Universal Hybrid Rocket Tool

PASSFIRE FORUM
SUMMARY OF STEVE LA DUKE
COMMENTS

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Universal Hybrid Rocket Tool

SECURITY ...................................................................................................................................................... 4
BLACK POWDER ROCKETS ..................................................................................................................... 6
MAKING BLACK POWDER ROCKETS ............................................................................................................. 6
RICING BLACK POWDER - HOW MUCH SOLVENT ? ........................................................................................ 6
DELAY AND TAIL FOR ROCKETS .................................................................................................................... 6
CHRYSANTHEMUM OF MYSTERY NEED MORE SULFUR, IF YOU DONT USE WILLOW CHARCOAL ................. 7
MAKING WHISTLE MIX ............................................................................................................................. 8
WHISTLE ROCKET FUELS ............................................................................................................................... 8
HOW TO DO ? ................................................................................................................................................. 8
VASOLINE TO REDUCE SENSITIVITY .............................................................................................................. 9
CATALYST ..................................................................................................................................................... 9
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SALYCLATE AND BENZOATE WHISTLE ..................................................................... 9
OTHERS ........................................................................................................................................................ 10
HYBRID ROCKET USING THE UNIVERSAL HYBRID SPINDLE .................................................... 11
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................ 11
HYBRID # 1 MIX........................................................................................................................................... 11
HYBRID # 2 MIX........................................................................................................................................... 12
FLIGHT PREFORMANCE OF THE HYBRID ROCKET ....................................................................................... 13
HYBRID ROCKET TOOLING DIMENSIONS ...................................................................................................... 13
3/4 WHISTLE ASSISTED COLORED TAILED ROCKET .................................................................. 14
WHISTLE ROCKET FUELS ............................................................................................................................. 14
MAKING WHISTLE ASSISTED COLORED TAILED ROCKET ............................................................................. 14
LONG WINDED SCREAMER ROCKET ................................................................................................. 15
WHISTLE ROCKET FUELS ............................................................................................................................. 15
MAKING LONG WINDED SCREAMER ROCKETS (LWS) ............................................................................... 15
PRESSING LONG WINDED SCREAMER ROCKETS (LWS) ............................................................................. 15
BETTER SCREAMING .................................................................................................................................... 15
FLIGHT TIME ................................................................................................................................................ 16
ENDBURNING ROCKET ........................................................................................................................... 17
MAKING ENDBURNING ROCKETS USING HYBRID MIX # 2 ........................................................................... 17
TO INCREASE THE POWER OF END BURNING ROCKETS, ADD WHISTLE MIX (HYBRID #2) ............................ 17
THE ENDBURN ROCKET I WON COMPETITION .............................................................................................. 18
ENDBURNING ROCKET MADE FROM COMMERCIAL BLACK POWDER ........................................................... 18
NEW ENGLAND PAPER TUBES ..................................................................................................................... 18
NOZZLE DIAMETERS FOR ENDBURN ROCKETS ............................................................................................. 18
NOZZLE EROSION ........................................................................................................................................ 19
STINGER MISSILE ..................................................................................................................................... 20
MAKING STINGER MISSILE USING HYBRID MIX # 2 ...................................................................................... 20
MAKING STINGER MISSILE USING WHISTLE MIX #2 ..................................................................................... 20
STROBE ROCKET....................................................................................................................................... 21
MAKING STROBE ROCKETS .......................................................................................................................... 21
PREPARING STROBE MIX .............................................................................................................................. 21
NC SOLUTION .............................................................................................................................................. 21
STROBE ROCKET MIX - STROBE RATE .......................................................................................................... 22
INCREASE THE STROBE PULSES PER SECOND ............................................................................................... 22
STROBE ROCKET MIX - SENSITIVITY OF FORMULA ...................................................................................... 22
