspected by them. But if a person is caught storing explosives without such compliant storage, the BATFE then has the right to prosecute that person. And, typically, they do.

These are the cases you hear about in the news if the Feds are prosecuting somebody: they were storing explosives illegally, or they caught the person transporting explosives without a license or permit.

This is another important point. While a person can make explosives for their own personal use, provided that they store them in a compliant manner, they may not transport them legally unless they have an ATF license or permit. And, that’s even across town to the test-shooting site. When traveling to PGI (Pyrotechnics Guild International) or local-club events, often transportation-coverage for members is supplied through the club license and/or permit.

But, man, if you decide to transport your homemade fireworks without a license or permit, and you get stopped and searched for whatever reason, or if you have an accident and the explosives are involved in some destruction, God Help You, because the law won’t.

By the way, the US DOT (Department of Transportation) only regulates “in-commerce” transportation, and does not concern itself with the above mentioned regulations concerning the BATFE’s requirements to only transport explosives under a license or permit. At least, that’s the philosophy they appear to have been operating under so far.

Note: It’s useful to mention that all of this is my best understanding of the current situation under the law. Things can change, and the laws are always up for re-evaluation. I am not a lawyer, just a hobbyist trying to be as informed as possible about the multitude of laws surrounding us, and the numerous “alphabet soup” agencies charged with enforcing those laws. If in doubt, consult an attorney. But remember that unless they are fireworks or explosives specialists, often they can only offer their “best opinion” for you. Quite often the law is simply not all that clear, and is left to the individual “authority on site” to render a personal interpretation of it.

It is impossible for me to even try to address the myriad of local and state laws governing the manufacture of fireworks. Suffice it to say that the same sort of reasoning and responsibilities mentioned above with regard to federal laws, also pertain to state and local laws.

If you don’t research those laws and make informed choices regarding them, you might run afoul of a state or local Fire Marshal who simply does not have a sense of humor about all of this “hobbyist fireworking.”

So, if the Feds do not require us to obtain a license to make explosives for our personal use, as long as the restrictions on storage and transportation mentioned above are complied with, “Why Get One?”

Well, that’s an interesting subject.

We’ve mentioned the BATFE, DOT, State and Local agencies, and now another of those “acronym named” agencies comes into play. The CPSC.

The Consumer Products Safety Commission seems hell-bent on putting hobbyist fireworking and pyrotechnics supply houses out of business. Despite the BATFE’s declaration that no license is required for such activities, the CPSC has repeatedly forced pyro chemical suppliers to not sell more than very limited quantities of certain chemicals and supplies to unlicensed individuals.

On top of that, even though there is a perfectly valid and available “Type 50 – Manufacturer of Fireworks” license available from the BATFE, the CPSC has told the pyro supply houses that only a “Type 20 – Manufacturer of High Explosives” license is acceptable for purchases of certain items.

Go figure. I personally don’t mind trying to get informed about the law and trying to abide by it, but man, sometimes “they” sure don’t make it easy.

So, many pyro-enthusiasts are biting-the-bullet and getting their BATFE Type 20 licenses. A background check is required, and the resulting “Letter of Clearance” must be obtained. Compliant storage, as mentioned above and described in the following section, and a simple approved work-site, such as a picnic table, are necessary.

A form must be filled out and a relatively small fee must be paid. There’s an interview, fingerprinting, and a security check. And that’s about it. You don’t have to “qualify,” be tested, nor have any particular skills or background. The BATFE is not our enemy, and if we are willing to work with them, they definitely don’t view us as their enemy.

The license covers us for materials purchases, for transportation issues, and for general peace-of-mind. I personally consider it to be a good investment, if local and state laws will allow a license to be obtained.

As mentioned already, Subpart K – Storage, in the Orange book details the BATFE’s requirements for storage, regardless of whether we have a license.

Requirements for regular inspection, by the owner, of magazines to ensure that they have not been tampered with, are detailed. Housekeeping, smoking, repair, lighting, and various other issues are also addressed in this section.

Note: Interestingly, the requirements for keeping “Records and Reports” which are detailed on page 37, pertain only to “licensees and permittees.” The questions and answers regarding the requirements for “Recordkeeping,” back on page 67-68, address only licensees and permittees, as well. So while there may not be specific requirements for recordkeeping concerning the stored explosives for a non-licensed hobbyist, it’s probably a good idea to keep a log of the weights of the explosives taken in or out, or at least put in, so that the maximum weight of 50 pounds is never exceeded. A regular inventory of such explosives and their weights could also easily answer any potential questions concerning the weights and types of explosives stored in the magazine.

In general, most hobbyists install some form of a Type 4 storage magazine to comply with these requirements. A Type 4 magazine is a permanent magazine in which “low explosives” (as defined on Page 48) may be stored.

Among common fireworks components and devices, the only things, which cannot be stored legally in a Type 4 magazine, are loose “flash powders” and “bulk salutes.” Bulk salutes are flash devices stored all in one container or box together. If salutes are going to be stored in a Type 4 magazine, they must be mixed in a box with some color shells or similar. Loose flash powder may not be stored in a Type 4, period.

Other than that, a Type 4 is the storage most of us need, even if we are getting a Type 20 license (Manufacturer of High Explosives). In order to comply with CPSC’s requirements, if we explain to ATF why we want that license, and declare that we will not store loose flash powder or bulk-salutes in our Type 4 magazine), then typically the inspectors will tell us that we’re good-to-go with a Type 4.

Just remember, any explosives we manufacture and store must be stored in such a compliant magazine, whether or not we get a license.

Page 51 of the Orange book details the various requirements for the construction of Outdoor and Indoor Type 4 magazines.

Much less expensive than magazines made for just that purpose, metal shipping containers are commonly used to make outdoor Type 4 magazines They can be relatively inexpensively modified to meet the BATFE’s requirements. Page 54 has a table of distances to determine how far an outdoor magazine must be situated from inhabited buildings, highways, railways, and other magazines.

Remember the ATF places limits on the total, maximum weight of explosive material that may be stored in each type of magazine. If one wishes to install/construct an outdoor Type 4 magazine in their area, it’s useful to consult with others in your area who have done so, and with the BATFE to see what their specific recommendations and requirements are.

Many hobbyists install “Indoor” Type 4 magazines to have BATFE compliant storage for their activities. The requirements for these magazines are spelled out on Page 51.

Indoor Type 4 magazines may store a maximum of 50 pounds of actual explosive materials (does not include the weight of the containers, etc.) The magazine must be “fire-resistant and theft resistant.” “No indoor magazine is to be located in a residence or dwelling.”

An indoor magazine must be in a separate structure—not in a residence or dwelling. It appears that there is no minimum distance it must be separated from the residence of the hobbyist. The separate structure may be a garage or shed near a residence, but it may not be attached to it.

“Indoor magazines are to be constructed of masonry, metal-covered wood, fabricated metal, or a combination of these materials. The walls and floors are to be constructed of, or covered with, a non-sparking material. The doors must be metal or solid wood covered with metal.”

Covering any exposed metal to make it non-sparking can be as simple as painting it with a high-quality paint/coating such as epoxy-appliance-paint or rubberized truck-bed-lining/coating.

“Hinges and hasps are to be attached to doors by welding, riveting, or bolting (nuts on inside of door). Hinges and hasps must be installed so that they cannot be removed when the doors are closed and locked.”

“Locks. Each door is to be equipped with (i) two mortise locks; (ii) two padlocks fastened in separate hasps and staples; (iii) a combination of a mortise lock and padlock: (iv) a mortise lock that requires two keys to open; or (v) a three-point lock.”

From Wikipedia: A mortise lock is one that requires a pocket–the mortise–to be cut into the door or piece of furniture into which the lock is to be fitted. In most parts of the world, mortise locks are generally found on older buildings constructed before the advent of bored cylindrical locks, but they have recently become more common in commercial and up market residential construction in the United States.

“Padlocks must have at least five tumblers and a case-hardened shackle of at least 3/8-inch diameter. Padlocks must be protected with not less than 1/4-inch steel hoods constructed so as to prevent sawing or lever action on the locks, hasps, and staples.”

“Indoor magazines located in secure rooms that are locked as provided in this subparagraph may have each door locked with one steel padlock (which need not be protected by a steel hood) having at least five fumblers and a case-hardened shackle of at lease 3/8-inch diameter, if the door hinges and lock hasps are securely fastened to the magazine.”

