Tandoori67 Posted August 19, 2020 Posted August 19, 2020 (edited) I memory of the late Grant Thompson (The King of Random), i have decided to build my own sugar rocket. It will be ready around November to Dec 2020 this year. I just want to know what length of the rocket stick i should use and the suitable diameter. I would also like to know the type of wood used. The rocket will be 3/4 inches in diameter and 5 inches long. What length of stick should i use? The mixture composition will be 65g KNO3 to 35g sugar. Edited August 19, 2020 by chappali
SharkWhisperer Posted August 19, 2020 Posted August 19, 2020 Depends on total mass. Is 3/4" ID or OD? How much your tubes weigh? What material? Watch out for PVC that can turn to shrapnel. How much nozzle/cap mix you plan to use? How much comp can you pack into that tube with your selected nozzle/cap/ID/coring design? Definitely not 100g. Suggest you poke around on the forums and search for relevant terms. There exist many threads on selecting appropriate rocket stick lengths and some on sugar rockets. Spend some time on them (hours, if not longer). There are also websites dedicated to sugar rocketry that you should locate. Maybe do a little homework before asking for an easy answer to an unanswerable question (with the limited info provided). It's clear you're new to this. Study some and learn the details, and the dangers, way beyond Grant's 15-minute YouTube videos on making sugar rockets in PVC tubing (note: avoid plastic; use cardboard/paper tubing). Might make the difference between setting your Mom's kitchen or garage afire or picking PVC shrapnel out of your body, or not...
Tandoori67 Posted August 20, 2020 Author Posted August 20, 2020 (edited) ok thanks, i find that grant's videos missed out many crucial details.He used this model of Schedule 40 PVC pipe. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M0U9JS2/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thkiofra0f-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B00M0U9JS2&linkId=bb809833fefc6e890742677f77817d1f Edited August 20, 2020 by chappali
SharkWhisperer Posted August 20, 2020 Posted August 20, 2020 ok thanks, i find that grant's videos missed out many crucial details.He used this model of Schedule 40 PVC pipe. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M0U9JS2/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thkiofra0f-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B00M0U9JS2&linkId=bb809833fefc6e890742677f77817d1fI've seen several of his videos. I get it--PVC is both cheap and fast to cut to length. While basic sugar rockets are typically considered tamer than BP rockets, using any plastic for rocket motor casings is just not smart. PVC, whether schedule 40 or schedule 80, will both turn into jagged shrapnel if your design has a minor flaw and explodes unintentionally. Probably you'll get away with it without having problems so many times that you become complacent. That's when a motor blows, when you're least expecting it, and can really cause some serious bodily damage. You really want to use thick-walled paper/cardboard tube that you can buy or make yourself (many tutorial-like threads on here about rolling tubes). You can adapt these to any rocket design you wish. You won't find many PVC-fans on this site that encourage its use. We like to make cool pyro effects, including some badass rockets, but plastic is generally avoided for rocket motors as an inordinate safety risk (this hobby is all about managing risk). There are plenty of folks here that will gladly assist you in creating rationally-designed rockets and other pyro devices, but probably not if your commitment to safety is unclear.
Tandoori67 Posted August 22, 2020 Author Posted August 22, 2020 Hi, thanks, then i will just follow instructions from this website then https://www.skylighter.com/blogs/how-to-make-fireworks/sugar-rockets
SharkWhisperer Posted August 22, 2020 Posted August 22, 2020 Hi, thanks, then i will just follow instructions from this website then https://www.skylighter.com/blogs/how-to-make-fireworks/sugar-rocketsThat would be a much wiser approach. Skylighter's recipe uses sorbitol, which is generally more expensive than sucrose (table sugar). If you use sucrose, be careful with the super fine confectioner's sugar because it often contains chems like cellulose (fine sawdust) etc to keep it smooth flowing--these can affect propellant performance. The coring designs are limitless; your link provides decent background information, but this is not the way everybody makes sugar rockets. I suggest you poke around on this site and others to track others' progress and failures when learning to make/optimize sugar rockets--it might save you a lot of time in not repeating other's mistakes, and also in better understanding how small changes in design or compositions can affect performance. And you can slap these motors into finned rockets if desired, and even add an ejection charge to bring them home--they don't necessarily need to be standard stick-guided pyro rockets, though that does simplify design and allows adding headers for effect (can do this with a finned rocket, too, but then it's largely disposable...). If you haven't located it, then visit Richard Nafka's site at http://www.nakka-rocketry.net/ . He does largely high-power sugar rocketry, which you are years away from performing yourself (and he uses shrapnel-forming motor tubes, with appropriate safety precautions--again, I strongly urge you to avoid PVC, at least until you become an expert). He has good information on a variety of sugar propellants.
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