Pucking? How much, how long, how much pressure?

[gun'sRgood]

I've mad BP for years for my cannons. I never tried to make a puck and mill that. I made a puck mold out of 8K grade aluminum. It's 3" in diameter and 2" deep. I'm pretty sure you take the damp ball of BP and instead of screening you put it in the puck mold and add pressure. Then it comes out like glass. I guess? How much BP should I put into the mold? For how long? And how much pressure? Then how would you mill a puck? For which F values? Seems fun. If it all works, I'll toss up some pics.

 

[Wolfmanjack]

Yo don’t want them too thick because they become quite hard to break up. I would say a 1/4” once pressed is about as thick as you would want them. A very small amount of water is needed to dampen off the powder. I use a bottle jack to press the pucks between two c channel steel pieces. It is under a fair amount of pressure although I couldn’t say how much. Set the pucks aside to dry. My pucks are pretty dang hard once dry. I use wire snips to break the pucks into manageable sizes that will fit into a hand turn ceramic coffee grinder. Then screen out the different sizes. You can regrind the larger sizes as needed and the resulting powder and fines can go back into pucks to be broken up again.

 

[Big Bore 44]

3" Dia, you will need at least a 12 ton press, 20 tons would be better. You need to hit ~35-3700 PSI on the meal to get the Sulpher to flow. As for the moisture, around 4-5% distilled water, more may carry off some of the KNO3.

 

[gun'sRgood]

Y

3" Dia, you will need at least a 12 ton press, 20 tons would be better. You need to hit ~35-3700 PSI on the meal to get the Sulpher to flow. As for the moisture, around 4-5% distilled water, more may carry off some of the KNO3.

You and a buddy of mine are on the exact same page. SO same questions from me. On the press weight, how do I know much has been acquired? I just pressed on the jack handle until couldn't press it any more. How do I know how long to leave it? My buddy also tells me that factory stuff is 1.7 to 1.8 g/cc or 1.0 oz / cubic inch. Not sure how I'm going to be able to test this post press. I'm thinking of making a 1" mold and seeing if the great god amazon has some kind pressure meter to tell me how much pressure I am exerting. Fun stuff to try. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[PWC]

This site has a BP forum, check there. This question is covered in depth at the Cast Boolets/muzzleloading/my homemade BP. Look for posts by Fly. Take a drink and a sandwich, it is the longest thread I follow.

20 ton bottle jack, Harbor Freight frame, 3" puck, very little water, CERAMIC BLADE/GRINDERS coffee mill.

 

[Wolfmanjack]

I guess if you are trying to match factory density then some sort of pressure gauge and a 20 ton jack is necessary. I use a 6 ton jack and just press it till it won’t go anymore. My stuff may not be quite as dense as factory but it is just as fast. I just pressed up a batch of pucks.

 

[gun'sRgood]

This site has a BP forum, check there. This question is covered in depth at the Cast Boolets/muzzleloading/my homemade BP. Look for posts by Fly. Take a drink and a sandwich, it is the longest thread I follow.

20 ton bottle jack, Harbor Freight frame, 3" puck, very little water, CERAMIC BLADE/GRINDERS coffee mill.

I think this is under the BP site. Thanks for the read though. Appreciations.

 

[PWC]

I use a 6 ton jack and just press it till it won’t go anymore. My stuff may not be quite as dense as factory but it is just as fast. I just pressed up a batch of pucks.

I like ypur press setup...I knew there was a way around the Harbor Freight stand but just couldn't think far enough out of the box. Now, Fly makes "puck dies", so all I need to do now is contact him...TKS

 

[gun'sRgood]

R

Yo don’t want them too thick because they become quite hard to break up. I would say a 1/4” once pressed is about as thick as you would want them. A very small amount of water is needed to dampen off the powder. I use a bottle jack to press the pucks between two c channel steel pieces. It is under a fair amount of pressure although I couldn’t say how much. Set the pucks aside to dry. My pucks are pretty dang hard once dry. I use wire snips to break the pucks into manageable sizes that will fit into a hand turn ceramic coffee grinder. Then screen out the different sizes. You can regrind the larger sizes as needed and the resulting powder and fines can go back into pucks to be broken up again.

e-reading your post. Thx. Good info. I'm using waaaaay too much water. I am learning a fair amount on the pressure and time. Interesting trying to duplicate commercial grade BP. I'm off to look for a 20 ton jack. Good to be retired.

 

[Czy_Horse]

Would 'Poundage of Jack' / 'Area of Press' be close enough?
20Ton=40000lbs, Area = pi x radius x radius = 3.14 x 1.5 x 1.5= 7.065 sq-in
Preasure = 40,000lb / 7sq-in= ~5700psi

 

[Big Bore 44]

Pretty much how it is supposed to work. The jack might not always do what it's supposed to.

 

[gun'sRgood]

I thought my first puck would be sludge or goo. It came out solid. ish. I put my moisture meter on the puck and it was off the scale. Now I've got it drying. I think I'll play with half and the other I plan on just restarting. Mill it to powder, less water and perhaps a bit of alcohol. More pressure. We'll see.....

 

[Wolfmanjack]

I usually work with 1/2 pound of black powder meel at a time. I add approximately 1 20 oz water bottle capful to the meel. It’s usually an ozarka water bottle. If you have ever seen these they are a small cap. To be clear only 1 cap full of water. I will mix this in well and look for consistency. Its very humid in south Louisiana so the amount of water you need varies. The powder should just start to stick together when you press it between your fingers. There shouldn’t be any moisture coming out when being pressed. If this happens you are losing dissolved potassium nitrate. The alcohol is not necessary.