Get your free detail plans for a water rocket with fin templates, and a launch tube type
launcher with a Clark cable tie release complete with parts list, and detailed step-by-step instructions
anyone can follow. Instructions for downloading will be emailed
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Once you have downloaded and looked over the free instructions,
why not visit my blog and let me know what you think...
Also, if you haven't already, visit my amateur rocketry website here where you can learn how to build your own rocket motor from PVC pipe
with sugar and potassium nitrate KNO3) propellant called caramel candy
propellant or rcandy (for rocket candy).
Why Water Rocketry
Rather Than
Model Rocketry?
Each area of hobby rocketry has its own following,
its own interests, and its own unique qualities. Many people start with model
rocketry with Estes or other motors and kits and the spectrum of that hobby is
large. Going on to high power rocketry is often a next step and where BARs come
in, the so-called “Born Again Rocketeers” who have “rediscovered” rocketry as
adults after years of absence from the hobby. After the fun of model rockets as
a kid, many adults run across high power rocketry while surfing the Internet and
get excited all over again. If you have never been to a high power launch and
witnessed the roar of a high power engine and excitement of watching a ten foot
tall rocket blaze into the sky and out of site at near supersonic speeds, you
owe it to yourself to find one and attend.
So it may seem that water rocketry would be a step
down from there. In some ways it may be but there are many reasons why it is
attractive:
Expense.
Or lack of. You can get as expensive as you want in water rocketry.
Getting into using recording altimeters, video cameras, and building rockets
using fiberglass or carbon fiber and resin indeed can start getting into a
fair chunk of change. To get started, however, you definitely don’t need
much money at all and you can have a whole lot of fun without ever spending
that much money. All you need is a tire pump, some tubing, a used tire
valve, an empty pop bottle, and some cardboard fins. The propulsion is
free—air and water.
Compare that to model
rocket engines at three or four dollars apiece which for an afternoon of
flying can get expensive for multiple flights. Compare that also to high
power rocket engines at $100 for a “J” (smallest in level II) motor casing
and $50 for each reload each time you fly it or how about $300 for an “M”
(smallest level III) case and $300-$400 for the reload. You’ll spend
hundreds on building the rockets, also.
No Regulations. As long as you keep
your chemical rockets small, there aren’t any regulations in most countries
but when you get into high power rockets, or even heavier and high flying
model rockets, you need to contact the FAA far in advance each time before
you fly and get permission. Sometimes, you may not get permission. You
have to find a launch location and get that approved by the FAA and the
local and/or adjacent land owners.
To buy, store, or use
high power rocket motors, you have to have a federal ATF permit and there
are often state and local regulations in addition. Storing motors requires
additional permits. And don’t think any of those permits are free. Then
don’t forget about the transportation regulations, and if you get into
experimental rocketry, you will also have to consider the Consumer
Protection Agency.
If you have been involved in high power rocketry, water rocketry can provide a
breath of fresh air. Where in high power rocketry, you may only fly at most
once a month and not during the summer when fire danger is high, and not in
the winter because it is too cold, you can fly water rockets anytime you
want with no regulations whatsoever and you won’t need to travel for
hours to get to your launch site.
Safety.
While all rocketry has its dangers and safety must always be considered, an
exploding pop bottle is much more rare than a CATO (exploding) high power
rocket engine and even if it does burst, the danger is minimal even as close
as a few feet. There is also nothing that will catch anything on fire.
Water rockets can be built by a school class and launched on the playground.
Easier and Quicker. You can give kids some
empty pop bottles, cardboard and duct tape (and hot melt glue for older
kids) and they will happily throw together (with a little instruction) a
myriad of designs and be flying those rockets in minutes. Even nicer, more
complex designs are much easier and faster to make.
Availability. Often, kits, supplies, and motors
must be ordered online and aren’t available locally. In some countries,
chemical propellant rocket engines aren’t available at all or are limited to
small motors. The materials to make water rockets are readily available at
any hardware store and much is probably already in most homes or garages.
Where chemical rocket motors are not available, water rocketry still gives
most of the thrill and the challenge associated with model and high power
rocketry.
Challenge. In some ways, water rockets are even
more challenging than chemical rockets, especially for contests where the
materials and methods used are restricted. Water rocketeers have come up with
very innovative methods for deploying parachutes, staging rockets, and
developing high performance and achieving high altitudes. Water rockets still
use almost all the same science and mathematics as chemical rocketry. They
are used in grade schools all the way up to colleges for training in science
and math at all levels.