HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: giddy@ac.dal.ca
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
Subject: Mea Culpa
Date: 10 Oct 92 07:57:16 -0300
Organization: Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

In my last posting, I requested help with electrolysis of KCL to make
KCLO3.

In the body of the message, I typed KNO3 by mistake. 

Netcops be advised, I do know the difference.:-)

(one costs more):-)

Thanks, Bill

Happy thanksgiving to all north of the 49th.

Kevin
From: kjurena@lonestar.utsa.edu (Keith R. Jurena)
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
Subject: Re: Flash & Bang
Date: 9 Oct 92 03:30:46 GMT
Article-I.D.: ringer.1992Oct9.033046.28975
Organization: University of Texas at San Antonio

In article <003316g.20.718570840@ace.acadiau.ca> 003316g@ace.acadiau.ca (STEPHEN EDWARD ELLIOTT GREGORY) writes:
>	I'm trying to make something that will make a bang and a lot of
>smoke and I figured this was the place to ask.
>	Any suggestions?
>
How about flash made with zinc dust?  Should make lots of ZnO smoke.
Or how about flash inside a sugar/saltpeter casing?  These are not tried and
true so I assume NO RESPONSIBILITY.
>
>
>
>Steve Gregory                                  003316G@ace.acadiau.ca
>
>
>BE ADVISED THAT DUE TO THROUGH FRUSTRATION USER 003316G, A.K.A STEPHEN
>GREGORY, HAS LOGGED OUT, AND IS TAKING AN AXE TO THIS TERMINAL...
>WHAT !?! HEY STOP! DON'T DO TH^&gxi
From: fisher2557@iscsvax.uni.edu
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
Subject: questions about the cannons
Date: 15 Oct 92 13:00:03 -0500
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

Just got a few questions and comments on a few subjects popping up lately...

(1) in reguard to the tennis ball cannon, is it possible to take the
    lighter that has been described and simlpy bend the included wire and
    fuel supply line so that the lighter's handle remains intact, which
    looks like it would make a fine trigger.  Just pull the trigger a little
    bit to inject some butane, wait a sec, and pull the trigger all the way
    to ignite.  No need to construct a trigger, squirt fuel down the barrel,
    and is much simpler.  Would probably work 30-50 times on one reload of
    butain, too.  Still have to fight with making a handle for it, though...

(2) also in reguard to the cannon, I plan on constructing one of these
    little toys...  due to the fact that I don't want paint can shrapnel in
    my arm, is it safe?  I don't normally trigger explosions that are supposed
    to go off three inches from my hand... (or in other words, what happens if
    too much fuel (or too powerful a fuel) is used? (call me lefty?)

later,
 Nathan

Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
From: ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Iskandar Taib)
Subject: Re: Unresouceful Unknowing Morons
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 01:09:55 GMT

In article <Bw2Kxy.5sM@acsu.buffalo.edu> v064myby@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Christophe J Quaranta) writes:
|
|	I am suprised at all the posts dealing with "I can't obtain any
|chemicals."  I have had no problem getting oxidizers & stuff through the
|mail.  I can't believe that people posting on this net would be so stupid!
|	I don't see any harm in shipping perchlorates, etc, when I can
|pick up the phone and have 4 gallons of nitromethane shipped to my doorstep.
|Now which is more dangerous?  A solid which can decompose to produce oxygen
|if heated to 300 degrees, but can't burn on it's own and is not shock 
|sensitive, or an extremely flammable, mobile liquid that can support it's
|own combustion, and is even capable of detonation under certain circumstances?
|	I believe there is a company called Firefox which specializes in 
|Pyro chemicals.  Anyone have the address - post it, or E-mail it to those 
|who don't have it.

Where do you buy the nitro and how much? I'd be interested indeed.. if it
didn't cost $37 a gallon ..


(Don't worry.. I just want to mix up some model plane fuel)...


