I’ve been out to a few of the local high power rocket launches and there are many people there already making their own engines. With the BATF trying to regulate ammonium perchlorate many people have been turning to other things for their rocket motors. The most common seems to be motors made from sugar. They work very well except that someone lost their rocket and when it was found a week later it was covered in ants! I also talked to one guy who was experimenting with creating motors out of PVC pipe. Now, you might be thinking that PVC would be a good case for a motor, but that’s not what I’m talking about. The PVC IS the fuel! He had figure out how to take a regular PVC pipe and burn it from the inside to act as a rocket motor. I don’t remember the exact figures, but he was getting equivalents of around a J motor for basically pennies. It was quite interesting.
— Tanner (signing because Mark still hasn’t fixed his theme so it shows usernames again!)
Yeah, I know this has been going on for a while. I just became fascinated by watching the design process and how it progressed. I think its cool that all the components can be bought at the hardware store.
I’ve been out to a few of the local high power rocket launches and there are many people there already making their own engines. With the BATF trying to regulate ammonium perchlorate many people have been turning to other things for their rocket motors. The most common seems to be motors made from sugar. They work very well except that someone lost their rocket and when it was found a week later it was covered in ants! I also talked to one guy who was experimenting with creating motors out of PVC pipe. Now, you might be thinking that PVC would be a good case for a motor, but that’s not what I’m talking about. The PVC IS the fuel! He had figure out how to take a regular PVC pipe and burn it from the inside to act as a rocket motor. I don’t remember the exact figures, but he was getting equivalents of around a J motor for basically pennies. It was quite interesting.
Anyway, if you’re interested you should check out the local groups or the NC Rocketry mailing list.
— Tanner (signing because Mark still hasn’t fixed his theme so it shows usernames again!)
Yeah, I know this has been going on for a while. I just became fascinated by watching the design process and how it progressed. I think its cool that all the components can be bought at the hardware store.
I should come out to a launch sometime.