A newer pyro made this formula, following the advice of experienced pyros. The mistake he made was to take the 'I prime everything' guideline to heart, and applied it to this comp- which the instructions in Weingart did NOT include. He also had a friction ignition (due to operator error), burned down his shop, got charged, and almost went to jail. It cost him over 70,000 USD. I decided not to try this allegedly beautiful formula that I have never once seen a video of in action. Potassium chlorate can bite you! It's like having a pet gorilla.
When you got the accidental friction ignition, was most of the cake still intact, and did it catch fire? I sure hope you were doing that outdoors and could pull away quickly, since that could generate a lot of heat and throw ignited stars or chunks around. I suppose you've read of more recent methods with chlorate-lampblack stars wetting with a minimum of water and a little bit of nonionic wetting agent (Don Haarman suggested spray cleaner like Fantastik; Lestoil would be the classic) instead of first taking it up in alcohol. I've primed other chlorate stars with mill mix or other BP comp, including the sulfur -- sometimes even rough powder with tiny LUMPS of flour of sulfur visible -- but no friction, because I cut the stars first, then primed them. I might've had priming powder all around them as I cut the cake, but the knife wasn't cutting thru the sulfur comp, and the freshly cut surfaces were still damp. The reason not to prime THESE stars isn't that it's dangerous, nor that chlorate stars generally don't benefit from priming (many do), but that THESE in particular don't need priming, especially since they have considerable KNO3 content. And did you notice lampblack showing up in the strangest places for a while afterward? And that soaps and detergents are much better at MOBILIZING lampblack than at cleaning it up?
Why do most stars use chlorate instead of perchlorate? In my experience perchlorate has worked fine and seems safer. I heated some straight perchlorate and dark al flash on an old crappy hot plate till the perchlorate literally melted and absolutely nothing happened. It's still dangerous and should be treated with respect but it just seems a bit safer
@@dudetapedtoafridge3073 Chlorate's a little bit cheaper and has a lot of established formulas using it. I would say that by now, there probably *is* a slight majority of star compos that use a perchlorate rather than chlorate. When you way in your experience perchlorate as worked fine, do you mean with lampblack stars or just in general?
For some organic compositions chlorate is simply superior. And if you want a somewhat fast burning mix with barium chlorate, you must simply add some metal fuel, although in this case you should of course be really, really careful.
That's a super beefy motor nice box. Does the motor have speeds or an rpm control to slow it down & how big are those canisters. Way out of my league for now but it's nice to dream. Nice wasp machine too those things are amazing in action. They make those a couple towns away from me in CT. Killer star roller looks like a small mix portable concrete mixer. Beautiful screen set too the wood frame & bucket models. To top it off awesome drying box. That's a monster press. Very nice stuff. It'd be like Xmas morning for any pyro coming over to ur shop. Thanks for sharing
Wow I’ve never seen this method for making stars thanks for sharing. Question for you. Since this method seems pretty messy, do you think that this composition can be rolled with a star roller using the toro method? Or is this not a good comp for rolling?
way over done I use to make black match by hanks method easy peasy.Not all this stuff.keep everything simple people dont make it difficult unless its difficult fireworks are fun just be safe
You picked a bad time to get out of the hobby you have just about everything a fellow needs and all done the rite way. Two thumbs up on the ball mill and on the drying chamber nice stuff...
I have said that I was no longer in this hobby at least 10 times lol. Every year I find something else I see that I want to make and try. It's always nice at end of our show on the 4th me and my buddy always set off a bunch of homemade jobs and testing stuff. Most of the time the crowd likes the homemade stuff better the the store bought .
Just a suggestion, if you are using a booster mite want to cut that out, all of them were broken too hard. The willow diadem should have only had a bag break of 6 to 8 grams and that's it. I know the boom is nice to hear but if the effect is blown out then it was just a salute. Looks like you are on the rite track though with some nice comps especially like the buttered popcorn. Keep it up fellow pyro...
Will take that as a compliment regarding my ability to make decent BP. Nope, no booster, just BP coated rice hulls. I do appreciate suggestion to decrease force regarding willow breaks. FYI also though, I no longer am in this hobby.
BlueCoral55, are your stars dry yet? I made this comp a little better than 30 years ago, no problems with Winegart's recipe. I didn't have a press of any kind, and when I found the mix became so fluid, I simply poured it all, ( the mess) into a cake pan and let it dry for a few months. Once they bacame dry...... I just broke up the already cracked, (like a dry lakebed) dry comp and into some smaller bits, I loaded the pieces into a shell and fired it off. What a gorgeous effect. Beautiful, long lasting spark trails. Very impressive! Readers, if you haven't tried this mix, do it, you won't be disappointed. They DO take a long time to dry, so be patient, now is winter time, and that's a good time to make it. The chlorate doesn't make it too sensitive, so normal precautions there, and they take fire easily, so really, priming requirements are minimal! Stay Green! and thanks for the video Blue!