PRESSING STROBE MIX - DANGER ................................................................................................................ 22
STORE STROBE ROCKETS ............................................................................................................................. 23
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PRESSING ROCKETS................................................................................................................................. 24
HOSE CLAMPS ON SLEEVE ............................................................................................................................ 24
BP LOADING PRESSURE................................................................................................................................ 24
YOU NEED LESS PRESSURE FORCE FOR THE FIRST INCREMENTS.................................................................. 24
PRESSURE FORCE GAUGE CONVERTER ....................................................................................................... 24
THE TUBE WALL STRETCHES AND THE PAPER TEARS APART FROM HIGH LOADING PRESSURE. .................. 25
INCREMENTS ................................................................................................................................................ 25
TO LARGE INCREMENTS ............................................................................................................................... 25
SPACERS TO REDUCE TRAVEL OF THE HYDRAULIC PRESS ........................................................................... 25
MISALIGNMENT IN THE PRESS ..................................................................................................................... 26
REMOVE AN JAMMED RAMMER ................................................................................................................... 26
ROCKET ENGINE CASINGS .................................................................................................................... 27
MOTOR CASINGS SOAKED IN WOOD HARDNER ............................................................................................ 27
TUBE LOADING PRESSURE TEST ................................................................................................................... 27
A GOOD, STRONG, HARD WOUND TUBE WITH A THIN WALL IS BETTER THAN A THICK WALLED, SOFTER
WOUND TUBE ............................................................................................................................................... 27
A THICK WALLED TUBE ISN'T REQUIRED WHEN USING THE NEW ENGLAND TUBE ...................................... 28
OTHERS ........................................................................................................................................................ 29
N.C. LAQUER ............................................................................................................................................... 29
MINERAL OIL IN BP ROCKETS WILL REDUCE THE THRUST SINIFICANTLY .................................................. 29
MAKE CHARCOAL FROM SHAVINGS TO ELIMINATE THE GRINDING STEP .................................................. 29
BALSA WOOD TO MAKE ROCKET STICKS .................................................................................................... 29
STICKS FOR ROCKETS .................................................................................................................................. 29
FINS FOR ROCKETS ....................................................................................................................................... 30
FUSING ROCKETS ......................................................................................................................................... 30
LAUNCHING ROCKETS.................................................................................................................................. 30
DELAY FUSE ................................................................................................................................................. 31
STAGED ROCKETS ........................................................................................................................................ 31
NOZZLE ........................................................................................................................................................ 31
TO LIGHT PAYLOAD ..................................................................................................................................... 32
4" AND 5" SHELL MAKING ............................................................................................................................ 33

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SECURITY
PROTECT YOURSELF
To protect yourself when making this mix, I wear a protective face shield and leather gloves. At
least if it does blow up in your face, you won't have the bare flame licking you in the face. Any kind
of cotton sweat shirt or long sleeve jacket will protect your arms. And use common sence. From
this I think there are some take home messages:
1. Wear a heavy glove and safety glasses or face shield when pounding rockets. If it blows up
your hand is what will be the most damaged. Do wearing only leather gloves and not nitril
gloves, because they will burn.
2. Prevent static ignition: Make sure you ground everything in your work area, including
yourself.
3. Never pound whistle and strobe mix ! Even pounding black powder rockets is dangerous.
Do never pound any composition that contain titanium or any other sparking ingredients.
Rockets should be pressed behind a bullet proof shield.
4. Always, always check the fit of each rammer before you start ramming to make sure where
they jam onto the spindle. Then mark this point on the rammer to show where this point is
and don't go beyond it.
5. Always look into the rammers before each use and check to see if any fuel is built up
inside. This reduces the size of the hole and it will jam on the spindle before it reaches the
line scribed on the rammer.
6. When you change fuels, especially when going from pressing whistle rockets to pounding
black powder, make sure you clean out the bores of the rammers throughly before you
begin your next project.
7. Keep your tooling in complete sets in their own containers. If you have more than one set of
tooling of the same diameter, perhaps you should mark the tooling itself as well.
