Tricks of the Trade
J Zitelman
"rec.pyrotechnics"**
I've been into pyrotechnics for about a year and a half now. I spent the
summer as a pyrotech at a local themepark, mainly loading, to learn more on
handling devices and have since taken the test for my license. At this point
I'm interested in starting to make my own devices and have been looking
through "Introductory Practical Pyrotechnics" by Tom Perigrin. I was
wondering if anyone out there knew of any tips or tricks?
I saw a post that mentioned ramming kitty litter into a tube to make an end
plug for a fountain. Anything along those lines is much appreciated.
Jeff
> wondering if anyone out there knew of any tips or tricks?
>
Spend $25 and join www.passfire.com - the best web published source of
pyro info out there.
Jeff
Jamy Crossman
You can get almost everything you need from a ducting fan. These are thrown
out regularly at some places. There is a company next to my house that is always
throwing them out. I don't know what the company does but I guess they might be
renovators.
Kitty litter should be ball milled before using it as an end plug, unless you can
press it frikin' hard (large hydrolic press with sleeve I suppose).
Ceramics supply stores are a great place for chemicals. I guess if you live in
the US this is null and void since you have better sources.
Firefox has better prices than Skylighter on most things.
Stinger missiles are really cool :-).
Don't make black powder in a pyrex coffee container from a coffee maker (as
mentioned in Introductory to Practical Pyrotechnics).
Coffee mills are not water proof. If you clean them with water they will get
ruined shortly. The bearing rusts. Maybe you could oil the bearing if thought of
it before hand. Afterwards, it is too late.
You can get free iron turnings from the garage if they turn brakes. Remember to
coat them in paraffin.
If you know someone who has a metal lathe you can probably get free aluminum
turnings.
Aron
source of aluminum? I'm thinking in that case you could get junk cracked
heads and manifolds and shave them down. Also, in that case, you could
probably find an automotive machine shop that would let you take their
shavings. What do you think?
"Jamy Crossman" <jamyd_0...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3E0B6DF6...@yahoo.com...
Jamy Crossman
friend, then I would deffinently ask the automotive machine shop. For that
matter any place that produces an amount of shavings be it aluminum, magnesium,
iron or whatever will probably give you some for free or a very small charge.
They usually would throw it out or get a pittance for selling it to be recycled.
Yes, I think the aluminum from automotive intake manifolds and heads would
be a suitable source of aluminum. There are of course many other sources too,
aluminum is easy to come buy. Shaving these sources down is the hard part.
Fortunately some guy (forget his handle) posted details about a metal grinding
machine a while back and it has been discussed quite a bit.
Kyle Kepley
live in
> the US this is null and void since you have better sources.
Actually, ceramic supply shops are a good option in the US as well. The
prices are considerably cheaper than the hobby suppliers, they just don't
have nearly as many of the chems. They are a good source for red iron
oxide, cryolite and a few others as well as bentonite and grog.
-Kyle