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How To Build A Rocket (From Scratch)


for this project I’m going to show you
how to build a rocket from scratch these
homemade randomizer rockets launched
over a thousand feet high and eject a
little parachute to bring them safely
back to the ground their reloadable and
relaunch able and you might even meal to
build one with things around your house
for this project you’re gonna need a
bottle of gas relief pills and a plastic
champagne glass like the kind you get at
the dollar store
pushing the bottle into the glass you
can see they make a perfect fit and
you’ll see why that’s important in just
a few minutes now plastic champagne
glass is usually come in packs of two
for a buck but they don’t always look
like this one some have slightly
different textures or extra decorations
for special occasions but with a little
ingenuity you can probably make any
variation work now you might have
already guessed this is gonna be the
nose cone for the rocket and we don’t
need the base so let’s go ahead and chop
it off now with something like a hacksaw
make sure to leave about half an inch of
the tip then find a sheet of sandpaper
so you can carefully begin sanding the
plastic stub down until it follows the
contour of the glass I’m using a hundred
and fifty grit sandpaper and after a
couple minutes you can already see the
nose cone starting to take shape and
looking a lot more aerodynamic now if
you go one step further and sound the
whole thing with 400 grit it’ll help the
paint stick better
but either way before you paint the nose
cone it’s a good idea to rough up the
inner wall near the top roughing up now
will save you a step when we attach it
to the rocket later on alright it’s time
for a paint job and I went with this
yellow gloss spray paint because it’s
made for bonding to plastics and dries
in 15 minutes or less I recommend going
outside and holding it with something
like a foam noodle when you spray it
because this way you don’t make much of
a mess alright with the nose cone drying
let’s move on to modifying the plastic
pill bottle next you can find these
bottles at your local Super Center for
around eighty eight cents and if you
pull the labels slowly and carefully
enough you should be able to get it off
without leaving any sticky residue
behind
now we’re only after the empty bottle
here so unless you’re having issues with
gas go ahead and get rid of the pills
any way you think is safe next you’ll
need to carefully cut the bottom of the
bottle and for that I’m using an exacto
knife a box cutter or a pair of scissors
will work as well but whatever you use
the goal here is to cut the edges
straight and cleanly as possible now the
threads on the bottle neck have to come
off as well and I found a good tool for
removing them is a flat metal file set
the bottle on a flat surface and grind
away at the threads until they’re flat
but try to keep the bottom Ridge on
and while you’re here go ahead and send
a rough patch into the inner wall of the
bottle like you did for the nose cone
then use a hundred and fifty grit to
rough up the sides of the bottle as well
all right let’s move on to building the
screw lock motor mount exterior inch PVC
coupling which you should be able to
find at any hardware store and it’s
important to get the one that has the
threads on the inside use your sandpaper
to rough up the outside of the casing
then cut half an inch of the tip of the
threaded end this piece will become the
Quick Connect adapter that our sugar
motors will screw on to when we’re
getting the rocket ready for launch
now the body tube of the randomizer
rocket is made with a plastic golf club
protector you can find at any sporting
goods store and while you’re out running
errands stopping at a dollar store for a
roll of wrapping paper as well you don’t
actually need the paper though just four
inches at the brown paper tube that’s
inside it and one roll will give you
nine of them alright the next thing we
need is the fin cutting template which
was designed and donated by my friends
at sonic Dada calm and I put a link in
the description to where you can get it
for free go ahead and cut out the fin
location template as well and wrap it
around the golf club to then tape it so
both ends meet perfectly together now I
measure 20 inches up from the end of the
tube and use the edge of the paper
template as a cutting guide for making a
clean cut your body tubes should now be
20 inches long and if it is then rough
up the inner walls of both ends with 40
grit sandpaper
now get your two-part epoxy ready
because the time has come to cement it
together before you epoxy anything it’s
always a good idea to do a practice run
to see how everything’s gonna fit so
slide the 4 inch Brown tube inside the
rocket body first followed by the PVC
motor mount next which you can see is
actually a bit too wide but check this
out you can stretch out the bottom of
the tube using the tip of the nose cone
and just like that your PVC coupling
makes a perfect fit okay let’s go ahead
and mix a generous amount of epoxy but
be prepared to work fast because you
only have about five minutes before it
hardens up I tried using a popsicle
stick to apply a copious coating to the
outside of the brown paper tubing first
then added a coating the outside rim of
the motor mount next the paper tube goes
inside the rocket body and tell us about
half an inch past the end and after
adding a coat of epoxy right below it
you’ll need to push the threaded PVC
coupling in next you probably noticed