8. If you use a universal tool set with whistle fuel, then perhaps you should dedicate that
tooling to pressing only.
9. If you press whistle or strobe mix, then don't let the pressure well on the mix. Release it
immediately.
10. If you are building in an unfamiliar place, then do things in slow motion because you're
more likely to make a mistake.
11. Be extra careful when you are teaching someone how to do things. Being safe is more
important than your student knowing what the hell you're talking about.
12. Adding titanium to the mix while pressing, makes the operation much more sensitive to
ignition. And anybody that uses sponge titanium in they're fuel for pressing is just making
the sensitivity much more prone to ignition. I would never use sponge titanium in any mixes
that I press. I never press whistle rockets with titanium in the core, I do use it in the delay
portion of the rocket.
13. Vasoline reduce sensitivity of whistle mix. It's safer to press pyrotechnic fuels if vasoline is
present in the mix. So be careful to press whistle mix without vasoline.
14. NC lacquer makes makes any mix much more sensitive to ignition.
15. Strobe mix is the most sensitive mix . It is a very sensitive mix to both shock and friction.
16. Check each flight stick you've made and bend it slightly in all directions and check for a
weak spot. If there is one, it will break. Better to break in your hand that in the air 50 feet
up.

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ALWAYS MARK AND CLEAN RAMMERS

What I think happened was that there was a trace of whistle fuel inside the rammer, and when Jeff
put that final blow to the rammer with the hammer, it ignighted. This wasn't the worst of the
problem. Since the rammer bottomed out on the spindle before it got tight on the spindle, there was
direct metal to metal contact. This was a very unfortunate event, but it caught somebody who didn't
check the rammer fit with the spindle before he started ramming. All I can say at this point is Jeff
violated one of the most important rules when you start to make rockets.
1. Always, always check the fit of each rammer before you start ramming to make sure where
they jam onto the spindle. Then mark this point on the rammer to show where this point is
and don't go beyond it. Once you begin to collect different spindles, along with their
rammers, it becomes more of a concern to keep them separated. I don't permantly mark
them, but always mark them with a sharpy or place a piece of tape at the jam point right
before I start to press. I do this every time with each motor, then remove any rammers and
place them someplace else. This is a ritual with every motor I go through. It's part of the
necessary process to stay safe.
2. Another point to consider when using your tooling to make different rockets. When you
change fuels, especially when going from pressing whistle rockets to pounding black
powder, make sure you clean out the bores of the rammers throughly before you begin your
next project.
So, in a nut shell, make sure you know the jam point of each rammer before you begin ramming or
pressing. After you finish using a rammer, clean it out throughly before you begin using the next
rammer, then place that rammer at least one step away from you, then grab the next rammer that
is at least one step in the other direction. Leave the proper rammer inside the rocket before you
leave the scene, and remember where you are after you come back. When I get back, I make a
thorough inspection of the process before I begin.
USE TITANIUM ONLY IN THE DELAY - NEVER USE SPONGE TITANIUM
I never mix sponge titanium with it either or press sponge titanium with whistle mix. I only use
atomized or flake titanium. Why? Would you press whistle mix with a hand full of gravel thrown in ?
A titanium to titanium shear could have caused the heat that caused the ignition. Some how, I
believe this is the culprit. When I press the fuel increment in a motor, I bring up the pressure very
quickly and release it immediately. I even take a slight moment before I reach around the blast
shield to grab my motor to add the next increment, after the pressing operation. So adding titanium
to the mix while pressing, in my opinion, makes the operation much more sensitive to ignition, and
that's why I only do it in the solid portion above the spindle in my motors. And anybody that uses
sponge titanium in they're fuel for pressing is just making the sensitivity much more prone to
ignition. I would never use sponge titanium in any mixes that I press. This would be like adding
gravel to the whistle mix while pressing. Why have I been so lucky for the past 17 years ?
