Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the BWR Team

Pressure tests and nozzle developments

Ive finally got round to pressure testing some re enforced bottles and a spliced bottle the results were better then i expected i started by testing the re enforced 2L bottle im not sure what pressure it actually failed at as my gauge i was using on the test goes no higher then 160 psi it filled for another 10 secs once it hit 160psi so i reckon 180+ psi so i think a safe launch pressure will be 115-120 psi.

This pic shows the destroyed bottle after the test the bottom of the bottle shows no stress as this was glued with sikaflex the neck of the bottle was not so good as this was not glued maybe glueing the neck will help out next time.

The test was put on a spliced bottle with re enforcing at the neck and bottom the bottle failed at 140psi which was more then i had hoped for i used a mixture of sikaflex 11fc and titebond glue for the splice and for the sleeve i used sikaflex again the failure point was near the sleeve and it looked as the bottle was sanded too much here are the destruction pics.

Ive been working on a new nozzle system as putting gardena nozzles in caps can be tricky and time consuming to make. The only draw back with this nozle is its weight 37 grams compared to just a nozzle and cap. But for people who dont want to much work and are not bothered about weight this will be perfect i will use this for small rockets only as larger rockets have to be on a very strict diet!!!!

V3 Explosion!!!!!!

Last weekend saw the first flight of the V3 until the rocket exploded on the launch pad it caused quite a bit of damage to the rocket but nothing that cant be fixed i will trim the destroyed upper bottle and replace it with a new bottle i think i will re enforce the bottles as a added precaution. I found a small hairline crack in the neck of the bottle i guess this was the failure point of the rocket i will post up some pics when the rocket is repaired and hopefully get a good flight.

V3 Ready for service!!!!

The last two evenings have seen the V3 get its colours i decided on the B+W scheme as the camo would be a little difficult to create i will try it on future projects the v3 is ready for its first launch which will be planned for when the snow dissapears from the UK!!!!!!.
Final stats
7.5L
Fill vol: 2L
Dry weight:697 grams
Nozzle: 9mm
Recovery system: Tomi Timer  single large parachute.
Altimeter: NA
Camera: NA

Fin mock up for V3

This weekend saw more work for the V3 with the making of the fins these are made from corriflute and will glue them with sikaflex i wanted to use 4mm ply but decided against that as it increased the overall weight of the rocket, progress has been slow as other commitments have got in the way will update soon.

Progress report on the V3

 Today saw stage 2 completed on V3 i gave the body of the rocket a more aerodynamic shape and tried to replicate the shape of a real V2, i decided on a side parachute deployment system as i have had many issues with a inline deployment which was the orignal plan for this rocket the parachute was also attached the chute was taken from an older redundant rocket N2. Next stage of the build will be to attach the fins and to vinyl the rocket body.

Hydron 5.5L

 Finally got round to mocking up my newest rocket Hydron its using spliced 1L bottles max volume of the rocket is 5.5L it weighs 570grams dry and with out the bottle sleeves, im going to use a 10mm nozzle as the payload is a quite hefty 100grams i want to try the rocket with and without camera so ive built the whole rocket in sections so it can be changed about easily, im hoping for a 300ft + altitude with this rocket.

Splices

Today i tryed my 1st splices i used 1 litre bottles as this was my 1st attempt i used 2 glues Titebond a american polyurethane adhesive and sikaflex 11 FC as the Titebond glue was very runny i followed a tutorial on aircommand rockets where George used polyfilla as a thickening agent it worked very well made the glue much easier to work with i decided to try 2 splicing techniques a symmetrical splice with 2 glues and a asymmetric splice with 2 glues i will leave these for a week to dry fully then pressure test next weekend.

The start of 2 new projects

Over the past 2 weeks ive started on my next to rockets the 1st is the V3 its a larger version of my last V2 rocket the new version will have an onboard camera larger air and water volume at 7.5L and hopefully it will be vinyl wrapped with either period test colours( black and white) or camo markings will have to hold a vote!!!!! ive decided for vinyl as paint cracks and flakes to much with the rocket expanding and contracting, To help re enforce the the bottles ive used plastic packaging banding and fiberglass parcel tape to help the rocket hold together not that 130 psi launch will stress it that much, heres some pictures of the bottles bolted together i will update on the next stage of the build.

New rocket new launch site

The BWR crew headed over to our new launch site as our local launch area is populated with livestock!!!! we tested our latest rocket a 8L mist jet 1st launch was better then expected as ive never really made a rocket over 4L apogee was a good height 100ft-150ft enough to test the parachute but failure happened as the chute deployed the force of the chute opening and the weight of the rocket snapped the cord which attaches the rocket to the chute, 2nd launch wasnt as good due to using a water+foam mix didnt seem to work as well as water on its own, the parachute didnt deploy as the timer was set for a higher altitude so another crash landing took place !!! we also launched our V2 rocket had a very good 1st flight we launched at a higher pressure and a higher water foam mix the chute also decided to not make an apperance but was a good retirement flight as the rocket is getting a bit damaged. watch in higher quality here:http://www.vimeo.com/16066653

Mist jet motor test part 2

the first test wasnt so great so i took the top 2 2L bottles off and tryed it again we saw  better results the launch pressure was 115 psi to replicate a real launch and 1000ml water the intial thrust was alot stronger then i imagined so strong in fact it broke away from the guide rail snapped a clamp which was holding the nose in place which was secured to the guide rail and moved the whole launcher to one side so there was loads of thrust

Mist jet motor tests

I have finally got round to testing my latest rocket motor the mist jet!!! i strapped the rocket to the launcher and guide rail pressurized the bottles to 100 psi with 1600 mls water there was a good amount of thrust at the start of the launch but seemed to loose power after a second or so maybe due to a low launch pressure will have to see when launch day arrives

V2 launch day

Yesterday the B W Rocket crew launched the V2 rocket for the 1st time we had 4 successful flights parachute failed to open 1st time due to a snag with the tomi timer so we suffered some damage but not enough to ruin the day heres some footage from the day,

Prototype Mist jet rocket

This week i have been working on a new rocket design, the new design works in a totally different way to standard rockets, the water and air are in seperate compartments as the rocket is released water travels down a tube which has holes near the neck of the bottle where air hits the water creating a fine mist as propulsion benefits of this design is a more sustained equal propulsion of water and air, another advantage is the rocket needs no ballast weight as the water is contained at the top of rocket to maintain a stable flight it reduces the rockets overall weight, total vol 8 litres, fill volume: 1600mls water/foam, nozzle 10mm, launch pressure 100-120 psi.

V2

The V2 is a replica design of the famous V2 of WW2 its painted in period test colours of 1942 the black and white was to identify if the rocket spins in flight, the rocket was made of 2 2litre bottles max vol of 4 litres the nosecone is made of craft card which holds the rockets ballast weight, the fins are made of coriflute and attached to rocket with Sikaflex 291 adhesive, the nose cone holds a parachute deployment system for safe recovery of the rocket. fill vol: 1000mls water/foam launch pressure: 100 psi, 10mm nozzle, average altitude: un recorded.

Rocket is still in a test stage.

N2

The N2 is a 3litre ring finned rocket this was the first multi bottle rocket that i have made its had several modifications new fins and a parachute deployment system, launch details: fill volume 800mls water/foam, 7mm nozzle,  launch pressure 100 psi, average altitude 100+ft .

Welcome to the British Water Rocket blog

Here are my rockets so far left to right we have my newest design a mist jet rocket, middle is the V2 and right is N2