00:00:09from an old battery pack with some
00:00:11common household ingredients mix them
00:00:13together and you get these a batch of
00:00:15super cheap and easy to make smoke
00:00:17flares
00:00:22[Music]
00:00:35most hardware stores have recycling bins
00:00:38for disposing of old batteries that’s
00:00:40where I got this one for free I’m going
00:00:42to start by removing the screws and
00:00:43these ones require a corks bit so once I
00:00:46found the right size the six screws get
00:00:48removed and then with a little wiggle
00:00:49the top assembly pulls right out with
00:00:52that removed I’ve got access to the 15
00:00:54cells that make up the battery pack and
00:00:56I’m going to need to get them apart so
00:00:57the tape comes off and the connector
00:00:59bands are all removed so that I’m left
00:01:01with a total of 15 subsea NiCad
00:01:03batteries they’re just over one volt
00:01:05each and some of them are still good but
00:01:07it’s actually the casing that I’m after
00:01:08the battery easily pushes out now
00:01:10leaving me with a clean casing that
00:01:12should work great for the body of my
00:01:13smoke flare it even has a flat bottom
00:01:15that’ll come in handy later on okay all
00:01:18the batteries are shelled and I’m going
00:01:19to use some cardboard for the next step
00:01:21but before I do I’ll pack these
00:01:22batteries back into the casing and send
00:01:24them back for recycling alright to
00:01:26finish these casings all add a bead of
00:01:28hot glue to the flat part on the bottoms
00:01:30and press them down on the cardboard to
00:01:32cool down that gets repeated with all
00:01:34the other casings and I’m leaving a bit
00:01:36of a gap because these will need to be
00:01:37cut individually later on now it’s time
00:01:39to make the composition that will give
00:01:41us our smoky flare I’m using 60%
00:01:43potassium nitrate stump remover and 40%
00:01:46table sugar being very careful not to
00:01:48mix them too much
00:01:49this is poured very gently into a pan
00:01:51set on medium heat and I’ve made about
00:01:53400 grams of the composition it hopes it
00:01:56will fill all the containers after a few
00:01:58minutes I’ll begin to fold the mixture
00:01:59into itself because you can see the
00:02:01sugar on the bottom is beginning to
00:02:03caramelize I’ll continue folding in
00:02:05gently until the mixture is melted and
00:02:06absorbed all the white powder and at
00:02:08this point it should be running enough
00:02:10to pour into the casings
00:02:11okay I’ve readied this casing as well as
00:02:13a piece of homemade fuse cord that I
00:02:15made in a different project using a
00:02:17small spatula the liquid is poured into
00:02:19the casing and the edge of the pan wiped
00:02:21clean to prevent too much dripping the
00:02:23last step is to add the fuse making sure
00:02:25to push it all the way to the bottom and
00:02:26now we can let this cool until it
00:02:28hardens the same thing is done with all
00:02:30the others and when they’re cooled and
00:02:31cut apart the batch is complete this is
00:02:34a fairly slow burning fuse and will give
00:02:36me plenty of time to get away so when
00:02:38it’s lit I’ll watch from a distance to
00:02:39see if our smoke fountain will
00:02:41work alright it looks like it is working
00:02:43and now here comes the smoke for its
00:02:46size it actually puts off quite a bit of
00:02:47smoke burning for around 15 seconds
00:02:50until all the fuel is used up the casing
00:02:52is completely toasted as well but the
00:02:54cardboard base is intact and its
00:02:56prevented the concrete from getting any
00:02:58scorch marks here goes another one and
00:03:00you probably noticed I’m doing this
00:03:01outside in an open area that’s because
00:03:04there’s plenty of ventilation for when
00:03:05the smoke starts to get thick you don’t
00:03:07want these going off in a confined area
00:03:09because you can see how a thick smoke
00:03:10could build and linger just for fun I
00:03:13tried making another batch with a 60%
00:03:15ratio of sugar to see if it would burn
00:03:17slower
00:03:18unfortunately it burns so slow it was
00:03:20painful to watch
00:03:21there was some smoke but all in all it
00:03:24kind of looked more like one of those
00:03:25black snake fireworks instead next I
00:03:27tried making a batch where the
00:03:28ingredients were mixed together
00:03:30extremely well and experiments with
00:03:32various homemade fuses
00:03:33I even tried adding sawdust to see what
00:03:35that would do well it wasn’t a good idea
00:03:38I think the sawdust added air pockets
00:03:40that made them go completely ballistic
00:03:41these were more like unguided Rockets
00:03:43than anything because they burn so fast
00:03:45I couldn’t get them to stay still so
00:03:48remember to get a nice balanced burn
00:03:50with plenty of smoke like this it’s
00:03:52important that you have the right
00:03:53ingredients the right ratios and the
00:03:55right mix every batch is a little
00:03:57different so be careful and be saved
00:03:59well there’s the technique I used for
00:04:01some cheap homemade smoke flares if you
00:04:03liked this project perhaps you’ll like
00:04:05some of my others check them out at the
00:04:06king of random calm
00:04:07[Music]
00:04:14you
00:04:16[Music]
”