OTHERS
And the dangers of static ignition are present more in the winter time than in the summer. I don't
even make whistle mix anymore in the winter.
If I used an electric mixer for all the whistle mix I've made since 1991, I would't be here now on this
site. The kitchen mixer I use is a hand held device with no moving parts, no electricty involved. It's
a pie crust doe mixer with metal teeth and a handle to incorparate the chems together. Go to Magic
Chef web site and search for pastery mixer.
When I first started making whistle mix, without a catalyst and without vasoline, I used to bind it
with NC lacquer. Give this mix a friction test and an impact test and see for yourself. It does
explode and ignite. Now, for anybody that wants to make whistle mix without vasoline, fine. I think
it's a little more sensitive without it.
And one more thing. With all the rockets I've made for the past 44 years I've been making them, I
never had one blow during construction. Thank God and good common sense.
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Universal Hybrid Rocket Tool

BLACK POWDER ROCKETS

Making Black Powder Rockets
1 increments of clay choke, about a teaspoon. Then black powder #1 to one increment above the
spindle. 2 to 3 additional increments of a slower burning fuel, like willow mix or chrysanthemum of
mystery or a color fuel, as long as it doesn't have potassium chlorate for an oxidiser. You want
about a 5 second delay above the rocket for which this fuel above the spindle gives you.
Ricing Black Powder - how much solvent ?
What I like to do is add enough water with 10 % alcohol added, that when you press it through a
window size screen, you get little worms that fall through that slightly stick to each other. It won't be
difficult to spread this out on paper. If you get big blobs sticking together, then you added to much
water. I use at least 16 - 18 % weight of water-alcohol mix for all the fuels I make up. With different
mesh sizes of charcoal in the black powder mix that you are making, water percentages will vary to
get the exact amount to use. I do know that when ricing a ballmilled mix, such as a willow mix, the
screening process takes more elbow grease to push it through the screen. So if you start with
about 15 % with any mix, this should be OK. In the event you add to much water to the mix, rice it
anyway and spread out the globs and let it dry for 20 minutes in the sun and then rice it again, If it's
just right, you will have some fairly fine granules of black powder. This is what I do now with all my
black powder that I make up. I over wet it slightly, screen it and sperad it out on paper and let it dry
for awhile, then re-rice it. What I end up with is the perfect mesh size to make my hybrid # 2 mix.
This is exactly the way I do it now for all the black powder mixes I make up. I don't like the coarse
mix you get if you only rice it once. It flows nice and settles nice inside the rocket tube when you
dump it in. While loading a rocket motor, if you use the clumpyer fuel, it tends to cock the spindle
inside the tube when you are pressing up the motor. If you look down inside the motor when you
have it half pressed up, you can sometimes see your spindle isn't in the center of the grain where it
should be. This can bend your spindle if it gets severe. With the finer grained fuel, this doesn't
happen.
BLACK POWDER # 1
75
potassium nitrate
15
charcoal, ballmilled
15
charcoal, 36 40 mesh
5
charcoal, 80 mesh
10
sulfur
5
dextrin, water & alcohol
Delay and tail for rockets
A good delay for such a short distance would be to use willow or tigertail mix. The one I like to use
is:
WILLOW MIX
44
potassium nitrate
44
charcoal, ballmilled
6
sulfur
5
dextrin or 3 parts SGRS
water
You have to wet this and rice it and let it dry before using it. If you press a 3/8 inch column above
the spindle, this should give yo plenty of delay. If you use enough loading pressure on two
increments of this above the spindle, you won't need a clay bulkhead either. If your rockets have
pretty good zip, then press as much as you can get into the tube. For an even slower delay, you
could use chrisantemum of Mystery which is 50 parts ballmilled charcoal, 45 parts potassium
nitrate, and I always put at least 5 parts of sulfur into the mix, although it's not in the true formula,
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and then at least 3 parts SGRS or 6 parts dextrin. This mix also has to be riced and dried before
use. These are the main powders I use for my delays in all my black powder motors. To brighten
up the tail a bit, you could add an additional 8 parts 400 mesh atomized aluminum to each mix as
you are making it. This gives the tail a brighter hue or kind of increases the light output from the
charcoal.
