nater Posted April 12, 2011 Posted April 12, 2011 (edited) As promised to the people who have been helping me out, here is an update to my progress. I have a small batch of 1/2" rockets ready to try and fly this Saturday at a club shoot. Since switching to plain hawthorn clay for nozzles, I have had much less trouble with them sticking to the spindle. I haven't had any damage to the tooling after switching either. I have a few more not shown in the picture, I'm planning on a few static burns before attempting to fly one. For headers, I was just going to attach a small bag heading filled with BP and fish fuse on site. I will be sure to get some video. Any thoughts or suggestions? Edited April 12, 2011 by nater
dan999ification Posted April 13, 2011 Posted April 13, 2011 they look a lot better than mine good job, im sure you'll have great fun shooting them.video.dan
nater Posted April 13, 2011 Author Posted April 13, 2011 Thanks guys. I'll try my best to get video. If I cant't borrow a good camera, I will at least have my cell phone. Of course if you want to run from them in person, all you have to do is come to the MPAG / HPA / Team-1 joint.
nater Posted April 16, 2011 Author Posted April 16, 2011 The weather is not cooperating for video, we have a nice mix of sleet, rain, and snow. Good news is 4 of 4 rockets have had successful flights. They are a little sluggish in flight but have managed to fight the wind too. I am going to try ricing the rest of my first batch of fuel, and mix a second batch of hotter BP. I feel like I am off to a good start, at least they left the rack.
shagaKahn Posted April 16, 2011 Posted April 16, 2011 Right on Nater. Good for you for braving the weather. Awaiting promising weather myself to test a first batch of 4 oz rockets. On others' good advice, decided to go ahead and rice my BP before ramming. Did several static tests, just burning the motors clamped in a vise. Initial BP (60/30/10) burned pretty mildly so I spiked it by 1/3 with some slightly hotter BP and rammed some more engines; these burned with a satisfying roar so hopefully they'll do the trick. Stix cut from the bamboo grove at the edge of the jungle and nosecones cut from party hats (sorry kids).
OneEyeCharlie Posted April 16, 2011 Posted April 16, 2011 I spy, with my one little eye, a film canister header peeking out from 'neath the party hat. What, pray tell, does it contain?
shagaKahn Posted April 17, 2011 Posted April 17, 2011 That FCS is filled 3/4 with rice hulls then topped off with flash. (Have found when I mix flash with rice hulls I get a bit more umph!) Videos to follow . . . Will acknowledge before the shoot that I decided to forgo the bulkhead and passfire hole. And yes, I'm gonna use a long slow fuse and move WAY back from the launch tube.
nater Posted April 17, 2011 Author Posted April 17, 2011 (edited) Just got home from the shoot. My fuse got too damp, so I couldn't fly the rest of the rockets I brought. I'm still happy, even though they didn't have as much snort as I was hoping. Edit: How much nozzle erosion is acceptable? Is it affect the pressure on core burners since the burn time is so short? Here is a picture from one of the spent motors. Edited April 17, 2011 by nater
shagaKahn Posted April 18, 2011 Posted April 18, 2011 First burn: http://tinyurl.com/3ogcnem All five rockets flew well; only four shown on the vid; last one, that big film canister shell did not go off--but we were able to recover it.
dagabu Posted April 18, 2011 Posted April 18, 2011 The launches looked great but the landscape looks even better!
shagaKahn Posted April 19, 2011 Posted April 19, 2011 Prob'ly the best area we've ever found for shoots. Even on the vid you could appreciate the echo. The spot has remarkable acoustics, with a full five-part echo and then a soft thunder that rolls down that gorge.
nater Posted May 7, 2011 Author Posted May 7, 2011 (edited) It took longer than I hoped, but I got some choppy video which I had promised. This was the same batch of fuel and motors which I think are sluggish. The first is a static burn and the second is a flight. It flew fairly straight and as high as I expected a 4 oz rocket, but I think without headers, they should be zipping out of the launch. http://pyrobin.com/files/sluggishrocket.avi On a side note, many people in the rocket world have been discussing the dangers of the falling motor and stick. I found my rocket turned lawndart, buried a little more than an inch in the ground. Edited May 7, 2011 by nater
guntoteninfadel Posted May 7, 2011 Posted May 7, 2011 First burn: http://tinyurl.com/3ogcnem All five rockets flew well; only four shown on the vid; last one, that big film canister shell did not go off--but we were able to recover it. That echo is AWEsome!
Bilbobaker Posted May 8, 2011 Posted May 8, 2011 Looks like the country around here.We set up tannerites and other reporting targets (Caul plates) on old logging site landings like that. Great sounding rockets, what is your propellant... end burners or...?I've been having a blast tossing my Estes rockets into the sky with Rcandy the past few days but haven't got the recovery burst timing worked out yet.
shagaKahn Posted May 8, 2011 Posted May 8, 2011 bilbobaker: "Great sounding rockets, what is your propellant... end burners or...?" Just straight BP, 60/30/10, core. Made the powder ala Ned Gorski's toot but found it lacking so spiked it 1/3 with some hotter BP. Will be testing another rocket--and some fresh-made stingers--at that same spot in a few days. 60/30/10--but milled for a few hours per Peret's suggestion. (Glad I happened to check back on this thread as automatic email notifications ain't working for me anymore).
Recommended Posts