So, if I have my indoor magazine in a shed, garage, or other building, which has a door, which locks with two mortise locks, the requirements for the lock on my magazine get drastically simplified.

“What the Hell??!!” I can just hear you saying right about now.

“How can I ever comply with all of this, only half of which I sorta understand?”

Well, it turns out it can be pretty simple, really.

An extremely simple indoor Type 4 magazine, which will satisfy these requirements, is a good-quality gun-safe, available at gun shops and sporting-goods stores. Make sure the locks meet the above requirements, and that the building is separated from your residence. Use epoxy appliance spray paint to cover any exposed metal on the inside of the magazine. Install some nice shelving in it. Drill some holes in the bottom and/or back of it to bolt it to the wall and/or floor to make it “theft-resistant.” And, there you have it, presto-chango, BATFE-compliant, Type 4, indoor storage.

Another option, which will come up if you search online for “lockable powder storage container,” is BATFE-compliant black powder storage boxes from sporting-goods outlets such as Cabela’s.

Here’s how you can convert a Ridgid Jobsite Storage Box, from Home Depot, into a legal Type 4 Indoor Storage magazine.

This is just one approach to creating an Indoor Type 4 magazine, compliant with the BATFE’s requirement that “all persons who store explosive materials must store them in conformity with the provisions of Subpart K of the regulations” contained in the Orange Book. (Page 68, Question 72)

Note: Please keep in mind that what follows is my interpretation of the specifications and regulations in the orange book, combined with the advice I have gotten from others. I’m no lawyer or ATF inspector. These regulations are always up to personal interpretation by the individual ATF inspectors in your area. If you have any questions about the below-listed points, it is best to clarify them with your local ATF office.

Let’s review the BATFE’s specifications for “compliant” storage.

Type 4, Indoor magazine:

• Is for storing “Low Explosives.” (no loose flash powder, no bulk salutes, no dynamite) (555.202 (b))
• May not be located in a residence or dwelling. (555.210 (b) Indoor (1))
• May only be used to store up to 50 pounds of explosives. (ditto)
• Need not be any “minimum distance” from residences or road. (555.206 only pertains to “Outdoor Magazines”
• Is to be fire-resistant and theft resistant. Need not be weather-resistant if the building in which it is stored provides protection from the weather. (555.210 (b) Indoor (1))
• Must be constructed of masonry, metal-covered wood, fabricated metal, or a combination of these materials. The walls and floor are to be constructed of, or covered with, a non-sparking material. The door/s must be metal or solid wood covered with metal. (555.210 (b) Indoor (2))
• Hinges and hasps are to be attached to doors by welding, riveting, or bolting (nuts on inside of door). Hinges and hasps must be installed so that they cannot be removed when the doors are closed and locked. (555.210 (b) Indoor (3))
• Each door is to be equipped with (i) two mortise locks; (ii) two padlocks fastened in separate hasps and staples; (iii) a combination of a mortise lock and padlock; (iv) a mortise lock that requires two keys to open; or (v) a three-point lock. (555.210 (b) Indoor (4))
• Padlocks must have at least five tumblers and casehardened shackle of at least 3/8-inch diameter. Padlocks must be protected with not less than 1/4-inch steel hoods constructed so as to prevent sawing or lever action on the locks, hasps, and staples. (ditto)
• Indoor magazines located in secure rooms that are locked as provided in the above specifications may have each door locked with one steel padlock (which need not be protected by a steel hood) (same lock specs as above) if the door hinges and lock hasp are securely fastened to the magazine. (ditto)
• There is to be no smoking, matches, open flames, or spark-producing devices within any room containing an indoor magazine. (555.212)
• The workspace used to manufacture fireworks must be at least 200 feet away from the magazine. Many hobbyist fireworkers maintain a pyro-shed, or a “work area” as simple as a portable table and tent-shelter, separated from the residence and storage magazine by a minimum of 200 feet.

I have a nice shed on my property. It is weatherproof. It is separated from my residence. I can create a “back room” in it, in which there are no spark-producing devices such as light switches, machines, or electrical outlets.

I can install two locks (a keyed entry lock and a deadbolt lock) on each of the doors leading back to the back room: the main entry door and the door to that room.

I can use the “front room” of the shed as a non-pyro workshop, as long as I keep the back room and magazine closed and secured during such operations.

So, given all of the above BATFE requirements and specifications, what sort of Type 4 indoor magazine could I put in the back room of my shed?

My pyro-buddy, Gary Smith recently sent me a picture of such a magazine design that he’s been working on. It got my “wheels turning.”

This is simply a Ridgid Jobsite Storage Box, typically used on construction sites for overnight storage of valuable tools and materials. I bought one of these boxes at my local Home Depot.

This box is constructed per the BATFE’s specifications, is coated completely with heavy orange paint, making it non-sparking, and is fire-resistant and theft-resistant, especially when it is bolted to the floor or wall.

It has two recessed areas for the kind of theft/tamper-resistant locking the BATFE specifies.

For the locks, Home Depot sells No. 17 Padlock Master Locks. They have 1” thick shackles, measured across the “points” of the octagonal cross-section. The shackles are “boron-carbide,” and the locks are specified as having stainless-steel rust protection.

The locks are specified on the package as having 1-inch of clearance between the shackle and the body of the lock when the locks are locked. The Ridgid job box instructions specify a Master No 5 lock, which has between 7/8 and 1 inch of such clearance.

So, it looks like these locks meet both the BATFE and Ridgid specifications. I’ll keep the lock-package inside the magazine in case a BATFE field inspector ever wants to go over the lock specifications to verify that they do indeed meet his/her interpretation of the agency’s requirements.

The locks are installed in the job box and held in place with u-bolts and nuts, which come with the box. When the door is closed, and the locks are locked, the body of the locks close around L-shaped bars, which project from the door. When the lock is unlocked, the lock-body slides out further in its little compartment and creates enough space for the L-Bar to slide into. (Trust me, it works just fine.)

When the door is closed and locked, the method of protecting the locks from tampering is as specified by the BATFE, including that the box is to be contained in a securely locked building.

Note: I whacked my projecting bars with a mini-sledge hammer to adjust them, so that the maximum length of the L part of the bars is engaged by the locks when they are locked.

I used a hand-held grinder, crowbar, sledgehammer, and wood block to remove the feet from the “bottom” of the box, which is now to be the “back” of the unit when it is installed as a magazine. Grinding the welds to cut them, and prying/pounding on them eventually got them off of the box.

Note: I have heard of serious incidents and accidents where someone using a grinding wheel or other grinder to sharpen tools or grind something else, has set off pyrotechnic compounds or fireworks which were stored nearby. Simply put, Do Not Grind Any Metal Near Pyrotechnics or Fireworks. Please!

I then figured out which way I wanted the door to open in the new box configuration. That then determined which end of the box would be the new “bottom” of it.

I used construction adhesive to reattach the feet to the new bottom, and to glue the swinging handle to the box, so that it would stay out of the way during installation. Placing the feet on the new bottom of the box, will keep the box up far enough off the floor to allow the door to swing freely without hitting the floor while opening and closing.

I allowed the glue to set up and dry completely before going on to the next steps.

I wanted some nice, wood shelves in the magazine, strong enough and far enough apart to support 5-gallon buckets of composition if needed.

I used some 3/4-inch-thick plywood, and some 1-inch X 1.5-inch wood scraps to create this shelving. All the wood is simply held in place with good-quality construction adhesive.

I ran a good bead of glue under the back edge of the shelves where they meet the back of the box to support them and prevent them from bowing under weight. Finally, I installed some wire-mesh “spice racks,” from the shelving department of Home Depot, on the inside of the door to provide some convenient storage for small items like one-pound cans of Goex black powder. These racks were installed so they fit between the wood shelves when the door is closed. The bolt-ends and nuts on the inside of the units were covered with clear caulking to make them non-sparking.

To install the magazine in the back room of the shed, I drilled four 1/2-inch holes in the back of the magazine, and used 1/2-inch lag-bolts and washers to secure the box to the plywood wall.

The heads of the bolts and washers were also covered with clear caulk to ensure they are non-sparking.

So, there you have it, one simple option for a legal magazine complying with the BATFE’s requirement for safe storage of explosives.

If an individual inspector ever disagrees with any of these design criteria, I’d be willing to explain the reasoning behind my “understandings,” and I’d be willing to be further educated on BATFE’s requirements and adjust my operation and magazine accordingly.

