Recovery Wadding

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you can just use paper towel and treat ( soak it) it with a solution of 1/4 cup baking soda with 1 1/2 cup water
 
check out this from the late Grant Thompson (King of Random). It's wadding made with paper towels (or toilet paper) that's been soaked in baking soda and water. My brother & I made some and it's stronger than the Estes stuff:

 
check out this from the late Grant Thompson (King of Random). It's wadding made with paper towels (or toilet paper) that's been soaked in baking soda and water. My brother & I made some and it's stronger than the Estes stuff:


Yeah, Grant was awesome, its very sad he passed away 🙁
 
Island prices. The shipping cost to Hawaii would probably be double that for a pallet.

Kuririn said he has a bunch to share.

I picked up a roll of party streamer for 99c at Walmart. It was marked “fire retardant” and seems to hold up To the flame better than the Estes paper.

Hmm, I think I will start making my STREAMERS from crepe paper. I have been using hazard tape, and if I skimp on the wadding it tends to melt. Seems like using crepe paper for wadding and for streamer is best of both worlds.
 
I bought four rolls of different color paper streamers for 4 dollars at the dollar tree year ago, and still on the first roll after dozens of rockets launched. On low rockets you can see the colors. I've gotta try using as recovery of a smaller one. It sounds interesting. Maybe the hiflyer...
 
I bought four rolls of different color paper streamers for 4 dollars at the dollar tree year ago, and still on the first roll after dozens of rockets launched. On low rockets you can see the colors. I've gotta try using as recovery of a smaller one. It sounds interesting. Maybe the hiflyer...
They are paper streamers right? Any particular brand?
 
check out this from the late Grant Thompson (King of Random). It's wadding made with paper towels (or toilet paper) that's been soaked in baking soda and water. My brother & I made some and it's stronger than the Estes stuff:



I actually have a roll of TP that was prepared as in this video that's been drying for some time now. With the warmer temps recently, I've been putting it outside in the sun to speed up the drying, and it should be ready soon.

I'm interested in also trying the crepe party streamer and cellulose insulation methods to see which I'll be going with in the long run.
 
I actually have a roll of TP that was prepared as in this video that's been drying for some time now. With the warmer temps recently, I've been putting it outside in the sun to speed up the drying, and it should be ready soon.

I'm interested in also trying the crepe party streamer and cellulose insulation methods to see which I'll be going with in the long run.
Good luck. I couldn’t get the layers apart after it dried. I had better luck with paper towels but don’t use too much or won’t eject from the tube. That’s how I almost my Patriot.

 
Good luck. I couldn’t get the layers apart after it dried. I had better luck with paper towels but don’t use too much or won’t eject from the tube. That’s how I almost my Patriot.



Hmmm good to know. The roll is probably dry enough to attempt to peel apart, I was just letting it dry for extra measure since I have some Estes wadding still and am in no huge need for extra right now. Well, fingers crossed it'll work for me.
 
I bought talc from Amazon and use it liberally with the parachutes.
I thought you couldn't buy that anymore. There was some issue with radioactivity, and corn starch (flammable) has largely substituted. I did check Amazon and there it was. I used it a lot - works great with plastic 'chutes - during my 1960s rocketry round. Ill get me some.
 
I thought you couldn't buy that anymore. There was some issue with radioactivity, and corn starch (flammable) has largely substituted. I did check Amazon and there it was. I used it a lot - works great with plastic 'chutes - during my 1960s rocketry round. Ill get me some.
It wasnt radioactivity it was asbestos, and my understanding is the levels were at less than reportable levels, however a judge and attorneys got involved and now talc based powders are being discontinued.
 
That’s funny. I’d used the baking powder “trick” back in the ‘70s, though dissolved with vinegar. Couldn’t afford the wadding or the shipping time—back when snail mail really was snail mail.
 
Here are the results of my experiment with homemade wadding. I prepared this roll of TP about 3 weeks ago, and have been letting it dry ever since. Recently, I've been putting it out in the sun, which has really accelerated the rate of drying.

