AngelEyes
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Metal tubes
Anyone know where to get aluminium tubes in the UK? They'd need to be thin, say 1-2mm diameter, cheap and readily available NQA (No Questions Asked).
Well, any sort of metal tubing really. I have been to the DIY store but they have a limited selection of copper stuff. Too thick for caps but to thin
to try to build a potato cannon type thing.
Also, while we're at it, anyone know a good place to get any sort of pure chemicals in the UK? Website, mail order, shops etc anywhere that sells to
individuals NQA. Doesn't have to be oxidisers or acids, but flame colourants, stabilisers etc. Anything that might prove useful really.
Thanks.
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Rhadon
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I'm not from the UK, but you can get all sorts of metal stuff from sites where they keep scrap iron... you know what I mean? This is also great for
getting metals which you're less likely to see elsewhere, and in many cases they won't want you to pay for the stuff if you only take small amounts.
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DeusExMachina
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you can easily get any size copper tubes in a hardware store. Al tubes too.
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AngelEyes
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Amendment to first post - I meant to say wall thickness of 1-2mm, and total diameter of about 1cm to anything up to 5-6cm.
I have not seen Al tubes at my local Homebase...just 15 and 24mm Cu tubes.
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Rhadon
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You'll do hard to find tubes that meet your claims, but if you could find a copper staff you can drill the hole by hand. I think that should be the
best way, because I don't know what tubes as you need them could be used for in the household or in small firms.
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Rhadon
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Oh, it shouldn't be "copper staff" but "aluminum staff". I read DeusExMachina's post, thought of copper and forgot that you wanted to use aluminum
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DeusExMachina
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finding anything shouldn't be a problem. They don't have hardware stores in the UK? Any hardware store should have copper tubes. A really big hardware
store (like home depot) should have Al tubes.
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AngelEyes
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We do have 'hardware stores' in the UK - but they're called DIY stores.
They do sell some Cu tubes, but not much selection etc. It looks like I will have to crimp one end, drill a hole and put the fuse in etc, then crimp
the other end. At least it's guaranteed to bang...a little worried about shrapnel though - that's why I stick to cardboard tubes at the moment.
Maybe I just haven't been looking hard enough for Al tubes, and I could check the scrap metal merchant too.
Has anyone had any success making blasting caps from plastic or glass tubes (or a material other than metal)?
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madscientist
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I use paper casings for detonators
They're superior in every way to plastic and metal casings, if made properly. I'll briefly go over how I make them.
Cut out a piece of paper with this shape:
[img]www.sciencemadness.org/pics/paper.jpg[/img]
Get a rod; its diameter will determine the diameter of the inside of your blasting cap. Put tape at the top of the ends - that is, the parts sticking
out towards the top of the drawing above. Tape those protruding ends to the rod. Now begin to wrap the paper around, then secure the ends with
another piece of tape (you'll know what I mean when you try it yourself). Then wrap it around and around until it's all wrapped very tightly around
the rod... obviously it should be wrapped over the paper that's already been wrapped around. Now tape that, so it doesn't unravel. Carefully tear off
the protruding ends (it'll be easy, because the main part will be stiff from having paper wrapped around so many times, while the ends will be weak).
Slide the paper casing off of the rod, and you're done.
I weep at the sight of flaming acetic anhydride.
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AngelEyes
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OK - that's not too dissimilar form what I have tried...but maybe I made the diameter too large. Or maybe my 'filler' wasn't good enough to undergo
DDT. I used small quantities of NC made with some 70% HNO3 I got a while ago from a summer job (OK, for 'got' read 'stole'), and H2SO4 drain cleaner.
What do you use to plug the ends?
Do you use fuse, or electric initiation?
Do you use thin Kraft paper or thicker, recycled type stuff?
Also, short of using an organic peroxide or double salt, I don't have access to materials needed to produce good quality initiators. No mercury, no
sodium nitrite for DDNP, no HNO3 OTC for anyone etc...
Have you ever tried, or anyone tried, using NC on it's own in a cap? Any success? Apparently, dry NC is very good for initiating damp NC but I haven't
tried it - anyone? I might just have to try to distil some stronger HNO3 - would solve a lot of problems....RDX looks nice.
I will redesign my paper tubes.
Cheers
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lucifer
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AngelEyes, with what are you going to detonate the RDX with?
It seems to me that you still would have the same problem.
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AngelEyes
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No, this is not the pipe bomb thread. If you read a little more carfeully you'll notice I specified 1mm thickness and just a few cm diameter. That
sort of tube makes a cap, not a pipe bomb. I am not kewl.
I don't know what to try to detonate the RDX with - haven't even made any yet - but I could try Acetone Peroxide or HMTD.
I was simply trying to ascertain if paper tubes worked for caps, what to use in them and how to best plug them and then initiate.
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Haggis
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I use sections of pen tubes for my blasting caps. I find the plain white Bic variety to work quite well. To plug the ends, I pack a bit of epoxy
putty into the bottom. After the bottom is cured, insert the primary, give it a slight tap and insert the fuse. More epoxy can be used to hold the
fuse in. The 'shrapnel' that it gives off is usually in the .5mm x 1mm range and generally very little in mass.
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AngelEyes
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Nice - which primary do you use?
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Haggis
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I always use HMTD. For some reason I cannot totally explain I do not like AP. One of the detonators I use was laid out on a .5mm thick steel sheet.
The resulting dent was in the 5mm range. They sound quite similar to a commercial 1.5 inch 50mg salute.
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Polverone
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discussion belongs elsewhere
Sorry, guys. Normally I don't comment on thread drift, but this forum isn't about practical explosives technique. Look to E&W for that. Detonators
have nothing to do with reagents and apparatus acquisition and they are offtopic for this site unless you have some interesting theoretical or novel
ideas relating to them. I appreciate your interest in such things, but the Explosives and Weapons Forum is far more appropriate. Don't make me become
a big bad meanie and lock the thread.
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AngelEyes
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OK - point taken.
I have enough to be getting on with anyway...
Thanks.
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