Manufacturer: | Scratch |
Brief:
Rocket made entirely from recycled household trash materials.
Construction:
External body is a stack of ten paper-walled Carnation Instant Breakfast cans. Parachute tube (inner) is a 48mm
diameter Christmas paper core. Motor mount tube (inner) is a 30mm diameter Christmas paper core. Upper six inches of
the motor tube is glued in place in the parachute tube with foamcore centering rings. 300lb Kevlar®
is held in place with a liberal amount of epoxy on the top centering ring. The nose cone is a two-liter Dr. Pepper
bottle. Might make a good rotating-flasher night rocket payload bay someday. The shroud from the nose cone to the
breakfast cans is a cover from a stack of CDs. The fins are foamcore from a couple of old convention exhibits. Even the
rail buttons are recycled. They are CA'ed automotive interior door panel fasteners from my old Maserati. Motor
retention is a used hose clamp. The H motor casing is was found lying in a field, so it's kind-of trash. Well, maybe
not.
I cut holes in the metal can bottoms with a utility knife and super glued them to the inner tubes (NAR doesn't rule out thin metal centering rings). I used an X-Acto knife to cut holes in the plastic lids. After all the cans were glued on, I taped them externally with duct tape. The neck of the 2-liter bottle was wrapped with a home-made tube coupler (trash), then some expanding foam was squirted in. After cure, it was filled with 20-minute epoxy and a loop of Kevlar® was added to provide an anchor for the recovery system. The Maser rail buttons were slightly modified then glued into ¼" holes. Because they're Maserati, they're faster sliding in the rail, but not nearly as reliable as American rail buttons. The fins are through-the-wall glued to the motor mount tube using carpenter's glue.
The only new build supplies are the adhesives and the recovery system. Six yards of ½" elastic and a 36 nylon parachute.
Flight and Recovery:
The weight is 1493g with a 29mm H180 reload.
Liftoff speed is phenomenal for such a heifer. I got behind it with the video. The flame off the pad is incredible. The flight ended in a core sample with the chute trailing behind like a streamer. Replace two cans and she'll be ready to go again.
Summary:
Pros: Once I learn how to pack a chute, flying rockets like this will be really fun. Cons: None
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