I’m using a 3/4 inch PVC riser to guide
the motor mount inside the tube it’s a
good tool to use because you’ll have a
lot more leverage for making sure your
motor mount goes in straight
clean up the epoxy with a paper towel
but before it hardens it’s really
important to set your rocket tube on a
flat surface and roll it back and forth
watch the PVC riser and make minor
adjustments to keep it straight because
that’ll help ensure the thrust is in
line with the center of the rocket five
minutes later you can go ahead and
connect the parachute container to the
other end now to accommodate the mouth
of the pill bottle you’re gonna need to
spend a bit of time working this other
end over the plastic cone a bit to
stretch it out so defit push the parts
together to double-check they actually
fit and if they do then go ahead and add
some epoxy and push the two together
give you the bottle a little twist for
better adhesion then go ahead and clean
up any overspill with a fresh clean
paper towel with the epoxy starting to
set let’s prep the bottle for painting
now I’m using to protect mine is a piece
of paper and some masking tape spray
paint the bottle black to match the
rocket body then set it in a safe place
where it can sit for about 20 minutes
undisturbed okay with the paint drying
on the bottle we can get to work making
the rocket fins next you’re gonna need a
large piece of medium weight poster
paper from the dollar store and a black
coroplast signboard
which I found a local science supply
company for a dollar 88 if you want to
save a couple bucks you could always
reuse those plastic signs that seem to
be everywhere after a local election now
it’s a good idea to stick your fin
cutting template in the shockcord
template onto a piece of poster paper
before you cut them out and while you’re
here you may as well cut a strip of
poster paper four inches wide by 15 and
a half inches long because we’ll be
needing that later on the rocket fins
are made out of the signboard and for
best results I recommend using a black
sharpie and exacto knife in an old
hacksaw blade place the template on the
signboard so the leading edge lines up
exactly with one of the corrugated lines
then make sure it doesn’t move carefully
trace the template with a fine tip
marker and make sure you get the little
notch there on the side as you do now if
you use the back of your hacksaw blade
as a straight edge it’ll help guide the
blade of your knife and give you the
straightest and cleanest cuts possible
do the same thing three more times you
end up with four fins and take
time to do it right because quality
counts all right now that you got your
four basic fins cut it’s time to add
some extra features carefully cut out
the corrugated rib on the leading edge
by sliding your blade along the inside
edges when it’s removed you should be
left with an extra deep channel at the
top of the fin now try to crease the
leading edge by sliding your thumbnail
up along the top edge of the plastic and
as you do you should see the tip bends
slightly inward when you’ve done the
same thing to the other side your rocket
fin will have a nice little knife edge
point to it now to make these fins look
extra awesome let’s try adding some
stickers to give them a bit of color I
printed these custom decals on a sheet
of label paper and sprayed them with a
clear weather resistant coating and when
they’re folded over the leading edge and
press down flat on both sides they’re
finished you can see how adding decals
look if your fins are really clean and
professional look as well as keep the
edges sharp and aerodynamic at the same
time okay with all the fins finished
there are just a couple things left to
do to get our rocket ready for flight
cut off a piece of scrap signboard the
same width is your hacksaw blade then
pull the guts out of a plastic
disposable pen and cut them all into
1-inch pieces you’ll need two of each so
set them in a safe place then bring back
the body tube because this is the part
where it all comes together roll up the
15 and a half inch piece of poster paper
you made earlier and shove it down
inside the tube making sure it overlaps
slightly and locks into position just
underneath the rim of the pill bottle
now if you still have your fin location
template on the tube slide it to the
bottom so it’s about an inch above the
motor mount then use your sharpie to
mark the top and bottom of each line
remove the template and use your hacksaw
blade to carefully scratch straight
lines of the plastic in line with the
marks he just made and while you’re here
it’s a good idea to scratch two more
grooves at one inch and twelve inches
from the bottom exactly in line with
each other and perfectly centered
between two fins just for fun I tried
heating up a screwdriver and poked holes
into the plastic where the fins connect
this simple modification will bind the
rocket body to the fins making sure they
don’t come apart without a fight
alright the time has come to grab a hot
glue gun and stick everything together
look closely your fins for the little
marking you made when you traced it out
and line it up exactly with the bottom
of the rocket tube add a dribble of hot
glue from the marking on the fin all the
way down to the tip then add another
bead of glue along the line you scratch
into the rocket body now double-check
the marking on the fin is the back of
the tube and
if we press the bass to fit into place
and hold it securely for 20 to 30
seconds do the same thing with the other
three fins then take a look from the
