| Sorry.. |
[May. 6th, 2004|01:33 pm]
pyrotechnic_hq
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from now on. any pyrotechnic_hq entry that contains information on the construction of a pyrotechnic compound/reaction will be members/friends only. :)
sorry guys. i gata do what i gata do |
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| big mistake |
[May. 6th, 2004|12:42 pm]
pyrotechnic_hq
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This is a great video.
These kids had no idea what they were doing! Not only is this mixture completely unpredictable but it creates poisonous fumes. It just goes to show you~ that are sertain things that just shouldn't be mixed, don't mess around with comps you haven't tested, test in small 1g or less quantities and do all the proper research if you absolutly have to make something.
No blood was spilled that you can see on the video so it’s not graphic but it proves the point. Who knows if this guy still has all of his fingers.
http://media.ebaumsworld.com/bottlebomb.wmv |
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| the fated “FLASH” |
[Mar. 30th, 2004|12:51 pm]
pyrotechnic_hq
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Inevitably as a pyro enthusiast you will come across the 70:30 mixture for “flash powder”.
Flash and Black powder (BP) is the backbone of pyro, they are used in just about everything. despite the reputation BP is a kitten compared to Flash. Flash is on the brink of hi-order (high explosive, *a chemical which reacts and creates a wave at a super sonic speed- faster than the speed of sound*)
A few grams will make short work of your hands and fingers. one of the biggest dangers associated with Flash is that it is incredibly sensitive to static electricity. It takes a very tiny spark to set of the chemicals while you are mixing so be VERY careful!!! wear a static leash and take any other anti static perceptions you can. do not stir, shake or screen to mix the chemicals. instead, pour the chemicals in to the middle of a newspaper page and mix by gently lifting one corner and then the other, rolling the mixture together.
Take extreme CAUTION when adding ANY metals to this mixture, such as aluminum or titanium to brighten the flash. this causes the mixture to become very friction sensitive. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 30th, 2004|12:35 pm]
pyrotechnic_hq
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hey guys. this is a new community so it’s still growing. but in order for us to keep it from being so dry we have to keep it growing and interesting with some new post/posters. If you have any questions or anything to share don't be afraid to post. =] |
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| Try not to kill anyone |
[Mar. 30th, 2004|12:13 pm]
pyrotechnic_hq
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there are two very undesirable results associated with the combining of a certain type of backyard pool chlorine and break fluid. I wanted to bring this mixture to your attention because I have heard of it being in an online “cookbook” for pyro devices. This mixture will ignite itself all on its own and create a pretty looking flame effect. the problem is that the time it takes for the chemical reaction to ignite itself is completely unpredictable and unreliable and the reaction between the two chemicals creates toxic fumes that can cause some serious damage to people in reasonably close proximity (several yards) to the device. Effects may be more severe for smaller animals in a wider radius. |
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| do you know hoe to post to the forum?? |
[Mar. 22nd, 2004|02:41 pm]
pyrotechnic_hq
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Go to the pyrotechnic_hq page.
click | livejournal userinfo ]
once the page has loaded click on the pencle button-  .
It will the ntake you to a page where you can post to the pyrotechnic_hq page. |
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| Educational Firework Display Setup Photos |
[Mar. 22nd, 2004|02:38 pm]
pyrotechnic_hq
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click the link and check it out "Educational Firework Display Setup Photos"
the guy's a little creapy looking and he rambles a bit, but there's some good info and great pictures. |
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| 1.4G...1.3G ? What's all that? |
[Mar. 22nd, 2004|02:10 pm]
pyrotechnic_hq
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_____________________________________________________________________________________
the "large" fireworks || The "small" fireworks
||
Old name: Special Fireworks || Common Fireworks
Old explosives class: Class B || Class C
United Nations category: UN0335 || UN0336
New name in U.S.: Display Fireworks || Consumer Fireworks
New explosives class in U.S.: 1.3G || 1.4G
_________________________________________________||__________________________________
The above terms apply within the United States only, and do not apply in other countries. The exact specifications which divide these two categories are found in these sections of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations: 49 CFR 173, 27 CFR 55, and 16 CFR 1507. These specifications define the physical and pyrotechnic limits for consumer fireworks. For example, they stipulate that firecrackers can contain only 50 milligrams of pyrotechnic content, or they specify the size and spacing of tubes in multi-tube items, or set the minimum and maximum limits of the burn time of a firework's fuse, etc. Fireworks that exceed the spefications in these laws can't be sold in the U.S. as consumer fireworks, so they are considered display fireworks, for professional use only. Countries other than the U.S. have completely different standards of what can and can't be sold to the public.