I only use slow burning fuels above the spindle for my delays, and hardly ever use the same fuel
that the main core was pressed with. Using chrysantumum of mystery is my choice for this
particular type of rocket. It's a very slow burning, very fine spark tail that is very pretty and long
lasting, time wise, even if you don't put a heading on the rocket. When you add titanium to this fuel,
the charcoal tail is washed out and you get a long hanging, bright white, flowing tail that will form a
long, 300 foot long tail that forms a large arch in the sky. I found if the charcoal isn't ballmilled very
fine that's used in this mix, for some reason, the titanium won't ignite and burn with this long tail. In
fact, the rockets I took to the WWB didn't burn at all, they just went out when the fire hit this area in
the rocket. You could use willow or tiger tail mix to substitute for the chrysantumum of mystery mix,
but I prefer to use chrysantumum of mystery mix because it burns so slow. You only need a colum
of about 3/4 inch in a rocket to get around 5 seconds of burn time. And I use around 1-to 1-1/2''
colum in my rockets to get the effect I'm looking for.
Chrysanthemum of mystery Need more sulfur, if you dont use willow Charcoal
Silver maple makes good charcoal also. It gives a real nice tail and plenty of power also. I've found
that if used for chyrsanthemum of mystery and titanium tailed rockets where you get the real long,
bright tailed rockets, you have to add about 8 parts sulfur to the fuel or the titanium doesn't ignite.
Normally, when I used to make those long tailed rockets, I used willow charcoal and only used 3
parts sulfur with no problem. But when you use silver maple charcoal, add 8 parts sulfur.

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MAKING WHISTLE MIX

Whistle rocket fuels
WHISTLE MIX # 2
76
potassium perchlorate
23
sodium salicylate
1
iron(III)-oxid
2.5 vasoline (2.5 to 3)
lacquer thinner
WHISTLE MIX # 3
64
potassium perchlorate
32
sodium benzoate
1
iron(III)-oxid
5
vasoline
lacquer thinner
How to do ?
It takes me about 1/2 hour to weigh out and mix a 1000 grams batch of whistle mix. Once you have
the dry mix ready for the laquer thinner-vasoline mix to be added, it takes another 10 minutes to
mix in, then I'm ready to push it through the ricing screen. This takes about 10 minutes. After the
ricing is finished and the little piles of mix are spread out over the drying paper, it takes another
hour for it to dry in the sun. The total time from raw chemicals to finished whistle mix is around 11/2 hour, 2 at the most. I always start this process around 9 AM so I get the most from the suns
drying affects. I usually make 2, sometimes 3 batches at a time.
I do screen it through a gravy strainer, though, very carefully. The final mixing comes after I add
the thinner and vasoline. I use a 40 mesh screen for all my screening purposes. I don't use it for
screening benzoate or salicylate, though. For that, I use a 12 mesh screen only. After the chems
are screened and you are ready to add the vasoline, I melt the vasoline in an aliminum container,
add the lacquer thinner to the bowl of mix and knead the liquid into the mix. This only takes a few
minutes when using a pastry mixer like the wife uses to make pie crusts. I found that adding about
20 grams of liquid, lacquer thinner and vasoline mixed to about 100 grams of dry fuel is about the
right amount of liquid. If you need more, just add straight lacquer thinner. I find myself adding more
thinner as I do this because it drys out real fast. I like the way lacquer thinner evaporates out real
fast. If your mix is a little to wet with lacquer thinner, which is the way I always make it, the
kneading process is easier. I like it to be a little on the wet side at first so I can smear out the
granuales of benzoate or salicylate in the mix. As I do this, the mix becomes dryer and closer to
the screening texture I want. Mix it real good until you can't see anymore white particles of
benzoate in the mix after you are finished. When the mix has the right texture, I screen it through a
10 mesh screen and spread it out on a large sheet of craft paper to dry in the sun and its finished.
