Anyone else into homemade Ballistics\Pyrotechnics?

HumanSymphony said:

Now I wish to make a potato gun with a quad igniter thank you very much I just happen to have a stun gun too I found the best fuel to be this clear coat paint stuff I had. It has hydrocarbon in it. VERY flammable

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Yeah, the paint will work . . . once or twice and then the electrodes will be coated with paint and then its cleanup time. Hairspray, deodorant, lemon pledge all work well too, and they all leave crap in the chamber. Crap = misfires

One of the most flammable aerosols at my house is this stuff:



Sorry for the fuzzy image it's the only one I could find. It's called "PrimeFlo" and if you can see in the picture it is a "silicone lubricant". I can't find a can of it right now but I remember vaguely that it had three ingredients, none of which were silicon/ silicone. They all had really long names like "tetrahydroflouride" (just made that up lol). You can spray it onto the surface of a liquid such as plain old H2O and light it on fire, leaving just a burning trail on the surface of the water. Same thing with ground, pavement etc. Can't do that with WD-40!

I'm really mad I can't find a can of it now...

ossumguywill said:

^by the self-detonating gas bomb, do you mean the one that involves a condom and a jar?

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Sorry for the delay, i had not noticed that the question was for me (i'm becoming too old )

No, i mean about methane/oxygen ..... and, please, don't ask me for details, cause this is not an experiment to do at hobby/home level ..... the result is not as a salute or as a chlorine/alcohol bottle, it's more like an WW2 air dropped bomb

Don't blame your parents for something they can not even control, as there is no place you can buy flash powder, no one sells the stuff in bulk, the only way you can purchase it is when it's incorperated into fireworks as in an aerial salute, a bannger, an M-1000 even the firecracker has 50 ml grams of flash in it, and BTW an m-80 has 8/10 of a gram not 2 grams as someone mentioned earler. and if you buy roller coaster brand firecrackers they have titainium in them also for sparks realy nice.
the only other way to get it is make it, and it's not like making black powder. in basic flash there are only two ingreadents and one is made from metel very very fine metel and as such it is very static sensitive, have you ever walked across the carpet in your house and touched something metel and got a shock.... well that shock and something with even less current than you can feel will set off that flash you are mixing up and maby remove a few of your fingers or blind you in one or both eyes. Flash is not the explosive you want to be playing with when you have no idea of what you are doing ! I have seen licensed pyros with many years experence loose gonads and fingers and chunks of meat from there legs while making aerial shells with the stuf...
when your flesh is blown away from the bone it's not like being cut away, it's extreemly hard if at all possiable to sew back together due to the raggedness.
best not to mess with this stuf till you have some other experance with explosives and static electricity, jusy my $.02

ZRTMWA said:

Just turned 17, that pyrotechnicians class sounds awesome! I wish my parents would let me buy flash powder. I would use it as responsibly as a teenager with explosives can jk. I'm always very serious when it comes to blowing up stuff. Anyone else here tred to make a potato gun? I got it all made up but it wouldn't ignite the propane. Something to do with having 4% propane and 96% oxygen I think.

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you know, the more I read in this thread, the more I think that this is another subject that probably shouldn't be discussed on a public internet forum. In most places on Earth, making explosive devices at home is illegal, as well as detonating them in public. Other "projects" people describe could be considered illegal.

Ignorance of the law isn't an excuse with stuff like this. I don't think you can detonate a small bomb and tell the cops "I didn't know it was dangerous" because they'll just look at you like you've lost your mind.

TITLE 11 Crimes and Criminal Procedure
Delaware Criminal Code
CHAPTER 5. SPECIFIC OFFENSES
Subchapter VII. Offenses Against Public Health, Order and Decency
Subpart A. Riot, Disorderly Conduct and Related Offenses

§ 1444. Possessing a destructive weapon; class E felony.

(a) A person is guilty of possessing a destructive weapon when the person sells, transfers, buys, receives or has possession of a bomb, bombshell, firearm silencer, sawed-off shotgun, machine gun or any other firearm or weapon which is adaptable for use as a machine gun.

(b) Possessing a destructive weapon is a class E felony. This section does not apply to members of the military forces or to members of a police force in this State duly authorized to carry a weapon of the type described.....

