Making your own caps

[tgfrench]

three caps on the bottom are from a can that was annealed.

How much cleanup is needed to remove paint and plastic coating?

 

[Old Sparky]

There is none. It burns off during the annealing process. As a matter of fact that's pretty much how you can tell you have heated it enough. You have to be very careful not to melt the can. It is easier to avoid overheating it if you do the whole can rather than attempting to heat to the small strips. You need about 500°. So theoretically this could be done in an old toaster oven outside.

 

[Muzzle57]

How much cleanup is needed to remove paint and plastic coating?

I fold my cans in half, punch them out, charge them and seal with acetone/duco glue mix. Works great. No need to remove anything.

 

[Old Sparky]

I'm still perfecting the process I have a pyrotechnics background so I am looking for the perfect binder to hold things together. Because when you just use acetone whatever binder they have in there is not very strong. I just did a test batch with double base smokeless powder dissolved in the acetone. This makes nitrocellulous lacquer a common pyrotechnics binder. Hopefully it does not interfere with the friction ignition. I mean don't get me wrong it's not like the powder just falls out but it is not very stable in there at this point. I'm working on it right this moment actually

 

[Old Sparky]

That is true Pioneer. The paint on the outside and the sealant on the inside does not hurt anything. I do at least try to keep the painted side in so they are uniform color LOL you can definitely tell the difference if the can has been annealed however it makes a much nicer cap. And a Duco cement is nitrocellulous based. Same thing that's in double bass shotgun powder. I purchased some Duco cement but I haven't used it yet

 

[NorthFork]

I'm still perfecting the process I have a pyrotechnics background so I am looking for the perfect binder to hold things together. Because when you just use acetone whatever binder they have in there is not very strong. I just did a test batch with double base smokeless powder dissolved in the acetone. This makes nitrocellulous lacquer a common pyrotechnics binder. Hopefully it does not interfere with the friction ignition. I mean don't get me wrong it's not like the powder just falls out but it is not very stable in there at this point. I'm working on it right this moment actually

Why double base? If one is to use smokeless dissolved in acetone as a glue, the common thought is single base only. This is what I do and it results in literally 100% ignition.

 

[n.h.schmidt]

I make mine like Pioneer. Double pop can.No removing anything . The acetone /Duco works like a champ. The last two years I have been using A pinch of 700x in a tablespoon of acetone as a binder. The double pop can holds up better and is less likely to fragment.Even better is .005 thick brass but that really ups the cost.

 

[NorthFork]

I make mine like Pioneer. Double pop can.No removing anything . The acetone /Duco works like a champ. The last two years I have been using A pinch of 700x in a tablespoon of acetone as a binder. The double pop can holds up better and is less likely to fragment.Even better is .005 thick brass but that really ups the cost.

So you use a double base powder as well?

 

[Old Sparky]

Why double base? If one is to use smokeless dissolved in acetone as a glue, the common thought is single base only. This is what I do and it results in literally 100% ignition.

The only reason for the double base is because that is what was recommended to me by various members of the pyrotechnic community. Apparently they thought it would be better ignition. I'm guessing it hardly matters with this application. I am not really that well versed in smokeless powder nitrocellulose lacquer is the only thing I've ever used it for. Do you think single Bass would be better?

 

[painter]

I think single base would be fine. I don't think the nitroglycerin in double base powder is necessary for this application.

That's why Duco cement works. It's nitrocellulose glue.

 

[NorthFork]

The only reason for the double base is because that is what was recommended to me by various members of the pyrotechnic community. Apparently they thought it would be better ignition. I'm guessing it hardly matters with this application. I am not really that well versed in smokeless powder nitrocellulose lacquer is the only thing I've ever used it for. Do you think single Bass would be better?

I can only go by what was recommended to me by the good folks at castboolits forum. I'm willing to learn new ideas. If double base is superior to single base dissolved in acetone so be it. All I know is once I added a drop of single base dissolved in acetone to the caps all of the problems I was having vanished. Maybe it does not matter in our case of making a 'nitro glue'?

 

[Old Sparky]

I can only go by what was recommended to me by the good folks at castboolits forum. I'm willing to learn new ideas. If double base is superior to single base dissolved in acetone so be it. All I know is once I added a drop of single base dissolved in acetone to the caps all of the problems I was having vanished. Maybe it does not matter in our case of making a 'nitro glue'?

Think I might ask some of the guys why they say make sure it's double based for your lacquer. I seem to recall some mention of it dissolving in 10 seconds or so. Instead of taking a while. How long did yours take to dissolve in the acetone? And how thick is it? Like milk? Or more like honey? I already had some made from last year and it was like honey I thinned it down until it was like milk. Hopefully it's thin enough. The only problem I was having with straight acetone was whatever binder they have in the mix was not doing much. You could easily knock the powder out. But I was getting 100% ignition.

 

[NorthFork]

Think I might ask some of the guys why they say make sure it's double based for your lacquer. I seem to recall some mention of it dissolving in 10 seconds or so. Instead of taking a while. How long did yours take to dissolve in the acetone? And how thick is it? Like milk? Or more like honey? I already had some made from last year and it was like honey I thinned it down until it was like milk. Hopefully it's thin enough. The only problem I was having with straight acetone was whatever binder they have in the mix was not doing much. You could easily knock the powder out. But I was getting 100% ignition.

Took a couple days to fully dissolve and it's like a slightly runny honey. I will say the caps are VERY hot and ignition is a fast as any cartridge gun. Just popping a cap with no powder rings your ears something fierce.

 

[n.h.schmidt]

When I use the 700X powder(I don't know if it is double based), it takes about a hour to fully dissolve . Then it needs some stirring About as thick as milk. I did some testing For some I just used a single drop in the cups and that remains standard. For some I used up to four drops letting it dry for each drop. All went off with good power on my tester . It does appear that we have a lot of grace in the setting how much we use. Same way with Duco cement.

 

[BuffaloSoldier]

Thanks for all the good info. Been thinking about giving this a try.