Happy fireworking, And stay safe and legal,

Ned

ngorski@skylighter.com

Fireworking Safety, the Law, and You is a post from: Confessions of a Fireworks Man

Introduction

Close your eyes and listen to this music. What do you see when you do so?

Click here to listen to The Who

If you don’t see a large fireworks mine-shot, followed by a line of 30-second strobe pots, ending with another large mine-shot, then you really need to be subscribed to the Quilting-101 newsletter instead of this one on making homemade fireworks.

Man, that music gets me in the mood for strobes. The first mine-shot would grab the attention of any fireworks-display audience. Then the soft and subtle section of strobes would calm them down and get them ready for their emotions to build during the show.

Strobe pots are among the simplest of fireworks devices and are easy to make. They can really add some of that low-level variety to a pyro-display that so helps to keep an audience’s attention.

“Hey, here’s something different,” they’ll say to themselves as they stop, settle in, and start to pay attention.

How do these pyrotechnic “twinklers” work?

It is not necessary, of course, to have a scientific understanding of strobes in order to make them. Like baking a loaf of bread, chemistry is not necessary. All you need is a recipe, the right ingredients, and a feel for the proper ways to manipulate those ingredients.

But, for the scientifically minded, there are a few informative resources, which explore the strobe phenomenon in depth. In the 1979 edition of Pyrotechnica, Number 5, Robert Cardwell, the editor and publisher of the Pyrotechnica series, wrote an article, Strobe Light Pyrotechnic Compositions: A Review of Their Development and Use.

In this essay, Cardwell explores the historical development of strobing compositions and presents quite a few different formulas.

Dr. Takeo Shimizu, in Fireworks, the Art, Science and Technique (FAST), originally published in 1981, writes about “Twinklers,” which is how he refers to strobing stars. He presents an outline of the development of these strobing compositions, progressing during the second half of the 1900′s.

Specifically Shimizu writes, “In Germany, U. Krone and F. W. Wasmann suggested that a twinkle composition consists of two kinds of compositions mixed with each other, i.e. a smolder composition and a flash composition-Ammonium perchlorate smolders when it is mixed with a small quantity of magnesium. This can be used for the smolder composition. A mixture of magnesium and sulfate flashes when it is heated to a high temperature. This can be used as the flash composition.”

So, interestingly, a strobe composition is actually a mixture of these two types of comps, a smoldering one and a flashing one. When the mixture is lit, the first one begins to smolder. When the heat rises high enough, the flash comp ignites and emits a flash of light and heat. Then the mass returns to the smoldering state until the heat rises high enough to repeat the flash.

In some compositions, magnesium-aluminum (magnalium) is used instead of the magnesium. Magnesium requires a coating to prevent it from prematurely reacting with the oxidizer in the comp.

Additionally, sometimes barium nitrate or other oxidizers are used instead of ammonium perchlorate.

In 1987, John “Skip” Meinhart offered some details about his noteworthy strobing star formulas in Pyrotechnica XI. Except for Shimizu’s White formula, and Skip’s Pink formula, all the rest of the formulas use magnesium as the metallic fuel ingredient.

In the 1992 Pyrotechnica XIV edition Jennings-White explores Blue Strobe Light Pyrotechnic Compositions. Up until that point in time, blue strobes had not been explored in depth because of some unique problems associated with the chemical mixtures required to produce that color in a strobe.

All of this information ought to be able to keep you reading until late into the night if you are so inclined.

Making strobe pots

I won’t be focusing on making strobing stars in this project, but only simple, ground-effect strobe pots.

I’m also not going to be making any of the formulations, which contain magnesium. As I said, using that metal requires a special coating process because it does not form an oxidized protective layer on its own, as do aluminum or magnalium.

There seems to be some debate as to whether or not magnalium needs to be treated and coated when it is used in compositions containing ammonium perchlorate. Meinhart states, “I have had success using magnalium powders that have not been treated with potassium dichromate. In practice I have often used treated metal powders, but this does not always seem to be necessary.”

Whereas in Hardt’s Pyrotechnics, Barry Bush notes that the formulas he cites which contain magnalium or magnesium in combination with ammonium perchlorate do “require the metal powders used to be treated with potassium dichromate.” Shimizu also specifies treated magnalium, and details the methods of treatment in FAST.

Shimizu does state that if there is any reaction between magnalium and ammonium perchlorate, which would be encouraged by the presence of water, it would only be a slow reaction in which the metal is affected gradually.

I have used untreated magnalium in these formulas, with no problems. One sign of an unwanted reaction would be the heating-up of the composition as I’m working with it, so I always pay attention to see if that is occurring. I avoid adding any water to such a composition. I also don’t store these devices for long periods of time, which could produce a slow reaction of the ingredients, especially in the presence of moisture.

So, I think I’ll make simple white and pink strobe pots. The white formula is the most commonly cited one:

White Strobe Composition

* Shimizu specifies 80-mesh, whereas other sources specify 100-200-mesh. The mesh of the metal is known to vary the flash rate of the strobe, so some experimentation is in order. Initially, I’ll be using 200-mesh magnalium, Skylighter #CH2072.

Barry Bush has an interesting note in Pyrotechnics concerning this formula. This formula “may be given a faster frequency by replacing the barium sulfate with anhydrous magnesium sulfate. The resultant fast strobe is sometimes called a “shimmer effect.” I’ll have to try this sometime in aerial-shell strobe-stars, since it is an effect I have admired in commercial shells.

Additionally, the flame created by this “white” composition is brilliant, but it does have a very slight green tint caused by the barium. Barium normally produces very green flames with the addition of a chlorine donor such as parlon or saran. Another experiment would be to include small amounts of these chlorine donors to shift the color of the white strobe pots to green.

The pink strobe pot composition is as follows:

Meinhart Pink Strobe Composition

All the chemicals (except the magnalium, which I don’t put through fine screens) are fine enough to pass through a 100-mesh screen. If they are not, they are milled individually in a blade-type coffee mill.

Note: Ammonium perchlorate does not play well with potassium nitrate. The combination forms ammonium nitrate, which is very hygroscopic, attracting moisture out of the air like crazy, rendering any mixture or composition containing it wet and useless. Don’t grind either of these chemicals in a coffee mill which has been used on the other chemical, unless the mill has been thoroughly cleaned with soap and water.

Warning: Potassium dichromate is toxic and a known carcinogen. A good respirator and rubber gloves are required when working with this chemical, and when using it in pyrotechnic compositions. Don’t breathe this stuff or get it on your skin.

All the chemicals for a given formula are weighed out individually and are passed through a 20-mesh screen 3 times to thoroughly mix them.

Then the composition is mixed with enough nitrocellulose (N/C) lacquer (Skylighter #CH8198P) to create thick putty, similar to Play-Do. I did not dilute the lacquer, but used it right out of the can, as-is. The one-pound batches required 3 ounces, by weight, of the lacquer.

I started mixing the composition in a plastic tub with a paint stir-stick, and finished by kneading it with gloved hands.

The dough is then pushed with gloved fingers into paper tubes to create strobe pots. I start this process by pushing the tube into the composition-putty to get the filling started.

Large pots can be made with 1.5-inch ID tubes, cut into 1.5-inch long sections. Or, smaller pots can be made with 3/4-inch ID tubes, cut into one-inch long sections, or even longer. While thicker-walled parallel tubes, like rocket tubes can be used, strobe-pot tubes do not need to be super-strong, so spiral-wound tubes like Skylighter #TU2142 or TU2053 can be used.

Large diameter strobe pots would be appropriate for large displays and venues. Smaller ones are nice in backyard size shows. Varying the length of the paper tube will adjust the total burn-time of the strobe pots, so their duration can be dialed in for specific uses.

For this project, I think I’ll make mostly 3/4-inch ID by 1-inch long strobes to determine how well they are working and how long they burn, plus a few other sizes to see how they perform, too.

Once the composition has been stuffed into the paper tubes, they are placed on their sides and set aside on a tray to dry out in the open air. N/C lacquer releases acetone and other highly flammable solvents as it dries, and I don’t want these vapors collecting in my shop as this occurs.

Toward the end of the tube filling, the remaining strobe-putty started to dry out and became difficult to consolidate into the tube. I added just a touch of acetone to the composition to re-dampen it.

It took 3 or 4 days for these pots to dry completely. When I tried to burn them before they were completely dry, they did not burn with a regular strobing-action, but with a more continuous flame.