(c) .... [omitted for simplicity for this post]

11 Del. C. 1953, § 1444; 58 Del. Laws, c. 497, § 1; 59 Del. Laws, c. 547, § 12; 67 Del. Laws, c. 130, § 8; 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1; 76 Del. Laws, c. 411, § 1.;

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I'm sure some of the things in this thread could be categorized as a bomb or destructive weapon. Just saying. Stay safe everyone.

not by a long shot. I had a bit of experience with utah code at least. (see above posts for legal trouble regarding this) Even a large firecracker is legally a bomb here in utah. Possession of a m-80 is a 3rd degree felony. Attempted possession is a class A misdemeanor. Lighting one off is a second degree felony. This also applies to dry ice bombs. There might not be any combustible pieces in dry ice, however it's still a bomb.


Regardless of a low explosive vs a high explosive, by the time you have built something out of it, you have made a bomb. You can legally buy black powder, but making home made firecrackers with it is legally bomb making. If you want to make firecrackers legally you need the proper training, and the kind of license that Flaminpyro has already mentioned.

Flat out. If you don't go through all the legal red tape, then almost everything discussed on this forum is bomb making, and therefore a felony to do, and the strongest class of misdemeanor to even attempt to do.

EDIT: and I agree completely on let's not discuss this over open internet forums. The last thing anyone wants is some young kid losing fingers, or worse by trying anything here. Even the relatively minor things can still be dangerous. And when we try to give enough info to get a point across, but not enough to build something, we risk someone tinkering around trying to figure it out. (read: probably lose a hand or more)

Also, this depend not just from the laws of your country, but also from how much are bad the officers and judges that catch you, or if they need or not to give a public example (or from how much they woked up bad the morning that they charge you ..... yes, in Italy also this count )

As example, here, if the judge decide that he/she is pissed off enough, that day, also just modifying a salute is a "illegal making an explosive device" charge ..... and also if you can demonstrate that your modified salute is inside the legal limits, they can still charge you for have done the work "outside an ambient with the obligatory safety devices and precautions", and give you thousands of euro of fines, if not worse ..... same way, there was already some peoples that was charged for "illegal detention of explosives" just cause they buyed a lot of fireworks for a party (please note, LEGAL fireworks, commonly sold also in supermarkets) ..... and when they said the fireworks are legals, the judge replied "one by one yes, but a box full of them is illegal detention of explosives" and condemned them (and they do the same each time, near the end of the years, just for "give an example" ..... )

And at the opposite side, some really illegal makers still sell at end-of-the-year "deadly toys" like "maradona bomb" (around 1 Kg of powder), or worse "zidane head" (7 Kg of powder stored in a sphere of hardened cardboard ..... practically a war frag bomb) as salutes .....

Just for give you an idea about our "equal for all" laws

Then there's the burlesque side ..... if you can demonstrate that the things that you have at home are for your legit work / use, you can keep enough "funny things" for a half war, with less risks that the one that you have keeping fireworks ..... as example, i can easily build some really bad devices, and also worse substances (SSHHH ..... who said binary nerve gas ?) , with the chemicals that i have at workplace (as any other peoples that knows something about inorganic chemicals ), but at the same time, all the chemicals that i have here, are here for legit uses and are needed for my work .....

(by the way, don't get a wrong idea about this ..... i only CAN do all these things, but, being fundamentally honest, at least til now , i don't build these things, nor for fun nor for other purposes ..... er ..... *cough* ok maybe some salutes for the end of the year *cough* )



EDIT:

StridAst said:

and I agree completely on let's not discuss this over open internet forums. The last thing anyone wants is some young kid losing fingers, or worse by trying anything here. Even the relatively minor things can still be dangerous. And when we try to give enough info to get a point across, but not enough to build something, we risk someone tinkering around trying to figure it out. (read: probably lose a hand or more)

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About this, i agree too, but i'm seeing on free channels like youtube, as example, so much wrong "instructions" and bullsh*ts, given as good informations, that sometimes i feel the need to burn some of the idiots (making them a compliment) that post them ..... some of the things that i have found online are just non-working stupidity, but someothers are a sure way for lost at least your hands, if not your life ..... damn stupids :tsk: :scowl:

I realise i'm sort of... not on good grounds here. If you guys want me to delete the post, I will. Otherwise, I'd say we could continue to discuss what we've done, just not how.

