hi
for anyone on here from New Zealand i have found a place that sells AN, Kno3, h202 and Nitric Acid over the net no questions asked, well ive only order AN and Kno3 as im realy a Kno3 and sugar rocket guy,but i also like LE and HEs, the site is http://hydroponics.co.nz/cgi/dbman/db.cgi?db=new&uid=default


thanx
matt

Interesting. Though I thought $50 for 5l Nitric was hideous. I got 20l for $50 several years ago from a chemical supply co (also no questions asked - we paid by cheque, and bought 25kg KNO3 and 25kg NH4NO3 as well, we even asked if the ammonium nitrate was exposives grade:D They said yes!)

but im still try to find Al powder and other powders, Tuatara do you know were to get any? i getting 25kg on Kno3 soon, as been a sugar rocket guy my new motor burns 5 KG of propellent per firing

Unfortunately, Metal powders are expensive and difficult to find in Australia and New Zealand. You could try some Art suppliers though.

5Kg!?!, Now that's what I call a rocket!

WOW, you are my saviour !

i was trying to go through "The ANDREW Group" (porana road glenfield), with my fake company - they havent been replieing to my emails, obviously not buying it. as for KNO3 and NH3NO3 i buy that from Ballance fertilisers which are down the road from me in helensville, $2/kg for KNO3 (100% even though its agricultural grade)

I suspect it is easier to make metal powders yourself than buy them in NZ
Metal grinder (http://members.shaw.ca/justin.le/grinder.html)
this was elsewhere in the forum - repeated for your convienience.

Personally I would love to find Mg powder for my rocket engine aspirations...

ok im over my initial glee of finding a no questions asked supplier for the many chemicals i need....

but i had a few questions i would rather ask you, Matt than the people that run the web site, for obvious reasons.

did you happen to ask them about the grades of KNO3 ? since your ordering some i would like to know also, if you asked

Tuatara, your link doesn't work.

The grade of the KNO3 shouldn't really matter because all the KNO3 that I've seen for agricultural use has been at least 98%-99% pure. Seeing as the remaining few percent are usually NaNO3 (which is also an oxidiser, very similar to KNO3), it shouldn't matter for rocketry or pyro use.

the grade is what Xyz said, and its nice and fine, they dont even know that is a hazchem either y the shape of the box my chemicals came in, it look like it had been chucked aound a fair bit, then only metal powder i can get in Zinc dust which isnt much use apart from lame Zn/S rockets

for more info on the 5kg motor look at my web site http://www.nzrockets.tk
please dont ask me about been 14 and stuff as i know my shit and have been doing Ex rocketry for 2 years
also if your realy want Al and Mg i think i have found a place but its $60 Nz for 1 kg of Al
matt

there is a place in glenfield auckland that make aluminium windows, they have shit loads of powder, wont sell me any either. im affraid to go back and steal it because they'll recognise me!

i reckon any aluminium window/fitting place should have Al powder, jsut gotta spin a legit story.

its used to fix leaky radiators is all i know though @!

Ah shit, the page is gone. It had some nice pics of a homemade metal grinding setup. Though I'm sure most of us here are bright enough to figure out how to do it for ourselves.

im going to try the metal grinding setup, can get the AL stock cheap
if it works ill post with some pics

For Al don't forget to lubricate your grinding surface, otherwise the Al will clogg it up real fast. Try kerosene. You will need a constant flow so dip the bottom of your grinding wheel in a reservoir of kero

I know this is a really old thread but Im a noob and I was thinking about that Al podwer thing(picking some up from a Aluminum Joinery place). Maybe you could say that you were gonna use some to make your own paints and stuff and you were gonna test how well you paints stood up to the light and stuff. Just a thought. Anyone reckon its a good idea?

Maybe you could say that you were gonna use some to make your own paints and stuff
Thats what Al powder is in paint stores suposed to be used for :rolleyes:

But the Al powder there (at Joinery Place) is waste (correct me if Im wrong) so you could just say that you couldn't afford the stuff from paint stores and take the waste stuff. Plus in NZ i havent seen any Al powder in a paint store.

Im having trouble getting Metal powders too. I managed to get some Al powder from my chemistry lab at school, but only a small amount I might try an art supply shop later. Is anyone from Hamilton that has a reliable source of chemicals especially KNo3, Im currently buying it as Stump Rotter but the price is ridiculous. Any ideas?Thanks

Honestly, you guys have got to go and cruise a farmstore or two. You would not believe the stuff they sell there. Like nitrates, iodine, glycerine, sorbitol, hypochlorite, peroxide (Baqua Shock), not to mention all the dubious herbicices and pesticides as well. Buy a sack of nitate with a bag of Super - they wont batt an eyelid!

Metal powders are a different story - make your own. I've tried the Al foil / oil / blender method and it works (search for the thread here). At some point I'm going to try making magnalium, and ball milliing it.

Tuatara
i have tried making home made Mg/Al and is works great, also i have found a source of Mg ingots that are only $10NZ per Kg and chopped up AL casting grade wire. When you have finished melting DONT pour the molten Mg/Al out of the crucible or it will ignite so just leave the lid on and let it cool in the crucible.
PM if you want the details of the supplier

If you are after Kno3 just whip down to your local Mitre10 they always have it there. It will be under the name Saltpeter (If I remember rightly). I think you can get it for about $5/kg which is a bit of a rip off too but its reliable.

Really? I've never seen it at my local Mitre10 - and its quite an extensive one too. Saltpetre (note spelling) is just the old fashioned name for KNO3, its not a brand name. Are you sure it wasn't NaNO3 you saw? (Chile saltpetre)

I have seen "Stump Rotter" KNO3 at another garden shop though.

Ive done alot of searching of garden stores, hardware stores etc but haven't been able to find anything that is sold as pure potassium nitrate. I know garden stores sell Potassium Permanganate in little jars good for killing moss apparently. I think ill end up ordering some KNO3 of the website from the top of this thread.

I'm sure it's there, well it is at the two Mitre 10 stores in my town. It is in the garden supplies section. I remember the name now too. It isn't under the name Saltpetre (sorry). They have it under the name 'Nitrate of Potash'. They don't have a brand name or anything on them, they are just in a see-through plastic bag.

Must be a local special then, because I re-checked my local Mitre10 this morning and they only carry brand-name products like Yates and Butlers - no KNO3 in evidence. I guess this does show that searching all local garden shops could be beneficial. I suspect that the smaller independent shops would be a better bet than the big chain stores like Palmers.

I went to mitre 10 yesterday to buy some sulphur. No Nitrate of potash the closest they had was Sulphate of Potash.

Today I visited Mitre 10 to check that it is still there as I thought they might have taken it off the market. But sure enough it is still there. It is packaged by a company called 'Hortlink' that is centred in Christchurch which maybe explains why you North Islanders don't have it.

If you are in the Auckland, most "Kings plant barn" stores will sell Soduim nitrate under the name "Nitrate of soda" in 750g bags for $4.99. Whilst this is rather expensive, it makes decent black powder and the store clerks heve never asked me any questions.
The stores also sell sulpher for $4.99 per 400g.

Wouldn't this be logical to go in the existing OTC survey thread? $4 for 400g of S is really poor. If you go to a farm supply place they feed sulfer to goats and it costs me $2 for 2kg of flour fine sulfer with not lumps.