what’s up guys today is the last day to
get your king around them t-shirt now if
you don’t want one no big deal but if
you do now is your last opportunity to
drop down click the link in the
description and get yours before time
runs out hey guys welcome back I’m Nate
thank you for joining me today on the
king of random in our last couple videos
we’ve shown you how to take zinc powder
and sulphur and make a simple rocket
fuel and how to make a small rocket out
of a ballpoint pen today we’re gonna
show you how to build the launch pad and
the electric igniters that we used to
fire off those rockets let’s start by
building our launch pad the materials
for this are very simple I have here a 5
by 1 board a coat hanger and four screws
we’re also going to be using some wood
glue a staple gun and a drill let’s
start by cutting a square piece off of
our board you don’t have to use this
same size anything over about 4 inches
by 4 inches will work before I take the
measurements to make my square I want to
be sure that I have a clean straight
edge on my board before I call this a 5
by 1 inch board but that’s actually the
size of the plank before it’s milled
down the actual width of this board
appears to be about 4 and 7/16 so we’ll
measure that size and cut the board out
of the square
[Music]
now let’s cut off a strip about one inch
wide which will then be cut into four
pieces as feet for our launch pad it
doesn’t have to be exactly an inch I
ended up cutting mine about 7/8 of an
inch wide
with our four feet cut we’re ready to
attach them but before we do that really
quickly I’m gonna draw a couple lines
going across our launch pad base so we
know exactly where the center is now
using a small dot of wood glue let’s
attach one foot in each corner of the
base while the glue on the base is
drying let’s prep our coat hanger first
we want to cut the coat hanger here and
here the long straight part of the
hanger wire is going to be the guiding
rod for the rocket and we want to bend
the bottom part into a curve that will
fit nicely inside our base
[Music]
you’ll want the curved base of the wire
to be as perpendicular to the straight
part of the wire as you can make it this
will help your Rockets launch straighter
now that the glue has dried let’s
pre-drill a hole into each foot and
drive a screw into them
[Music]
to be sure our base can sit flush with
the ground I’m going to countersink each
of the holes a little bit
now let’s drill a hole for the hanger
wire which will act as a guiding rod for
our Rockets we want to drill bit that is
slightly larger than our hanger wire so
that it will fit through the hole easily
I’m using a 1/8 inch drill bit I’m going
to set the hole about a quarter inch off
center so that the rocket can sit in the
middle of the launchpad let’s quickly
sand down the launchpad just to give it
a nice finished look
[Music]
just for fun I’m going to use some of
this truck bedliner spray to get a part
of our launchpad a cool textured look
[Music]
the last step is to fit the wire through
the hole and use a staple gun to secure
it in place with the launchpad built
let’s get started on the igniters these
are a simple single-use electric starter
that works great with this type of fuel
you’ll need the following supplies some
Christmas lights the small non led type
bulbs some speaker wire wire cutters
tape and a 9-volt battery let’s start
with the light bulb first we need to
remove it from the string of lights and
its plastic housing usually you can do
this just by pulling on the bulb if this
piece of plastic comes out with your
bulb straighten out the copper wires at
the back and just pull it off
we need to expose the filament on the
inside so once we’ve removed the bulb
from the string we need to break off the
glass around it over a trash can you
want to use your wire cutters to break
the bulb the first step is to break off
the small glass ball at the tip of the
light bulb start at the top and very
carefully break the bulb off using the
wire cutters it’s easy to cut through
the glass and into the wire you need to
make sure you don’t damage any of the
wires inside if you do accidentally
break the tiny filament fill the bulb
away and get a new one in newer lights
there will be a very thin wire wrapped
around the bottom of the two copper
posts this helps keep your Christmas
lights from going out in case the bulb
dies we need to carefully remove that
wire our bulb is ready now let’s attach
a length of wire to the back of it cut
off a length of speaker wire about a
foot long put the ends of the wires and
strip three quarters of an inch from all
four ends carefully wrap wire around
each of the two copper leads running
into the light bulb
[Music]
use a small piece of tape to wrap around
one connection and then the other this
will prevent the two wires from touching
each other and interfering with the
intended path of the electricity at this