In other news, i'm trying my first "gun" this weekend (aside from my failled mortar firings). Granted, it's my dad's lead-pellet airgun which probably isn't even at killing distance at point-blank, should still be interesting. I've never been that interested in the firing of guns as such, but i might as well try it out.

HIMNL9 said:

Then there's the burlesque side ..... if you can demonstrate that the things that you have at home are for your legit work / use, you can keep enough "funny things" for a half war, with less risks that the one that you have keeping fireworks ..... as example, i can easily build some really bad devices, and also worse substances (SSHHH ..... who said binary nerve gas ?) , with the chemicals that i have at workplace (as any other peoples that knows something about inorganic chemicals ), but at the same time, all the chemicals that i have here, are here for legit uses and are needed for my work .....

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I here you there. I've got enough cyanide at my work to drop a few elephants. As well as nitric, and sulfuric acids in high high purities. Add in a few things that nitrate quite easily. But then, these chemicals are for work, and merely possessing the chemicals that you COULD build bombs, use for poisons is not a crime. Thankfully the laws tend to allow for things used legally, even if they are easily used for other purposes. Otherwise the world would be a much more boring place without a lot of nice things that can only be made with nasty nasty chemicals.

About this, i agree too, but i'm seeing on free channels like youtube, as example, so much wrong "instructions" and bullsh*ts, given as good informations, that sometimes i feel the need to burn some of the idiots (making them a compliment) that post them ..... some of the things that i have found online are just non-working stupidity, but someothers are a sure way for lost at least your hands, if not your life ..... damn stupids :tsk: :scowl:

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Meh, sometimes I think someone needs to hunt down those stupid idiots and give them a nice stay in a hospital burn unit, listening to the poor people in there. If that doesn't scare them straight, nothing will

Flaminpyro said:

Don't blame your parents for something they can not even control, as there is no place you can buy flash powder, no one sells the stuff in bulk, the only way you can purchase it is when it's incorperated into fireworks as in an aerial salute, a bannger, an M-1000 even the firecracker has 50 ml grams of flash in it, and BTW an m-80 has 8/10 of a gram not 2 grams as someone mentioned earler. and if you buy roller coaster brand firecrackers they have titainium in them also for sparks realy nice.
the only other way to get it is make it, and it's not like making black powder. in basic flash there are only two ingreadents and one is made from metel very very fine metel and as such it is very static sensitive, have you ever walked across the carpet in your house and touched something metel and got a shock.... well that shock and something with even less current than you can feel will set off that flash you are mixing up and maby remove a few of your fingers or blind you in one or both eyes. Flash is not the explosive you want to be playing with when you have no idea of what you are doing ! I have seen licensed pyros with many years experence loose gonads and fingers and chunks of meat from there legs while making aerial shells with the stuf...
when your flesh is blown away from the bone it's not like being cut away, it's extreemly hard if at all possiable to sew back together due to the raggedness.
best not to mess with this stuf till you have some other experance with explosives and static electricity, jusy my $.02

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Whoa ouch man, I was not blaming my parents for anything. I might not have decades of experience but I certainly understand the dangers. I was just wishing I had some. I know no one sells it and 50 milligrams is the limit. With your statement I've now heard m80's can have anywhere from .8 to 3ish grams.

It should be very clear that the laws change vastly depending on where you are.... I'm sure in south africa kids could get a hand grenade with a couple bucks. It's usually better just to NOT mess with this stuff, especially without lots of training.

Imma put my simple 2 cents in

POTATO CANNON = FUN!
I have a fairly simple one, that I am in the process of putting a chamber fan in (which I recommend)

i do alot of it.
YouTube - Rapid Decomposition Of A Stump
YouTube - New Log Splitter
YouTube - Movie Fireball Explosion Test

Never mind the names, the content is what matters

^LOL @ "rapid decomposition"
I have to watch the rest, but that was great. Ironically, most people that "decompose" stumps that way use the stuff from the store designed to speed up the natural decomposition of a stump... I always found that kind of funny for some reason.

@HazzWold1993: Wow! So glad I made this thread! I like your explosions and I like your sense of humour... lol...

Thanks for the compliments:thanks: