Smoke Dispersing Rocket

[Darken]

Hello, I'm new to rocketry and had a question regarding the legality of putting smoke screens in rockets. I wanted to put one in a rocket so when it launches it leaves behind a cloud of smoke wherever it goes, but I don't want to proceed before I know the ATF won't be knocking down my door because of it. Thanks for any input.

 

[Disaster_Guy]

Have you launched a rocket or two yet? Even most of the Estes black powder motors produce a good but of smoke and also produce a smoke trail between the time the motor burns out and the time the ejection charge fires.

 

[CPUTommy]

Just an FYI ..

For the past 4 months I have been trying to answer that same question.

To save you alot of time, aggravation,and possibly a criminal record, Read these forums. What I have found is that alot of people use a mixture of Baby Power and Chaulk used to refill Chalk lines. I bought some last night for 1.38 at home depo. Make your own mixture put it in a type of paper pouch or something else connected to the nosecone (im using the yellow 18mm motor mounts I never used) and make it act like a sand egg timer. I have yet to try my own mixture but from what Ive read you can see the smoke at quite an altitude. If your having problems not seeing your rockets, then maybe your in need of GPS tracking.... or a bigger 38 mm motor...

Tom

 

[THier]

How large or a rocket are you flying? There are sky divers smoke canister that produce what KITCHEN is 60,000 cu ft of smoke, great for high alt tracking. I know they fit in a 3" airframe, are activated by a pull string and are great for tracking when apogee event happens.

Tom

 

[Darken]

I've launched rockets before, but I'm trying to make a large cloud of smoke with it, more so than what the rocket would produce. I'm pretty sure it's all right considering the amount of smoke rockets make as is, but since I know ballistic materials and rockets do not combine to form a very legal concoction, I just don't know whether a smoke screen would be considered an illegal payload or not.

Edit: Also, the rocket is only about 1.5" in diameter.

 

[Disaster_Guy]

Two different ways to look at this... If you want a ton of smoke on the way up (and venture into the mid/high power motor range) the Smokey Sam propellant from CTI would do the trick (as would potentially the sky diving canister mentioned above with with appropriate vent holes in the air frame.

If you want a lot of smoke after apogee and ejection you can do a lot (and make a mess at the same time) I from time to time use a tracking powder as described above with a mix of orange line chalk and talc powder wrapped up in anything ranging from new paper to wadding. Also, since the sky diving canister described above has a pull pin, in a large enough air frame you could work a way to kick it out during the recovery event.

 

[hcmbanjo]

You might check out the old Enerjet Nike Smoke.
https://www.oldrocketplans.com/enerjet/enjKE-3/enjKE-3.htm

You'd load the nose cone with talcum powder.
At launch, the airstream was directed through a tube and forced the powder "smoke" out the vent plates on the side of the nose cone.