fireworks collection for the 4th

[iskor12]

I'll stick To chinatown in SF has anyone ever been!!!

I'm on the hunt for an m1000

SF China town is great.....Just be sure you don't go one street over...(Red light district)

Yes I know...Some one from Illinois giving advice about SF....I have been there many times.

 

[iskor12]

LOL you guys read totally to much into my posts. I never said you were not a responsible adult or not experience. It has nothing to do with that. You would have to sign a legal contract, not a piece of paper. Even with that you might have to pull an exposition permit ect. We are not talking about firecrackers LOL. There are many legal angles, and liabilities involved with pyrotechnics. I don't care if you sleep with the stuff, accidents happen, period. Many pyrotechnic factories have blown sky high, and they know exactly what they are doing. Hey I hope he hooks you up...I was just saying don't count on it.

It's all good. I have boughten many (Illegal) fireworks before in the past. Some rather large. All that I had to do was to sign a paper and give them my license number.

 

[styropyro]

I'm on the hunt for an m1000

An m1000 is just a marketing term, the only real "m" firework is the m80 which was used in military simulations. M90s, m100s, m100s, etc are all just marketing ploys for the same thing as a firecracker, even though they may look bigger they can only have 50mg of flash powder in it if you are in the US.

 

[nikokapo]

Oh god, I wish we'd have a 4th of July equivalent here, people don't spend more than $10.00 in fireworks here.

Take pics, obligatory!!

 

[rocketparrotlet]

I got a great homemade fountain design for anyone who wants to build one!

Mix KNO3 and sugar in 20:11 ratio, then add some magnesium powder (different amounts produce different effects). Diaper together, pour into a tube, add nitrocellulose lacquer as a binder, and mix it all together carefully. Add a small amount of black powder on the top as a starter. In my experience, it made a 15-second fuchsia jet of flame!

-Mark

 

[Kenom]

according to our local radio we have the largest fireworks display in a few states. Now how they would know this is beyond me but they advertise that they shoot off 130,000 mortars. This of course takes MANY hours to shooot off. From 10-12:30. My kids can never stay awake long enough to see them all.

 

[rocketparrotlet]

according to our local radio we have the largest fireworks display in a few states. Now how they would know this is beyond me but they advertise that they shoot off 130,000 mortars. This of course takes MANY hours to shooot off. From 10-12:30. My kids can never stay awake long enough to see them all.

Fireworks displays are beautiful and impressive, but they're's really something about setting off your own, ESPECIALLY if you made them yourself.

-Mark

 

[Jaseth]

We sadly don't have this in Europe, wonder why

I will however be drinking excessively as I finish school forever on the 3rd, so I will give you guys a little thought while I am partying for another type of independence.
Remember: Pictures or it didn't happen!

Seb

 

[themandalorian]

Oh I'll take Pictures Jaseth. Explosives are too fun, and it's the one time Police are pretty lenient otherwise I wouldn't play with them too much

 

[rocketparrotlet]

Is it possible to detonate ANFO without the use of homemade high explosives or commercial blasting caps? A stable, easy-to-make high explosive sounds like a lot of fun (in small quantities of course!), but I do not want to risk making nitroglycerine or acetone peroxide to set it off. Would any common chemical mixture be able to set off a high explosive?

Additionally, how can I go about achieving detonation in gun cotton? I have heard that it is possible, but I am not sure how exactly to do it.

Does calcium carbide have any use in pyrotechnics? The stuff smells so bad, I don't want to open up the bag unless I have to.

EDIT: Answered one of my questions.

-Mark

 

[styropyro]

ANFO is VERY hard to detonate. Duds happen all the time when using just AP, I usually hear of people using a secondary like Picric Acid or something like it to set it off. There is no easy chemical mix that will set it off, you are basically stuck to primary explosives.

Don't quote me on this, but I think gun cotton can self detonate if you confine it enough and you use enough of it.

Calcium Carbide has no use in pyrotechnics. It can do some cool demos though, like the exploding bubbles trick.
YouTube - Fire without matches!

Edit: I forgot to add, small quantities of ANFO are pretty pointless, under a kg of it usually results in pretty much a dud IIRC.

 

[digital_blue]

Is it possible to detonate ANFO without the use of homemade high explosives or commercial blasting caps?

In short, no. While you may get it to "go off" with flashpowder, you will not get the "full effect". If you need to detonate ANFO, I recommend a Mercury fulminate or TATP. Lead styphnate will work but you may want to take into consideration the sensitivity of it.

I've sucessfully detonated ANFO with a mixture of nitromethane, tetryl booster and some primers.

Additionally, how can I go about achieving detonation in gun cotton?

Guncotton is very similar in behaviour to smokeless powder. Anything you use to detonate smokeless should detonate guncotton...

small quantities of ANFO are pretty pointless, under a kg of it usually results in pretty much a dud IIRC.

It depends how much you confine it. Best way is to confine it to a metal pipe with both ends capped or a granite charge hole(mining operations).

 

[rocketparrotlet]

Thank you both for the help about ANFO. Making primary explosives at home is too dangerous for me to partake in right now.

Regarding gun cotton...I guess I can try some things with it, but I don't really understand, if confined, wouldn't it just deflagrate? Also, it is very similar to smokeless powder because nitrocellulose is a main component of smokeless powder. I am looking to achieve an actual detonation with it, I guess I can try with some flash powder mixes, but I'm staying away from any actual high explosives for the time being.

Crap, I just realized I'm out of black powder! I have to make black powder at my friend's house, so all I've got is a little bag of green mix, which is mostly useless. I thought it was black powder before I had done any actual research, and just mixed charcoal, KNO3, and sulfur together. I have, however, found one use for green mix which I cannot explain. When I mixed some of it into one of my fountain designs, which is magnesium powder and sugar bound with nitrocellulose lacquer, the result was a huge fireball instead of an orange flame and a shower of white sparks. Why is this?

-Mark

 

[digital_blue]

Regarding gun cotton...I guess I can try some things with it, but I don't really understand, if confined, wouldn't it just deflagrate?

Containment is a MUST if you wish to "detonate" nitrocellulose; otherwise it would just deflagrate. If you can, break open a round of ammunition and try burning the powder. I recommend ABS pipe with endcaps; you can use a metal pipe but be aware of the potential for dangerous shrapnel and static discharge...


If you're interested in dabbling in HE's, start with RDX or straight nitromethane. Don't start on NG, PETN, TNT since the synthesis of these compounds are slightly trickier...

 

[rocketparrotlet]

RDX seems quite hard to make! How would I make nitromethane? All I can find is stuff for racing.

PETN and TNT seem hard to make as well, but nitroglycerine doesn't seem hard at all. I have 70% nitric acid and 93% sulfuric acid and glycerine already, it would only be a matter of purifying the acids to 98% before I could actually make the nitroglycerine.

Primary explosives that I think I could make at home are mercury fulminate, nitroglycerine, and TATP. However, I don't want to make any of these, as they are quite unstable, and I don't want to blow myself up.

-Mark

 

[Flaminpyro]

according to our local radio we have the largest fireworks display in a few states. Now how they would know this is beyond me but they advertise that they shoot off 130,000 mortars. This of course takes MANY hours to shooot off. From 10-12:30. My kids can never stay awake long enough to see them all.

Dam, forget what I got I'm comming there to see your show !!! :bowdown: haha

Yes you guys have wide open spaces and it just takes more fireworks to fill em up !! :yh::yh::yh::yh::yh:


Have a happy and safe 4th All... Pyro... :eg: