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megalomania
June 26th, 2003, 11:26 AM
ALENGOSVIG1
Moderator
Posts: 766
From: Vancouver, Canada
Registered: NOV 2000
posted March 23, 2001 02:52 AM
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Meal Coated Rice Hulls
Meal Coated Rice Hulls is the explosive that is used to break open aerial shells, and at the same time ignite the Stars inside without shattering them into dust.

The idea here is to have an explosive that is easily ignited, strong enough to break the shell and throw the stars a great distance, but not be so powerful that the explosion shatters the stars and renders them useless. If a small granular type material is coated with Blackpowder, it burns much faster than just the Blackpowder would alone. Coating the Rice Hulls not only increases the burning speed of the Blackpowder, but the mixture is also far more bulky than Blackpowder is alone. Because it takes up more space, it fills the empty gaps in the shell and holds the stars against the wall of the shell.



Above is rice hulls


Step #1: Making the Drying Bag





The first thing you'll need to make is a drying bag, which is just a large "pocket" with a fold-over flap.Make one out of some old window screen, fold the edges over and staple with a staple gun. Make sure it is large enough to hold about a cup full of Rice Hulls. Set this aside for now.

Step #2: Preparing the BP Mix




Now, weigh out 375 grams of Blackpowder and place it in a large container. Make sure that this container has a lid that snaps on and will not leak.

Weigh 75 grams of Dextrin and place it on a piece of paper.

Take the Dextrin that you've just weighed and run it through a strainer into the measured amount of Blackpowder. This breaks up any clumps of Dextrin so that it will evenly mix with the Blackpowder when you shake it.

Snap on the lid to the container and shake the Dextrin & Blackpowder mixture until it's evenly mixed. Set this mixture aside.

Step #3: Wetting the Rice Hulls

Measure out about a full cup of Rice Hulls and place them in a large plastic container and add about 2 cups of warm water.



Tamp down the dry Rice Hulls with your hands until they are all under water and wet.

Let the Rice Hulls soak for 20 minutes, occasionally stirring them and tamping down any that may become dry on top.

Step #4: Drying the Rice Hulls

The hulls need to be just damp at this point. not wet and not too dry. You can either spread them out and allow them to dry to dampness (which takes several hours), or do it in 20 seconds using your washing machine. Use the washing machine as a large centrifuge by utilizing the "spin" cycle.

After the Rice Hulls have soaked for 20 minutes, open your drying bag over the washing machine, and pour in the soaking wet Rice Hulls.

Fold over the top of the drying bag to prevent any of the Hulls from escaping during the spin.

Before you actually spin the Rice Hulls, make sure that you can select a "spin only" position on the washer control.

Once you are confident that you can make it spin without spraying water, go ahead and set the wet bag of Rice Hulls in there and turn on the spin cycle.

Allow the bag to spin for only 20 seconds. Any longer will make the Rice Hulls too dry to use.




Remove the bag. The Hulls should be dark & damp, but not wet.
Pour the damp Rice Hulls into a large plastic container that you've got a lid for. Make sure that the lid fits well and doesn't leak. The container should be large enough to hold the Rice Hulls and the Blackpowder with plenty of room to spare.

Step #5: Coating the Rice Hulls

Pour the Blackpowder / Dextrin mixture that you made earlier in with the damp Rice Hulls.




Snap on the lid, and shake well.



Lay out several sheets of newspaper and empty the coated Rice Hulls onto them. Break up any lumps that may have formed and spread the coated Hulls out as thinly as possible. The coated Rice Hulls will become dry to the touch when left overnight, but will not be completely dry for a couple of days.



Do not attempt to speed the drying up by heating the Hulls in any way.
When dry, you can test the coated Hulls by igniting a small pile of them. You'll notice that they burn very, very fast. Much faster than Blackpowder does alone. This is because the fire can propagate faster around the outside of the Hulls and flash through the airspaces in between each piece. The coated Rice Hulls can be stored until you're ready to use them in an aerial shell.


[This message has been edited by ALENGOSVIG1 (edited March 23, 2001).]



SATANIC
Frequent Poster
Posts: 232
From: australia
Registered: SEP 2000
posted March 27, 2001 02:27 AM
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sounds good, but where can you find rice hulls? a by product of food rice or something?


hodehum
A new voice
Posts: 21
From: New Zealand
Registered: FEB 2001
posted March 27, 2001 03:03 AM
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I'll have to try that some time, What else could you use other than Rice Hulls?
p.s where did you get the pics from? something to do with desert blast I'm assuming



blackadder
Frequent Poster
Posts: 313
From: London
Registered: DEC 2000
posted March 27, 2001 03:20 PM
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I think I may have repeated hodehum's question, but is there anything that can be substituted for rice hulls here?



ALENGOSVIG1
Moderator
Posts: 766
From: Vancouver, Canada
Registered: NOV 2000
posted March 27, 2001 07:27 PM
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Yes, corn cod could be used. It is used in bedding for rabbits apparently so just go to a pet shop to obtain some. Also, you could use grass seeds as an expensive alternative, but rce hulls arent hard to find. If you cant find some, next time you order supplies from a pyro supplier, get some rice hulls. They cost like $2.00/lb. The density of rice hulls is very low so a pound would be alot in volume.