Priming the strobes

The dry pots will light well if they are ignited with a piece of Visco-fuse or with a propane torch. But if I want them to ignite reliably with a fast-fuse or quickmatch line of fuse, then I need to prime them.

A black powder prime containing potassium nitrate cannot be used on these compositions because of the incompatibilities between the nitrate and the ammonium perchlorate.

In FAST, Dr. Shimizu lists a different prime specifically for this use.

Ignition Composition for Twinklers

*Skylighter #CH0174 aluminum would fit the bill in this prime.

After making sure all the individual chemicals (except the aluminum) will pass through a 100-mesh screen, I weighed them out individually and mixed them together by passing them through the 20-mesh screen three times.

I weighed out 1 ounce of the dry strobe prime composition, and added 1 ounce (by weight) of the nitrocellulose lacquer. This created a wet prime comp that had a consistency between that of honey and peanut butter.

I used a wood stick to apply this wet prime to one end of each strobe pot, and quickly pushed that wet end into some dry strobe composition for the final prime layer.

I perform one final operation to finish the individual strobe pots. I hot-glue a paper disc onto the bottom of each pot. This prevents sparks and/or slag from dropping and igniting the bottom of a twinkler prematurely as the pot burns. It also facilitates mounting the pots to a board when a show is being set up.

Mounting and fusing strobe pots for use in a fireworks display

Once the individual strobe pots have been completed, they can be mounted to a board and fused for easy installation out in the field prior to a fireworks show.

To do this, I simply hot-glue the pots to a board at the desired spacing. I find a spacing of 4 feet on-center to work well. Then a run of quickmatch or tape-covered fast-fuse
is used to fuse all the pots together. A “window” is opened up in the quickmatch-pipe, and the bared black-match is taped on top of the strobe pot with 3 wraps of masking tape.

The quickmatch can be ignited by a piece of Visco-fuse, or an electric igniter can be employed, per the information in How to Make Electric Matches and Wiring Fireworks and Firing Systems in a Fireworks Display.

Results

I burned white and pink strobes made with the 200-mesh magnalium. The white one burned for 15 seconds with a very fast strobe rate of about 10 flashes per second. The pink one actually looked red, burned for 23 seconds, and flashed about 4 times per second.

Warning: These strobe pots burn with an extremely brilliant flame and light. It is best to avoid looking directly at them to prevent eye damage. Placing the pots where their light can reflect off of a structure or trees makes their effect visible without having to look directly at them.

Click here to see a video of the white and red strobes.

I liked the performance of the pink/red strobe, but the white one flashed too rapidly for my taste.

So, I made a new batch of each color using 60-mesh magnalium. I know that using a larger granulation of the metal will slow down the burn time and also its strobe frequency.

Burning these new strobes produced the following results:

White strobe with 60-mesh magnalium, burned for 25 seconds, and flashed 1.5 times per second. I found this to be a very pleasing strobe frequency.

Red strobe with 60-mesh magnalium burned for 27 seconds, flashed at a rate that varied from slow to fast. This pot just couldn’t seem to find a groove and settle into it.

Check out the video of these two types of strobe pots:

Of the four variations I prefer the white strobe pots made with the 60-mesh magnalium, and the pink/red twinklers made with the 200-mesh magnalium.

Although I made mostly 1-inch long twinklers, I also made some larger ones. Two-inch long ones, made in the 3/4-inch ID tubes, burned as follows:

• 2-inch white strobe with 60-mesh magnalium burned for 40 seconds with about 2.5 flashes per second,
• 2-inch long red strobe with 200-mesh magnalium burned for 40 seconds with flashes varying from slow to fast again.

And, last but not least, I rigged up some white strobe pots using 60-mesh magnalium on a board and accompanied them with the music I linked to right at the beginning of this article. You can get the idea of what I had in mind in the first place as a nifty addition to a fireworks display. Click the video below of the three white strobe pots accompanying Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again.

I do like what these simple, low-level ground devices can contribute to a fireworks show.

Enjoy,

Ned

How to Make Flashing Fireworks Strobe Pots is a post from: Confessions of a Fireworks Man

A firework shell which bursts with a ring pattern, a smiley-face, or a star pattern can be a unique and creative addition to a fireworks display. Suddenly, after a procession of fairly typical full, spherical shell bursts, a simple ring of stars, or a display of four or five of them fired simultaneously, changes the focus of attention of the audience. “Hey, here’s something different,” they’ll think to themselves.

Pattern shells have some distinct advantages and disadvantages to their construction. They don’t use nearly the quantity of firework stars that a fully loaded shell would use, so if I have a few stars of a particular size and color, they might come in useful in a pattern shell. Patterns can be chosen to coincide with a particular theme in a show, with blue stars in a patriotic section, or pink hearts in a romantic interlude.

On the other hand, it will be hit-or-miss when it comes to the pattern’s orientation in the sky when the shell bursts. The smiley-face may display upside-down, or the ring may be seen on edge by a portion of the audience, looking more like a simple line in the sky. For this reason, most display designers choose to fire 4, 5, or 6 of the same or similar patterns at the same time. That will usually result in the audience in a particular location seeing at least 1 or 2 of them in the desired orientation.

If 6 ring-pattern shells of different colors are fired at once, the audience at one end of the field may see, say, the blue and red ones as true rings, and imagine all of them being the same shape.

Ring shells can use simple color stars, which leave no tail behind them, as in the photo above, or tailed stars can be employed, as below.

This Escher print, “Vuurwerk,” is on the cover of Pyrotechnica XI. It shows a pattern I would expect a ring shell of slow-burning, silver-tailed stars to display. It would have to be oriented so that the ring broke “flat” in order to display the “parasol” of stars just right.

A small rising comet tail produces the “handle” to the umbrella.

An advantage to using patterns such as rings, stars, squares or triangles is that they can break in many directions that still have them look correct, as long as they don’t break on-edge to the viewer. A smiley-face has to break in just the right direction to be recognizable.

The star-in-a-ring pattern shown below would look correct if it was rotated any number of degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise. It would also look fine if it was flipped 180 degrees front to back. The only way it would not show up well is if it broke on-edge to the viewer.

My friend, Mike B., made the heart-pattern shell shown below. While it did not break on-edge to the audience, unfortunately it did break almost upside-down. The fortunate thing about hearts is that they look good in almost any orientation, and the audience can make out what they are supposed to be representing.

I want to make a blue star-pattern shell. I don’t want to make my stars much smaller than 3/8-inch in diameter, so that they burn long enough to allow the pattern to show up. Additionally, ball shells break more symmetrically than cylinder shells. For these reasons, I’ve settled on assembling an 8-inch ball shell for this project. With 3/8-inch stars, a smaller shell simply wouldn’t allow the use of enough stars to create a nice star pattern.

The general construction techniques I’ll be using when assembling and finishing this shell were detailed in Fireworks Shells in 2-1/2 Days – Part 2, Part 3
and Part 4. I’ll be using 1/4-inch time-fuse in this shell, though, instead of a spolette. The use of time-fuse was explained in Really Nice 4″ Platic Ball Firework Shells.

The first thing I did was draw a pattern of the stars that would fit the inside diameter of one of my 8-inch shell casings, which has an ID of 7.25 inches. 360 degrees divided by 5 gave me 72 degrees between each of the points of the 5-pointed star, which I measured out with my protractor.

My 3/8-inch pumped stars actually end up being about 7/16-inch in diameter once they are primed, so I drew lines of that size star on my pattern. Precision in these initial planning stages, right through the actual construction of the shell, will result in a more precise star-pattern in the sky when the shell bursts.

I took a piece of tissue paper, cut a circle out of it about 1/2-inch larger in radius than my drawing above, and traced the star pattern onto it.

Then I made some blue stars. Firework Shells in 2-1/2 Days – Part 2 and Part 3 included instructions for making and priming pumped stars.

Although I didn’t need a large number of these stars, it was important that all the stars were consistent in size. For this reason I used a 3/8-inch star plate to make a pound of the Shimizu Blue star composition included in the table of formulas in 14 Great Cut Star Formulas.

I dampened this star composition with an additional 10% water, and pumped and dried the stars. I primed them with the black powder “meal prime” which is also in that star formula table cited above. I add an additional 5% of 200-mesh magnalium to the prime, which improves the ignition of perchlorate stars.

As I said above, the shell was constructed in the standard fashion, except for the details below.

