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Building a real SRB

xendelaar

By xendelaar
in Science & Spaceflight

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xendelaar

xendelaar

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Posted (edited)

After playing +2000h of ksp I'm flirting with the idea of making my own real life SRB rocket. A small version off course...

I found some cool instructables online which explain how you can make solid rocket fuel using sugar, potasium nitrate and a pinch of iron oxide. 

The isp is not really high (100-130 ) but heck... it would be cool  to get a small craft of the ground.

Does anybody have any experience with building real life amature rockets? 

Do you have any kerbally design tips?  

:)

Edited by xendelaar
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SinBad

SinBad

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Sounds like fun, but...

Be very careful, please. If you dont know exactly how to do any part of it, seek out someone who does it for a living to do that part for you. Smaller is better. Be aware that in some parts of the world, purchacing certain combinations of items can raise red flags with government agencies, have an explaination ready just in case. When you do get around to igniting anything, please stand behind a very sturdy wall and look into remote ignition systems. Check local laws regarding pyrotechnics, and use of airspace regulations.

And always remember, an srb is just a pipe bomb that leaks. Make sure yours does.

Edited by SinBad
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munlander1

munlander1

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I would definitely start with commercial rockets and rocket motors. If you wanna use it as a powder you have to hammer it in. Want to make it into a paste you have to cook it outside and dedicate a pan. Trap an air bubble, mess up the mixture, or incorrectly build it and you have a small bomb on your hands. Does not sound like much until you have melted plastic, or from the instructable you have sharp wooden chunks and card board flying towards you. Even worse if burning propellant gets down your shirt or even hits you. Not trying to scare you but be careful.

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xendelaar

xendelaar

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@SinBad@SinBad thanks for the advice.  I'm a chemical engineer and have plenty of experience with chemistry. Safety first!

@munlander1. I will google for estes rockets because i never heard of that before.  I do have a lot of experience with acidic acid - baking soda rockets which are awesome, but lack a bit of oomfh to be honest.  

@The Raging Sandwich

Cool. How did you design the exterior of your rockets? 

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The Raging Sandwich

The Raging Sandwich

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23 minutes ago, xendelaar said:

@SinBad@SinBad thanks for the advice.  I'm a chemical engineer and have plenty of experience with chemistry. Safety first!

@munlander1. I will google for estes rockets because i never heard of that before.  I do have a lot of experience with acidic acid - baking soda rockets which are awesome, but lack a bit of oomfh to be honest.  

@The Raging Sandwich

Cool. How did you design the exterior of your rockets? 

Oh, I haven't built any rockets yet, but I'm in the process of making one. Its just a PVC pipe and I won't paint it. I just launched the engines.

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magnemoe

magnemoe

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10 hours ago, SinBad said:

Sounds like fun, but...

Be very careful, please. If you dont know exactly how to do any part of it, seek out someone who does it for a living to do that part for you. Smaller is better. Be aware that in some parts of the world, purchacing certain combinations of items can raise red flags with government agencies, have an explaination ready just in case. When you do get around to igniting anything, please stand behind a very sturdy wall and look into remote ignition systems. Check local laws regarding pyrotechnics, and use of airspace regulations.

And always remember, an srb is just a pipe bomb that leaks. Make sure yours does.

An srb is just a pipe bomb that leaks: 
Remember then I was an teen we made an pipe bomb, we found an very safe place to test it, someone had dug two holes out in an field for some drainage shafts, 2 meter deep and 3 in diameter, 5 meter between them, put bomb in one hole and we hide in the other, it would be safe from an kilo of tnt, however the had made the fuse hole on the pipe bomb too large so it acted as an rocket, jumped out of its hole and down into our, scared us a lot. 
We tested more rockets however we had issues with stability and TWR all the time as we had no ideas that we was doing outside of having an hole up in the core and an sort of engine nozzle. 

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Nathair

Nathair

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Posted
23 hours ago, xendelaar said:

After playing +2000h of ksp I'm flirting with the idea of making my own real life SRB rocket. A small version off course...

I found some cool instructables online which explain how you can make solid rocket fuel using sugar, potasium nitrate and a pinch of iron oxide. 

The isp is not really high (100-130 ) but heck... it would be cool  to get a small craft of the ground.

Does anybody have any experience with building real life amature rockets? 

Do you have any kerbally design tips? 

I made more than a few rocket candy motors, back in the day. Nowadays it's not legal here. Not legal to build, transport or even to just buy KNO3 (which is a real pain since it has a lot of non-splodey uses too.)

My advice is to check out your local laws before you even begin.

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magnemoe

magnemoe

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1 hour ago, munlander1 said:

Also by the way an srb is used to launch or boost something. If the rocket is a single object (nosecone and all) then you just have a solid fuel rocket.

Yes, and its side mounted, if its an stage its an solid fuel stage like the one who uses an shuttle SRB as first stage. 

Can be combined, one ariane 6 was solid fuel boosters, core and upper stage with an hydrolox 3rd stage. 

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NSEP

NSEP

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Posted

SRB's are just fireworks rockets? Making them yourself is perfectly fine as long as you not burn your hands or annoy people around you. 

Go for it if you want to and if you are sure to do so.

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Ten Key

Ten Key

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3 hours ago, NSEP said:

SRB's are just fireworks rockets? Making them yourself is perfectly fine as long as you not burn your hands or annoy people around you. 

And if you don't respect it, even a store bought firework can kill you. 

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Tristonwilson12

Tristonwilson12

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I dont recommend using anything other then Potassium Nitrate and Suger, or Potassium Nitrate and Charcoal (if you want to explore options :P ) anything other then that and your getting into permit levels, the best source of potassium nitrate is stump remover.

 

Also make sure you are safe and are following local laws, i suffered a pretty bad burn yesterday cause i did not use gloves and melted black powder got on my finger. 

Edited by Tristonwilson12
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