In addition, some regulatory agencies (such as the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Department of Transportation and some of the state governments) impose additional restrictions and on consumer fireworks, For example, they may require tests of the rigidity of the stick on a bottle rocket, or the likelihood of a device tipping over while in use, etc. In California, fountains cannot spray higher than 10 feet; in some states, certain types of fireworks, such as rockets may be prohibited categorically. Standards and testing methods imposed by regulatory agencies are often called into question by the fireworks industry, and there have even been lawsuits over them. As a result, specifications and testing methods imposed by agencies and by state governments are more likely to change from time to time than statutory specifications in the U.S. federal law are.
Some of the "old terms" are still in use by many people; for example, you may hear the terms "Class C" and "Class B" still being used, even though they have no legal meaning any more. To be correct according to current legal U.S. definitions, use the term "Display Fireworks" or "1.3G" when talking about the large fireworks used in professional shows, and use the term "Consumer Fireworks" or "1.4G" when talking about the small fireworks sold to the public at stands and stores in the U.S.
"Safe and Sane" is a term used in some states of the U.S. to indicate a subset of Consumer Fireworks that can be sold in that state. For a more detailed explanation of "Safe and Sane", go to this page of my web site.
"Toy Trick Noisemakers" is yet another sub-category, possibly defined by the U.S. Department of Transportation, and by some states, to include such items as caps, party poppers and snappers. They are generally not considered "fireworks" and are sold almost everywhere in the U.S.
"Toy Smoke Devices" is another sub-classification by some states, in which items that produce smoke only are not considered "fireworks" and are thus legal to sell in some states that don't allow other "fireworks" to be sold. |
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| guilds and clubs |
[Mar. 8th, 2004|02:27 pm]
pyrotechnic_hq
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"http://www.americanpyro.com/" (business organization)
P.O. Box 30438
Bethesda, MD 20824
Phone: 301-907-8181
Fax: 301-907-9148
"http://www.intlpyro.org/"
P.O. Box 2
Bloomfield, IN 47424
Phone: (812) 854-4053
"http://www.fireworksafety.com/"
3509 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 1800
Washington, DC 20008-2470.
"http://www.nationalfireworks.com/"
c/o Nancy Blogin, Secretary
8224 N. Bradford Court
Kansas City, MO 64151
Phone: (816) 741-1826
Pyrotechnicians International (business organization)
c/o Egan Enterprises
P.O. Box 5465
Lincoln, NE 68505
Phone: (402) 466-8102
and of course the largest amateur/professional organization,
the "http://www.pgi.org/"
Regional Clubs...
Alpine Fireworks Club (Montana)
E-mail: "mailto:end0fthetrail@aol.com"
Bluegrass Pyrotechnic Guild, Inc.
11019 Buckeye Terrace
Goshen, KY 40026
E-mail: "mailto:fireworker@aol.com"
Canadian Pryotechnics Guild
117 Forest Lea Road
Pembroke, ON K8A 7B9
Canada
Catskill Mountains Pyrotechnics Association
P.O. Box 169
Prattsville, NY 12468
Phone: (518) 299-3588
"http://www.cpapyro.org/"
P.O.Box 120474
East Haven,CT 06512
(203)483-4757
"mailto:cpapyro@myeastern.com"
"http://www.crackerjacks.org/" (VA, PA, MD area)
6 Dixie Drive
Bel Air, MD 21014-5411
www.crackerjacks.org
"mailto:board@crackerjacks.org"
Florida Pyrotechnics Arts Guild
1059 Carter Road
Deland, FL 32724
Phone: (904) 736-8996
Heartland Pyrotechnics Association
P.O. Box 716
La Porte, IN 46350
Phone: (219) 362-1685
"http://www.homestead.com/oregonjaycees/macfireworks.html"
McMinnville, Oregon
E-mail: "mailto:Brendens@juno.com"
Memphis Mid-south Pyrotechnic Guild
E-mail: "mailto:trey_tillman@hotmail.com"
"http://mpag.org/"
P.O. Box 254
Dearborn, MI 48121
"http://www.mopyro.com/" (Missouri Pyrotechnics Association)
c/o Steve Anderson
3685 State Rt. 155
Prairie du Rocher, IL 62277
E-mail: "mailto:blkpowdr@htc.net"
"http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/nhpa2"
P.O. Box 272
Manchester, NH 03105-0272
Phone: (603) 964-6591 |
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| An article on M-80s and Cherry Bombs |
[Mar. 8th, 2004|02:26 pm]
pyrotechnic_hq
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There is endless confusion over the terms "M-80" and "Cherry Bomb" in the United States. I recently heard from a high school principal in Illinois about two students that were caught in his school with "M-88" and "M-90" firecrackers, but they were the legal kind sold in fireworks stores. The local law enforcement was trying to tell the principal that these were more powerful than M-80s, which is not true. I also read or hear about statements comparing an M-80 to a "quarter stick of dynamite" or similar exaggerations. Even the weakest formulation of dynamite is more powerful than the composition in an M-80, so there is no legitimate comparison between dynamite and an M-80. M-80s contain "flash powder," which is NOT a high explosive. You can't equate an M-80 with dynamite or any high explosive.
