Making your own Visco fuse

Materials Needed:

 

Hobby syringe (Syringe without needle)

 

You may find one at your local pharmacy who sells them for the application of topical intra-oral medication. They usually cost about 25 cents, also you may be able to get one at a farmers supply store or if you know a diabetic.

 

Hollow-cored cotton string

 

You may be able to buy this at your local art supply store in which is sold for wicks for oil lamps or homemade candles. It also usually comes with another, somewhat smaller string in the center to prevent stretching. This should be removed.

 

Meal Powder

 

You may buy this at www.skylighter.com your local firearms shop.

 

Dextrin

 

You may buy this from a health food store or at www.skylighter.com

 

25% Nitrocellulose Laquer (Optionally died green or red)

 

You may make this at home or buy it at skylighter.com. Skylighter is a little high priced but has a large selection of chemicals available. In homemade you may add a bit of camphor to the NC lacquer  to plasticize the nitrocellulose after the solvent has evapourated, allowing for a more flexable fuse (the commercial plastic "Celluloid" is nitrocellulose plasticized with camphor)

 

Procedure

 

1: Make black powder (BP) paste: Take 10 parts by weight of meal powder and thoroughly mix with 1 part by weight of dextrin. (ie, Mill it in a ball mill for half an hour) Boil some water and add it slowly to the black powder dextrin mix, while stirring, until the mixture has twice the consistency of white glue.

 

2: Remove the plunger from the syringe and plug the hole at the bottom with a thumb. Pour the BP paste into the syringe, filling it almost to the top. Reinsert the plunger and turn the syringe upside down, and depress the plunger until all excess air has been removed.

 

3: Insert the nozzle of the hobby syringe into one end of the hollow core string and slowly depress the plunger so as to allow maximum consistency of BP paste into the center of the Visco, allowing for a more consistent burn rate. The string should ideally be 1 meter in length. Refill the syringe using the method outlined in step 2 whenever necessary. Continue injecting the BP mix paste until it is visibly exuding from the opposite end of injection. This means that the core is as full as it is going to get.

 

4: Remove the string from the syringe's nozzle and lay it down on a flat surface. Gently roll the string between the heel of one hand's and the flat surface to further even out BP paste distribution and increase burn rate consistency. Allow the string to dry outside preferably in the sun for at least 24 hours, Turn it ever hour or so to prevent the BP paste filler from becoming uneven.

 

5: After the filler has dried, Apply a thin coating of 25% nitrocellulose lacquer to the entire external surfaces of the string and allow it to dry in the sun once again. This will waterproof the fuse and allow it to be used in potentially wet conditions.

 

6: Let the fuse set in the sun again for 24 hours after all the wet fuse components dried to ensure minimum moisture content, which interferes with the burning of the fuse. Check the burn rate, and label each length of fuse with a sticker that indicates the exact burn rate of the particular fuse. This is not necessary but highly recommended as each fuse's burn rate may be slightly different from the next one's.

 

7: The imitation Visco fuse is now ready for use.