point our electric igniter is actually
ready to use but because we don’t want
to be standing quite so close to the
rocket when it goes off we can attach a
longer length of speaker wire to the
back
[Music]
to activate your igniter touch the other
ends of your longer wire to the positive
and negative terminals of a fresh 9-volt
battery
now that our launch pad and igniters are
complete let’s grab some rockets and
fire them off in our test launches
yesterday a couple of the Rockets turned
sideways shortly after ignition when
watching the video in slow motion I
noticed that there is a small jet of
flame coming out the side of the pen
these pens usually have a very small
hole in them which lets the pressure
equalized and the ink flow better but
that’s not good for rocketry some of the
fuel was burning sideways out of the pen
and pushing it as it launched that
pressure was enough to tear the guiding
straw off of the rocket and the whole
rocket would go sideways to try and fix
this problem I’ve plugged up the hole
with a small dot of super glue and
reinforced the connection of the straw
to the rocket to start let’s fill our
pen rocket with fuel a small creased
piece of paper is an easy way to pour
fuel into the narrow opening in the
rocket I like to hold the rocket over
the container that holds the fuel so
that if I spill it’s not lost you want
to fill the body of the pen rocket with
fuel until there’s about half an inch
empty at the top it’s important that you
don’t pack this fuel down too much the
denser it is the slower it burns we want
a very quick burn so we try to leave it
nice and unpacked inside the pen once
your rocket is full of fuel gently press
the igniter down into the fuel be
careful with this because if you’re too
rough you can tear the filament of the
light bulb and it won’t ignite next we
want to take a small piece of paper
towel or toilet paper and use it to fill
in the gap between the wire and the body
of the rocket this will keep your fuel
from spilling out around the sides of
the igniter with the pen rocket back
right side up gently tap it so that the
powder fuel settles around the igniter
run the hanger wire through the guiding
straw on the rocket and lower it down
until it rests on the launch pad
let’s twist on our longer piece of wire
[Music]
we’ve filled our rocket with fuel we
have attached our igniter we’ve attached
our extension wire to our igniter and
we’re ready to go with the rocket on the
launch pad
three two one hour battery ignition
system worked great but because it’s
cooler I’m going to use our n64 control
launcher that we’ve built in a previous
video three two one ha right here our
rocket only traveled like eight feet
away from his launch site that is
straight up and down that’s amazing
one two three four five five steps away
that’s how straight down it came this
time
whew it’s all fizzle Ares you’re like
hmm I wonder where it landed
oh well I guess I’ll never find it pump
and then it lands these things get
pretty good height like I was sure it
already landed somewhere and I was like
I it’s lost forever nope boom beautiful
it smells like sulfur just a little bit
almost no smell to it really
but sulfur is the main smell all right
winds died down three two one that
exploded into pieces all right that was
supposed to be a rocket and instead it
shattered everything I saw pieces flying
everywhere this is probably the largest
piece and it’s the easiest to find
because it’s got a bright orange tip
haven’t had that happen before I’ve done
at least 10 of these so far and I’ve
talked to someone who’s done like dozens
of them nope haven’t had one explode
before this one did interesting
[Music]
there you have it that’s how you can
build a custom rocket launch pad and
electric igniter this launch pad and
igniter work perfectly with our pen
rockets and our Zink sulfur fuel mixture
this is a super easy and basic way to
get into beginning rocketry you could
build the pen the base the igniter and
mix up the fuel all in one day it’s been
a fun few projects and I hope that you
have a chance to build these and try
them out yourselves be sure to check
your local laws about where you are and
are not allowed to launch rockets thanks
for joining us for this project today
and we look forward to the next one talk
to you then it looks so good until you
launch one rocket on it
our rocket launch pad used to look so
pretty with its black textured base and
the wood border going around it it still
it’s really cool because it’s got
authentic blast patterns on it but it’s
not quite as clean as it was before
I think the rocket may have melted
through some of that paint too beautiful
ah so that’s a great failure you’re
gonna have a failure it better be
catastrophic hey guys quick reminder
that king of random t-shirts are
available once again just go ahead and
click the link at the top of the
description and it’ll take you to where
you can get one today