back to see if they’re straight and in
line with each other
if they are and go ahead and attach the
launch lugs next I glued the one-inch
pen pieces to the signboard scraps first
then glue the improvised lugs to the
other two markings scratch through the
body tube earlier before your glue
hardens make sure the pen tubes are
perfectly in line with each other simply
by looking through one end and checking
the symmetry at this point you can add
the body tube stickers which I like to
Center along the upper launch lug the
last sticker goes around the base of the
rocket just above the fins and with that
you’re just about done all that’s left
to do is attach the parachute and the
nose gun I got some quarter-inch braided
elastic cording from the craft section
of a superstore and tied a simple knot
into the end so it formed a loop now the
tighter you can pull the knot the better
it’ll hold and to clean it up a bit just
use a pair of scissors to trim off the
excess measure and cut the other end at
8 inches then go ahead and lay a bead of
hot glue down the center of one of the
poster board reinforced shock cord
mounts the open end the elastic cord
needs to be pressed into the glue so it
stretches across two of the squares and
it’s helpful to lay two more beads of
glue along either side of the cording so
you can fold the end piece into the
center trapping the cord and glue inside
fold it again so you’re left with a
single square then press it together
firmly to finish it off this 8 inch cord
is the one that attaches to the nose
cone so add a liberal amount of hot glue
to the back of the pad then press it to
the rough patch on the inside wall of
the nose cone until the glue cools do
the exact same thing with the other
shock cord mount but this time use a 16
inch piece of cording and mount it to
the inner wall of the plastic build
bottle the very last step is to add one
of the parachutes I showed you how to
make in a previous project these simple
chutes are made from dollar-store table
covers and not only work for the
randomizer rocket but we used to make
sky balls as well I made eight of them
for a dollar and I’m confident you can
as well so look for how to make simple
chutes and sky balls and other project
videos now the parachute attaches to the
rocket with to swivel clips for
redundancies you’ll need to thread the
noose from the rocket body and the nose
cone over the two hooks then close them
up with the cords attached and
double-checked go ahead and fold your
parachute up by grabbing it in the
center and pushing all the air out first
I folded mine in half then rolled it up
to the strings and held the bundle
together simply by wrapping the lines
around the outside of the chute but
for you push the parachute into the
rocket make sure to use about six to
eight pieces of rocket wadding first
this will help protect your parachute
from the blast of hot gases that shoot
out during the ejection charge and of
course there’s a cheap and easy way to
make your own rocket wadding with paper
towels and baking soda which I’ll show
you how to do in a separate project
video with your parachute tuck snugly
inside simply collect up any excess
cording and push it into the nose cone
and then gently slide the cone into
position at the top of the rocket with
that you’re finished you just built your
own homemade rocket from scratch so
let’s go see what it can do your
randomizer rocket is designed to be
powered with the screw lock sugar motors
made in a previous project however a
safer and more reliable method is to use
commercially available rocket motors
like an SD SD 12 3 or an e 9 6
commercial rocket motors are a lot more
expensive but they’re probably the
better choice for amateur rocketry
especially if you’re just getting
started and remember your rocket will
shoot over a thousand feet high and can
take up to 5 minutes to float back to
the ground so make sure to use common
sense where and when you launch because
any project you try is at your own risk
well now you know how to convert a
plastic champagne glass and a handful of
other random materials into a powerful
randomizer rocket and if you try making
a whole bunch at the same time you might
be surprised to find out they only cost
about $5 each well that’s it for now if
you liked this project perhaps you’ll
like some of my others check them out at
the king of random comm hey guys this
project is part of a design
collaboration I did with my friends at
Sonic dad calm please check them out and
subscribe to their YouTube channel if
you remember the collaboration we did
last year with the assassins micro
crossbow then you’ll understand toes
ritchie from the sonic dad team as my
partner for building a rocket he’s a
creative genius in all respects and has
an amazing mind for thinking outside of
the box together Ritchie and I designed
a really cool launch pad the randomizer
rocket and a recovery parachute that all
work impressively well we’ve done around
50 launches so far and he’s already got
detailed videos and instructions on how
to make them at Sonic dad comm I highly
recommend you support and subscribe to
Sonic dad because they’re one of the
channels I follow and these guys have my
highest respect I know them personally
and they’re on a mission to help people
turn off the TV and go make something
cool
instead thank you for watching and
supporting these projects I appreciate
you and I’m excited to see you around
for the next project video I’ll talk to
you then
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