Alternative Recovery Wadding?

[rabidsheeep]

after spending 60 bucks on motors and ignighters at the hobby shop for a launch tomorrow i realized that sadly i didn't have enough wadding and the shop didn't have any in stock...

anyone know of anything else i can use?

 

[OKTurbo]

Yes...

Go down to your local lumber yard/home store and get a bag/bale of cellulose insulation. This is the kind they blow in the walls / attic of your house. It's grey in color. The common term used in rocketry circles is 'dog barf'. This insulation has been treated so it's flame retardant.

Or build a baffle into your rockets and be done with wadding forever.

Or you can make a pretty neat heat shield / pom-pom out of Teflon/PTFE plummer's tape. This attaches to the shock cord and protects the chute. Teflon...like what is on your non-stick skillet is good to several hundred degrees F. You can even get plummer's tape at Wal-Mart.

These are a few of the cheap alternatives...

John

 

[wwattles]

Depending on the size of the rockets, you can use teflon pom-poms. Do a search in here for teflon and pompoms and you should be able to find a couple threads about how to make them. They are only recommended for the smaller body sizes, but if you were planning on using wadding, you are probably using BT's that are small enough.

If you have a construction warehouse store (Home Depot, Lowes, etc) you can probably get some dog barf (aka foam insulation) from them for larger rockets. I've seen guys use that stuff in rockets up to L2 cert flights.

WW

 

[rabidsheeep]

bah no time for that... but i was playing around and i found these kitchen gloves taht didn't burn even after sticking them in the over... just scorched badly...

 

[jflis]

heck, in a pinch, just go to the local grocery stores produce section and pick up a head of lettuce..

works great and is bio degradable.

 

[OKTurbo]

There's your next rocket idea Jim.

A rocket shaped like a food processor.

.....on pad 3 we have FlisKits new Ronco Slice-o-matic complete with iceberg lettuce load.....plus it Atkins friendly!

John

 

[BlueNinja]

Jim, thats... um... an... er... very interesting idea...


Wouldnt it be on the heavy side with a chunk o' lettuce in there?

 

[jflis]

not really, you use the darker green leaves.

I'm serious folks. back in the day, this is all the HPR folks ever used! I've used it in a pinch on model rockets. I've actually been on my way to a launch and realized i forgot wadding and bought a head of lettuce.

 

[rabidsheeep]

umm... well i found out a peice of cheesecloth damp, not wet at all, just dip it in water and ring it out, is fire retartent (spelling) for like a minute and a half on the stove until it bursts into flames...

and jim ill be usin lettuce too... i dont got enough cheesecloth either...

 

[teflonrocketry1]

I second the use of Teflon Pipe thread sealant tape pom poms for permanent wadding; they don't call me Teflonrocketry for nothing!

If you must use cheese cloth soak it in baking soda and table salt or Borax laundry booster then let dry it to make it somewhat fire proof.

Bruce S. Levison, NAR #69055

 

[rstaff3]

Not that this will be useful to most people, as these items are not easily found, but should you ever run across expended car air bags, snarf them up. They make great chute protectors.

 

[tbzep]

Crepe paper is a good alternative. It's treated with fire retardant and you can get it in squares that are commonly used to decorate parade floats (exact same stuff as Quest wadding) or in streamer rolls in almost any color you like.

I've seen some people use a single sheet of Kleenex tissue on smaller rockets. It protected the chute and the occasional flame always went out well before it floated down. A better alternative would be to treat the tissues or some toilet paper with a borax solution. That's pretty much what Estes wadding is.

BTW, I've used dandilion leaves as wadding before...does that count in the lettuce/ronco retrieval program?

tim

 

[Ryan S.]

Originally posted by jflis
not really, you use the darker green leaves.

I'm serious folks. back in the day, this is all the HPR folks ever used! I've used it in a pinch on model rockets. I've actually been on my way to a launch and realized i forgot wadding and bought a head of lettuce.

I have heard of this too. There was a club that actually asked you to use it because the farmer of the feild didnt want his feild littered with paper