How would you rocket?

So in the hour I wss comforting the little one during the storm, I suggested we go see a UFO tomorrow so I can win the "pic of your ride next to something cool" thread. She turned me down on the UFO because she doesn't like aliens, but she wants to build a rocket.

Now she's 4, so I'm not gonna get the Estes engines out, yet, but it got me thinking this could be a fun group to ask how would you do it?

I'm planning pop bottle rockets for tomorrow, maybe with the compressor or balloons to shoot them into the air. I do have half a tank of helium though, and a block of dry ice... Hmm..

So do we have a grass roots rocketry thread yet?

What about match rockets?

Take a paperclip and unbend it to about a 45d angle.

Take a match (kitchen or paper) and wrap a tiny piece of aluminum foil around the head, extending maybe 3/16" down the stick.  Try to minimize the amount of foil, but get a good seal around the matchhead and the stick.

Carefully slip a pin under the foil along one side of the stick to create a little exhaust port to the head, then remove the pin.

Set your match rocket on the paperclip gantry, head up.  Hold a lighter or other match under the foil and count down.

When the rocket motor lights off, it should shoot the match 6 or 8 feet downrange.

Vinegar and baking soda for kid level

YT vids

NASA advice on stomp rocket construction. 

https://youtu.be/5bO8dpPuG4E

When I was around 13-14 I helped out with a 4-H Science camp.  They had kids design and decorate their own coke/water bottle rockets.  I thought it was so cool I raided dad's PVC pipe stash, bought a valve stem, some rubber washers, and I built my own launching mechanism when I got home.

It was a design pretty similar to this one.

 

My 6 yo niece is into rockets, she's got a teenage uncle that's got some model rockets that she really enjoys "helping" launch.  We picked her up an Apollo 11 model and some kind of missile model at Hobby Lobby a couple weeks ago, so she can have her own rockets.

Would mentos+diet soda be a viable option?  I have no experience building such a thing.

When you make the transition to the actual rockets, don't forget that there are the tiny ones.  Very good starter rockets that don't go high, nor require parachutes.  

(That may be years off, but I just wanted to make sure that is in the back of you mind...)

Yeah stomp rockets. Both fun and tiring for a 4yo. Win win.

... like a Hurricane ...

...like a boogie woogie choo choo train

Duke said:

What about match rockets?

Take a paperclip and unbend it to about a 45d angle.

Take a match (kitchen or paper) and wrap a tiny piece of aluminum foil around the head, extending maybe 3/16" down the stick.  Try to minimize the amount of foil, but get a good seal around the matchhead and the stick.

Carefully slip a pin under the foil along one side of the stick to create a little exhaust port to the head, then remove the pin.

Set your match rocket on the paperclip gantry, head up.  Hold a lighter or other match under the foil and count down.

When the rocket motor lights off, it should shoot the match 6 or 8 feet downrange.

I have NEVER been able to get those to work right. CO2 rockets, precision thermite cutting, lighting water on fire, sure simple and easy, but basic matchstick rockets have always eluded me.

Thanks for that video Lee, that's kinda what I had in mind. 

I'll be sure to get pictures and possibly videos when this gets off the ground today. 

Duke said:

What about match rockets?

Take a paperclip and unbend it to about a 45d angle.

Take a match (kitchen or paper) and wrap a tiny piece of aluminum foil around the head, extending maybe 3/16" down the stick.  Try to minimize the amount of foil, but get a good seal around the matchhead and the stick.

Carefully slip a pin under the foil along one side of the stick to create a little exhaust port to the head, then remove the pin.

Set your match rocket on the paperclip gantry, head up.  Hold a lighter or other match under the foil and count down.

When the rocket motor lights off, it should shoot the match 6 or 8 feet downrange.

When I was 13, I made a rocket out of an aluminum solder dispenser filled with match-heads (say ~250). I set it off a few yards outside of my garage and everything was going OK until a hole burnt through the sidewall causing asymmetric thrust and the thing darted back into the garage and got wedged under my dad’s brand new 924. I remember running around “Oh E36 M3 – Oh E36 M3 – Oh E36 M3” scrambling to get a hose while it was spewing out a seriously big flame.

Good times

I think I still have an ancient estes kit in the basement somewhere...and a good place to launch it.

Another vote for stomp rockets.  Simple PVC launcher with a 2-liter (or 3-liter) bottle on the end to stomp.  Rockets can be made with few wraps of paper around a section of the same diameter PVC pipe that has a wrap of duct tape over it (to oversize the rocket I.D. for clearance).  Simple fins and nose cone taped on, and you're ready.  Decorate as desired.

