1/4" Rocket Compositions

[MagnumMoose]

I recently got into making rockets and have really been enjoying the 1/4" bottle rockets, cheap and quick to knock a few out fairly quickly. I tried the simple 63/27/10 R-Candy and it works fantastically for my 4oz rockets but these little guys make some noise and fly about 40 ft up or so. I plan on making some BP this weekend using some local willow and red cedar, does anyone have any really hot BP recipes that can be used in these? Also has anyone ever used any APCP on something as small as these? Or some other AP comp? Edited April 20, 2017 by MagnumMoose

[lloyd]

It really doesn't take a 'hot' BP for a bottle rocket. They'll work on just-about anything you can ram into that little tube!

 

Willow and Red Cedar make plenty-hot powder for just about anything you can name.

 

Lloyd

[MagnumMoose]

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm assuming these can be done like the bigger rockets and add an effect on top of the core? I was wanting to try some coarser grades of charcoal or coarse MgAl.

[lloyd]

Oh, of course! Even cheap Chinese bottle rockets come 'plain' or with a salute header!

 

Lloyd

[Tim1877]

Do you need to use finely granulated BP or just plain old mill dust for these little rockets?

[OldMarine]

Do you need to use finely granulated BP or just plain old mill dust for these little rockets?

I would take mill dust with no binder and granulate it with 70/30 isopropyl alcohol through an 8 mesh screen. It makes a very nice powder to handle and without the dampening effect that a binder would have. It also consolidates very nicely and can be used for spollettes as well.

Edited September 20, 2017 by OldMarine

[Tim1877]

I would take mill dust with no binder and granulate it with 70/30 isopropyl alcohol through an 8 mesh screen. It makes a very nice powder to handle and without the dampening effect that a binder would have. It also consolidates very nicely and can be used for spollettes as well.

Thanks for the help I'm just starting my first rockets I like to start small and work my way up what would be a good delay comp for these little rockets?

[OldMarine]

I like using Win39J for delay in all of my rockets but on the tiny ones you can just add some spherical Ti to the rocket comp and continue it all the way up. Ti gives a good display for a tiny amount.

[Soren11112]

I don't have an electric grill for making R-Candy, would an iron be too hot?

[NeighborJ]

Soren please don't use the iron. You will have no true idea how hot it is. A high quality electric skillet is a must. Cheap grills have a tendency to develop hot spots or overshoot the setpoint which will ignite the fuel, I can speak from experience.

[Soren11112]

OK, I'll try to get one. So far I have been mixing it dry and unmelted.

Edited September 28, 2017 by Soren11112