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Message started by justin_o_guy2 on 10/24/15 at 10:15:04

Title: My new hobby
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 10/24/15 at 10:15:04

Well since I've apparently survived the last round of chemical exposure, and, tho I rarely drive now, I'm in good enough shape to pay attention to the near six years old grandson. I'm building the stuff for launching rockets. And got a three pack of them and eight motors. I guess I could've bought the GeeWhizz Oficcial Estes rocket launch kit, Buuut, stupid things about forty bucks.. I'm good enough at scrounging... I also Autopsy and hang onto parts from about everything that craps out. So, I just Happened to have a mono audio jack and a cord to plug in, a three battery ,series connection, triple A holder , and, a really old ,big, clunky toggle switch. And, a smallish wooden box laying around, with a top, but no catch or latch.
When the whirly bird vent went on the roof I acquired some round plywood bits, and some 1/8"ID brass tubing in it gives the rod a socket. I didn't buy the Estes multi section rod, I had some 1/8" piano wire laying around.. I always do.
I Was gonna put legs on the launch pad, but, I'm thinking about just mounting the pad to the bottom of a five gallon bucket, then there is a place to carry the stuff out to the Launch area.
I found a forum, and the terms they use are foreign. The technology involved in the larger rockets, and multi stage stuff. Dude, they got Six Foot parachutes, and they use steel , Ohh, not caribiners, but threaded, and looks like a chain link. Heavy stuff, and I think some of these guys are either making their own motors or reloading them, I'm not sure yet.
Object of the enterprise, initially, was to try to capture the grandsons attention, get him interested in DOING something. He can build a rocket in his bedroom. I'm more than willing to supply the X_Acto kit, sandpaper, glue, and whatever else he might need.

Object of the enterprise, initially, was to try to capture the grandsons attention, get him interested in DOING something.

Yeah, I SAID that, and I meant it. BUT, I'm not sure just where this is gonna lead. I Am looking forward, hoping he will develop an interest and desire to do something other than sit and play games on the kindle or cell phone, whatever is handy.

To be continued

Title: Re: My new hobby
Post by Tocsik on 10/24/15 at 10:24:09

Cool beans, JOG.
I launched a few rockets with my sons when they were young. We built a couple at Cub Scout meetings, too.
Great bonding opportunity and get the younger gen interested in "not looking down" all the time.

Title: Re: My new hobby
Post by Art Webb on 10/24/15 at 11:40:09

Indeed, good going
My old man was an old school hot rodder, and as much as I loved him, it was inevitable I develop the habit (Illness, my moms would say) too
great bonding and I learned to tinker, which served me well in life

Title: Re: My new hobby
Post by DesertRat on 10/24/15 at 12:46:25

Justin,

GET this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Book-Boys-Conn-Iggulden/dp/0062208977

http://pamdidner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/dangerous-book-for-boys.jpg

Title: Re: My new hobby
Post by Ed L. on 10/24/15 at 13:26:56

Was to be JOG, a little direction will be all he needs. Showing how to build the equipment helps cultivate his creativeness.When I was a kid all the boys in the family would get together and stuff black powder into straws for rocket engines. Didn't go very far but really was a blast. ;)

Title: Re: My new hobby
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 10/24/15 at 19:13:46

Thanks all, for support and such, thank you DR, it's stashed away in the bookmarks, and when I get paid, I'll be looking into buying one.

There were some books I had as a boy. Man, I can't find any, or remember the authors name. I only remember one title.
Love me, love my dog.
Story about a boy and his dog, other kids, and the way the guy wrote was like the Philip Marlowe radio shows... details describing moments that allowed a mental image,, I had several books by that author.

Title: Re: My new hobby
Post by DesertRat on 10/24/15 at 22:54:19

370 Used from $0.01 on amazon

Title: Re: My new hobby
Post by runwyrlph on 10/25/15 at 10:10:42

Awesome hobby for kids! I've done rockets with my kids, youth groups, cub and boy scouts, Trail Life USA. It always puts a smile on everybody's face when they go up!

The motors get a little pricey, that's my main complaint about model rocketry. I keep threatening to build some motors from scratch, they're just black powder, but I haven't got around to it yet.

Title: Re: My new hobby
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 10/25/15 at 22:49:21

Thanks DR, Never thought about Amazon.

I think there is quite abit more to the motors than a tube stuffed with black powder.looks like a cast , almost ceramic, nozzle, and the fuel can't explode, it has to burn, then, a pause, then
Poof,
Out pops the chute.
And four A 10-3T motors and igniters is almost eleven bucks after tax. A messed up igniter and suddenly, you've got a spare motor.
Maybe use it sitting atop another, lighting it off the chute pop blast..

Title: Re: My new hobby
Post by youzguyz on 10/26/15 at 13:50:02

57484E4954536252625A48440F3D0 wrote:

And four A 10-3T motors and igniters is almost eleven bucks after tax. A messed up igniter and suddenly, you've got a spare motor.
Maybe use it sitting atop another, lighting it off the chute pop blast..