-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iskandar Taib                          | The only thing worse than Peach ala
Internet: NTAIB@SILVER.UCS.INDIANA.EDU |    Frog is Frog ala Peach
Bitnet:   NTAIB@IUBACS                 !
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
From: farb@ecr.mu.oz.au (William_Cuming FARROW)
Subject: Re: Tennis Ball Cannons
Summary: Who you calling Stupid
Organization: Computer Science, University of Melbourne, Australia
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 16:02:12 GMT

In article <1992Oct8.133451.7409@iscsvax.uni.edu>, fisher2557@iscsvax.uni.edu writes:
> In article <BvpH1J.DJ2@acsu.buffalo.edu>, v064myby@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Christophe J Quaranta) writes:
> > 
> > 	Some friends of mine in Ohio made an excellent tennis ball cannon.
> > It used a large coffee can as the c.c., and 5 or so soup cans as the barrel.
> > About 1 inch from the back of the c.c. was a can lid cut to the shape of
> > a turbine wheel. They affixed this in place and put some metal scraps between
> > it and the back of the coffee can. This was so the fuel could be mixed well
> > with air.
> > 	It worked quite impressively, although
> > I only saw it fire in our apartment complex so I'm not sure how many metres
>                      **^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>                      IS THIS NUTZ OR WHAT??!!!
	No Way ! We do it inside also at our Residential College.
	It saves time looking for the ball, and adds that excitment
	to everyday life. No one has been hit yet, and isn't likely
	to be hit in the future. I guess it would be like being hit 
	by a tennis serve.
	Now the flaming tennis balls are done outside (use shellite).

> > the ball would've gone.
> > Gasoline was the fuel used.
> > 					Latre,
> > 					Chris
> 
> Testing stuff like this indoors is positively STUPID.
	Only if you don't know what your doing,
	Over here, we can't even get ANY fireworks, because
	they are dangerous, which is also stupid because we
	now have to make our own.

Billy Boy  farb@ecr.mu.oz.au
From: 003316g@ace.acadiau.ca (STEPHEN EDWARD ELLIOTT GREGORY)
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
Subject: Flash & Bang
Date: 8 Oct 92 19:00:40 GMT
Organization: Acadia University


	I'm trying to make something that will make a bang and a lot of 
smoke and I figured this was the place to ask.
	Any suggestions?




Steve Gregory                                  003316G@ace.acadiau.ca


BE ADVISED THAT DUE TO THROUGH FRUSTRATION USER 003316G, A.K.A STEPHEN
GREGORY, HAS LOGGED OUT, AND IS TAKING AN AXE TO THIS TERMINAL...
WHAT !?! HEY STOP! DON'T DO TH^&gxi
From: djenkins@axion.bt.co.uk (David Jenkins)
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
Subject: Re: Fizzling fuse effect
Date: 15 Oct 92 14:26:10 GMT
Reply-To: djenkins@axion.bt.co.uk (David Jenkins)
Organization: British Telecom Research Labs


In article <1992Oct14.104045.9498@vax.oxford.ac.uk>,
zetie@vax.oxford.ac.uk (The Edible Dormouse) writes:
|> Hi,
|> 
|> I'm looking to make a fuse effect for a show. Basically what we want
|> is a
|> fizzly cowboy style fuse. It doesn't have to trigger anything, just
|> look right.
|> I had thought that cotton string with something dissolved onto it,
|> like black
|> powder would do but:
|> 
|> a)Is black powder legal in the UK?
|> b) Is it easy to make?(I'm a physicist and can get the chemicals, but
|> I'm no
|> chemist)
|> c)Is there anytihng easier I could buy at a model shop? Insides of a
|> firework
|> for example?
|> 
|> ken
|> 

long, long ago, in a Galaxy... (sorry, got carried away there :-) ...it
was possible to buy little rocket motors for lightweight model aircraft.
This system was called "Jetex" and consisted of a small alumini(u)m
canister with an orifice at one end.  In this canister you placed two
pellets of fuel (which looked and smelt suspiciously like greenhouse
fumigation pellets) and then stuffed a length of Jetex fuse in the
orifice (no, in the canister, please pay attention!).