Once I had the time-fuse and passfire-tube installed in the shell casing, I hot-glued a 1.5-inch wide tissue paper ring inside each hemisphere at the equator. These bands served the purpose of locking the shell’s contents into the hemispheres later on when I closed the shell.

Then I filled the fused hemisphere with black-powder-coated rice hulls, folded the tissue-paper band over onto the hulls, and hot-glued a tissue-paper disc onto the whole shebang to cover and seal it. As I loaded the hemi with the coated hulls, I packed them tightly one layer at a time to make sure the casing was solidly filled. I also filled the hemi slightly higher than the equator. This half of the shell held 29.4 ounces (825 grams) of the coated hulls.

Then I filled the un-fused hemi with coated rice hulls up to within about 3/8 inch of the rim. I made sure the rice hulls were tightly packed and very level. This filling was loosely capped off with the tissue paper disc which had the star-pattern traced on it.

Starting with the points of the star, blue stars were lightly hot-glued onto the tissue pattern. These stars only had a small dot of hot glue put on them where they touched the pattern. Just before the shell bursts, the tissue paper disintegrates and the stars are free to fly out in the star shape.

Then I filled in around the stars with more black-powder-coated hulls, tightly filling all the voids and bringing the level of the rice hulls slightly above the rim of the casing. This hemi actually took about 35 ounces (1000 grams) of the coated rice hulls, for a total of about 4 pounds (1800 grams) in the whole shell. This was all capped with another hot-glued disc of tissue paper.

Because the tissue paper rings and discs were glued to the shell casing hemispheres, it was easy to flip one of the hemis over onto the other and close the shell up, ready for pasting, lifting and leadering.

With the blue stars sandwiched between the layers of tissue paper, with the rice hulls really packed in tightly and the hemis overfilled and slowly tapped and brought together, the star pattern was held firmly in place.

I’ve developed a nifty trick for bringing the stuffed hemis together at the equator. I use 4 strap-clamps, available at Home Depot or stores which cater to woodworkers.

As the clamps are slowly tightened, tapping the shell with a solid, heavy rod brought the two halves together and solidly packed the contents. Then the joint was closed with strips of masking tape. This method is so much easier than “laying” on the shell while tapping it in order to close it.

Warning: I use a non-sparking, aluminum rod for tapping on the shell. But, the metal strap-clamp parts are not non-sparking. I’m working around relatively exposed black powder on rice hulls during this process. I’m very careful to avoid smacking the metal clamp ratchets, which could potentially cause sparks.

Then I pasted the shell, allowed it to dry, and lifted and leadered it. A small rising comet tail was attached to direct the viewer’s eye toward where the shell will break.

When I shot this shell, it did indeed break a bit on its “side” relative to the camera, as shown in the photo below. There were viewers down and to the left of the shell-burst, and they said that the star really looked nice, big, and symmetrical.

Oh, well, maybe I’ll get to see it next time.

Here’s a link to a video of the shell in action.

I enjoy making pattern shells. They offer a unique challenge in shell construction, and use less of the chemicals that go into stars. More black-powder-coated rice hulls are used than in a typical chrysanthemum or peony aerial shell, but these are the less expensive ingredients.

I think an audience enjoys the variety that these pattern shells bring to a display.

The next time I make a shell like the one in this project, I think I’ll add a red ring around the blue star pattern so the sky is filled a bit more when the shell bursts.

I’m working on my version of a way to at least have aerial shells burst with their equators level with the earth. This will allow rings, star patterns, etc, to display well for anyone underneath them. The method is one that I’ve heard about over the years, but have never seen, where a rope is attached to the bottom of the shell to produce drag on the shell’s way up. This keeps the shell oriented with its “bottom” down on the way up.

I plan on shortening the shell’s time fuse delay so that the shell bursts before apogee while it is still oriented correctly. I’ll keep you posted on the progress in this project.

Have fun and stay green,

Ned

Making a Firework Star Pattern Shell is a post from: Confessions of a Fireworks Man

There is a beautiful photo on the cover of Dr. Takeo Shimizu’s Fireworks, The Art, Science and Technique (FAST). At the top of the picture is a huge, double-petaled, fireworks-shell starburst, with several smaller star-flowers between it and the ground. And, at the very bottom of the shot is a spray of stars shooting upward from the ground where the shells were fired: a mine.

Similarly, the back cover of Hardt’s Pyrotechnics shows a rainbow of 5 colored mine-shots, with corresponding colors of small and large starbursts over each one.

Fireworks mines, or star-mines, can be used in conjunction with aerial shells to create such an effect, filling in the low sky as the shell bursts fill the middle and high sky.

These devices are also very effective during a fireworks display when they are fired as a mine-run: a series of firework mines fired in sequence from various spots on the field in harmony with beats of music in the soundtrack.

A single mine, a mine-run, or a wall of simultaneously fired mines all serve to bring the audience’s attention back down to the ground, providing contrast and variety during a fireworks display.

For precise timing of electrically fired mines, putting the electric match right down in the lift powder eliminates the objectionably noticeable, split-second delay, which occurs when a length of quickmatch leader is ignited by the electric match.

If I am going to put the e-match into the lift powder, I still attach a couple of inches of quickmatch to the electric match, with the e-match’s protective shroud in place. This ensures that quite a bit of flame will be introduced into the lift powder, and it further protects the e-match from premature ignition due to shock or friction.

One of the clubs I belong to, The Bluegrass Pyrotechnics Guild, has assembled and fired literally thousands of 4-inch mines over the years for our displays at the PGI annual conventions. These devices can be very easily constructed, and they provide a nice hand-made touch to a fireworks show.

In this article I’ll detail two methods of constructing 4-inch firework mines. But, these methods can be applied to any size mine, from 1-3/4-inch through 6-inch models. Simply by varying the size of the stars, the materials used in the assembly, the amount of lift powder, and the size of the mortar from which they are fired, mines can be tailored in size to any effect and any venue.

Each 4-inch mine will use about one pound of stars. I like to use 1/2-inch stars in 4-inch shells and mines, and in mines, I prefer a fast-burning star, which burns out before it reaches apogee and begins to fall back to the ground.

For this project I’ll use two variations of one type of star, commonly known as Gold Spider Web (Ofca’s Volume 5, Mastering Cut Stars the Easy Way) or Chrysanthemum 6 (Shimizu’s FAST). This is a very fast-burning charcoal streamer star which is easy to make, and which produces bright streaks of sparks in the sky.

So the final working formula was:

The individual chemicals are screened through a 100-mesh screen, and any that will not pass the screen are milled in a coffee grinder
until they will pass. (I have a grinder that I only use on oxidizers like the potassium nitrate, and one for fuels such as charcoal. Except for when I am ball-milling black powder, I never mill complete compositions, only individual chemicals.)

After I screen the chemicals individually, I mix them through the 100-mesh screen, and then shake them in a closed plastic tub. 1.3 ounces of water is added (+8%) to the composition, and it is thoroughly shaken in the closed tub once again. The dampened pyrotechnic composition is then pushed through a 20-mesh kitchen colander to completely incorporate the moisture into the composition.

I use my 1/2-inch star plate to press 1/2-inch diameter by 1/2-inch long stars, as detailed in Fireworks Shells in 2-1/2 Days: Part 2, which I dry overnight in the drying chamber.

The stars are then primed, as shown in Fireworks Shells in 2-1/2 Days: Part 3, and dried overnight again.

I make two, 16-ounce batches like this, and one 16-ounce batch of the same composition with 3.2 ounces (+20%) of 10-185 mesh spherical titanium
(CH3001) added to the composition after all the 100-mesh screening is done. I never put any metals through my fine screens. The addition of this titanium will produce bright silver-white sparks as the stars burn, creating a silver-streamer star.

So, with these three, one-pound batches of stars, I can now proceed to make three, 4-inch mines.

There are some extremely simple ways to assemble mines. “Bag Mines” can be as simple as a paper bag with some lift powder in a baggie on the end of a fuse-leader inserted into the bottom of it. Then some stars are poured in, the neck of the bag is tied closed and she’s ready to fire.

In Introductory Practical Pyrotechnics, Tom Perigrin shows how to make a simple mine by installing a baggie of lift on a quickmatch leader, sliding that into a cardboard-tube mortar. Then dropping in some stars, bundled in some tissue paper, into the tube.

