Thermite Cable

[green beret]

Another Idea I had:

Take some clear plastic tubing (the flexible type) the thickness will depend on the application of the device, plug one end with epoxy resin and/or slicon sealant then fill the tubing with thermite, then on the other end pack a little bit of tissue paper or cotton wool on top of the thermite followed by epoxy resin and silicon.
This would idealy be made in 1metre lengths, or shorter, it could then be slipped down the front of your jacket or whatever, for easy access.
To ignite, place a small thermite or other igniter charge, at the desired point of ignition and fire.

The applications for this are pretty obvious, cutting odd shaped targets, such as pipe, small girders etc. or you could tie up your hostages with it and tell them if they move, you burn their hands and feet off :rolleyes:

I havent tried this yet but I have the materials for it, I'll let you all know of the results when I get around to it.

NOTE: Something similar to this may have been discussed before, but never the same as this device.

[DarkAngel]

I always have the feeling that people think that Thermite is somekind of super powder that will burn trough almost anything.
If one would make the by you described device and wrap it around a normall copper water pipe or other metal object that's not to thin and ignite it, It wouldn't even destroy the object in a small way.

<small>[ December 15, 2002, 04:52 PM: Message edited by: DarkAngel ]</small>

[kingspaz]

if you used a hose pipe filled with thermite then you could go through a mm or so probably. could make quite a mess of a car. i don't think its much use for wrapping around things but for cutting a shape out of a metal sheet (car bonnet, roof, etc) it could have potential.

[nbk2000]

You'd have to bound the powder in some way so it won't pour out of the hose once it starts burning. Unless you're only intending to use it on flat surfaces only.

[green beret]

OK I guess theres some points I didnt notice, but I still think it could have some uses, and with some improvements (like NBK mentioned)it may even work better, oh well it was just a thought anyway. As kingspaz said, it would still have some uses on flat sheet metal surfaces. And like I said, the diameter of the tubing will depend on your application, so darkangel, you cant say it wont destroy a normal copper water pipe, because you dont know what diameter tubing I would be using.

[Flake2m]

The main problem with the binder is that it has to still bind at high temperatures. You couldn't use Plaster of paris because that would limit its flexibility.

Maybe you dont need a binder. I thought that maybe you could have the thermite enclosed in a metal sleeve or some sort of metal hose. The hose should resist the high temperatures long enough for the thermite to do its job. :)

[nbk2000]

Silicon rubber might use usable. Or maybe one of energetic binders available for making high-performance rocket motors, like pyro-tek.

[DarkAngel]

Even if you would fill a hose with a diameter of let's say 2.5/3 cm and fill it with Thermite it wouldn't do anything (and not to mention the thicker the wall is the more burned carbonized plastic slag you get)and how bigger the diameter of the hose how less flexible it becomes and that removes the purpose of wrapping it around odd shaped targets.

I know that it would be great to have something like that but it wouldn't work.

[mongo blongo]

I remember reading (aaaaageesss ago) on this military type of web site. It was this stuff called "blade" that the army use (like thermite). It was this green shit that was applied out of this tooth paste kind of container. It had pics of this steel tube (a few mm thick) with this stuff applied to it in a spiral shape with two circles on each side and a pic of the tube after it had been ignited (no details of ignition)and it cut the tube to pieces. It was applied is a line about 4mm thick.
I can't find the site (keep coming up with blade the film) but I know it sounds like BS. This was a VERY long time ago and this thread reminded me of it. I am not sure of it was BS or not but I thought I would mention it just incase anyone knows about it.

[DBSP]

I don't know if this has been mentioned but how excactly are you going to hold the tube in place? If you tie a knot on the hose it will fall off when the thermite reaches the knot or when it has burned the hose off.

It shure sounds like a good idea but I doubt it's possible to produce a thing like this that actually workes.

[jimwig]

couldn' you just use some det cord?

makes a lot of noise but satisfaction guaranteed.

thermit would melt (5000o) or burn the target object
detcord (PETN) would make two of one instantly

[green beret]

I have used detcord and obviously you havent, it wont cut through every target you encounter, so saying that it would be a good replacement for thermite is wrong. Yes its true that detcord slices instantly but on larger targets you would have to use an absolute shitload , besides, it wasnt designed solely to be used as a cutting charge, it was designed for simultanious detonation of explosive charges. Oh and by the way, it dosent make alot of noise, it makes an absolute fucking shitload of noise, so unless youre cutting small trees down out bush then its impracticle, unless you could muffle the noise, which in itself would be highly impractical.

[Boob Raider]

could be Cr2O3 based instead of Fe2O3. I don't quite know the advantage of it but I know of Cr2O3 being used to subsitute Fe2O3 in thermite.
Anyways .... I was wondering how much heat would a teflon and Al mix produce in comparison to thermite. What I had in mind was making a kind of multilayered fuse with teflon tape and Al foil strips. this would not need any sleve and would be flexible enough to cut weird shapes. Question is ... would it be hot enough ? I suspect a fuse with a dia of 4mm should be hot enough to cut through regular household window panes. This would be a really quite way of entering into a house (Can't use the word "Break In" anymore). Although I do have some testing to do first.

[Tuatara]

Oh, come on Boob raider, use your nut. The thermal shock would smash the window into thousands of tiny pieces. Easier to use a brick :p . If you don't want the noise all you do is cover the window with a piece of newspaper soaked in honey (or something else wet and sticky), and then apply the brick.