Now to the point of this rambling (at last, I hear you cry) - this fuse
was *perfect* for stage "bombs", 'cos it flared, sputtered and smoked
beautifully when lit, while burning fairly slowly.  Its only
disadvantage was that it was hard to breathe for a few minutes afterward
;-)

It consisted of a dark brown substance moulded around a very thin wire
for support.

Is it still possible to buy this stuff?  I'm a bit out of touch with
model aircraft these days.  If it is, then it's the ideal answer for The
Edible Dormouse's problem.

If not, then some of the fuse demonstrated by the well-known (in the UK
anyway) demolition expert and public speaker, Blaster Bates, would seem
ideal.
(Listen to his tapes/records for a description of its properties!)


David Jenkins

"The picture's pretty bleak, gentlemen...  The world's climates are changing,
the mammals are taking over, and we all have a brain about the size of a
walnut."
-- some dinosaurs from The Far Side, by Gary Larson
From: met@ghost.cse.nau.edu (Millam Tackitt)
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
Subject: Re: carbide bombs
Date: 15 Oct 92 17:39:25 GMT
Organization: Northern Arizona University

I'm curious about calcium carbide also.
I am very much an amature in the feild of pyrotechnics and never took
organic chemistry, so I don't have knowledge as to chemical reactions.
My father tells me that mixing calcium carbide with Brylcream (sp?)
will produce a very impressive blast when rained upon. (toss this mix
onto someones roof, he says :) )
Is this some sort of water activated plastik perhaps?

Millam E. Tackitt

-- 
***************************************************************
Millam E. Tackitt            met@naucse.cse.nau.edu

1967 Cougar XR-7 271/289 4spd/CR 4spd
From: lc2b+@andrew.cmu.edu (Lawrence Curcio)
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
Subject: Re: Dichromate compounds
Date: 16 Oct 92 18:06:32 GMT
Organization: Doctoral student, Urban and Public Affairs, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

Ammonium dichromate is available in small quantities as fuel for (would
you believe) minature volcanoes - of the science fair cliche variety.
You can get it from Edmund Scientific, and even from science nerd shops
in malls. 

Dichromates are not only toxic, they are carcinogenic. Dust causes lung
and skin problems. Miniature volcanoes can be terminally boring.
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
From: farb@ecr.mu.oz.au (William_Cuming FARROW)
Subject: Re: KCLO3 from KCL help please
Organization: Computer Science, University of Melbourne, Australia
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 16:13:00 GMT

In article <1992Oct9.181734.8044@ac.dal.ca>, giddy@ac.dal.ca writes:
> Hello all:
> 
> I would like to hear from anyone who has any experience making KNO3
> by the electrolysis of KCL.
> There was some info a while ago from AUS. but I only have part of the
> I am most curious to know if I could get away with a AU anode rather than
> platinum and also what appropriate cell voltage would be.
> 
Hi, I think you read my post on that one.
I don't have all the info on hand at the moment, but if you can't 
make platinum anodes, then I can see no reasion why gold wouldn't work.
I have used carbon electrodes, but they break down, and you then have 
to filter the black muck from the solution, before drying.

As for a voltage I use 6 volts with a current of about 5 amps.
Can anyone help here on the current densities ? I've forgotten.

Billy Boy  farb@ecr.mu.oz.au
From: rdicker@cyberden.uucp
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
Subject: Fuses
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 92 18:22:19 PDT
Organization: Indescribable Creations

Where can I get large ammounts of good cannon fuse cheap.  Preferably 
some mail order place since I know this net is world wide.  I found that 
you can get some fuses from "Gopher Smokers" in hardware stores, but 
usually this is kinda expensive with short fuses.  I also really need the 
good kind of fuse that is coated with some dark green fiber/plastic 
stuff, they seem to burn the best.  Thanks.  E-mail me or post on the 
net.      Here's the adress: cyberden!rdicker@moon.nbn.com   Thanks 
again.