These simple mines are functional, but they’ll typically not fire all the stars out the top of the mortar together and in a straight column of fire. Because there are some stars to the sides of the lift powder, they get fired a bit sideways and bounce around a bit in the mortar before they exit. Some of these stars can “ploof” out of the gun and drop onto the ground.

So, I like the following slight variations on the simple-mine theme. They are more effective at getting all the stars lit and out of the gun in a straight-up spray of stars.

Typically, firework mines use the same amount of lift black powder, and the same amount of stars, as a cylindrical star shell of the same diameter. I like to refer to the charts on Pages 138-140 of The Best of AFN II to determine these amounts.

For a single-break, 4-inch cylindrical shell, 1.5 – 2 ounces of commercial 2FA black powder is recommended for the lift powder. I’ll use 1.75 ounces in these mines.

I have made three 24-inch lengths of homemade quickmatch for the mine leaders. Similar lengths of commercial quickmatch (GN3001), or super-fast paper fuse (GN1205) (wrapped in aluminum foil duct tape), can also be used as mine leaders.

I then weigh out the three 1.75-ounce loads of 2FA lift powder, and put them in individual plastic baggies. The one-inch of black match protruding from the quickmatch leaders is folded back on itself, and then inserted into a baggie of lift. Masking tape is used to seal the baggie around the leader, and the extra plastic trimmed off with scissors. Then a final wrap of masking tape seals the baggie/tape to the quickmatch.

If I’m only going to make a few mines, and I want them to be top-quality, I build them this way.

First I make a “piston” to go between the stars and the black powder lift charge. Here’s a photo-essay of that process. It uses two 4-inch kraft discs (DK3401 or DK3500), a 2-inch length of 3/4-inch ID tube (TU2053 or TU1065 or TU1068), and a 2-inch length of 3-3/8-inch or 3-1/2-inch OD tube (TU2300).

Places like HarborFreight.com sell the sets of hollow gasket punches for ridiculously low prices. I much prefer to make the holes in discs with the punches instead of with a drill.

This piston will allow the lift-gasses to pass through it, igniting the stars, and will evenly push the stars out of the mortar and into the air in a tight column.

The center holes in the discs are 1/2-inch diameter and are large enough to allow the quickmatch leader to be threaded through them. The other holes are 3/8-inch diameter, keeping these holes smaller than the size of the stars that I am using.

Now, I position the piston on an 18×24-inch piece of kraft paper as shown. The paper is rolled up around the piston and glued to itself with hot-glue. Then the end with the baggie of lift powder is gathered together, tied with string in a clove-hitch knot, and trimmed with scissors. This is my mine casing.

Kraft paper is available from stores like Staples or Costco (white butcher paper), on-line from places like ULine.com, or paper grocery bags can be used.

Now, it’s a simple matter of dumping the pound of stars into the open end of the mine casing, gathering the kraft paper around the leader, and tying it securely in place.

When filling a mine like this, I like to keep the depth of the stars equal to the diameter of the mine. So 3-4 inches of stars in this mine is my goal.

A piece of Visco fuse is inserted and secured into the end of the leader, which is then S-folded. A safety cap can be installed over the fuse, and a band of masking tape sticky-side-out, followed by a band of tape sticky-side-in, secures the bundle until the mine is to be loaded into a mortar.

Here are shots of the two mines made this way. They had different types of charcoal in the stars, commercial airfloat and homemade poplar airfloat, but I didn’t see any significant difference between the two.

As you can see, the piston pushed all the stars out evenly, and very high. Nice, bright, fast and dramatic mines.

The above “high-quality” method produces very nice, traditional firework mines, but it is a bit time-consuming. When the Bluegrass guild wants to construct several hundred mines in an afternoon, we’ve developed the following system. It is quick and easy, and while it does not allow the use of quite as many stars, and the quality of the mine-display is not quite as nice, it is a very effective method for producing large quantities of mines quickly.

We start with the same lift-bag/leader configuration as shown above.

Two disposable plastic drinking cups are used for each mine. For these 4-inch mines, cups that are 3-5/8-inches in diameter at the top are ideal.

One of the cups has its bottom perforated with a hot, pencil-tip soldering iron. I’ve tried using a drill for this operation, but often the cup-bottom will crack when doing so.

The mine leader is inserted through the center hole in the cup. That whole assembly is placed into the second, intact cup, and the perforated cup is filled with stars. In this case, it held 12 ounces of the stars.

Then the assembled mine is sealed with four, 9-inch strips of aluminum-foil duct-tape. The leader is completed with Visco fuse and S-folding as shown with the paper-cased mine in the Method #1 above.

This mine was made with the silver-streamer stars, which contained spherical titanium. While it did not contain the same quantity of stars as the previous two mines, and it did not fire quite as high as they did, it was still a very nice, bright mine.

Here is a link to a video of the three mines in action. They were all impressive, firing 30-40 feet into the air, and producing unique effects.

While these are simple devices, they can be crafted with care, and will add variety to a fireworks display.

Have fun with them, and remember, “A mine is a terrible thing to waste.”

(I hope that line at least elicited a groan or two, if not a chuckle. My wife, Molly, only gave me that blank “wife’s” stare, and that curled-up lip, when I said it to her.)

Until next time, Enjoy!
Ned

Making Homemade Fireworks Mines is a post from: Confessions of a Fireworks Man

What do I mean by a “spectacular” black powder rocket?

By this term, I am thinking of a great looking firework rocket, with a unique tail as it ascends, followed by a long-lasting, eye-catching heading. Maybe I have in mind a rocket that I wouldn’t know how to improve on. (Of course, I am playing with two-pound versions of this baby already, since bigger is almost always better, or at least different.)

Here is a link to a video of the glitter rocket we are about to make, to get your juices flowing, and so that you don’t have to read all the how-to information before you get to see what it is we’re trying to accomplish.

You’ll notice that the rocket does not fly into the stratosphere. It stays relatively low, allowing the audience to watch the graceful, arching glitter trail, and then to be close enough to the sparking horsetail header finish to be able to really appreciate it. This was all done by design, and I wanted this to be a really satisfying “fireworks rocket”, not a high-powered machine.

I described end-burning black powder rocket-and-girandola motors, in a past post, but this project will focus on core-burning rockets.

In Fireworks Tips #65, John Werner discusses the construction of core-burning, black powder sky rockets, specifically 1/2-inch ID (4 ounce) models. John is a master pyro craftsman, and his articles are well-written, detailed, and complete. This one is no exception.

Toward the end of his article, after describing the rocket’s construction in detail, John includes a “Troubleshooting” section, some options for “Modifications and Enhancements,” and answers to some “Frequently Asked Questions.”

I don’t believe in constantly reinventing the wheel, so I’ll simply use John’s article as a foundation and base of reference for this one. I will be constructing 3/4-inch ID, one-pound, black powder rockets in this project.

When I wrote my first article for Skylighter I focused on making clay nozzle and bulkhead mix, and I will be using those mixes in this project.

I discussed black powder techniques in Making & Testing High-Powered Black Powder
, and that BP will be used in the shell headers for these rockets.

I will be cutting and treating tubes, Skylighter #TU1065, as I described in Cutting and Hardening Fireworks Tubes.

I discussed making small plastic can firework shells and those small shells will be used as the headings on the rockets made for this article, with some minor modifications in technique.

I showed how to pump stars and make blackmatch in Firework Shells in 2-1/2 Days – Part 2, and how to prime the stars in Firework Shells in 2-1/2 Days – Part 3, and I’ll make stars and blackmatch using those techniques, with a special star formula for these rocket headings. (Flying fish fuse could also be used in this project with a nice effect.)

Quickmatch pipe was illustrated in Firework Shells in 2 1/2 Days – Part 4, and I’ll be using some of that this time around, too.

And, last but not least, I’ll be showing how to attach some glitter comets, to achieve an extraordinary rising tail with these rockets.

Special techniques for finishing the rockets will be described so that the finished product will be safe and look nice even before it is fired.

So, you can see that all the skills and techniques that have been described in the past years start to build on themselves and come together in this stunningly beautiful rocket I’m about to describe.

You have your homework. Fire up your printer, and get the above mentioned articles in front of you. Study them, and assemble your materials. Then we’ll get to work.

Note: One thing you’ll hear from experienced fireworkers is, “Always take good notes about your experiments and projects, and keep them in a good notebook for future reference. A year from now you won’t be able to clearly remember which of those experiments was the one that worked so well if you don’t take good notes.”