I use to do model rockets back in high school. Had quite a collection. I'll see if I can find a picture of our last great launching. Had a 6 pad rig.
Anyway... you can make ignitors from nichrome wire, match heads (book matches, NOT "strike anywhere"!), and some parachute wadding (that flame resistant toilet paper you pack between the engine and the parachute).
Bend the nichrome into a "V" shape, shove it in the engine with a small nail. Take some of the chemical off the match head, pour it in there, then tamp it down with a small piece of wadding. May need to experiment to get it right.

Title: Re: My new hobby
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 10/26/15 at 14:52:51

I can see how that works..
Thanks,, I have the wire. If I kill an igniter then I'm not shafted.

Title: Re: My new hobby
Post by Dave on 10/26/15 at 18:01:03

When I was a kid and built rockets....we could buy fuse material. We just pushed a bit of that into the engine, a dab of black powder, and a piece of tape over the engine. We just shoved the launch rod into the ground at the angle we wanted the rocket to fly, then just lit the fuse.

My wife just retired - but every spring she had her 4th grade students build rockets and launch them. She would have a control rocket built as it was supposed to be - then the students could change one thing on their rockets and predict how the change would affect the rocket performance. They added or subtracted fins, change the shape of them, length of the rocket, and they were weighted so they all weighed the same when they were launched. The kids really enjoyed it, and the entire school would come out to watch the launch.

Title: Re: My new hobby
Post by runwyrlph on 10/26/15 at 19:26:38

726D6B6C71764777477F6D612A180 wrote:

yeah, they have a clay or ceramic nozzle, but the propellant is just black powder, which burns really fast. You wet it with acetone or something volatile like that, then pack it in the tube.

Time delay is a fuse through a clay plug on top of the main charge, then a little pile of black powder on top of the clay plug with a paper cover over it.

FWOOooosshhh!................ poof, out comes the chute!

I guess if you're DIYing it can be a little tricky to get the black powder packed in the tube uniformly. If you leave any void, it lets the gases expand up into the void, THEN your engine explodes!

One girl i saw online made nozzles out of durhams water putty.

I keep wondering if that T.P. is really flame resistant? it just looks like super cheap TP to me. I'll have to do an experiment and find out :)

(edit: ps I mean experiment by comparative burning, not by trying to use wadding as TP) :-?

Title: Re: My new hobby
Post by youzguyz on 10/27/15 at 04:31:07

Here is that picture. I got the original from the newspaper article they did when our "club" disbanded.
That is me.. on the right.. in 1973.
Rockets on the pad (left to right)
Scrambler (egg payload), Gemini Titan (scale), Saturn V (scale), Saturn 1B (scale), Trident, Bomarc (scale, glide recovery)

The one in the back with the barberpole paint job is an Avenger, 2 stage rocket.

click on the paper clip to see the pic.

Title: Re: My new hobby
Post by youzguyz on 10/27/15 at 04:40:03

54435D53535F49300 wrote:

[quote author=726D6B6C71764777477F6D612A180 link=1445706905/0#8 date=1445838561]Thanks DR, Never thought about Amazon.

I think there is quite abit more to the motors than a tube stuffed with black powder.looks like a cast , almost ceramic, nozzle, and the fuel can't explode, it has to burn, then, a pause, then
Poof,
Out pops the chute.
And four A 10-3T motors and igniters is almost eleven bucks after tax. A messed up igniter and suddenly, you've got a spare motor.
Maybe use it sitting atop another, lighting it off the chute pop blast..

Title: Re: My new hobby
Post by Dave on 10/27/15 at 05:21:27

One of my favorite rockets had 2 large fins, and the ends were flaps that were pulled by rubber bands. When the engine was inserted tabs on the flaps touched the end of the rocket engine and it kept the flaps inline with the larger finst.....and when the ejection charge occurred the engine would pop out and the rubber bands would pull the flaps at an angle. The rocket would then point nose down and spiral slowly as it came down, the large fins would keep the descent slow. It was an easy rocket not to lose as it didn't float for a very long time. I lived in an area with lots of woods and if the rocket took a long time coming down it was easy to lose in the trees. We would cut big holes in the parachutes to help the rocket come down faster.

Title: Re: My new hobby
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 10/27/15 at 19:10:20

Hey, Run, I shouldn't have answered out of ignorance. I went looking for motors, just, Stuff, and saw that, Indeed, black powder... is what it is. I could get Dangerously intrigued by the ideas I'm having.

Youzguys,
I look back at the picture of all those rockets, dang, you were Into It..
In 73 I built my first U Control, a Flite Streak, with a Fox 15 engine.
I don't know how many days I took it out and crashed it before I could get three flights. I crashed it many times. Being a novice, trying to fly a vertical 8, it's risky.