detonator, you think it'l work

[billybobjoe]

well my detonator is a 8 gram charge of acetone peroxide, inside a uwmw P.E lined fiberglass tube. the tube is aproximatly 1 inch in diameter and 1.5 inches long. there is then a model rocket squib (electric match, in pyrotechnic terms) burried in this. i then placed a piece of uhmw plastic and then fiberglassed over it. on the other side of the charge is a uhmw divider in the shape of a cone, and a copper cone. the cone has a steady angle of 56 deg and is placed with the pointy part faceing toward the charge. underneith of it was placed a a thin layer of hdpe to protect my charge fromthe elements. the cone is aporximatly 1/16 inch thick, and the uhmw cone is 1/8 inch thick. the reason for this is that i though that the copper could/would make the a.p. more unstable and, possibly go off at an inoppertune time. what i would like to ask is; will piece of plastic affect the workings of my detonator? i know this is probably a noobish question, but i wanted to ask some people much more educated than my self.

[nbk2000]

Improve your grammer first. :)

[Alexires]

*whistles* Your lucky buddy. It looks like NBK isn't hungry right now, but you might want to consider reading the forum rules before you post again, or it may be the last time you post. Unless I'm gravely mistaken, this is your first post and its a new thread. That is a no no.

But anyway, I dont think that you can make AP much more unstable than it already is. I don't really know much about shaped charges, but my guess is that the plastic probably wont make much difference.

Instead of using huge 'blow my fingers off' charges of AP to get detonation, you might want to think about using a booster. There are sections on this, but if you can get your hands on it, RDX makes a good booster or PETN wouldn't be a bad idea.

With enough booster, you wouldn't need to go to all the trouble of making a shaped charge as a detonator.

Forgive me more knowledgeable people if I am erronous at any point here.

[Microtek]

I don't think a shaped charge will neccessarily make a good detonator. I'm assuming that you are actually trying to make a reliable detonator to initiate something else, such as an ANFO charge or another kind of insensitive explosive.
When a shaped charge jet penetrates an insensitive HE charge you are quite likely to just get a cook-off rather than an actual detonation. A much better alternative is to use a more stable explosive as a booster like Alexires suggested. This booster should be made into a cylindrical shape and should be initiated from one end in order to allow the detonation wave to build up as much force as possible.
The shock wave from a given differential volume of explosive adds to the wave that initiated it much like the principle in a laser ( you could perhaps call it a "shock amplification by stimulated emission of vibration" so it would be SASEV ). This means that the shock wave induced by the detonation of a cylindrical detonator will be least powerful at the fuse end, more powerful as you progress towards the opposite end, and by far the most powerful adjacent to the flat end of the detonator directly opposite the fuse.

[billybobjoe]

crashes head into monitor...

What a first impression, spelled everything wrong, and had the wrong idea completly.

But yea, now that i think about it is very similar to the concept of a flame tube in a spud gun, i hate to compare a detonator to a spud gun, but the principal is the same, in this sense at least. so basically there is a tube that extends from the barrel side of the chamber down the upper inside of the chamber, and to the rear. after the chamber is filled with a stoichiometric mixture of propane and air, it is ignited at the extreme out side end of the tube, (by the barrel) and it speeds up as it goes down the tube, hits the semi rounded end of the end cap, turns around and then speeds up more on its way back to the barrel. so then better detonator would be a strong skinny tube ( 1/2" sch 120 forged steel) that extends through a cylindrical charge, it accelerates down the tube an A) enters the main charge in the dead middle of the charge, or B) at the lower end, say 3/4 of the way down. so the question I have is if it were to enter the middle of the charge it would have a longer time to expand out until it hit the wall of the tube (in my case thick paper, which would probably burn instantly) thus creating more pressure?, or will the extra speed/energy it gains from an extra 1/4 of the charges length makes the detonation happen quicker, enough to offset the lack of distance from the wall.

[nbk2000]

Someone forget to use paragraph breaks instead of one monoblock of text?

Or perhaps capitalization of the first letter of every new sentence?

That the letter I, when used to refer to oneself, is always CAPITALIZED?

:rolleyes:

I hate playing grammer nazi as it detracts from more productive things I could be doing, but deleting everyone who comes here from an IM session and doesn't remember to 'switch gears', would cull us kinda thin.

Newbies need to learn QUICKLY that this is NOT an IM session, but a bulletin board, where posts will remain readable for years after the member has turned himself into a pick mist after following the similiarly mangled IM-style postings of some other deceased member on some other board.

This is not one of those boards.

You have 3 posts in which to improve your grammer to the acceptable standards of literacy or you are BFL'd (Banned For Life). :)

This applies to ALL newbies, as existing members have already conformed to this standard, and expect it of everyone else here as well.

Occasional spelling errors or omissions are human, so that's OK. But wholesale disregard for the most basic literacy skills is intolerable when dealing with our subject matter.

[Microtek]

Remember that the shock wave is not a flow of mass; you can't direct it in the same way as a gas stream. As a consequence, the comparison with a spudgun isn't really valid ( at least as I understand what you are saying, I haven't ever experimented with them ).