One of the extremely beneficial things about writing these Skylighter articles is that they then serve as my notes, when I might have been too lazy to follow the above advice otherwise. I also have access to the notes of others like John Werner. If you print out the articles, and then annotate them with your own modifications, they can serve as your notes as well.

In Firework Shells in 2-1/2 Days – Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4, I described the process of making “Nice Shells in 2 1/2 Days” at a fireworks event such as a local club gathering or the annual PGI convention.

I think I’ll approach this rocket project in the same way, wherein a fireworker travels to a pyro event with absolutely no complete pyrotechnic materials, and makes everything from scratch at the event, and only in the quantities needed for this project. This eliminates any worry about licenses, storage, or transportation.

In Fireworks Tips #111, Harry included a shot of him and me at the most recent PGI convention out in Gillette, Wyoming. One of the great things about the convention is the opportunity to work alongside others as fireworks devices of all sorts are constructed.

Speaking of kids at the PGI convention, the Junior Pyros there always plan and execute one of the best shows of the week. The next generation of fireworkers is nurtured and brought along slowly and safely. Where would I be now if I’d started in all of this at the age of 15 instead of 35?

So, let’s imagine we are bringing some materials and supplies to the PGI convention, and we are going to build a few of these fine rockets. I’ll actually scale this project so that 10 of these babies can be constructed in a two-day period.

I will arrive on site, and begin building on Friday morning, with the goal of flying some rockets Saturday night. I’ll want to plan my activities according to a time-line.

Before I even leave for the event, I accomplish a few things on the project:

• Print out all how-to articles and formulae.
• Unwind 40 feet of 16-ply cotton string with which to make black match.
  
  
  Untwisted 16-Ply Cotton String

• Clean all my rocket tooling and lubricate with Sailkote (by Team McLube, available online or at sailboat distributors). This is a great lubrication product, which allows the tooling and spindle to release very easily from the rocket motor and tube. I also spray it on my star plates, comet pumps, and the aluminum rod I roll my match-pipe on.
  
  
  SailKote Spray Lubricant

• Treat and cut my rocket tubes to 7-1/2 inches.
  
  
  Ten 3/4-Inch ID, 7-1/2-Inch Long, Rocket Tubes

• Roll twelve, 18-inch lengths of paper quickmatch pipe
  
  
  Paper Match Pipe for Quickmatch

• Rip rocket sticks on my table saw. I like to rip sticks out of clear poplar from Home Depot. A 5-foot piece of 1×3 will yield 18 sticks, 5/16-inch square. It is also possible to use round wood dowels, but I much prefer square sticks. 5/16-inch square sticks are nice because I can rip a 5/16-inch wide by 3/4-inch strip off my 1×3, and when I rip that strip in half, my 1/8-inch thick sawblade leaves two 5/16 x 5/16 square sticks.
  
  
  Bundle of Freshly Cut Rocket Sticks

Tasks to accomplish on Friday:

• Making 40 feet of blackmatch
• Making 10.5 ounces of black powder for header-burst, and for star and comet priming
• Mixing, dampening, screening, and drying the rocket fuel
• Pumping and priming stars
• Pumping and priming glitter comets

That ought to be a good day’s work, and after drying things overnight in the drying chamber, I ought to be able to assemble some rockets on Saturday.

I first set up my work station; I have a pop-up tent, work tables, and a chair. I’ll need extension cords and a generator if no electricity is available where I’ll be working. I might need a light if I get delayed too much on my timeline as I chat with pyro-pals. Some plastic sheeting can come in handy in the case of a sudden rain shower.

I have my drying chamber in which to dry various products as they are produced. It’ll be especially handy to have an electric outlet somewhere, even if it’s not right at my work station, so that the dryer can be plugged in there and left running all night long.

I have my tool box with my miscellaneous hand tools, my measuring cups and spoons, my little digital scales, some funnels, my miter box and saw for cutting tubes on site, and the various supplies which will be mentioned as I go along.

I’ve brought along some food and a cooler of drinks, so I don’t have to pause for long in the midst of my pyro activities.

Note: As I go along describing this project, I’ll be applying materials and methods that I have described in the articles above. I will not be re-citing those articles in the text below. I’ll trust you have the references available and are familiar with them.

I take the 40 feet of my untwisted string and make blackmatch out of it. It’s a nice, warm, sunny and breezy day, so I string it up between two trees, tied onto nails, to dry. Before it gets dark, I’ll cut it into 18-inch lengths and put it on a screen in the drying chamber.

For this batch of blackmatch, I used a formula with a slight variation. 15 ounces of potassium nitrate, 3 ounces of commercial airfloat charcoal, 2 ounces of sulfur, 0.8 ounce of dextrin, and 0.2 ounce of CMC (Skylighter #CH8080). This batch took about 14 ounces of water, added carefully and stirred in with a paint stirring stick, avoiding getting the slurry too wet.

Replacing one-fifth of the dextrin in the original formula with the CMC produces a nice, smooth black powder slurry, which does not separate as I use it, and which produces a nice, smooth coating on the cotton string.

I run 7.5 ounces of potassium nitrate, 1.5 ounces of airfloat charcoal, 1 ounce of sulfur, and 0.5 ounce of dextrin through my 100 mesh screen and onto a piece of kraft paper. I know from experience whether or not the individual chemicals will pass the 100 mesh screen, and if one won’t, I’ll run it through my blade-coffee-grinder
first to pulverize it. I never run pyrotechnic mixtures through the grinder, only individual chemicals.

Then I run the mixture through the 40 mesh screen in order to intimately mix it.

I weigh 3 ounces of this mixture into a plastic tub, add enough water to it to make a putty out of it, and grate it through the 4 mesh screen. This will become black powder granules to be used to burst the shell headers. I have determined that it will take 0.3 ounce of this powder for each of the ten rocket headers.

This granulated black powder, made with dextrin as the binder and not ball-milled, is called “polverone” rough powder (see Pyrotechnica IX, Traditional Cylinder Shell Construction, by A. Fulcanelli), rather than a hot black powder. I don’t want a hot powder; I simply want to ignite the stars in the headers, and pop the headers open, allowing the lit stars to cascade down in a “horsetail” effect.

The remaining 7.5 ounces of the powder is set aside to be used for priming the stars and comets.

John Steinberg, Kurt Medlin, Steve Majdali, and Brent Anderson teach a “Black Powder Rockets for Beginners” seminar several times throughout the PGI convention each year. It’s a wonderful, hands-on seminar in which the basics of black powder rockets are taught, and folks actually get to make a rocket of their own to take out to the rocket range and fly.

They use a rocket fuel formula which creates a pretty rocket tail during flight, has enough power to lift a nice heading, yet is foolproof enough that even beginners can ram a rocket and have it fly every time.

Each of the ten motors in this project will use 2 to 2.5 ounces of the fuel, so I’ll make up a 24-ounce batch of it.

The potassium nitrate, airfloat charcoal, and sulfur are all screened through the 100 mesh screen. Then the coarse charcoals are added to the mix and it is all screened through the 40 mesh screen 3 times, and shaken in a closed tub to completely mix it.

Then enough water is sprayed onto the powder to dampen it to the consistency of brown sugar: just slightly damp, so it will barely stay together in a ball when squeezed in a fist. The water is worked in with gloved hands, and the fuel is pushed through the 16 mesh kitchen colander screen several times to fully integrate the moisture.

The fuel is then pushed through the 8 mesh kitchen colander screen and onto kraft-paper-lined screens to sit out in the sun and breeze during the day. I bring it in to dry in the drying chamber overnight.

The dry, mixed powder, can be used as-is before granulation, but wetting and granulating it significantly decreases dust during the motor ramming and probably increases the power of the fuel.

I want a slow-burning star which will form a “horsetail” when ejected from the rocket headings. One of my favorite stars is Willow Diadem, which is a long-burning, charcoal, Willow star, with the inclusion of some Ferro-Titanium and Titanium for metallic sparks in the stars’ tails as they fall.

I’m going to use 2 ounces of the stars in each of the 10 rockets, for a total of 20 ounces of stars.

Note: The original formula, as it has been passed around, specifies the metals as fine FeTi, medium FeTi, and medium Ti sponge.

This composition is made into 3/8-inch pumped stars and primed on one end. To prime them, I simply spritz them with a little water as they all stand on end in a tray, dust on a little of the BP prime that was set aside earlier, and spritz them lightly again. Then I tumble them a bit and place them on a drying screen.

