Jump to content
APC Forum

Whistle Rockets


Recommended Posts

Posted
Let me further clarify that fine point FT made, nothing is legal in California, at all. As in everything you do or think of doing, is in fact illegal. The only thing that can be confirmed as legal in California is electing hippies. If you can drink it, smoke it, burn it, or shoot it chances are high it is illegal. In southern California in particular anything hot enough to ignite grass is considered a weapon of mass destruction since a dirty look will cause 50,000 acres to burn in a day.
  • Replies 55
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • cplmac

    10

  • psyco_1322

    6

  • crazyboy25

    5

  • Zmuro

    4

Posted
all right all right i get it california sucks. on another note my last rocket didn't fly to straight like it had a mind of its own. any suggestions? should i drill the core with a drill press? or does the core have to me dead center?
Posted
The core should be centered as much as possible, but for me squirrely rockets were usually the result of a short stick or a motor that was not placed in the right spot for thrust/balance etc.
Posted
should i drill the core with a drill press? or does the core have to me dead center?

And NEVER drill into whistle mix.

Posted
It was probably due to your stabilization stick. Even an estes motor will wobble or squirrel out with a bad stick. What county are you in?
Posted
.....but I would not live in a state that won't allow me to protect my family from harm.

I remember a little while back here (in cali) there was controversy over this old man who was a gun collecter. His house was broken into by I think it was 3 teenagers. He shot and there was a big deal about it on the news.

Posted
Also do 76/23/1-3 for yoiur whistle mix, 70/30/1-3 is weak compaired to it.

Are you referring to sodium salicylate vs. benzoate? Adding red iron oxide or using both with Vaseline and solvent? I realize how much shit is illegal in California and I don’t like it either but unfortunately I live right in the city near UCLA so even if everything was legal I still don’t have a good place to launch them. Also I am using a stabilization stick made from a split bamboo skewer here are some pics of my finished rocket...don't laugh i am new to rocketry but not pyro this isn’t the first thing I built this is just improvised I honestly didn't expect my prototype to get off the ground. I plan to set my rocket of Saturday I will let you know how it goes.http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w318/crazyboy25/100_0759.jpg

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w318/crazyboy25/100_0758.jpg

Posted
Could you please use smaller images in the future.
Posted
I just got back from firing my whistle rocket pictured above in my previous post. It was incredible a little raspy at the start but a really beautiful whistle and it went a minimum of 500 ft sorry I don’t have a video though...maybe next time (I am probably going to make allot of these in the weeks to come)
  • 1 month later...
Posted
Is it possible to make a half decent rocket using benzo(sodium if it matters)? If so whats the best ratio? I tryed it and I have to press so I was using a table vise. They screech like crazy but they dont have good lift.
Posted
Can I replace the vasoline with mineral spirits and get the same effect?
Posted
Is mineral oil the same as mineral spirits?
Posted
Is mineral oil the same as mineral spirits?

No, mineral oil, in the US, is a light oil which is like unscented baby oil. I've heard in Europe it goes by a different name, but I can't recall what it was. Might be called "liquid petrolatum" ?

 

Mineral spirits is a paint thinner/solvent.

Posted

In danish it's called "Vaseline olie" (Vaseline oil) or "Mineralsk terpentin" (mineral turpentine)

 

Are there any uses for Mineral Oil? I happened to buy a bottle the other day, just for the fun of it (my parents paid and such).

Posted
Is it possible to make a half decent rocket using benzo(sodium if it matters)?  If so whats the best ratio?  I tryed it and I have to press so I was using a table vise.  They screech like crazy but they dont have good lift.

76% Pot perc

23% Sodium Benz

1% Red iron oxide or Copper oxy chloride

2.5% Vasoline

 

Will be the fastest fuel you can possibly use for the whistle rockets.

dont you need a solevent for this? i recall reading te process it is fairly complex but it is supposed to give a high yeild powerfull whisle. also do have any colored strobe or metal trailed formulas?

Posted
I live in the US. Usually you use something like laquer thinner to desolve the PJ. I went ahead and tryed the mineral spirits. It just dryed up. So I used it to desolve the PJ. Ive made it like this before but not this ratio. Its ok for making noise but I never put any kinda of small core in the rockets they where just flat so maybe thats why they didnt fly that good. Ive been told that sodium salicylate put benzo to shame so next time I order thats what im getting.
Posted

Your whistle rockets are not gonna fly without a core. The salicylate mix has been the strongest for me but we've covered this ground before. As for dissolving the vaseline, I melt it then add it in. Add enough acetone to your dry ingredients to make the consistency like play doh, then add the melted vaseline and knead the crap out of it for a good ten minutes. Push it through a window screen and you are ready to press rockets. Again, you NEED a core, not optional otherwise you are just pressing very large whistle inserts. My favorite mix is:

Perch 70

Salicylate 30

Red Iron Oxide 1.5

Vaseline 3

 

Don't melt the vaseline near your whistle mix, the stuff is very flammable.

Posted

Stuff being both the whistle mix and the vaseline. :)

So whats a coring tool for wistle rockets look like? I gonna use 1/2"x5" rocket tubes. Until I get some Salicylate. Then im gonna go up to 3/4". So if someone post some pics or demensions/shapes that would asist me in making my own. Thanks.

Posted

Usually you get the core from pressing a rocket with rocket tooling, but seeing as how you don't have any you can press the motor with a flat end. Then take a 3'16" drill bit and turn it by hand nice and slow until you have a core that is about 5/8" deep. Maybe less, I'm ballparking the depth.

 

As for Sally vs. Benze, I'm a Salicylate fan over Benze, but others like the Benze over the Salicylate. I wouldn't want to live off the difference, and it's pretty subjective to what you like. One thing that is not in question though, the Benze is considerably less expensive.

Posted
Its KClO4, bought from Keten.
Posted
No idea what type it is im afraid, As for how i made it. It was the Passfire formula 70/30 KClO3/sodium Benzoate, the Benzoate was quite clumpy so i milled it for a while, i then folded it into the perc added the Fe2O3 and continued to fold it into each other until it was a consistant pink colour and then the melted vaseline added and mouldes itto a "putty", once dry and grained this was then pressed into the tube using a vice (I dont have a press yet, i think this is why they're not very good).
  • 1 year later...
Posted
Hi. I'm reading this thread and I did't find any plans for whistle rocket tooling, so does anyone have plans for tooling that is used for 25mm ID tube. I would like to make my own tooling, but I don't know the measurements for spindle and core width, length. Thanks, for reply.
Posted
No idea what type it is im afraid, As for how i made it. It was the Passfire formula 70/30 KClO3/sodium Benzoate, the Benzoate was quite clumpy so i milled it for a while, i then folded it into the perc added the Fe2O3 and continued to fold it into each other until it was a consistant pink colour and then the melted vaseline added and mouldes itto a "putty", once dry and grained this was then pressed into the tube using a vice (I dont have a press yet, i think this is why they're not very good).

 

I have made 70-30 whistle with Perch and Sodium Benzoate from Keten, it worked perfect. Loud and clear whistle. You should try to mill the perch too. Make sure you have a clean jar and media, and give it 3-4 hours, then mix.

You might want to skip the iron oxide and vaseline, and just do a ground test first. Press it in a tube, and leave the last 2-3 cm of the tube empty.


×
×
  • Create New...