in a previous project I went to the
hobby store and picked up some f-class
rocket motors to try launching a rocket
made out of pool noodles now these
motors are amazing but the catch is
they’re 17 dollars each so in this
project let’s see if we can use powdered
sugar and kitty litter to make a
homemade version
that’ll rock it up over 2,000 feet high
and cost less than 50 cents to make to
start this project we’re going to need
powdered sugar potassium nitrate and a
cheap bag of kitty litter we’re also
gonna need 3/4 inch PVC tubing and a 3/4
inch oak dowel this is schedule 40 PVC
and you can see I’ve cut the tube into
sections 5 inches long exactly the dowel
is twice as long as that and you can see
if we push it inside the tube it’s
actually a pretty good fit this will be
a ramming rod and the template as well
and the markings you see on the stick
are designed to make the simplest form
of an e 45 equivalent rocket motor the
markings are actually in reverse order
how we’re gonna build it but you’ll see
why it needs to be that way in just a
minute all right let’s get ready to make
the rocket fuel and to start off we’re
gonna need a small blender that we’re
not afraid to damage I found this one at
a local thrift shop for $5 and the first
thing we have to do is measure out 65
grams of potassium nitrate I typically
get mine as a special brand of stump
remover and it’s a pretty fine grain to
begin with
but you can see that after blending it
up for about 20 seconds it becomes a
fluffy white powder that looks a lot
like powdered sugar
now speaking of powdered sugar we’re
gonna need some of that next so let’s
zero at our scale and add exactly 35
grams of sugar to the mix at this point
the powder is a pyrotechnic composition
that could ignite with too much heat so
instead of mixing this up with a blender
we’re gonna have to shake it by hand for
about three minutes this should give it
enough time to blend completely and
that’s important because we need this
white mix to be as intimate as possible
all right our rocket fuel is finished so
let’s transfer it to another container
to free up the blender because now it’s
time to bring out the kitty litter this
7 pound bag was only 98 cents and
surprisingly the cheap kind is the best
kind because it doesn’t have any
fragrances or dyes added to it it’s just
a big bag full of bentonite clay which
is probably why this stuff is as cheap
as dirt
all right let’s throw a handful of clay
into the blender for 10 to 20 seconds so
it
grinds into a powder holding the blender
at a bit of an angle helps mix it better
and reduces the load on the motor as
well now it’s time to remove the lid
it’s important to wear a mask or do it
outside because you can see the powder
is so fine it escapes like a gas and
it’s not really good to breathe this
stuff in oK we’ve got everything we need
so let’s get to work putting it all
together place one of the PVC casings on
a slab of concrete and drop in a third
of a tablespoon of kitty litter now
let’s make sure we keep the tube firmly
on the concrete so the clay doesn’t
spill at the bottom then slide the oak
ramming rod inside and smack the top
firmly with a rubber mallet it’s gonna
need about five to ten good whacks to
compact it as tight as we need it and
you can see it’ll make a nice little
clay plug at the bottom of the tube
let’s repeat this process two more times
until the plug is three-quarters of an
inch thick which you can see is
conveniently indicated by the marking on
the stick if too much clay gets packed
in no worries you can just twist the
dowel around a few times to loosen the
top layer then pour out the extra clay
until it lines up perfectly at this
point we’re ready to add the white mix
this stuff is extremely light and fluffy
so it’s important to push the ramrod
down very slowly once it’s compacted by
hand though we can Ram it with the
mallet just like we did the clay until
the rammed white mix lines up perfectly
with the next marking the last step for
this simple motor is a kitty litter end
cap this will be 3/4 of an inch thick as
well the same as the one we made before
but here you can see there’s still
little room left in the tube and you’ll
see what that’s for in another project
video ok our rocket motor is just about
finished the only thing left to do is
make the nozzle for these motors I use a
7/32 inch drill bit which happens to be
the exact length and width we need to
turn this rammed powder tube into a core
burning rocket now to gauge the depth on
how far in to drill we can use the
markings on the ramrod to measure
exactly where the white mix ends then
mark the drill bit at the point where it
lines up with the clay now it’s really
important to drill this out very slowly
and carefully because remember this is a
rocket motor and you don’t want to set
it off by accident I’m drilling mine out
by hand so it’s easy to control any heat
generated from the friction when the
marking on the bit lines up with the
bottom of the casing the rocket motor is
finished and should look something like
this
now to test the power of these motors I
went way out into the desert miles and
miles away from any people property or
anything flammable
when this one lit off I was blown away
by what it could do the motor just shot
up twenty three hundred feet high and of
course if we’ve got rockets going that
high we’re gonna need a way to deploy
some kind of a recovery system so the
next step is to give our rocket motors a
built in time delay and a parachute
ejection charge the hundred gram batch
in this video is enough to make two e45
equivalent motors with about 20 grams of
propellant left over which is what I mix
with baking soda to slow the burn and
create a five-second delay so watch for
those modifications in another video
well now you know how to repurpose some
simple household items into powerful
hobby rocket motors for less than 50
cents each just make sure you have the
right permits location and common sense
before you try launching them 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 calm hold on just a second if
you’re even considering the thought of
trying to build one of these please
promise me you’ll do one thing first get
on Google and do a search for local
rocket club they don’t cost much and
they’ll have the best idea of how to
keep you out of trouble with the FAA and
make sure nobody gets hurt having said
all that I hope you felt the same
excitement for this project that I did
I’ve spent four years playing with
different variations of sugar motors to
get to this point so I’m super excited
to finally be able to present this to
you now going forward you can expect to
see a few more rocket related videos and
then we’re getting into metal melting
projects so please make sure you’re
subscribed to my channel because I’d
really like to see you around for those
project videos I’ll talk to you then