The plastic can shells that I’ll be using for the rocket headers are 2 inches in diameter, so I want to press 1/2-inch thick comets that same diameter. Each of these will use 1.5 ounces of D1 glitter composition, so I want to mix up 15 ounces of it.

This composition is mixed, dampened, and pressed into the comets, and then primed.

Everything that was in the drying chamber overnight is dry as a bone this morning. It’s time to start making some rockets.

I’m going to assemble the headers first. These small shells will be identical to the 2-inch plastic can shells I described in How to Make 2-Inch Firework Cylinder Shells, with a couple of exceptions.

Note: Similar rocket headers can be assembled using kraft paper, paper discs, chipboard or manila folders, and glue if plastic shells are prohibited at a particular shoot site.

The fusing on the bottom of the shell will be quickmatch instead of time-fuse. I want the headers to pop at the same moment the rocket fuel burns out and passes fire out the top of the motor and to the header.

I cut a 1/2-inch long piece of the paper match pipe, insert two 2-inch pieces of the blackmatch (cut with anvil cutters or a razor blade), pinch the pipe around the match and fold over the excess paper pipe. This fuse gets glued (hot-glue on the outside only), into the hole I previously drilled in the bottom of the plastic can (not the hole in the shell cap).

Then 0.3 ounces of black powder is poured into the shell, the tissue paper disc inserted, and then the stars are added.

I use a coping saw to remove the fuse-hole protrusion from the plastic casing cap, and then I use PVC plumbing cement or thickened methylene chloride to glue the cap on the shell. The capped shell can be tapped with the handle of my awl, and as many more stars as possible can be introduced through the hole in the cap.

Next, a 1-1/2-inch paper disk is hot-glued into the recess of the shell’s cap; then a 2-inch disk is glued on; and finally the comet is glued on.

And that completes the assembly of a rocket header.

My work table has been cleaned up from the previous processes, and I’ve laid out my materials for ramming the rocket motors. Nozzle clay mixture, bulkhead clay mix, rocket tubes, rocket tooling, pounding post, rawhide mallet, 1/2-tablespoon measuring spoon, funnel, rocket fuel and paper cup.

The pounding post I actually use is 24-inches long. I like to work with a small amount of rocket fuel in a paper cup, keeping the tub of fuel closed rather than having it sitting open with all that fuel exposed.

All my tooling drifts have rubber o-rings on them to further minimize dust, which has already been reduced by granulating the fuel. The drifts also have ‘do-not-pass’ marks on them so they don’t hit or get stuck on the spindle.

When hand-ramming these motors with the specified tubes, a tube support-sleeve is not necessary. Care must be used with the ramming/hammering so that I achieve good, consistent consolidation, without over-stressing or splitting the tube.

Note: I suppose the first real question that popped into my head back when I first assembled the materials to ram rockets was, “How will that dry clay and rocket fuel stick together with just pounding on it? Don’t I need to moisten it or something?”

The answer is, “Nope.” The dry powders will consolidate into a solid grain simply with the pressure of the ramming process. Pretty amazing!

Below is the kind of drawing I sketch up for each of my types of rockets once I dial them in. The sketches enable me to come very close to duplicating my results each time I make up another rocket of that type.

Of course, the details of the sketch will vary according to the exact tooling, tubes, and materials that are being used. But, if I keep those the same from batch-to-batch, the sketch becomes very useful.

A tube is placed on the spindle, a flat 1/2-tablespoonful (0.35 ounce) of the nozzle mix is placed in the tube, along with the nozzle forming drift. Then, 8-10 solid whacks with the rawhide mallet will form the nozzle. I try to ram the tube hard enough to create a very small bulge in the area of the nozzle, without it being seriously deformed or split. This seats the nozzle more securely and reduces the chances of it being blown out.

I have determined that this amount of pounding is equal to 1000 pounds of force being applied to the hollow drift, which is equal to about 3000 psi of pressure being applied to the composition. These are the figures I would use if I was using a hydraulic press to press these motors. With 1000 pounds of force, and with the solid drift, about 2300 psi would be applied to the composition.

When I begin to ram the fuel grain in the motor, I weigh out the amount of fuel that will be rammed with each drift, according to the specifications I’ve noted on the sketch, and put it in the paper cup. Then I scoop the fuel out of the cup, one increment (1/2 tablespoonful) at a time, until that amount of fuel has been rammed. Then I know it’s time to switch to the next drift, and I weigh out the total amount of fuel to be rammed with that drift.

This keeps me from having to constantly be counting the number of increments I have rammed, or guessing if it’s time to switch to the next drift.

The delay fuel at the top of the motor, approximately 0.3 ounce of it, is weighed out, and I add a flat 1/8 teaspoonful of fine spherical titanium to that fuel and swirl it around in the paper cup to mix the metal in. Then I ram those increments of delay fuel into the motor, being careful to only bring the fuel grain up to between 1 and 1-1/16 inches above the spindle.

This amount of delay fuel gives me the proper delay between the powerful thrust fuel burn, and the heading burst. When I was dialing the motors in, it is this amount of delay fuel that I adjusted to get the heading to burst at just the desired point in the rocket’s flight.

Once the delay fuel has been rammed up to the correct height, I plunge the open end of the motor into the bulkhead clay to pack the void full of that clay. Then I scrape off the excess clay, and ram the bulkhead.

Using a 1/4-inch drill bit, I carefully hand-twist-drill a hole in the bulkhead, just barely into the fuel grain. This creates the passfire hole which will transfer fire from the motor to the heading when all the motor’s fuel has been spent.

Twisting the motor off the spindle reveals a nicely formed central cavity. The motor is now ready for the final rocket assembly.

Whew! The hard part of this project is done. Now for the easy part.

I trim the black-match sticking out of one of the headers so that it is just long enough to go all the way to the bottom of a motor passfire hole when the header is pressed onto the motor. Then I hot-glue the header to the motor, and reinforce the assembly with some strapping tape.

Now I hot-glue and tape a 5-foot rocket stick to each motor. I glue the sticks on so that any bow in the stick curves it under the center of the motor. Instead of the stick curving out and away from the motor, or to the left or the right, I want it curving back in toward the centerline of the motor. I bevel the end of the stick with my anvil cutters to minimize drag (as if that big, clunky, flat-ended comet is aerodynamic).

It is now time to fuse these babies. I take two pieces of the black-match I made, and slide them into one of the paper match pipes. One of the pieces of match protrudes from the pipe 2 inches, and the other one only 1 inch. The pipe is crimped around the match for about 4 inches, and that end of the quickmatch is inserted into the rocket motor as far as it will go.

Then I bend the quickmatch leader up alongside the motor, and secure it to the motor and header with masking tape.

The quickmatch is folded over to the center of the comet, and bent upward. Using the awl, a hole is pierced in the match pipe, and an additional 4-inch length of black-match is inserted into the pipe and bent onto the top of the comet. This end of the match will pass fire to the comet while the other end ignites the motor.

I want the comet to ignite just slightly before the rocket motor does, so that the comet is really emitting its fire as the rocket starts to ascend.

The quickmatch and black-match are held in place with lengths of masking tape, and the quickmatch is cut with the anvil cutters to a length of 3 inches above the comet.

An 8-inch square of light tissue paper or wrapping paper is wrapped around the comet and header, and hot-glued to itself only. This creates a loose wrap which will protect the comet from unwanted fire, but will burn and fall away as the rocket ignites and ascends. This wrapper is tied around the quickmatch leader.

A piece of visco fuse is secured into the end of the leader, and a reusable safety cap, made of more match pipe, is installed to protect all the fusing from sparks (and to make the whole deal look a little more finished and pretty.)

It’s funny, but over the years I’ve seen other pyros who get to the point where they want to put as much effort into making the outside of their devices as attractive as they hope the performance of the inside will be.

Two days. I started with nothing but a few chemicals, some materials, and a few basic tools. Now I have a finished product that I can watch the video of, and look at the photos of, and I can step back and say, “Yep, I’m proud of that.” That’s why I got into all of this in the first place.

I’m gonna go back and watch that rocket video a few more times.

I hope you can follow these tips, create some of your own tricks, and come up with something you can be really proud of. Perhaps we’ll see the results at the next PGI convention.

‘Til then, Stay Green,

Ned

Spectacular Glitter Tailed Firework Rocket is a post from: Confessions of a Fireworks Man