Igniting the contents of an aeroso can, from a safe distance?

[j.p.bill]

One might observe that if Mexico and most of Central America had functional governments instead of kleptocracies, the illegal immigrant problem would not exist.

Am I wrong, or did this drift a bit off-topic?

 

[jpanhalt]

Guess it's kind of our July 4th holiday, freedom from british rule...

Not really OT, but maybe not electronic. The OP wanted something for July 4th.

There is a lot Americans can't be proud of, but don't rain on our parade (I am not referring to you, J.P.). John

 

[HarveyH42]

Is it true that there are no prisons in Canada, they force all criminals to live in America instead?

What was the topic anyway? Oh, remote controlled aerosol flame-thrower. I was up at the Home Depot yesterday (god, I hate that store), needed some misc. hardware, potting soil, few other odds and ends I've been hoping to find elsewhere... Anyway, figured I'd look into a wireless doorbell, instead of running wire. Didn't see any kind of doorbell, so asked, figured they must hide stuff like that in some illogical location. The kid/clerk just straight told me they don't carry them, didn't check on a computer or ask a more senior employee, little prick. So figure the hell with it, had other things to do.

 

[jpanhalt]

I checked Lowes. It has an ignitor #97311:
**broken link removed**

That might be easily adapted to give you a remote, maybe from up to 2 ft, spark. The PVC cannon, as mentioned earlier, is quite easy to make and very impressive. Styroform chunks or balls work fine. The noise is impressive, and the foam doesn't travel nearly as far as a potato does. John

 

[Optikon]

Yeah.
They start wars.
They are obsessed with guns and other weapons.
They have ghettos with extreme poverty.
They have devestating hurricanes.

Why would anybody want to go there??

Here we go again . . . he can't seem to stop his america bashing obsession.

 

[audioguru]

Jpanhalt is an American.
I was just agreeing with him that it's terrible in the United States.

 

[HarveyH42]

Well, we do have the right to freely express ourselves here in America. Canada is part of 'North America', so guess it's close enough.

How come Canadian quarters don't work in vending machines anymore? I've gotten stuck with 7 of these worthless pieces of metal, even had two refused at 7-11. Maybe I can drill a hole through and use them for washers, probably cheaper then Home Depot anyway... Just kidding, I'll just keep saving them up for the mass migration to Canada...

 

[audioguru]

Quarters?? You mean meat??
Oh! Money!
I haven't used money for many years. My credit cards keep me buying stuff.

 

[Hero999]

To answer the origional question.

An electrical spark is ideal to ignite aerosol propellants like butane and propane. A piezo igniter from a discarded cigarette lighter would do but as niether the load or souce impedance will be matched to the cable you'll loose a lot of the pulse's power in the cable's capacitance so it might not work reliably. An ignition coil or TV flyback transformer would be ideal, if you want low tech you could use a SPDT momentary switch so when the switch is not pressed a capacitor is charged and when it's pressed the capacitor discharges through the coil.

 

[Nicksan]

You could hook up a couple servos, one to a flameless lighter that uses a piezo ignitor like stated in the previous post and another servo to push down the head of the aerosol can simultaneously, you could probably simply use a cheap 2 channel RC radio.

Yeh, it's terrible in the United States. Please pass that message along to the Mexican citizens and other nationalities who are demonstrating in THEIR capital cities against the American policy that won't let them immigrate to the US. John

If its so terrible in the US why do they want to come here? We have enough poor, lazy people on welfare, we dont need anymore.

 

[Bob Scott]

Please don't use Styrofoam chunks. If they burn, the fumes are very toxic and deadly.

As far as USA bashing is concerned, why? Read tomoorow's Sunday July 1 newspaper Sunday color comic strip "The Family Circus" by Bill Keane. According to this US comic strip, God pledges allegiance to the United States of America.

Bob

 

[HarveyH42]

The mexicans of questionable status, seem to work regular and don't do much to draw attention. The mexicans with the green cards are the ones who sit outside, drinking, urinate in public, drugs, and other things. Had several groups in my neighborhood, and right next door (until the building was sold). Mexico must be one messed up country, round up some illegals, make them work to pay your bills and buy your beer, and they say slavery no longer exists...

Anyway, no country is perfect. At least America is doing something to make the world a better place in general. Yeah, we make mistakes, sometime things don't go off as planned, nobody can predict the future. Many people believe the war in Iraq and Afganastan (well, middle east) is a huge mistake. I think it needed to be done a longtime ago, and needs a hell of a lot more involvement. England got lucky last week, two car bombs that didn't go off, right downtown London. If we just walk away from the war, the terrorist groups will get stronger, better weapons, greater demands. Iraq divides the middle east in half, if it can be brought under control, there is some chance of getting some control over the rest of the region. I'm not saying we want the oil, or to rule the world, just make it a less convient place for terrorist. There are plenty of weak an devoloping countries for the terrorist to move to, so this war is only getting started. Doubt we'll see its end in our lifetime.

Anyway, thanks for all the ignitor suggestions. Think I'll give something a try at night, July 4th. The local law enforcement are usually more forgiving.

 

[Andy1845c]

Please don't use Styrofoam chunks. If they burn, the fumes are very toxic and deadly.

I second that! Styrofoam is a horrible thing to burn!

 

[jpanhalt]

Please don't use Styrofoam chunks. If they burn, the fumes are very toxic and deadly.

[QIOTE=Andy1845c]I second that! Styrofoam is a horrible thing to burn!
[/QUOTE]

1) What's so bad about burning Styrofoam (polystyrene)? Did you check the MSDS for it? It is no worse than burning wood, and burning is an approved method of disposal in many localities. Of course, I am not recommending that anyone have an open fire of anything in a closed space and breath the fumes. Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide are deadly in high enough concentrations.

2) The Styrofoam does not burn in the cannon application as suggested. Even if it did burn, it will be many feet away.

3) The OP was questioning burning paint, cleaners, etc. of uncertain composition. Just how would a little singed polystyrene add to the danger of that?

Fireworks used to be sold with the motto, Safe 'n Sane. I don't know if that motto is still used, but the message is clear. Use common sense. And if you don't want to have fun on the 4th, or any other day, stay in the house and read a book.
John

 

[Hero999]

Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide are deadly in high enough concentrations.

People often get confused by this one.

Carbon dioxide isn't very harmful as it's used in soft drinks.

Carbon monoxide is deadly even in fairly low concentrations.

You'd be pretty stupid to be killed by carbon monoxide from burning polystyrene as you would have to be either deliberately inhaling the fumes or burning it in an enclosed space.

 

[Andy1845c]

I don't know what is in styrofoam that makes it burn so hot and put off so much black smoke. It has to be one of the worst things I have ever seen burn except for tires.

I can't remember what it was from, but I remember burning the packing from an appliance a few years back. It had some big molded styrofoam chunks in it, and once it got going, it looked like the gates of hell had opened up. It gave of a termendouse amount of heat and thick, black smoke. If you were in a room with this burning, you'ed have been overcome almost instantly.

 

[HarveyH42]

Plastics are mostly carbon, so they all produce black smoke. Styrofoam is 50% air, or more, so it burns faster and hotter. Hmm... If you lit a barrel full of packaging peanuts on fire, wonder if the heat and rising gasses would be enough for some of them to fly off while burning... I live in town, so pyro experiments are ver limitted. Aerosol flamethrowers and a few fireworks are about as far as I'm willing to play with fire.