My homemade black powder

[swamp]

I am getting no moisture. I mist in a little at a time till I can press some against the side of the bowl and it stays in a cake. I am using a 6 ton press.
swamp

[fishingsetx]

I use a powder dipper to measure the water. One dipper to one bowl and mix well. If more than a tiny drop squeezes out, I add a bit of mill and mix again. Then I put the pressed pucks in a food dehydrator, I also use to dry brass, and run it overnight to dry them. Usually I just unload them and they stay in a pan till I have time to corn them.

Guns have only two enemies: rust and politicians!

[Fly]

Dam I,m glad to be at home on my computer. I,m with stump add just add water enough to get it to stick & I do it
in my hand made in a fist. Water squeezing out during pressing is a bit much. A little water squeezing out won't hurt
but I,m talking a very small about. Also that 20 ton should make them hard as glass. That's about all I know to tell you.

Maybe someone else knows the answer if these suggestions are not helping.

Fly

[swamp]

stump?

[Fly]

I know swamp, I have a friend we call Stump, so that's where that came from. Plus I,m waiting for my coffee to finish, (wink).

Fly

[WallyinIN]

One of my earlier attempts at pucks was putting too much meal in and making too thick of a puck. After drying and smashing they dusted instead of breaking. My die is similar to fly's in size and I now use 25 grams per puck. Hope this may help.

Wally

[Whiterabbit]

public service announcement from Captain Obvious (aka in this case, Captain Stupid)

If you buy and use the 6-ton Harbor Freight a-frame press, and swap out the 6 ton bottle jack with a 20 ton bottle jack, you will snap the A-frame like a twig.

Brought to you by the guy who is googling for spare parts for Harbor Freight junk.

[Fly]

That's good to know, Ha,Ha. King of like putting a big block chevy in a VW!

Fly

[luvtn]

I guess I don't understand? We need 2,700 lbs psi to make pucks. What is with this 20 TON jack press?
Luvtn

[WallyinIN]

You don't need 20 ton, however, with a 2.5" piston on the die you have 4.9 in^2 and 2700 psi therefore 13250 lbs of force. 6 ton a little under powered but lots of people are getting good results with it.
Wally

[brass410]

I'm wanting to try this powder making Have a question about removing the water. If I was to make my puck and then put it in a vacuum chamber and apply 30 inches vacuum do you think it would work to speed the process of drying if left under vacuum for 60 mins or so?

[Whiterabbit]

Absolutely. That's just physics.

The better question is how much water is lost vs hanging out in open air for 60 minutes, or a day, or two weeks. You'd need a sartorius or similar and conduct a good study to find out if it's really worth it.

Nice thing about that tho is it's an easy study that doesn;t require oddball ways to measure success.

More important, kudos to you for having a vacuum bell jar. Great toy. What kind of pressures can you go down to? We usually pump on metal surfaces in the milliTorr range for hours to drive off all moisture. But our chambers are over 100 liters in volume.

[brass410]

I don't have anything huge just a small chamber which I made at the machine shop I was working at and I have a vacuum pump for servicing a/c systems. The chamber is about the size of a heavy truck battery 20"Lx14"Wx 14"H. I originally made it to try dehydrate food, it kinda worked but not the kinjda outcome I was looking for, but it makes the best dog cookies ever our mastiffs go nuts when they hear the pump start (reaction like a coffee truck horn at a rainy cold construction site).

[Fly]

I use a Ronco jerky dehydrator in the winter. I have also used my electric stove on low with the door partly open when my wife is gone.
NEVER use a gas oven OPEN FLAME. One of my fireworks buddy uses a ole crook pot. In the summer I use the sun out on my deck. Lot of good ideas tonight.

Fly

[maillemaker]

Picked up a 12-ton HF press today for $115 + 20% off. I now have everything I need to start making BP.

Steve

[Whiterabbit]

If I were smart and had $200 extra, I would get that 12 ton H-frame press and swap out for a 12 ton air actuated ram. I bet that would be a real winner right there for results and productivity.

[Fly]

I have one Whiterabbit .

Fly

[Whiterabbit]

You should see my a frame and 20 ton ram. Such a waste. The weak link breaks. So I weld or replace metal, and then there is a new weak link to break.

Makes me feel like my press is doing this:



I should have done the H frame up front.

[Fly]

20 tons is a lot of pressure.

Fly

[luvtn]

I ordered HF 6 ton AFrame press and the rubber tumbler. The AFrame came first in a 3ftx 1 foot box with the ends ripped out and two incompetent plastic bands. I opened the box-sheesh, ya got to BUILD it. My son is mechanically inclined and stated he wouldn't even attempt putting it together. I live in a trailer, so no room to lay it out etc. I took it back, because HF won't put it together either even for a charge. So the rubber tumbler comes. Yep, it doesn't work because the Knurled knob rests on the frame. I will be taking it back too. Where can you buy stuff already put together that works?
luvtn