[SATANIC]

I can't imagine what the cops would be thinking when confromted with a broken window, dirty newspaper, and honey all over the window sill. Just use duct tape, or if you can be bothered, book covering 'contact', that clear (or cartoon print) film for protecting your school books. break window (or cut around the edge and lift out,) and the window comes away easily. if / when it breaks, all the pieces stay stuck to the dust tape / contact.

Anyway, about the thermite cable, how about adding the thermite to silicone while it's wet, and then putting it back into the tube, to be able to extrude out a thin line of thermite 'gel'. you can cut the nozzle of the silicone tube at an angle, and closer to the base, so you get between 1mm and 1cm thick strands, depending on the application.

If you prepare it, and use it within a day or so, you could apply it straight to your target, and allow it to dry on, so no worries about how to attatch it.

The thermite would be fairly thick, as in when mixing, add just enough silicone to binc the thermite together. Another idea might be to run a strip of magnesium ribbon into the extruded line of gel, thus making lighting the mix easier, and making sure of a fast / contiuous burn.

Because it's wet on application, you can always smear it across a target, though I don't know how well a thin layer would affect whatever might be your target at the time. chances are, not much. The good point there is, you can always apply it as thick as you need it, so more is easy. if the first burn fails, apply more, and try again !

Anyway, any ideas ? I can't try it with current resources, but if someone can, I'd like to know how it burns in the silicone, dried / wet.

[Mr Cool]

I've recently been wanting to make a fuse for hard-to-ignite subtsances, such as thermite or other comps based on Al (which may be coarse, or paint grade) and weak oxidisers such as iron oxide or potassium nitrate, etc.
One idea I had takes inspiration from PIC. In this, a NC (I think) based composition is coated onto a fine wire core, and the whole is then coated in plastic sleeving. It is my understanding that the wire core is for heat conduction, to keep the NC mixture burning evenly and consistently.
Early experiments with mixtures such as the castable plaster incendiary showed that in very thin lines, it is prone to going out as the burning mixture/slag drops off, before it has a chance to ignite the next bit in the line. So, what about coating the mixture onto some c. 1mm copper wire? Maybe this would allow enough heat to conduct up the wire to keep it burning evenly? I'm going to try it. I will make the plaster incendiary with some binder (PVA glue?), to help keep it on the wire, and when it's dry I'll probably coat it in some more glue. What I am aiming for is like a sparkler, but without the sparks.

[nbk2000]

Some pyro fuses use a copper wire in the center to prevent "heat death" (sputtering out), so how about using a thin strand of copper wire down the middle of a large straw, and filling that with a rubber cement/plaster incendiary mix? Thenk, once cured, you can cut off the straw, and have a flexible igniter. :)

[0EZ0]

Sounds like you guys need some thermalite for those stubborn pyrotechnic compositions ;) . A variation of this can be made according to the instructions found on Dan Williams' pyro page:

http://userpages.prexar.com/dwilliamsmaine/thermalite/thermalite.html

I have seen a type of waterproof thermalite fuse. This thermalite had the professional look of commercial grade fuse. It had a 1.5mm diameter and was quite flexible and held whatever shape you bent it into. The fuse comp itself was perchlorate based I assume. The core had lengths of wire wrapped diagonally around it, supposedly for good heat distribution and an even, steady burn. The fuse was finished by a layer of thin, coloured plastic twine. The fuse burned hot enough to ignite the most stubborn of compositions.

Thermalite can be improvised quite readily, allowing that you have the proper materials at hand. You will have to select a slow burning, easy to ignite comp to use for the thermalite. For details, see the page listed above.

[THe_rEaL_dEaL]

Has anone seen the half circle shaped rings that are used to hold the lids on the big blue drums of chemicals. They have a lever device which when pivoted pasta point holds thering tight and the half circle shape holds a lid to a lip on the barrel.

Anyway I know gal steelrings are usless for holding burning thermite but an equivilant ring made out of f ceramic material could be filled with thermite and the lever ccould cling it to say a pipe eg barrel is round so pipes would ba a logical progression.

A posible way to hold the thermite material in contact with the pipe/circular object

Thermie could do its thing and the ceramic device could withstand the heat produced.

The metal ring used on barrels could be replicated or scaled up/down and used as a mould for the clay ring. To fashion eyelets at the point alont the ring where the tension device would be some solid tube could have clay molded around it. the unfired clay dries and the tube is pulled out. A strip of the same ceramic could be fashioned with two holes in it and the laterl ring of wire which pivots between the lever and the ring could be fashioned to apply the holding tension to the pipe.

the ring could be made with a larger radius half circle at top to allow gases to acumulate and some holes filled with lead could melt wwith the heat early on in the process and the gasse would be released. The purpose of the lead to stop it from goin everywhere when in transit to object for cutting. A masking tape stip could be wraped around the ring to hold the thermite in place when in transit or alt a plaster/Al cast could be moulded in to the concave side of the tube then some strips of tape or some glue could hold the mould in place in transit.

I'm really sleepy so I cant be stuffed finishing this, thinking, anymore your comments crticism would be appreciated

[McGyver]

Instead of the hose type of thermite idea, how about making some kind of thermite torch. That way you can cut through anything withough the wraping idea. How about puting some thermite in a pipe , when its light tilt it against what ever your plaing to cut. The powder will fall against the object and cut it, the only problem is it will be melting the pipe also.