One newspaper article in Los Angeles quoted someone as stating that a truckload of seized fireworks was "the equivalent of five times the amount of explosives used in the Oklahoma City bombing." Excuse me... you cannot compare fireworks with high explosives! Anyone that tries to compare the two doesn't know what he or she is talking about. Hopefully this page will help to clear up some of the confusion about M-80s and "cherry bombs" specifically. (The term "composition" means the pyrotechnic chemical or mixture of chemicals inside the device that actually produce the intended effect.)
Real "M-80s" and real "cherry bombs" are illegal in the United States. They have been illegal in the U.S. since the year 1966. The reason they are illegal is because the U.S. Congress passed a law in 1966, called the "Child Protection Act" which specifically made them illegal. It is illegal to sell, possess or use them anywhere within the United States jurisdiction. The punishment for selling, possessing, or using actual M-80s or "cherry bombs" within the U.S. can be severe. The potential "fun" or "entertainment value" that you might think you would get from using one of these devices is definitely not worth the risk of substantial fines or even imprisonment.
I recommend that you stick with legal fireworks and forget about buying or using M-80s or anything like that. There are plenty of excellent legal fireworks available today which are far more sophisticated and entertaining than the primitive, silly thrill you get from lighting an M-80. And the possible consequences of possessing or using M-80s can be devastating to your lifestyle, peace of mind, and financial health. Legal fireworks carry none of these liabilities.
Just forget about buying M-80s or any other illegal devices, even if you do encounter them for sale somewhere. Some people assume that they are legal, just because "you can get them" in such-and-such a place or whatever. The fact that they do exist, and that someone will sell you them, does NOT make them legal, and it does not make them safe, either. I sometimes get e-mail from people telling me that some fireworks dealer somewhere, or some fireworks stand somewhere, sold them M-80s or other large firecrackers. Dealers or stand operators who sell legal fireworks are potentially putting themselves at great legal and financial risk by selling illegal devices such as M-80s. And those people should know better! I have heard stories about legal fireworks dealers who got caught selling illegal items such as M-80s or larger firecrackers, and the legal consequences for them were devastating. It's not worth it.
Another reason you should stay away from them is because these are totally unregulated, and they are made with no concern for your safety - they are made only to make a fast buck for someone. Not to mention that possessing them and using them is a crime and can get you in big trouble! You can tell illegal devices because they usually have no labeling at all, and often have a homemade look. Stick with legal fireworks, with the printed labels, and you'll have just as much fun, trust me. There is a whole world of legal fireworks out there for you to enjoy; they may not be legal where you live now, but you can always travel to a city or state where they are legal in order to have your fun and enjoyment, with no worries.
OK, now that I've hammered on that to the point that you probably don't want to read any more of this, here is the nitty-gritty explanation of "M-80" and "cherry bomb":

A true, bonafide M-80 is a firecracker designed for military use as a "gunfire simulator." One specification calls for a tube that is 1.5 inches long, 9/16th of an inch in diameter, with a fuse coming out the side rather than the end, and containing 45 grains of a specific pyrotechnic composition. (A "grain" is a unit of weight measurement equal to 64.799 milligrams.) So a true M-80 contains about 2,916 milligrams, or just under 3 grams of a spedific type of pyrotechnic composition. I don't know what the significance of "M-80" means, although the "M" probably stands for "military," I don't know what the "80" means. People have sent me their own explanations of how the "M-80" was named but none of these explanations were definitive. One customer who works at Edgewood CB Center (formerly Edgewood Arsenal) which is one of the locations where military explosives are developed recently sent me an e-mail message on the subject. He has access to the original drawings, and according to him, the 80 was a purely arbitrary designation. So that answer satisfies me.

