bjc4073 Posted August 19, 2015 Posted August 19, 2015 I had bought around 80 feet of tubing and bought a $15 tooling set to get a taste from Pyroworks. My rockets kept blowing up as listed in this post-http://www.amateurpyro.com/forums/topic/11077-tooling-from-pyroworks-continually-blowing-up/?do=findComment&comment=147826 So my question is should I sell my tubes and move to 1lb tubes and tooling or buy 1/2'' tooling. I want to eventually be able to put a 3''/2'' shell as a header which a 1/2'' rocket can't do to my knowledge (or at least a 3''). Is it possible to learn on a 3/4'' rocket??
dynomike1 Posted August 19, 2015 Posted August 19, 2015 I thought there was a rocket page on this site.
pyrokid Posted August 19, 2015 Posted August 19, 2015 I think a 1/2" whistle rocket could lift a 3" shell, but not BP. Even if you decide to move to a 3/4" kit, keep the 1/2" tubes for use as inserts. 1/2" rockets are tons of fun anyway and use much less fuel than larger rockets. It's important not to overthink these small rockets. I use dry rolled tubes made of letter paper and then use only mill dust with a clay bulkhead and my rockets fly very well.
schroedinger Posted August 19, 2015 Posted August 19, 2015 Yes it definetly is possigle and also easy to learn with 1 lb rockets. They are very easy to build and i would also say require less experience to get working, since there is tons of documention on them and they are quite forgiving as ling as you don't go for the max. But they require a lot of set up, rocket tool, support, press > 1T. I never rammed them and can't tell you if that is possible. If you want to ram 15 mm is a good size or 5/8".
bjc4073 Posted August 20, 2015 Author Posted August 20, 2015 I think a 1/2" whistle rocket could lift a 3" shell, but not BP. Even if you decide to move to a 3/4" kit, keep the 1/2" tubes for use as inserts. 1/2" rockets are tons of fun anyway and use much less fuel than larger rockets. It's important not to overthink these small rockets. I use dry rolled tubes made of letter paper and then use only mill dust with a clay bulkhead and my rockets fly very well.Could a 1/2'' rocket lift a 2'' shell?
insutama Posted August 20, 2015 Posted August 20, 2015 Yes defiantly I lift 2" shells with my shorty 1/2" tooling from Caleb and my tubes are only 3" long if you had the standard 1/2" tooling with 5" tubes im sure u could lift a 3" shell with hot enough fuel and a nozzle
Arthur Posted August 20, 2015 Posted August 20, 2015 Small rockets are a LOT cheaper than bigger ones, also the cato when the first few fail is much less likely to wind up the neighbours. SMALL rockets fly on OK black powder, larger ones need slower powder. Lancaster's book gives lots of examples of powder formulations for sizes of rockets.
calebkessinger Posted August 20, 2015 Posted August 20, 2015 1/2 in universal tooling with benny whistle is down right awesome! Lifts 3 in shells with ease and without the heading fly very high. The BP ones we made last week fly great also. put a nozzle on them and they got all the power needed to lift 2.5 and 3 in shells. Yes, we were using HOT bp not a slowed down rocket fuel. I kinda thought little rockets were silly until oldspark kept making those dang things.. It takes almost no fuel compared to 1 lb rockets and Man they are FUN !!! Most of them got 1.75 in salutes. quick and easy. I'm hooked to those darn miniature rockets now... we had a ton of fun with the 5/8 skinny spindle also. talk about lightning fast!!
insutama Posted August 20, 2015 Posted August 20, 2015 What exactly is the difference between the universal tooling and the standard bp tooling ?Would a universal tooling rocket made with bp be stronger than the normal bp coreburner nozzled rocket
Maserface Posted August 20, 2015 Posted August 20, 2015 The universal tooling, originally made popular by Steve Laduke, makes a weaker rocket than a traditional nozzled core burning rocket (outlined in hardt, as well as the pgi anthology). Steve created the universal tooling to build a wide variety of rockets on one spindle (whistle, bp, strobe etc.) however if you are waxing your tubes (and using good tubes) you should be able to make just as many rockets on a traditional core burner rocket set. I'm a big fan of mini rockets, 1/2" and 5/8" are great fun! My 5/8" whistles use about 30 grams of propellant, compared to my 1" that used 300-350 grams.
WonderBoy Posted August 20, 2015 Posted August 20, 2015 1/2" motors are fun, it is what I started with. Now, using nozzled BP I can lift light 2.5" cylinders, and using whistle can lift 4" balls. That being said, 3/4" is my favorite size. Still small enough that I can hand ram my BP motors, don't take that much composition, and can still lift plenty. WB
insutama Posted August 20, 2015 Posted August 20, 2015 On average how much fuel does a 3/4" rocket take
schroedinger Posted August 20, 2015 Posted August 20, 2015 About 57 g of rocket propellant in a nozzled rocket and 65 g nozzlelessbp on a nozzleless with firesmith nozzleless tooling + 16 of granite zinc comp as delay. My most used rocket is 15 mm nozz, they use not too much fuel (ok who cares about 30 g of bp), but more important lift 3" to a perfect height and create a lot less fallout. Just use two normal consumer rocket sticks.
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