First reloadable rocket motor

[spudgun]

Hello to everyone. This is my first post so excuse me if it is in the wrong thread.

I am not really new to rocket powered RC gliders, built one about 6 years ago and flew it on Estes "D" rockets. Since the price of the motors went throught the roof I decided that for the price of 3 flights on the rocket powered motors I could buy a gallon of glow fuel and get allot more flights on my nitro planes.

2 weeks ago one of our club members is getting out of the RC flying and asked me to look at his stuff and see if there was anything I would like. I saw the Cuda rocket glider kit and a box of Aerotech 24mm rocket motor and a box full of reloads.

I have heard of this motor in the past but didnt persue it. Now I have one and another glider to put it in.

After doing some looking on line I came across the sugar propellent videos.

Now I'm thinking:y:

Could I reload the case using sugar fuel?

If I can what are the benifits or the downside of this?

Larry
spudgun.com

 

[DAllen]

Hello to everyone. This is my first post so excuse me if it is in the wrong thread.

I am not really new to rocket powered RC gliders, built one about 6 years ago and flew it on Estes "D" rockets. Since the price of the motors went throught the roof I decided that for the price of 3 flights on the rocket powered motors I could buy a gallon of glow fuel and get allot more flights on my nitro planes.

2 weeks ago one of our club members is getting out of the RC flying and asked me to look at his stuff and see if there was anything I would like. I saw the Cuda rocket glider kit and a box of Aerotech 24mm rocket motor and a box full of reloads.

I have heard of this motor in the past but didnt persue it. Now I have one and another glider to put it in.

That sounds like loads of fun. No pun intended.

After doing some looking on line I came across the sugar propellent videos.

Now I'm thinking:y:

Could I reload the case using sugar fuel?

If I can what are the benifits or the downside of this?

Larry
spudgun.com

Sugar propellant (AFAIK) offers less ISP per ounce of propellant than typical AP. I am not sure you would want to go with the AT 24mm case. Green Monkey Aerospace makes some really small research hardware which may be a little more conducive to sugar propellant but of course I can't find their web site now. Me personally? I would just stick with the AT reloads than try to make the propellant.

-Dave

 

[rockets4kids]

It can be done, but you should ask yourself why.

Looking for cheap reloads in the wrong answer. You will need to launch a *lot* of rockets to recover your development costs, and that is assuming you don't destroy your case in the process.

However, if you want to learn how a rocket motor really works, reloading commercial cases with sugar propellants is a great way to.

 

[bobkrech]

Hello to everyone. This is my first post so excuse me if it is in the wrong thread.

I am not really new to rocket powered RC gliders, built one about 6 years ago and flew it on Estes "D" rockets. Since the price of the motors went throught the roof I decided that for the price of 3 flights on the rocket powered motors I could buy a gallon of glow fuel and get allot more flights on my nitro planes.

2 weeks ago one of our club members is getting out of the RC flying and asked me to look at his stuff and see if there was anything I would like. I saw the Cuda rocket glider kit and a box of Aerotech 24mm rocket motor and a box full of reloads.

I have heard of this motor in the past but didnt persue it. Now I have one and another glider to put it in.

Rocket powered gliders are more like elastic launched R/C sail planes than powered R/C airplanes. You're deadsticking all the time.

After doing some looking on line I came across the sugar propellent videos.

Now I'm thinking:y:

Could I reload the case using sugar fuel?

If I can what are the benifits or the downside of this?

Larry
spudgun.com

Rocket gliders are quite a bit different than R/C airplanes. It's more like a rail dragster that uses fuel and a daily driver using gasoline. Your R/C airplanes either uses nitro fuel or LiP obatteries. Gasoline for your car costs $4 a gallon. Nitro fuel for your R/C airplane costs $40 per gallon. APCP solid rocket motor propellant costs an equivalent of ~$400 per gallon. Each fuel is capable of an order of magnitude greater power and performance.

Amateur motor making is an entirely different area of hobby rocketry that is not for beginners. Sugar propellant has 1/2 the performance of the standard AT (Aerotech) APCP (Ammonium Perchlorate Composite Propellant) motors. It is not permitted under NAR rules and is only allowed under TRA Research rules for L2 and L3 high power certified TRA members.

There are no benefits using sugar motors of that size in rocket gliders, and the gliders is unlikely to perform to you satisfaction even if you are a R/C sailplane pilot. You would need a much larger sugar motor, and I believe your AMA liability insurance woun't cover them. NAR insurance won't and TRA insurance only is in effect for research launches.

Stick with the AT reloads to learn how to fly the gliders.

Bob

 

[Polyalcoholic]

If you got a box of reloads, use them. But be sure to save your nozzles.

While going through the box of reloads, browse through Jimmy Yawn's website.
Jimmy has been making small sugar motors for years and has posted a great amount
of information, including videos, on his website.

If you exhaust your box of reloads and are still interested in making reloads from
sugar propellant, post your questions to the Sugpro mailing list or the Amateur/EX
forum on Rocketry Planet. Although there are a number of sugar propellant knowledgeable
folks that visit this forum, you'll have better luck with Sugpro and RP.