Type IV Explosives Magazine
From PyroGuide
A few months ago I started building my Type IV Explosives Magazine. There are many ways to go about doing this, but this is my design. You may use my plans if you wish or design your own. At the bottom of the page I will give a link to a PDF file of "The Orange Book". It's a good idea for every pyro, regardless of what or how much you make, to construct one of these. It provides safety in the event of an explosion and gives you peace of mind. The one I made was very cheap, about $40 or $50, so there is really no excuse for not having one.
[edit] Materials
5 80lb bags of quikrete concrete mix
1 4'x8' piece of 1/4" plywood
36" of rebar
Screws
Some steel wire
Wood Glue
Tools
Drill
2 Clamps
Torch
Equipment to mix concrete
To start off I read the "Storage" subpart of "The Orange Book"[1] to give myself an idea about how construct a Type IV Explosives Magazine.
After reading the book I began thinking of how I could construct my own, then I drew up some plans so I could visualize what it was going to look like when finished. Here are the plans I came up with. They were later changed because I thought of a simpler way to make the lid.
After I drew up the plans I went to Home Depot to get some plywood. I used one sheet of 1/4" plywood to build both boxes. The dimensions of the outter box is 24"x24"x24" and the inner box is 18"x18"x21". That leaves a 3" gap between the two boxes in which we will later pour concrete into. I cut all the peices to size and screwed them together. After I got it screwed together I applied some wood glue to make the seams water tight.
After I got both boxes constructed I took the outer box outside and used two clamps to help hold it together while I was pouring the concrete because I feared the weight of the concrete would pull the screws out. I then mixed an 80lb bag of quikrete concrete.
When I got the first bag of concrete mixed, I poured a 3" thick layer of concrete into the bottom of the outer box. When the concrete was the thickness I wanted I placed the inside on top of it.
After I got the inside box in, I took a few peices of steel wire and placed them evenly in the gap between the boxes to give the concrete a little added strength. Then I filled the rest of the gap with concrete, making sure to disturb the concrete by stirring it with a stick, to remove air bubbles.
Before I started pouring the concrete, I had heated and bent two 18" long pieces of rebar around a steel pipe into a "U" shape. The main use of the rebar will be to lock the the lid tightly onto the concrete box.
Once I had the concrete poured I put a steel rod on top of the magazine. Then I took the two "U" shaped pieces of rebar and placed them over the steel bar and inserted them into the concrete.
At that point, all that was left to do was to wait for the concrete to harden. After that happened I took off the clamps, removed the screws from the outer box, and took the wooden form off, revealing my nearly completed Type IV Explosives Magazine.
The only thing I need to do now is to make the lid, which I have yet to do. When I finish that I will complete the tutorial.
ATF Orange book [2]