__________________________________________________________________________
   |       /         |\
   | H E   \ Y B E R |/ E N            [ rdicker@cyberden.uucp ]
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
From: dulcinea@cwis.unomaha.edu (Shaene Steinauer)
Subject: Please help
Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 00:49:00 GMT

Hi.  For Halloween, I would like to put together a Firestar costume.
(Firestar is a superheroine from Marvel)  I would like some safe
pyrotechnics, and I found a good idea, but the electronics of it
are slightly beyond me.  

Please read the "electronics help" article in newsgroup 1786, 
fj.sci.misc (I couldn't find an electronics newsgroup), if you
might know a little about electronics and flash paper/flash cotton.

Any other safe ideas would be appreciated!

Thanks!


--Shaene Steinauer (Dulcinea)

dulcinea@cwis.unomaha.edu

Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
From: grossm@cary115.its.rpi.edu (Matthew Jonah Grossman)
Subject: Re: Unresouceful Unknowing Morons
Reply-To: grossm@rpi.edu
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY.
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 00:00:28 GMT

In article <Bw2Kxy.5sM@acsu.buffalo.edu>, v064myby@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Christophe J Quaranta) writes:
|> 
|> 	I am suprised at all the posts dealing with "I can't obtain any
|> chemicals."  I have had no problem getting oxidizers & stuff through the
|> mail.  I can't believe that people posting on this net would be so stupid!
|> 	I don't see any harm in shipping perchlorates, etc, when I can
|> pick up the phone and have 4 gallons of nitromethane shipped to my doorstep.
|> Now which is more dangerous?  A solid which can decompose to produce oxygen
|> if heated to 300 degrees, but can't burn on it's own and is not shock 
|> sensitive, or an extremely flammable, mobile liquid that can support it's
|> own combustion, and is even capable of detonation under certain circumstances?
|> 	I believe there is a company called Firefox which specializes in 
|> Pyro chemicals.  Anyone have the address - post it, or E-mail it to those 
|> who don't have it.
|> 		
|> 						Latre,
|> 						'Q'



If anyone has that (or any other) address, please e-mail it to me.
From: bpn@po.CWRU.Edu (Brian Nelson)
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
Subject: Re: Help Me!
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 17:47:26 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University
Distribution: usa, na, world
NNTP-Posting-Host: b62102.student.cwru.edu

In article <1992Oct16.155338.10818@morgan.ucs.mun.ca> court@newton.physics.mun.ca (J. Lewis) writes:
>From: court@newton.physics.mun.ca (J. Lewis)
>Subject: Re: Help Me!
>Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 15:53:38 GMT
>>Let us encourage each other, teach each other, and leave off the petty 
>>bickering and ego trips based on ephemera such as spelling.
>
>Most versions of Unix have a spell-checker.  It is worth using.
>
Some of us aren't using UNIX.....  ;)

Brian Nelson
bpn@po.cwru.edu
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
From: ebrandt@jarthur.claremont.edu (Eli Brandt)
Subject: Re: Recipe for that rotten egg stuff (Ammonium Hydroxide?)
Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1992 00:04:11 GMT

In article <1992Oct15.162158.4463@fid.morgan.com> joec@fid.morgan.com (Joe Collins) writes:
>In article <usgcjsx.718577086@gsusgi1.gsu.edu> usgcjsx@gsusgi2.gsu.edu (Felix_T._Cat) writes:
>>How do you make that real smelly stuff
>>that stinks like rotten eggs, it used to come in little glass vials..??
>>Any info...?
>
>That stuff is H2S, hydrogen sulfide. BTW, it is poisonous although the
>smell will chase you away before you get overcome. But do remember that
>the nose measures CHANGE in odors, not ODORS. So your sense of smell
>will become deadened to the foul odor and thus you could become
>overcome if you hang around.