A true Cherry Bomb is a relatively spherical firecracker, typically 3/4 inch in diameter, with an outer coating of sawdust bound with sodium silicate and dyed red. These are not as powerful as a true M-80. Both M-80s and "Cherry Bombs" are illegal in the United States, so don't buy them even if you encounter them. You are breaking the law if you sell, possess or use these in the United States. Some countries, such as Germany, Mexico and the Phillippines, may allow large firecrackers similar to these to be sold, but in the United States today, any firecracker sold to the public cannot contain more than 50 milligrams (.05 grams) of pyrotechnic composition per cracker. No matter what the shape, size or design of a firecracker, if it has more than 50 milligrams of powder in it, it's illegal in the United States.
Up until 1966, large firecrackers such as M-80s and cherry bombs were legal in the United States, and anyone could buy them and shoot them off. If you look through old fireworks catalogs from the 1930s, '40s and '50s, you will see these and even larger firecrackers advertised, all of them perfectly legal at that time. But it all ended in 1966. The Child Protection Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1966, specifically banned these devices. In 1976, the federal regulations were rewritten specifying a limit of 50 milligrams of pyrotechnic composition for any firecracker sold to the public in the United States, and that limit is still in effect today. It doesn't matter what they look like or what they are shaped like - ground firecrackers can only contain 50 milligrams of pyrotechnic content per cracker. (Aerial "reports," which are contained within aerial devices such as rockets and shells, can contain up to 129.6 milligrams of composition per report.)
The legitimate fireworks market today includes some "novelty" firecrackers called "M-60", "M-70", "M-88", "M-90" and so on. These are not M-80s, they are regular 50 milligram firecrackers made to look like M-80s or "Silver Salutes," another old type of firecracker now banned. These novelty firecrackers are legal to sell to the public, in states that allow firecrackers, because they contain no more than 50 milligrams of pyrotechnic content. They are nowhere near as poweful as a true M-80 or a true cherry bomb. The names used for these ("M-60", "M-70", "M-88", "M-90" and so on) are basically meaningless marketing gimmicks.
Further complicating and confusing the matter is that there are brands of legal firecrackers, sold in strings, actually called "M-80 Brand" and "Cherry Bomb Brand". These are also legal firecrackers, containing only 50 milligrams of powder per cracker. People may buy these thinking they are actual M-80s, but they are nowhere near as powerful as a true M-80. It's a sorry and sad marketing ploy that these names are even used on legal fireworks, and that some legitimate fireworks dealers will list these and sell these without necessarily explaining that they are legal firecrackers, and the only relation they have to "real" M-80s or cherry bombs is in the name.
Unfortunately, the decision to ban actual M-80s and cherry bombs has resulted in a black market for the "real things." I don't know where they are made, but it is not in the legitimate fireworks industry. They are only sold on an "underground" basis, in other words, no legitimate fireworks dealer carries them, or at least should carry them! Any legitimate fireworks dealer who does offer them should not be in the fireworks business. They cause a substantial percentage, if not the majority, of the injuries associated with "fireworks" each year.
It is unfair to the legitimate fireworks industry that statistics on injuries caused by these illegal, banned devices are often lumped in together with statistics on injuries related to legal fireworks, thus making legitimate, legal fireworks seem far more dangerous than they actually are. This is a tactic used by anti-fireworks activists in an attempt to influence public laws and regulations over legal fireworks. It is nothing for them to make an argument against the sales of fireworks to the public by quoting injury statistics that include injuries for illegal devices as well. Typically when quoting such statistics, they do not make the distinction between legal and illegal devices or bother to separate out the inury rates for illegal ones from legal ones, because that would greatly weaken their argument against allowing legal fireworks to be sold.
I get e-mail every so often saying something like, "where can i buy m80 blockbuster half sticks or 3/4 of a stick can i make homemade ones ? If so how would i be able to create it homemade" to use an actual example of an e-mail message. My answer is always the same: forget about making them, forget about buying them, forget about using them. Don't be tempted to buy illegal devices such as actual M-80s or cherry bombs. They are unregulated and dangerous. And forget about making them. That is only asking for trouble. Only buy legal fireworks from legitimate fireworks dealers. I myself have never lit an M-80 or even held one in my hand, although I have seen and heard them going off, but certainly I know enough to stay away from them. I have heard other people's miserable stories of what problems they ran into by possessing or using them. Learn from their mistakes - stay away from M-80s, Cherry Bombs, or anything else that is not legal. |
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