Anyone else into homemade Ballistics\Pyrotechnics?

[JaiNobeZ]

Just wondering. Fire is my other potentially destructive hobby. Basically i like anything that's a bright light in the dark.

Anyways, i like discussing my projects with people that are interested, but my Physics and Chemistry teachers aren't anymore and you guys seem (largely) to be pretty intelligent so maybe you know a thing or two in this area...

 

[daveindelaware]

As for "destructive hobbies," when I was a boy I did a few stupid things involving gunpowder, fuses, and copper pipes. That's all I'ma gonna say on that subject. It was totally stupid, too. Luckily for me, I was indestructible back then. Kids will be kids.

A more current "destructive hobby" I enjoy now (as an adult) is shooting and firearms, although in a much much more responsible environment and mentality!

One day at a range event we had a representative from Cor-Bon show up w/ one or two blocks of ballistic gelatin. Granted, it was to show us the penetration and expansion of their new JHP ammunition, but it was still fun. After the demo, we tossed a bunch of the pieces onto the ground and people took turns trying to make them "hop" around.

You can make ballistic gelatin at home. The cheap way is using regular gelatin, but it's not a realistic comparison to actual human tissue. There are also companies who manufacture ballistic gelatin mix, but it's kins of pricey.

 

[Meatball]

Contact Flaminpyro, hes done stuff like fireworks for years I'm pretty sure.

 

[JaiNobeZ]

Lol... I've no idea where to get gunpowder here (Britain) where firearms and pretty much all fun explosive stuff is strongly controlled. Working on synthesising myself some Potassium Nitrate.

My ballistics isn't so much firearms (they're too strongly controlled here for it to be worth my while) as building big projectile firing... things. I build a tennisball mortar based on plans i found in a book. I need some help getting that to work, but even if it doesn't i'm proud of it. Maybe i'll wait 'til it's a bit warmer to try launching it properly.

Also, (here it comes) i've built some butane-fuelled handmounted flamethrowers. I've gone through design after design and found one i think seems safe. I could go on about this for hours at someone that's not really listening, so i thought it'd be worth telling you guys as at least one of you is bound to be interested.

 

[HumanSymphony]

I had a few fun times with flash powder

 

[photonaholic]

Yes I am into pyrotechnics and physics, Love it.

For the sake of safety, and to avoid giving the kids who read this forum ideas that may cost life or limb, I refuse to discuss this any further on an open forum.

Just to wake you up a bit, some 25 years ago a fella right up the street from me detonated a home brew "device" in his face.........

not a real good subject.

 

[JaiNobeZ]

Looks awsome! How can i get my hands on some? Make\buy it, from where and at what sort of cost?

 

[Deleted member 8382]

yeah, I'm very interested in explosives although I've never been able to get my hands on the real stuff. Here in Spain all this is strongly controlled...

 

[photonaholic]

Looks awsome! How can i get my hands on some? Make\buy it, from where and at what sort of cost?

My point exactly........

 

[JaiNobeZ]

Yes I am into pyrotechnics and physics, Love it.

For the sake of safety, and to avoid giving the kids who read this forum ideas that may cost life or limb, I refuse to discuss this any further on an open forum.

Just to wake you up a bit, some 25 years ago a fella right up the street from me detonated a home brew "device" in his face.........

not a real good subject.

Safety is one of the things i wanted to discuss. Or at least sort of... feel able to discuss. I've had accidents and my first rule is do nothing for the first time indoors, and nothing i wouldn't let my girlfriend do. Second is use long fuses and run the fuck away. Third is to always have a hose handy and fourth is to, when doing anything outside to make sure there's someone there to scrape me up and call an ambulance if it goes wrong.

 

[photonaholic]

Fair enough, Just promise that chemical formulations, how to get and where to buy stay out of the discussion.

Myself I always used electronics for the "trigger" it's far safer and more predictable.

What makes an accident happen is carelessness and lack of attention to details.

The guy up the street had no fuse, so he (gasp) made one.

 

[JaiNobeZ]

Fair enough. This is going to be one of those sorts of conversations.

Safety is my concern. I don't want to go through life letting safety and not being willing to take risks inhibit my ability to enjoy myself and learn through practical experience.

This debate is really not worth having. My opinion is it should be a person's choice whether to engage in activities that endanger their health. On the other hand, you're not doing this to protect me, you're doing it to protect the forum and i respect that.

Tell me how to delete posts and i'll get rid of this and you can forget about it.

 

[JaiNobeZ]

Heh... this is a weird conversation. The length of time it takes to post replies is inhibitting our ability to communicate... lol...

But yeah, fair enough. Synthesis and chemical-getting will remain out of this. I was basically interested because, call me an amateur but, i've never heard of flash powder. Is it what flash paper is coated in that makes it... how it is?

 

[photonaholic]

Flash powder if I recall is mostly powdered magnesium and used in magic shows to blind the audience momentarily while the "slight of hand takes place"

Flash paper is simply nitrated paper sheets that go "poof" and make a lot of smoke.

I will PM you my electric trigger, super safe and foolproof.

Any good with a soldering iron??

 

[Deleted member 8382]

Well, could you point me (in PM if necessary) to the right direction about where to find instructions and where to get the components?

Also, I'm really interested in electronic triggers, I'm also very interested in keeping my ass safe xD

 

[StridAst]

Meh, Be careful before you start messing around with this stuff. As I posted in another thread recently, Explosive making is bad news, esp if you get caught. A little over 10 years ago, I was having some fun with some modified fireworks. I simply tweaked existing ones to make one big firework, bigger, badder, and prettier then you can purchase. Sounds fairly mild right? This at least was for me. I've made quite a few little pyrotechnic devices in my life. nitrogen tri-iodide was one of my favorites, as well as nitrocellulose, black powder, a chlorine/hydrogen gas light activated 2 liter soda bottle bomb, (read: one of the most stupid and dangerous things I ever did, although I was proud my idea worked, and worked much better then I expected) and of course the usual standard potassium nitrate + sugar smoke bombs/dry ice bombs, etc. So the fireworks thing was fairly mild. I lit it off at 1:00 a.m. in an abandoned parking lot. Then found a cop was sitting there watching me light it off. I was charged with a second degree felony, and had the fun of doing a plea bargain to get it down to a class A misdemeanor. A nice fine was involved as well of course, and I was *very* lucky as I didn't have to spend any time in jail. This was just over the fireworks issue.

I shudder to think what would have happened had I gotten busted for something more serious then simple altered fireworks. I also shudder to think what would have happened if I got caught for anything like this AFTER sept. 11th....

Needless to say I haven't messed with fireworks, explosives, or any of that since that night. It was easily one of the worst nights of my life. I would HIGHLY recommend you don't dabble too much into this topic. Anyone reading this thread probably has a few recipes they could share. But it's not really worth it to do so, and encourage others to act that irresponsibly. The enjoyment is minor, the risk major.

just my 2 cents