Yesterday, I finally decided it was ready to peel apart. The entire outside is crusted over with baking soda, so the outer layers need to be removed and discarded. However, the sides present a bit of a challenge, as the edges have clumped up and binded together, so the sheets tend to tear when you unroll it. Not a huge deal, but I lost some width and it was slow going. The further along I got, the easier it became and the sheets were turning out nicer and nicer.

The last thing I did was to sandwich the piles of wadding overnight between two wood boards with heavy weights on top to flatten and compress the sheets for easier storage. I trimmed up the rough edges with some scissors, and now I'm left with hundreds of sheets of wadding that do indeed seem to work better than the Estes product.

I considered buying a bale of cellulose insulation, but my garage storage space is at a premium already, and I don't launch rockets quite enough to justify that amount off wadding. This homemade version from one roll of TP is an excellent compromise for my usage. Whenever I run low, it'll just be a matter of another roll of TP, some baking soda, and lots of patience.
 

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It wasnt radioactivity it was asbestos
That's right. I investigated it after I posted. Johnson baby powder website assures it's customers that it's product is asbestos free and contains talc* *derived from natural sources. Whatever that means. I am going to assume that Johnson and Johnson cannot call corn starch talc even if they use a asterisk. I am going to buy some and use it on my parachutes.
 
Here are the results of my experiment with homemade wadding. I prepared this roll of TP about 3 weeks ago, and have been letting it dry ever since. Recently, I've been putting it out in the sun, which has really accelerated the rate of drying.

Yesterday, I finally decided it was ready to peel apart. The entire outside is crusted over with baking soda, so the outer layers need to be removed and discarded. However, the sides present a bit of a challenge, as the edges have clumped up and binded together, so the sheets tend to tear when you unroll it. Not a huge deal, but I lost some width and it was slow going. The further along I got, the easier it became and the sheets were turning out nicer and nicer.

The last thing I did was to sandwich the piles of wadding overnight between two wood boards with heavy weights on top to flatten and compress the sheets for easier storage. I trimmed up the rough edges with some scissors, and now I'm left with hundreds of sheets of wadding that do indeed seem to work better than the Estes product.

I considered buying a bale of cellulose insulation, but my garage storage space is at a premium already, and I don't launch rockets quite enough to justify that amount off wadding. This homemade version from one roll of TP is an excellent compromise for my usage. Whenever I run low, it'll just be a matter of another roll of TP, some baking soda, and lots of patience.
Very nice. What happens when you try to torch it?
I found that the 99c party streamers marked fire retardant work better than the Estes product. Don’t want to burn the house down while blowing out the birthday candles.

I believe the main issue with talc is the silica content which can be just as bad as asbestos. Silica is hazardous to adults >1% content but talc says it has less than that. However babies are more susceptible to the silica, and it is marketed as baby powder. Corn starch is better but is flammable in confined spaces such as the interior of a rocket.

The Amazon seller is probably wondering why people are recently buying bulk orders of the talc.
 
Very nice. What happens when you try to torch it?

Pretty much exactly what it does in the TKOR video: it chars when you apply flame to it, then just smolders for a bit then stops. I haven't yet tried the same to a piece Estes wadding, but don't feel the need to since they do that in the video.
 
An update on the reusable Nomex squares for wadding. Apparently "fire resistant" does not mean "fire proof". The seams on my 6" x 6" square have now burned almost entirely away after 6 flights. I might be able to get one more out of it. At a cost of $4.95, that's way too expensive. Looks like I'll be going back to disposable wadding.


top_flight1.jpg

top_flight2.jpg
 
I'm a fan of a crepe paper streamers also. I buy it at Walmart, it's 97 cents for 150 feet and it's fire resistant. I use it instead of wadding.

Tape a penny or a dime to the end of the crepe paper then start rolling the paper around the penny until it forms a round "plug" that slips into the body tube. Push it all the way down until it touches the motor.

At ejection the crepe paper unravels and becomes a big long free falling streamer.

Pick it up and re-use it for the next launch. Watching the streamer fall to earth is pretty cool too.
 
After looking over this post I suddenly remember that I have a big bundle of insulation that I used for the walls of my little house. When I bought it, I didn't get the FG insulation that you normally see but some eco-friendly alternative stuff. Going to check it out again and see if I can just peel the "dog barf" off the paper. I knew I'd find a use for that stuff someday, that's why I saved it. :p
 
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