Cat litter

[Fly]

When you guys are using cat litter for end plugs, do you ram it as is?or powder it some way before

you ram it?

[Cookieman]

You can use it as is or you can improve it by adding some grogg and paraffin wax. Most people use bentonite clay.

[NightHawkInLight]

Kitty litter often is bentonite Cookieman.

 

The answer to your question Fly is than it depends. I usually get a stronger nozzle/plug when I powder mine, but many do not bother and have good success. Try ramming it in a tube yourself, first try the prills, then try powdered. See which plug you are happier with.

[Fly]

Whats the best way to powder it.Coffee grinder?:whistle:I was afraid it might gum the coffee grinder up.

 

Fly

[NightHawkInLight]

Coffee grinder, mortar and pestle, hammer and a paper bag. It's not hard stuff to powder by hand.

[dagabu]

You can use it as is or you can improve it by adding some grogg and paraffin wax. Most people use bentonite clay.

 

Hmmmmm, I think that I will take you to task on that one Cookie. Like all good things, the trends turn as the whimsy of the people look to use cheaper and/or more available items to make pyro.

 

The current trend is to use the Wall-Mart red bag kitty litter. It is about 1/4 the price of powdered Bentonite and includes exactly the same ingredients. 100% Bentonite.

 

Grog does bite in better but if one is pressing, the bite is irrelevant as the pressure from a ram will bulge the casing at the point of compaction and grip is established by deformation. The bad part of using Grog (Grogg is a drink) in nozzles is that it cuts the spindle and ruins rammer ends over time.

 

Consider the use of clay by itself vs using a refractory in combination. the clay will erode faster under the abrasive thrust phase of the fuel and will open up while a good refractory clay will keep the nozzle opening closer to the same size as it started. While you will keep a better thrust profile with the harder clay, you will experience more CATOs as the ability of the nozzle to erode will allow for hotter fuels and greater pressures.

 

Wax is the stuff that fills in the voids when you press clay, it makes the clay shiny and it feels really smooth.... It also adds nothing to the nozzle strength. Some will say that it allows the Grog to slip into open spaces better which may be true but clay alone benefits nothing by its inclusion.

 

Ultimately, the choice is yours but my 200# of special mixed clay now sits in its bucket unused and my bag of kitty litter continues to get lighter and lighter.

[Cookieman]

Rocketman,

 

Is that what your using with your new press? What is the name brand of that kitty litter? OK, Ill go back to making cookies.

 

 

 

 

[dagabu]

Cookie,

 

I started with pure Bentonite direct from the clay supplier about 20 some years ago and over the years I switched to the hybrid I was using up to a few months ago that used wax, Kaolin, Grog, Bentonite etc. The more I used it, the more I realized how my tooling was getting scratched and the more frequent I would have to polish them and the harder it got to remove the tooling from the finished rocket.

 

When I complained on passfire, I was told by several long time rocketeers that all the fuss in making hard and durable nozzles was a waste of time and to try a bag of cheapy kitty litter instead.

 

I bought a bag and found that with pressing it, I could use it un-ground with good results but for more consistent measuring, I like to run it through my kitchen blender for a few seconds and fill a little 32oz tub with the mostly powdered mix.

 

Again, use what you are comfortable with, wax if you want to, grog if you like to polish your tooling a lot, kitty litter for cheap nozzles and bulkheads.

[dagabu]

Rocketman,

Is that what your using with your new press? What is the name brand of that kitty litter? OK, Ill go back to making cookies.

 

Wall-Mart kitty litter, the red bag. No name brand, no flavor crystals, just clay.

[Cookieman]

Wall-Mart kitty litter, the red bag. No name brand, no flavor crystals, just clay.

 

 

Oh, OK thats why your the Rocketman and Im the Cookieman.

[dagabu]

LOL!!

 

I love baked goods, my wife is a chef and I do eat well but she isn't a pastry chef!

 

I bow to the man that makes food, rockets are for fun, pastries are for life!!!