My homemade black powder

[Vettepilot]

Ok, thanks. I got lucky with my salvage motor. (I took it out of a washing machine headed for the dump a good while back.) It has two different size pulleys mated to it, so I will be able to easily change ratios/speeds. That feature might come in handy.

Vettepilot

[passgas55]

Any one uses the Harbor Freight 6 ton A frame press for making pucks?

[swamp]

Any one uses the Harbor Freight 6 ton A frame press for making pucks?

I use it and am happy with the results.
swamp

[Whiterabbit]

Any one uses the Harbor Freight 6 ton A frame press for making pucks?

Nope, I snapped mine like a twig. Twice. I called to order a replacement member (the bent part that makes it an "A" not an "H" and they told me it would be $21 each, plus shipping. I told them that was 1/3rd the cost of the press, and it was just a piece of sheet metal with 2 holes in it. The gentleman answered by going on about the part price being justified due to the high quality of the tools, so I thanked the man and hung up.

Bought their H-frame 20 ton and it's holding up much better.

[Nobade]

Yep, no complaint on my 20 ton. I use it to press things like crankshafts on bikes as well so needed the extra capacity. It has no problem with gunpowder.

[LAGS]

Had something interesting happen yesterday while pressing some powder.
Two of my pressing dies cracked and exploded in pieces all across my shop.
A hunk of one actually hit my wife in the stomach ,and she was standing about 15 feet away.
I am using a HF 20 ton press , with the dies made out of PVC pipe inside a PVC coupling to double the wall thickness.

I use a hunk of round aluminum as a ram, and use 1/4" discs cut out high impact plastic.
The discs have to be trimmed every two presses because they will smoosh and expand in the die.
the pucks come out really hard.
After crushing and grinding ,the pucks produce a 3F powder that weighs 72 gr on a full 45/70 casing, compared to 80 gr of Goex 3f in the came casing

[Vettepilot]

I am going to cut up those thin plastic kitchen cutting boards for separators. They are pretty tough. If you're not familiar, they are about the size of a dining place mat, around .030 > .040" thick, and used for cutting up veggies and such.

I am now here at my old place/storage, and got my press to take home. I've bought a high pressure gauge to fit to it to determine proper pressing force.

I'm really getting into this! Fun and interesting whole new aspect to the shooting and loading, and muzzleloading sports.

Vettepilot

[LAGS]

My wife was only concerned that I didn't get hit with any of the flying pieces.
She enjoys watching me do my Hobbies and is very supportive.

[Vettepilot]

Just a random thought...

I wonder if polish tumbling with graphite, like the manufacturers do, would enable the grains (now with rounded edges), to stack closer together and get that last bit of density?? How well does yours flow compared to commercial, not being "polish" tumbled?

Vettepilot

[LAGS]

I tried tumbling some 2F one time, and it came out as 3F and mostly 4F.
But that was before I bought my 20 ton press for pressing my powder better.
I might have to try it again.

[Vettepilot]

My wife was only concerned that I didn't get hit with any of the flying pieces.
She enjoys watching me do my Hobbies and is very supportive.

That's a very COOL thing. You're lucky! I don't have a wife anymore, and to tell the truth I don't know if that's a "good" thing, or "bad".....

Vettepilot

[Vettepilot]

I tried tumbling some 2F one time, and it came out as 3F and mostly 4F.
But that was before I bought my 20 ton press for pressing my powder better.
I might have to try it again.

If you do, please let me know how it works out.

And MERRY CHRISTMAS to all.

Thanks,
Vettepilot

[LAGS]

@ Vettepilot
The only reason I tumbled the 2F was to see if I could knock off some of the sharp corners on the Crushed then screened powder.
I did not add Graphite.
But the rounder powder did seem to measure better.
As for the wife, We have only been married since June of this year, but we have been together for three years, and she does own and shoot her own guns.

[Vettepilot]

From my reading, graphite should slow the burn rate a bit, which correlates with your results Indian Joe.

I was just curious if the density would go up slightly with "glazed" or "polished" grains. It's just a bit puzzling to my inquisitive mind why commercial powder is just a little bit denser than the excellent efforts of you guys.

It's not that it really matters in the grand scheme of things; I'm just curious.

Vettepilot

[Vettepilot]

Didn't I read a psi figure for proper compression of the powder when corning it somewhere here in this thread??

Something I was reading last night while studying about "glazing" powder said on the order of 3000 to 4000 psi during the pressing stage. I didn't think the number mentioned here was quite that high. Around 2500??

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas.

Vettepilot

[Vettepilot]

Just went back and read some past pages of this thread. 3500 psi is correct, and it had been discussed before that glazing, or polishing the grains would in fact increase density. It apparently makes screening a little easier and more consistent too.

I've read every post of this thread, but you know what they say about memory.... It's the SECOND thing you lose with old age!

Vettepilot

[Dieselhorses]

We need to make a book out of this thread. This is really getting down to a science! Anyway, not to change gears but a while back I mentioned that I built a homemade tumbler with 110-1725 RPM motor with 2" pully and a 6" pulley on other end. I built a 4" cannister from PVC and was getting 100-125 RPM on it. I tried a router speed control from HF and also a motor current limiter from Amazon. Motor cuts out somewhere in the mid range. I simply placed an 8" plastic jug on rollers and now it's at 65 RPM thereabouts so I reckon this would be ok for BP? TIA and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

[Vettepilot]

I believe you'll be fine at that. Be sure to fill your drum 1/2 full with media. Then about 1/4 drum of powder.

Vettepilot

[Vettepilot]

PSI ? A 20 ton jack at full strength would be a tad over 6000psi on a three inch die - jack is a little tired ? did we lean hard enough on it ? proly did get 3500psi - unlikely we got a great lot more than that ! ( all theoretical,of course ) -- I have two pressing dies and two sets of separator discs and I keep pumping the jack to keep pressure on the one stack while I load the other die set (makes a difference I think)

Tumbling the powder might do some of what you suggest? I bet it would result in more fines and rescreen dust and I get enough of that already - so for me - not worth the extra time and hassle - If my powder was not working well and I was getting inconsistent results then maybe -- but thats not the case - I am very happy with results and would rather spend the time shooting .

Oh yeah, I'm sure glazing the powder will generate more fine powder/loss. But what the heck, I think I'll try it. I'm in it more for the fun of doing it than worrying about how much time I get into it. I sure am impressed with the shooting results you got!!

Vettepilot

[Vettepilot]

Hey guys,

I know some of you have backgrounds in, or at least are knowledgable regarding pyrotechnics. I just came by 4 lbs. of Ammonium Sulphate. Anything interesting and fun to be done with it besides starting a garden???

In advance, thanks for any info or help,
Vettepilot