Sunday 26 June 2011

Another busy day at the office

Over the last 2 months the BWR team have been collecting as many 2L bottles as we could for our newest project the Delta series of rockets these are boostered rockets we made a mock up of an old rocket but tests were not a success due to the old rocket there was a leak and a bottle failure so we have started work on Delta II i have downsized the diameter of the bottles to 1L to test how smaller bottles behave with boosters.
Work has started on Delta III but at this stage its only splices of 2L bottles i will post up pics when i get a bit more time, for the Delta series of rockets i have had to make a new launcher to accompany the extra bottles (boosters) it is nearly finished just a guide rail and launch string to be attached then tests can be started.

Wednesday 15 June 2011

BWR coupler construction video

I have uploaded a construction tutorial on the making of the coupler here is the link:

www.vimeo.com/25153173

Successful Tornado tube tests

Today saw the 1st tests of the BWR coupling in my last blog i descibed my new design on heat welding two bottle caps together, I tested four couplings on a 7L rocket i filled the rocket with 1800mls of water and pressurized the rocket to 120 psi and left it there for two minutes no signs of cracks or leaks only problem we had was a nozzle cap washer had not sealed properley and had a small leak occured i will have to give the couplings a flight test to really know how they will work but results look promising i will post a how to video on making the couplings soon.

Sunday 12 June 2011

New Tornado couplings and nosecones

As the UK today was covered by a blanket of wind and rain it gave us some time in the workshop first up i have been trying to come up with a tornado coupling that does not involve using bits like lamp rods or Tornado Tubes as your limited to 7mm-8mm opening with a lamp rod and the problems of leaks and cracking with Tornado ,so i read up how to heat weld different plastics and found how you can connect bottle caps by melting the top surface of the caps and sticking them together shortly after sticking them dunk them in cold water to cool them. When i get a bit more time i will post up a how to.




The pictures above are just after they have been stuck due to no testing i have no clue if they will withstand a 100psi or 120 psi pressure test so i took 2 of the couplings and sanded the sides and glued 1 with sikaflex with a PET wrap then used Gorilla Glue on the 2nd so once i have tested these i will update if they work.





Next up i wanted to try and find a way of making a lighter, cheaper nosecone so i tried using paper mache over a bottle i use for my nosecones the results were quite good i used a standard paper mache mix water and flour plus PVA for added strengh once they are dry they will be lightly sanded and filled to get a smooth finish then painted, for the inside i will coat the walls with apoxy adhesive to make it super strong when i get them finished i will update with some more pictures.