hobby store and picked up some f-class
rocket motors to try launching a rocket
made out of pool noodles now these
motors are amazing but the catch is
they’re 17 dollars each so in this
project let’s see if we can use powdered
sugar and kitty litter to make a
homemade version
that’ll rock it up over 2,000 feet high
and cost less than 50 cents to make to
start this project we’re going to need
powdered sugar potassium nitrate and a
cheap bag of kitty litter we’re also
gonna need 3/4 inch PVC tubing and a 3/4
inch oak dowel this is schedule 40 PVC
and you can see I’ve cut the tube into
sections 5 inches long exactly the dowel
is twice as long as that and you can see
if we push it inside the tube it’s
actually a pretty good fit this will be
a ramming rod and the template as well
and the markings you see on the stick
are designed to make the simplest form
of an e 45 equivalent rocket motor the
markings are actually in reverse order
how we’re gonna build it but you’ll see
why it needs to be that way in just a
minute all right let’s get ready to make
the rocket fuel and to start off we’re
gonna need a small blender that we’re
not afraid to damage I found this one at
a local thrift shop for $5 and the first
thing we have to do is measure out 65
grams of potassium nitrate I typically
get mine as a special brand of stump
remover and it’s a pretty fine grain to
begin with
but you can see that after blending it
up for about 20 seconds it becomes a
fluffy white powder that looks a lot
like powdered sugar
now speaking of powdered sugar we’re
gonna need some of that next so let’s
zero at our scale and add exactly 35
grams of sugar to the mix at this point
the powder is a pyrotechnic composition
that could ignite with too much heat so
instead of mixing this up with a blender
we’re gonna have to shake it by hand for
about three minutes this should give it
enough time to blend completely and
that’s important because we need this
white mix to be as intimate as possible
all right our rocket fuel is finished so
let’s transfer it to another container
to free up the blender because now it’s
time to bring out the kitty litter this
7 pound bag was only 98 cents and
surprisingly the cheap kind is the best
kind because it doesn’t have any
fragrances or dyes added to it it’s just
a big bag full of bentonite clay which
is probably why this stuff is as cheap
as dirt
all right let’s throw a handful of clay
into the blender for 10 to 20 seconds so
it
grinds into a powder holding the blender
at a bit of an angle helps mix it better
and reduces the load on the motor as
well now it’s time to remove the lid
it’s important to wear a mask or do it
outside because you can see the powder
is so fine it escapes like a gas and
it’s not really good to breathe this
stuff in oK we’ve got everything we need
so let’s get to work putting it all
together place one of the PVC casings on
a slab of concrete and drop in a third
of a tablespoon of kitty litter now
let’s make sure we keep the tube firmly
on the concrete so the clay doesn’t
spill at the bottom then slide the oak
ramming rod inside and smack the top
firmly with a rubber mallet it’s gonna
need about five to ten good whacks to
compact it as tight as we need it and
you can see it’ll make a nice little
clay plug at the bottom of the tube
let’s repeat this process two more times
until the plug is three-quarters of an
inch thick which you can see is
conveniently indicated by the marking on
the stick if too much clay gets packed
in no worries you can just twist the
dowel around a few times to loosen the
top layer then pour out the extra clay
until it lines up perfectly at this
point we’re ready to add the white mix
this stuff is extremely light and fluffy
so it’s important to push the ramrod
down very slowly once it’s compacted by
hand though we can Ram it with the
mallet just like we did the clay until
the rammed white mix lines up perfectly
with the next marking the last step for
this simple motor is a kitty litter end
cap this will be 3/4 of an inch thick as
well the same as the one we made before
but here you can see there’s still
little room left in the tube and you’ll
see what that’s for in another project
video ok our rocket motor is just about
finished the only thing left to do is
make the nozzle for these motors I use a
7/32 inch drill bit which happens to be
the exact length and width we need to
turn this rammed powder tube into a core
burning rocket now to gauge the depth on
how far in to drill we can use the
markings on the ramrod to measure
exactly where the white mix ends then
mark the drill bit at the point where it
lines up with the clay now it’s really
important to drill this out very slowly
and carefully because remember this is a
rocket motor and you don’t want to set
it off by accident I’m drilling mine out
by hand so it’s easy to control any heat
generated from the friction when the
marking on the bit lines up with the
bottom of the casing the rocket motor is
finished and should look something like
this
now to test the power of these motors I
went way out into the desert miles and
miles away from any people property or
anything flammable
when this one lit off I was blown away
by what it could do the motor just shot
up twenty three hundred feet high and of
course if we’ve got rockets going that
high we’re gonna need a way to deploy
some kind of a recovery system so the
next step is to give our rocket motors a
built in time delay and a parachute
ejection charge the hundred gram batch
in this video is enough to make two e45
equivalent motors with about 20 grams of
propellant left over which is what I mix
with baking soda to slow the burn and
create a five-second delay so watch for
those modifications in another video
well now you know how to repurpose some
simple household items into powerful
hobby rocket motors for less than 50
cents each just make sure you have the
right permits location and common sense
before you try launching them 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 calm hold on just a second if
you’re even considering the thought of
trying to build one of these please
promise me you’ll do one thing first get
on Google and do a search for local
rocket club they don’t cost much and
they’ll have the best idea of how to
keep you out of trouble with the FAA and
make sure nobody gets hurt having said
all that I hope you felt the same
excitement for this project that I did
I’ve spent four years playing with
different variations of sugar motors to
get to this point so I’m super excited
to finally be able to present this to
you now going forward you can expect to
see a few more rocket related videos and
then we’re getting into metal melting
projects so please make sure you’re
subscribed to my channel because I’d
really like to see you around for those
project videos I’ll talk to you then
Please follow and like us:
Be First to Comment