Largest Motor

What's the largest motor that was built by amateurs?

Technically not HPR, but the biggest I can think of is Jeff Jakob's R10,000 hybrid.

I think "Go Fast" flew on an S motor.

Oh, yeah, forgot that one. You're correct!

S50,100 was the motor used in the CSXT attempt.

blackbrandt said:

S10,500

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Where/when was that flown? I've heard of an S50,000 but not that one.

Nate

nute said:

Where/when was that flown? I've heard of an S50,000 but not that one.

Nate

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https://the-rocketman.com/go-fast.html

So cool! I bet that was a pretty sweet flight!

I too thought the GoFast was an S50,000, per https://ddeville.com/derek/CSXT.htm

I hope they used ear protection. :wink:

S50,100. I always get it backwards. Whoops.

blackbrandt said:

S50,100. I always get it backwards. Whoops.

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Heh, that sounds a bit more familiar

Nate

I suppose you could argue that CSXT is private, but not amateur. Since Derek worked as a professional and then there's Ky...

Did anybody else notice the 1/2 inch wall thickness of the motor case on the go fast rocket?

3stoogesrocketry said:

Did anybody else notice the 1/2 inch wall thickness of the motor case on the go fast rocket?

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What's surprising about that? The casing needs to be thicker to carry the mechanical loads.

Scale down a 10" casing to a 4" casing (40%) so the 10" OD casing with a 0.5" wall thickness becomes a 4" OD casing with a 0.2" wall thickness. That's not a standard size so most folks use a 3/16" wall = 0.1875". It's close enough for me.

Since that is an amateur rocket and not a high power rocket, I'm a little surprised they didn't use a welded steel casing which could be thinner as the strength to weigh of steel and aluminum is about the same, but the propellant capacity would be 14% higher with the thinner steel wall. My guess is that a slightly longer aluminum pipe would be considerably cheaper than a custom 1-off welded steel casing.

Bob

A tech article on the 2004 CSXT GoFast S Motor by Derek Deville was published in the April 2012 issue of Rockets Magazine (Volume 7, Issue 1). I'd like to see Rockets Magazine put the tech article up on their web site as a pdf download.

A thread on the 2004 CSXT GoFast flight data on this forum can be found here:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?125609-2004-CSXT-GoFast-Flight-Data


Chuck Rogers

Didn't the CSXT team do a 10 year anniversary flight that went higher and faster? What motor was in that?

Handeman said:

Didn't the CSXT team do a 10 year anniversary flight that went higher and faster? What motor was in that?

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S50,000-ish.

IIRC they used an UpAerospace SpaceLoft rocket powered by a CTI S impulse class motor. https://www.upaerospace.com/custom-1/UPAerospace2011.pdf

There were several posts on TRF describing the launch.

Bob