Home Made Wadding

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flying_silverad

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has anyone tried or knows how to make wadding from scratch. I figure theres got to be a way to treat that whole roll of TP in bathroom with somthin...:confused: wadding from scratch
 
Originally posted by flying_silverad
has anyone tried or knows how to make wadding from scratch. I figure theres got to be a way to treat that whole roll of TP in bathroom with somthin...:confused: wadding from scratch

GREAT question! The reason I am so excited you asked this is because I was excited to learn the answer.

CELLULOSE INSULATION!!!

I'm not sure if you have heard of this stuff, but its primary intended use is to insulate houses. The reason it works great for rocketry is because it has already been treated to be flame resistant/retardant. It is basically a compound of ground up newspaper. Once deployed at ejection, it disperses into fine particles. Sure, you'll get larger clumps that survive the fall back to earth, but they eventually get washed away into dust by the rain. You can buy a lifetime's worth of it for about $7 at Home Depot or Lowe's. Look for it in the roofing or insulation aisle.

If you are curious to see what it looks like, check out a picture of it here: <a href="https://www.info-central.org/images/recovery_cellulose.jpg">Cellulose Insulation</a> This image is located at the INFOCentral section of www.rocketryonline.com - another great resource for rocketeers.
 
I have read about some very interesting items people use for wadding from grass to lettuce. Currently I am using crepe paper. Cheap and bio-degradable. Been using the 2" wide strips but plan to cut my own out of sheets the same size as Estes wadding. I haven't used cellulose but have talked to many that have and it works very nicely. Be careful making your own.

Swimmer
 
CELLULOSE INSULATION--Went and bought myself a big bag of this stuff. Eight bucks with tax. I used it in my Big Daddy and Big Bertha yesterday and the chute and cords faired well. the only negitive comment is that it really leaves a mess inside the rocket after ejection. I got small deposits on the inner walls of the tube that every other flight really have to be brushed out. I don't think it would harm anything but it does leave sort of a rough surface. I think if I used a small amount of wadding and then the cellulose above it I might have that problem solved.
 
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