get your king around them t-shirt now if
you don’t want one no big deal but if
you do now is your last opportunity to
drop down click the link in the
description and get yours before time
runs out hey guys welcome back I’m Nate
thank you for joining me today on the
king of random in our last couple videos
we’ve shown you how to take zinc powder
and sulphur and make a simple rocket
fuel and how to make a small rocket out
of a ballpoint pen today we’re gonna
show you how to build the launch pad and
the electric igniters that we used to
fire off those rockets let’s start by
building our launch pad the materials
for this are very simple I have here a 5
by 1 board a coat hanger and four screws
we’re also going to be using some wood
glue a staple gun and a drill let’s
start by cutting a square piece off of
our board you don’t have to use this
same size anything over about 4 inches
by 4 inches will work before I take the
measurements to make my square I want to
be sure that I have a clean straight
edge on my board before I call this a 5
by 1 inch board but that’s actually the
size of the plank before it’s milled
down the actual width of this board
appears to be about 4 and 7/16 so we’ll
measure that size and cut the board out
of the square
[Music]
now let’s cut off a strip about one inch
wide which will then be cut into four
pieces as feet for our launch pad it
doesn’t have to be exactly an inch I
ended up cutting mine about 7/8 of an
inch wide
with our four feet cut we’re ready to
attach them but before we do that really
quickly I’m gonna draw a couple lines
going across our launch pad base so we
know exactly where the center is now
using a small dot of wood glue let’s
attach one foot in each corner of the
base while the glue on the base is
drying let’s prep our coat hanger first
we want to cut the coat hanger here and
here the long straight part of the
hanger wire is going to be the guiding
rod for the rocket and we want to bend
the bottom part into a curve that will
fit nicely inside our base
[Music]
you’ll want the curved base of the wire
to be as perpendicular to the straight
part of the wire as you can make it this
will help your Rockets launch straighter
now that the glue has dried let’s
pre-drill a hole into each foot and
drive a screw into them
[Music]
to be sure our base can sit flush with
the ground I’m going to countersink each
of the holes a little bit
now let’s drill a hole for the hanger
wire which will act as a guiding rod for
our Rockets we want to drill bit that is
slightly larger than our hanger wire so
that it will fit through the hole easily
I’m using a 1/8 inch drill bit I’m going
to set the hole about a quarter inch off
center so that the rocket can sit in the
middle of the launchpad let’s quickly
sand down the launchpad just to give it
a nice finished look
[Music]
just for fun I’m going to use some of
this truck bedliner spray to get a part
of our launchpad a cool textured look
[Music]
the last step is to fit the wire through
the hole and use a staple gun to secure
it in place with the launchpad built
let’s get started on the igniters these
are a simple single-use electric starter
that works great with this type of fuel
you’ll need the following supplies some
Christmas lights the small non led type
bulbs some speaker wire wire cutters
tape and a 9-volt battery let’s start
with the light bulb first we need to
remove it from the string of lights and
its plastic housing usually you can do
this just by pulling on the bulb if this
piece of plastic comes out with your
bulb straighten out the copper wires at
the back and just pull it off
we need to expose the filament on the
inside so once we’ve removed the bulb
from the string we need to break off the
glass around it over a trash can you
want to use your wire cutters to break
the bulb the first step is to break off
the small glass ball at the tip of the
light bulb start at the top and very
carefully break the bulb off using the
wire cutters it’s easy to cut through
the glass and into the wire you need to
make sure you don’t damage any of the
wires inside if you do accidentally
break the tiny filament fill the bulb
away and get a new one in newer lights
there will be a very thin wire wrapped
around the bottom of the two copper
posts this helps keep your Christmas
lights from going out in case the bulb
dies we need to carefully remove that
wire our bulb is ready now let’s attach
a length of wire to the back of it cut
off a length of speaker wire about a
foot long put the ends of the wires and
strip three quarters of an inch from all
four ends carefully wrap wire around
each of the two copper leads running
into the light bulb
[Music]
use a small piece of tape to wrap around
one connection and then the other this
will prevent the two wires from touching
each other and interfering with the
intended path of the electricity at this
point our electric igniter is actually
ready to use but because we don’t want
