Kno3/Sugar rockets

[mitch]

Has anyone on this site had any experience working with potassium nitrate sugar rockets? I have been experimenting with some 1" and 2" diameter PVC motors using 68/33 nitrate to sugar as fuel, bentonite clay as a nozzle. A friend and I are working on making a small/ rc plane that gets up to a set altitude, then a rocket on the back of it will be ignited. When we get some work done I'll start posting pics of the build and testing

[Richard OConnell]

I've built a couple, but I havent had a lot of luck with KNO3/Sugar rockets. :/

[mitch]

Why haven't you had much luck? I am currently working on designing a rocket that will fly with a high class F motor or a low class G motor.

[racket]

Hi Richard

LOL, ........perhaps you should have mixed the KNO3 with some carbon and sulphur ;-)

Cheers
John

[mitch]

haha, are you suggesting that black powder is a better amateur rocket fuel than kno3 sugar?

[Richard OConnell]

Mitch, I didnt spend much time researching KNO3 and Sugar when I was making rockets. I recall using about a 50/50 mix and adding methanol to turn it into a slurry. Then I poured it into a cardboard tube and allowed the methanol to vaporize. I let it sit for around a week and inserted the tube into a thin-walled aluminum tube with a nozzle on the bottom (I dont recall sizes). I lit it using an ESTES model rocket ignitor(worked fine) and the thrust was barely enough to get the tube off the ground. Havent tried cooking the KNO3/Sugar, but I've heard thats the way to do it.

[racket]

Hi Mitch

Heh heh , as a kid, (half a century ago), I made a lot of homemade black powder using Sodium Nitrate fertiliser purchased from the local hardware shop , not as good as KNO3 due to its water absorbing characteristics, but it did the job when mixed with garden quality sulphur ( from the same hardware store) and crushed charcoal, I used the blackpowder in a number of home made muzzle loading guns and cannons made from steel water pipe , along with a few rocket experiments....................my neighbours must have been very tolerant :-)

Cheers
John

[mitch]

Haha sounds a lot like me. I am just starting to get more into sugar rockets, but I have made a few in the past. Anyone here messed with whistle mix rockets before? Those are fun, haven't made many myself, nice cause they don't require a nozzle and are really loud!

[mitch]

Finally got around to buying a small kitchen scale for static thrust testing of these little motors. Was able to make a peak thrust of 2.2lbs with some basic, poorly made nozzles and dry mixed, milled fuel. Fuel in the tests was 68/32 kno3 sugar. My goal for this size motor is about 7 lbs thrust, so I have a ways to go!