3lb whistle motors

[leedrill]

whom out there has made or makes 3lb whistle motors im looking for the spindle dimensions you use

if anyone makes this size can you fill me in on the spindle dimensions the fuel ratios and the performance you are achieving

thanks in advance

hope some one can fill me in but really dosnt seem to be many 3lb makers out there plenty of 1lb though

 

 

 

just to clarify im not after patent copys im just after experimental designs that people have used and ball park figures of what catos

if you can make a comment on what size spindles you used with what fuel to get a cato it would help me out

i just want to know how much redline changes with different fuels and spindles

Edited August 12, 2013 by leedrill

[Anarchy08]

well acording to the 'rocket tool sketcher' floating around,

 

standard whistle ; 25mm tube 150mm long:

spindle length 50mm

spindle diameter at base : 12.5

spindle diameter at tip : 9.08

 

whistle pusher : ; 25mm tube 150mm long:

spindle length 83mm

spindle diameter at base : 16.6

spindle diameter at tip : 5.8mm

 

spindle obviously being tapered given 2 dimensions

 

 

these are just ballpark dimensions, as my largest whistles are 19mm tubes with 8mm parallel spindle.

So i cant really say

[nater]

I have Ben Smith's Universal tooling in 1/2", 3/4" and 1". So far I have been using the same fuel ratios in all of them. I also have a 1" set with different length taper pins as spindles, but I need more time to experiment with that set.

[leedrill]

i would love to hear back when you do nater if you could pm me some of the spindle dimensions id really appreciate it

[oldspark]

Well some of the tooling out there now (by famous makers) seems to have a much larger spindle diameter then the standard on the tool sketcher, not sure if that helps you any but I know the tooling seems to work very well, I have a 1/2 and 3/4 tooling and very happy with them, not going to win any contests but am more then happy with my tooling for the time being.

[nater]

I will keep everyone posted on my tests. Everything is packed up right now while i am moving so I am in a holding pattern at the moment.

[gdeputy]

I'm new to this forum, getting my first post in so i'm past the anti-spam stuff. I've been doing pyro and rocketry for years, more focused on rocketry and AP based composite propellants. This year for the 4th of july I decided to try out some whistle rockets. They were a raging success, thoroughly enjoyed the noisy buggers. For the 1" ID rockets ( I think that's 3lb? ) I used a spindle 1.85" tall, 0.55" at the base, tapered 2 degrees, and a 0.55" tall base. Worked great, never had one go boom. Pressed them all on a harbor freight press using a pressure gauge. I even tried some larger/longer spindles in .65" ID tubes, and never managed to make one that didn't fly. I've got a lathe, so was able to try a few different spindle sizes. Anyways, great forums, and if anyone ever needs some custom tooling feel free to private message me. I crank stuff out on the lathe pretty regularly.

[leedrill]

thanks for your input gdeputy but i have to admit 1.85" tall spindle seems pretty short. even being so wide is a small spindle, what was the length of the tube for your 1"id motor

[gdeputy]

Like i said, i'm no expert, this was/is my first try at whistle rockets. I was just happy they worked, and had no problem lifting 3" round shells for payloads. Tubes were cut to 5" long. I based my spindle dimensions on the guidelines given here. http://www.creagan.net/fireworks/rockets/whistles.html I'm open to suggestions on different dimensions!

[leedrill]

thanks gd i have read alot of dans stuff but not seen that page is good to see he has experimented with not so large diameter of a core and i guess its an indicator of the rumours i hear about people using bp spindles on whistle by him stating about the shortness of those core designs

 

but would still like to hear back from anyone still playing with or whom has had a bit of experience experimenting with 3lb whistles there really isnt much info out there on core sizes

Edited August 15, 2013 by leedrill

[Mumbles]

It's actually a larger spindle than I have in my notes from Steve LaDuke. At least in my older notes, he basically uses the same size spindle for many rockets. His spindles are 1.375" long and .25" in diameter for less power or .4" in diameter for more power. These don't seem to be anywhere near the redline of performance of course.

[FlaMtnBkr]

You need to talk to Steve LaDuke. He can tell you exactly what size spindle to use based on what type of fuel and perc you have available. I can tell you that he will say you need to press them to a fairly high pressure to get consistency and to get them where they are on the red line and not pop, if that is what you want. Which is what it kind of sounds like you want to do is get a really hot motor? Or maybe you just don't want to have any CATOs?

 

If you don't go to the forums he is on I can get you his email. He has always seemed more than willing to share his knowledge and talk rockets.

[leedrill]

Yes I'd love for someone to put me in touch with Steve for a chat if ever possible