I suggest using something else.  Hydrogen sulfide is fairly toxic;
many deaths have occurred in its industrial use.  One hazard is that
it not only becomes less noticeable with time, as you say, but
specifically causes anosmia.  High concentrations can cause rapid
collapse and death.  If you're not hung up on rotten eggs
specifically, you might try ethanethiol, which is far more odorous
(perceptible at 20 parts per *trillion*), and is less toxic than
hydrogen sulfide to boot.  It has a rotten-egg/spoiled vegetable
sort of odor, which will probably do the job.

   Eli   ebrandt@jarthur.claremont.edu
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
From: farb@ecr.mu.oz.au (William_Cuming FARROW)
Subject: Liquid Fuel Rockets
Organization: Computer Science, University of Melbourne, Australia
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 03:01:04 GMT

A friend and I are currently in the process of building a liquid fuel rocket
using H2O2 and hydrazine.  These are loaded into separate syringes and
injected into the combustion chamber simultaneously using medicsal type
needles.  The combustion chamber is made from two soda bulbs attached to 
each other like so:

        __________________	    _______
      /			  \________/
      |						
      \			  /--------\
	------------------	    -------

(ie the end bulb is cut halfway down so that it has a large opening)

The needles go through holes on the right half.
The two fuels immediately combust on contact with each other, and they 
are injected by joining the plungers together and depressing both at the
same time using a rubber band.  Due to the volatile nature of these chemicals
it is probably best if you can inject them remotely rather than with your
hands.
Any suggestions as to alternative fuels or catalysts are welcome.
(I think this was used in WWII Mescher Schmidts (sp?))

Billy Boy.	(farb@ecr.mu.oz.au)

Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
From: farb@ecr.mu.oz.au (William_Cuming FARROW)
Subject: Re: hairspray powered mock cannon
Summary: That's me!
Organization: Computer Science, University of Melbourne, Australia
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 02:37:28 GMT

In article <1992Oct7.110158.26662@mr.med.ge.com>, bednarek@picard.med.ge.com (Dennis Bednarek Mfg 4-6971) writes:
> David Bromage (brom@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au) wrote:
> : deanp@peg.pegasus.oz.au wrote:
> : : 
> : : A friend saw some people in a park the other day, dressed in period
> : : costume an having a mock battle.  One of the people had a device that
> : : my friend found most interesting: a mock cannon that shot tennis balls
> : : about two hundred metres.  I was basically a tube with piezo (?) electric
> : : gas igniter built into the base.  You fill the tube with hairspray and
> : : pop a tennis ball in, hit the igniter and off it goes.
> : : 
> : Natural gas or acetylene would be expensive and too powerful.
> : 
> : Although not in the realm of this newsgroup, compressed air might be a
> : beter method of firing tennis balls. A short burst of 100psi air should do
> : the trick.
	Someone has already built a compressed air canon for use in battle.
	It shoots a plastic 1.25L lemonade bottle, with or without water.
	(I still think my hand held canon is better, and more accurate.)
	I think I am having the same trouble as the person who was using 
	petrol in a metal pipe in a previous article, and that is I am over 
	saturating the chamber with too much gas.
	The S.C.A., a medieval group has strict safety regulations which
	do not allow the use of explosive type canons  - only compressed
	air canons. (ie mine is not allowed in battle).
> :
> Some times I wonde how many people out there are really in love with death?
>  
	If it wasn't safe I wouldn't be doing it!
Billy Boy	- farb@ecr.mu.oz.au
From: rvassar@terapin.com (Robert Vassar)
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
Subject: Re: Liquid Fuel Rockets
Date: 12 Oct 92 09:32:54 PST
Organization: BBS

