The Rockets So Far

A short compilation featuring most of the engine tests and experiments performed before starting this site

This is a compilation of all the engines (successfully) tested so far, and the conclusions gathered from those tests
First some Specs:

  • They are based on a 60 / 40 mix of Potassium Nitrate (Saltpeter) and Sugar
  • Casings are made from PVC piping
  • They are either dry packed with powder, or the fuel is melted and poured in
  • Trust is unknown, measuring equipment for force over time is in development (Has since been developed as STTS and STS-XL systems)
  • Fuses are home made and not reliable (yet) (Has been replaced by the very reliable ICBM system)

Now, For some videos

One of my early ones, molten sugar with a attempt at a hollow core (it burns well for a few seconds before the hollow core stops and it burns from top to bottom instead)
Another Molten Sugar Rocket, it had a nozzle made from a metal washer, which popped out after 2 seconds, stopping any further trust from occurring
while it was on you could hear a whistle from the escaping gasses (might mean that the nozzle was too small)
First Self Propelled Test, the engine is taped to a different piece of pvc pipe on a 5 meter rope, so it can travel freely between two points
this is also the first one tested using a “no bake” design, which consists of dry packing powdered propellant, and hand drilling a core
it produced enough trust to propel itself until the nozzle was clogged with molten saltpeter as a result of bad mixing of the fuel
Second Self Propelled Rocket Test, This time with a bigger engine, also no bake
it went 5 meters in under two seconds, the stop at the end resulted in the nozzle getting dislodged and no further trust being produced
the big cloud of smoke at the end is the internal pressure being released at once
excuse my yelps of joy, this worked 10 times better than expected
edit: a rough calculation shows it was going about 3.33 meters per second from first frame of movement
5 / (45 / 30)
d / (f / fps)
Second Test of the day, first one was not captured on film nor seen by me because it was thought it was a dud after the fuse went out, the filming stopped and it ignited anyway
the one shown here was made in less than 10 minutes to have something to capture to see the effectiveness of this design, it worked pretty well, a rough calculation shows it went around 3.8 meters per second from first frame of movement
calculated from 40 frames of movement, divided by 30 frames per second, which gives 1.3 seconds
5 meters (approximately) divided by 1.3 seconds gives 3.8 meters per second

My conclusions are that no bake rockets are easier to make, quicker to build, and produce reproducible results, and my fuses suck and should be replaced by something that is guaranteed to work (better sugar fuses or visco fuse from belgium) (No bake has been superceded by cast KNSB propellant, and the fusing issue has been fixed by the ICBM system)

I should also get a scale and a longer rope, for better self propelled test and trust graphs (Scale has since been developed as the STTS and STS-XL systems)

DiameterMeters Per SecondTravel Time
253.31.5
153.81.3
Approximate values, rope is only 5 meters, rockets burn for longer than travel time but get destroyed at the end (longer rope is required)
The calculation used is d / (f / fps)
where d is distance, f is frames from first movement, and fps is frames per second
plugging the footage and numbers from the 15 mm motor you get 5 / (40 / 30)
if you only want the travel time you can just use f / fps

Any new videos will be uploaded here until further notice
as always further research is required but it is going very well so far

Updates:
Further Tests have been done
Click Here for the first simulated weight test
Click Here for the first 12 meter test

Denneth

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