Manufacturing Aluminium Powder through filing

There are no import restrictions for aluminium powder for a majority (if not all) of EU the countries. Ordering 1-100 kg quantities of aluminium powder quantities from chemical/pyro supply factories is therefore advices. Just be careful and travel directly to the factory to pick up the order if possible.

However, if you want to avoid ordering it online (or pick up an order directly from the factory in f example Poland) you may create limited quantities yourself. You may use various aluminium scrap, or purchase aluminum ingots/bars from hardware stores to file down the aluminum into powder. This method can be cheap and yield good quality aluminum powder, however be prepared to work.

Most files will work, as aluminum is a soft metal. However, you should order high quality aluminium files online. There are variations of aluminium. The harder types, f example: 6061,7075 are filed down quite well without having to cleanse/brush off/load the file. Other types of aluminium like the type that can be found in aluminium plate and cast aluminum are very gummy and stick to a file quite easily.

· Recommended files: try the Supershear file, or the aluminum cut file (a special file for filing aluminium, check Ebay etc.). According to one source; the Supershear is the fastest hand file. It may need occasional chalking or lubing. The Aluminum cut file is fast, and creates finer powder than the Super Shear. Next, and less accurate, but very much faster is the air or electric die grinder fit with a single-cut burr and lubed with beeswax. It will climb through 1/2" of solid stock in 10 seconds. The next step up is 6", 8", and 12" grinding discs, belt sanders etc.

· Correct filing motion: the trick is to push hard on the cutting stroke and ease up as you pull back to rattle the pins free. When you carefully pull the file back, you will basically remove much of the powder in between the tooth’s.

· Cleaning your file: Many people use a piece of copper water pipe (1/2"). Take a piece about 6" - 8" long, squish the first 2" or so inches in the vise of with a Hammer. The round end will be you handle, give a wrap or two with electrical tape or duct tape. Work the tool (copper pipe, squished end -almost a chisel) with the teeth of the file; not with the direction you would file if you were using the file, but side to side. This allows the copper to get under the aluminum and 'pop' it out the files teeth. The copper will not wear down or damage your file. Alternatively; you should just use an aluminum bristled wire brush which will clean the file perfectly, almost every time, as long as you clean across the teeth.

· It is recommended that you do your filing above a container to catch all the powder.

· Use a particle mask to prevent the inhalation of aluminium dust.

· The mesh, fineness, of the grain can be increased by using a mortar and pestle to grind the powder down more. However, this will be very time consuming.

· You should store your aluminium powder in f example glass or plastic containers.

· Cover story usage: fine aluminium powder is used as a paint component (f example boat paint) to add UV resistance.

· Estimated aluminium powder produced per hour using a specialized file; I’m not exactly sure, as I haven’t tried it. I would estimate between 50-100 g per hour. So if you wanted 100 kg it would take one person 1000 hours or 125 x 8 hour days, 10 kg = 12,5 x 8 hour days.

NM – Nitromethane

Pure nitromethane is an insensitive explosive with a VoD of approximately 6200 m/s. The reason why NM is so much more powerful than diesel is that nitromethane generates about 2.3 times the power of gasoline when combined with a given amount of oxygen. NM can be obtained from hobby air-plane fuel. The fuel, depending on brand and type, contains anywhere from 12-35% NM. Hobby plane boat-fuel contains the highest percentage (aprox 30-50%) while plane/helicopter fuel is on a second with 12-35%. Model car fuel normally contains the least amount of NM. Ensure that you have created a cover story (that you say you own a T-Rex 600 f example) before you make a purchase.

The average price for a 4 L can of fuel (containing 30% NM) is approximately 31 Euro. In other words; if you want 10 L of pure NM you would have to buy 8-9 of these cans for a total of 280 Euro providing you are able to extract 100% of the NM (which you probably won’t). This fuel usually consists of: 30% NM, 12% oil lubricant and 58% ethanol. I ordered almost 4 cans of this fuel from each available supplier (total of 5 suppliers) and ended up with 18 cans. I could go to my neighbouring countries to buy more or I would have to wait 6 months time before I make another purchase (to prevent suspicion from the suppliers). The fuel can only be transported by ground.

Myths about the dangers of NM

NM is not as dangerous as people would have you think. In fact, nitromethane is one of the safest and cheapest liquid explosives available on the market. It cannot detonate from flame and it is in fact very hard to ignite with a match, and if it does burn, it does so with a lazy blue flame. However, NM is shock sensitive from 6 meters. Nevertheless, as long as you don’t expose pure NM to shock or severe friction you will be ok. It is very stable.

NM safety

· You can set it on fire, it simply burns like ethanol. Since it is flammable liquid, its vapor with air may form an explosive mixture (like many organic solvents).

· Nitromethane is in fact very hard to ignite with a match, and if it does burn, it does so with a lazy blue flame. It does detonate on shock though. It is very stable.

· I'm under the impression that nitromethane is definitely an explosive. It is just much less shock sensitive than theoretic claims.

· Do not pour it into a glass container as the edges have too much friction causing an explosion. Never heat it. Never drop on floor, avoid shock.

· Never touch it as it reacts with skin and the person affected will be killed within 36 hours.

About NM mixed with methanol

Dilution of the NM mixture with methanol doesn’t prevent the invention from working. The dilution just makes the mixture more difficult to detonate, and the explosive force released is correspondingly reduced. To detonate a methanol solution of NM, about one ounce of high explosive booster is needed. Really diluted solutions, such as one would get from 10% NM product would need even more booster. The mixture keeps really well as long as it is sealed up to prevent the NM and amine from evaporating away. On ounce (28,35 g) is required to detonate.

AN and diluted NM

Mixing 84 parts by weight AN with 16 parts by weight of 50% solution of NM in methanol explosive is is as powerful as high grade dynamite. Weaker concentrations of NM could be used instead of 50% but performance would suffer. I wouldn’t bother with any product under 30% NM. In a known explosives patent, they specify using fertilizer prills of AN. However, finely ground AN made according to the directions in this section would also work. To enhance the performance of this mixture, one could mix in up to 10-15% by weight of AL powder. According to the patent, this mixture can be detonated with a number 8 cap, and doesn’t need confinement for complete detonation.

Purification of NM-hobby fuel

NM can be purified by cooling below its freezing point (28 C), washing the solid with cold diethyl ether, followed by distillation.

How to get more out of Nitromethane

Mix with Trichloroethane (common cleaning fluid)(40 parts AN, 9 parts NM, 3 parts Trich: see PDF: Nitromethane explosives.

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 778