In article <1992Oct12.051411.15078@netcom.com>, mvp@netcom.com (Mike Van Pelt)
writes:
>In article <9228513.13060@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU> farb@ecr.mu.oz.au (William_Cuming
F
>ARROW) writes:
>>A friend and I are currently in the process of building a liquid fuel rocket
>>using H2O2 and hydrazine.  These are loaded into separate syringes and
>>injected into the combustion chamber simultaneously using medicsal type
>>needles.
>
>You don't want to play with hydrazine.  Really, you don't, especially
>considering the rather crude, leaky apparatus you are describing.
>Don't take my word for it; look it up in Sax.
>
>Caveat detonator.
>
>-- 
>Mike Van Pelt                          Here lies a Technophobe,
>mvp@netcom.com                            No whimper, no blast.
>mvp@hsv3.lsil.com                      His life's goal accomplished,
>                                          Zero risk at last.


There are safer hypergolic fuels than hydrazine. Heheh... Not much safer
though. You may wish to look into Furfural alcohol and fuming nitric acid.

I found an interesting book on rocketry at a local library sale a while back.
It's "The Rocket Handbook For Amateurs" by Lt. Col. Charles M. Parkin Jr. (The
John Day Co., New York 1959) It's out of date, but it covers a wide variety of
fuels, nozzle design, etc... It even has chapters on fuel pumps, and cryogenic
gas handling. All in all... An interesting book. It contains just enough
information for an experimenter to really get hurt. The fuels sections don't
contain half the warnings about toxicity that are needed. 


rvassar@terapin.com
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
From: mwcallah%peruvian.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Michael Callahan)
Subject: Re:  Tennis Ball Cannons
Date: 13 Oct 92 15:40:36 MDT
Keywords: boom, kaboom, pop, etc.
Organization: University of Utah CS Dept

Here's a simple design for a tennis ball cannon which I've always used.

Just cut the ends out of about 4 or 5 soup cans (the smaller sized ones
of course) and tape them together to get a long tube.  Add another can
at the bottom, one with only the top cut out, and punch a hole about
1/4 inch diameter in the bottom of the whole thing.

It should look something like this, nothing fancy:

|---------|---------|---------|--------|---------
|
|o
|
|---------|---------|---------|--------|---------


To light it, just pour about a capful (about a tablespoon) of rubbing alcohol
down the barrel.  Then take the whole thing by the bottom and swing it around.
I know, some of you are thinking that that is a bad idea, but it seems to give
the best fuel to air ratio, and is much easier than putting the ball in and
shacking the cannon around.  You should only need to swing it around once or
twice.  Don't be affraid that your alcohol is getting flung all over the place.

Now, plunk a fuzzy(fuzzy balls fit better) tennis ball into the cannon.  You
should only push the ball in down to the first or second tape line, so that
your combustion chamber is at least 4 cans long.  I've found it works best if
you wedge the ball into where the cans meet.  Contrary to what some people
say, you don't really need to rush putting the ball in the cannon.  If you take
a couple of minutes, it will still work fine.

After you place the ball in the cannon, set it down and hold a match by the hole
in the bottom.  I would suggest using wooden matches or something similar, and
lighting the hole from the side, because if your fingers are right in front of
the hole, they will probably get singed.  I've gotten balls to go up over 200
feet this way.  I sure was suprised the first time I tried it this way.

Make sure you allow more oxegen to get into the cannon before you shoot it again.
I would suggest just swinging it around some more.  Interestingly enough, I have
gotten the cannon to shoot fairly high without having to put more alcohol in it.

I suppose you could also use something besides cans for the cannon also, I
wouldn't suggest anything flimsy like aluminum soda cans though.  Don't make it
a habit of sticking various parts of your body over the cannon either.  Those
balls come out fairly quickly and would probably hurt, particularly from close
range.

Well, good luck, and try not to hurt yourself,
  Mike