These folks have the right idea:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bO8dpPuG4E

Are water rockets still a thing? 

RevRico said:

Duke said:

What about match rockets?

Take a paperclip and unbend it to about a 45d angle.

Take a match (kitchen or paper) and wrap a tiny piece of aluminum foil around the head, extending maybe 3/16" down the stick.  Try to minimize the amount of foil, but get a good seal around the matchhead and the stick.

Carefully slip a pin under the foil along one side of the stick to create a little exhaust port to the head, then remove the pin.

Set your match rocket on the paperclip gantry, head up.  Hold a lighter or other match under the foil and count down.

When the rocket motor lights off, it should shoot the match 6 or 8 feet downrange.

I have NEVER been able to get those to work right. CO2 rockets, precision thermite cutting, lighting water on fire, sure simple and easy, but basic matchstick rockets have always eluded me.

Thanks for that video Lee, that's kinda what I had in mind. 

I'll be sure to get pictures and possibly videos when this gets off the ground today. 

Sure thing, I'm not sure how they're sealing the bottle to the launcher though?  I'm pretty sure the one I made had a stack of rubber garden hose gaskets/washers where the bottle attached.  I'm not going to admit to how long ago that was.  There sure wasn't any internet or digital photos to reference, I just looked over the one the camp was using pretty thoroughly, went home and built my own.

I don't think 4 is too young to get into model rockets though.  Supervised of course.  The kid can help dad assemble, let them paint it whatever they want.  Building a launcher is easy enough, or buy one.  Keep the kid a safe distance, teach them how to do a count down, or use it to just teach them to count.  Let the kid push the button, and catch/recover the rocket.  Sounds like great father daughter time to me.

I remember once getting all the family together on mother's day and launching a rocket I'd built to honor mom on her day.  What mom doesn't want a rocket built and launched in her honor?

David S. Wallens said:

Are water rockets still a thing? 

The last one I found to buy was probably five years ago.  For my kids to play with, of course...

So we did a baby rocket today from one of our science kits. Little foam rocket with a port for baking soda, little test tube full of vinegar, shake and point away.

I was disappointed. She was mildly excited. 

Between all of my pex, copper, pvc, iron pipe, and pump parts, I was missing a handful of connectors to make anything really fun. Now I have a shopping list for the weekend. 

Tried pop bottles full of vinegar and baking soda with a hole in the cap, didn't work in the random ratios I tried with, it would build pressure but not enough to go anywhere. Even taped a cap on expecting a small pop and got nothing. 

Also learned it's really difficult to blow up a helium balloon inside of a bottle. Go figure.

Onwards and upwards. I'll dig out my copy of backyard ballistics, and maybe my old anarchists cookbook, and go shopping this weekend. I told her we'll go bigger every week or so. 

When I was a kid, I used to have a lot of fun with the water rockets.  Fill with water to the line, pump up, put on ground, pull trigger mechanism, whoosh, crash.  You would get so many crashes into the pavement before the nose cone broke and it was game over.  Looks like the only ones amazones have are all Chinese stuff that everyone says don't work.  Pity.

All rockets must be red.

paranoid_android said:

David S. Wallens said:

Are water rockets still a thing? 

The last one I found to buy was probably five years ago.  For my kids to play with, of course...

Still a thing. The rabbit hole is deep. Home Derpot is about to get a lot of my money for various fittings. 

RevRico said:

paranoid_android said:

David S. Wallens said:

Are water rockets still a thing? 

The last one I found to buy was probably five years ago.  For my kids to play with, of course...

Still a thing. The rabbit hole is deep. Home Derpot is about to get a lot of my money for various fittings. 

 

 

I built a water rocket with a 2L soda bottle and some quick connect garden hose fittings. It's pretty amazing how high you can get them. Yes, the rabbit hole is deep. Check this out:

http://www.aircommandrockets.com/

 self filling pressure tank

 how it looks for launching

After launch.

So I berkeleyed up and needed to make a T on the gantry, which I had to tape shut because berkeley home depot and their mislabeled bags and self checkouts. But it works.

Without water it makes a happy pop, with water it's pretty cool. I need to figure out a better way to attach the zip ties and make a spring, but it's cool and it works.

I'll hit the plumbing store tomorrow before the kid comes over for a cap, and I'm hunting down my mechanics wire to make a pushy spring to hold the launch collar up.

I melted and bulged the launch stick instead of using I rings because I'm lazy, and it works pretty good. 

According to my leaky pistol grip tire filling tool, it launches around 70psi. With a good cap and better collar assembly, I should be able to break 100.

Sorry, no video today, too hard to run the camera and the launcher at the same time.