to be standing quite so close to the
rocket when it goes off we can attach a
longer length of speaker wire to the
back
[Music]
to activate your igniter touch the other
ends of your longer wire to the positive
and negative terminals of a fresh 9-volt
battery
now that our launch pad and igniters are
complete let’s grab some rockets and
fire them off in our test launches
yesterday a couple of the Rockets turned
sideways shortly after ignition when
watching the video in slow motion I
noticed that there is a small jet of
flame coming out the side of the pen
these pens usually have a very small
hole in them which lets the pressure
equalized and the ink flow better but
that’s not good for rocketry some of the
fuel was burning sideways out of the pen
and pushing it as it launched that
pressure was enough to tear the guiding
straw off of the rocket and the whole
rocket would go sideways to try and fix
this problem I’ve plugged up the hole
with a small dot of super glue and
reinforced the connection of the straw
to the rocket to start let’s fill our
pen rocket with fuel a small creased
piece of paper is an easy way to pour
fuel into the narrow opening in the
rocket I like to hold the rocket over
the container that holds the fuel so
that if I spill it’s not lost you want
to fill the body of the pen rocket with
fuel until there’s about half an inch
empty at the top it’s important that you
don’t pack this fuel down too much the
denser it is the slower it burns we want
a very quick burn so we try to leave it
nice and unpacked inside the pen once
your rocket is full of fuel gently press
the igniter down into the fuel be
careful with this because if you’re too
rough you can tear the filament of the
light bulb and it won’t ignite next we
want to take a small piece of paper
towel or toilet paper and use it to fill
in the gap between the wire and the body
of the rocket this will keep your fuel
from spilling out around the sides of
the igniter with the pen rocket back
right side up gently tap it so that the
powder fuel settles around the igniter
run the hanger wire through the guiding
straw on the rocket and lower it down
until it rests on the launch pad
let’s twist on our longer piece of wire
[Music]
we’ve filled our rocket with fuel we
have attached our igniter we’ve attached
our extension wire to our igniter and
we’re ready to go with the rocket on the
launch pad
three two one hour battery ignition
system worked great but because it’s
cooler I’m going to use our n64 control
launcher that we’ve built in a previous
video three two one ha right here our
rocket only traveled like eight feet
away from his launch site that is
straight up and down that’s amazing
one two three four five five steps away
that’s how straight down it came this
time
whew it’s all fizzle Ares you’re like
hmm I wonder where it landed
oh well I guess I’ll never find it pump
and then it lands these things get
pretty good height like I was sure it
already landed somewhere and I was like
I it’s lost forever nope boom beautiful
it smells like sulfur just a little bit
almost no smell to it really
but sulfur is the main smell all right
winds died down three two one that
exploded into pieces all right that was
supposed to be a rocket and instead it
shattered everything I saw pieces flying
everywhere this is probably the largest
piece and it’s the easiest to find
because it’s got a bright orange tip
haven’t had that happen before I’ve done
at least 10 of these so far and I’ve
talked to someone who’s done like dozens
of them nope haven’t had one explode
before this one did interesting
[Music]
there you have it that’s how you can
build a custom rocket launch pad and
electric igniter this launch pad and
igniter work perfectly with our pen
rockets and our Zink sulfur fuel mixture
this is a super easy and basic way to
get into beginning rocketry you could
build the pen the base the igniter and
mix up the fuel all in one day it’s been
a fun few projects and I hope that you
have a chance to build these and try
them out yourselves be sure to check
your local laws about where you are and
are not allowed to launch rockets thanks
for joining us for this project today
and we look forward to the next one talk
to you then it looks so good until you
launch one rocket on it
our rocket launch pad used to look so
pretty with its black textured base and
the wood border going around it it still
it’s really cool because it’s got
authentic blast patterns on it but it’s
not quite as clean as it was before
I think the rocket may have melted
through some of that paint too beautiful
ah so that’s a great failure you’re
gonna have a failure it better be
catastrophic hey guys quick reminder
that king of random t-shirts are
available once again just go ahead and
click the link at the top of the
description and it’ll take you to where
you can get one today
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