The best mix to screen has just the right amount of liquid so when you rice it through the screen, it
falls through the screen and spreads out very easy. If you add way too much lacquer thinner at first
and it's like a semi-liquid, just stirr it up in front of a fan with a fork a few minutes. This evaporates
the thinner real quick. and it's right back to a putty consistancy. After you made a few batches, you
get the feel for when its ready to rice. When to screen this stuff will take experience. The grain
should feel some what firm but not real hard. You can smash the grains pretty easy between you
fingers. If you let it sit in the AR sun for at least 1 hour, stir it around at least once during this time,
your mix will be as dried as oven baked. As far as screening the chems together in a dry form, this
operation is probably the most touchy. It takes a fair amount of pressure to generate enough heat
to start burning. The biggest factor in having this material go off unexpectedly as you are making it
is generating a static spark. This can happen anytime. Make sure you ground everything in your
work area, including yourself. I like the texture after screening and drying the mix. It doesn't stick to
anything and flows so easy. I would only use lacquer thinner as my solvent. And after it's riced and
spread out to dry, it's only a short time later that I can put it away securely and store it out of
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danger. All the fuels I make are dried outside in the sun. When dried completely, they go into there
respective container and locked up. I feel very uneasy if I know something is sitting out some
where drying and not protected from the elements. After you are finished, you have a very
pourable, easy to handle grainy mix which doesn't stick to anything. And that's based on my overall
experience for the past 44 years of making rockets.
Vasoline to reduce sensitivity
I would never make it without vasoline. It serves more than one purpose. First, it's a burn rate
regulater. Second, it protects the fuel from absorbing water from the air. Third, with this lubricant in
the mix, it presses much easier to a compact grain. And last, which is the most important of all, the
addition of vasoline decrease the sensitivity of the mix when pressing it into the casing. As many
rockets I've made in the past 17 years and never had an accident is proof of this. At least I can say
it does reduce the sensitivity. I do know it's safer to press pyrotechnic fuels if vasoline is present in
the mix.
When I first started making whistle rockets, I bound the fuel with NC lacquer. A tiny speck of this
fuel when rapped with a hammer on concrete or steel, it bangs just like a cap. I found that after
adding vasoline to the mix, without using NC lacquer, it's difficult to get it to bang. And the worst or
most sensitive mix I use is the strobe mix. It is a very sensitive mix to both shock and friction. Just
try this experiment on either surface and see for yourself. Once at a PGI convention while
presenting a seminar on the strobe rocket, I jammed the rammer onto the spindle while pressing
the strobe mix into the rocket. And I had just finished describing how to remove a rammer if you
inadverdantly allowed this to happen. What shocked me most was what I had just done, and
secondly, the tremendously high friction that was imposed on the rammer-spindle contact area. No
explosion. I think God had his Powers working there. Then I had the opportunity to show people
how to remove a jammed rammer.
WHISTLE RIPPING SOUND
When I used the higher percentage of vasoline in any of the mixes used for the whistles, benzoate
or salicylate, the sound was always more raucous. During the convention at Fargo in 1993 I
believe, I used a 3-1/4'' long spindle with a 1'' diameter rocker, and using benzoate with a ratio of
64-32-1-5 mix, these rockets had a sound you could not believe. And, of course, I was using
Swedish perchlorate. I simply don't beleive this sound can be reproduced without a good grade
perchlorate.
Catalyst
You could also use copperoxichloride for the catalyst instead of iron oxide which will improve the
burn rate of the fuel and make it hotter. You will be surprised how this catalyst improves the
performance of benzoate whistle mix. I've only made a few thousand whistle rockets in the past 15
years so I know what I'm talking about.
Titanium dioxide use as a catalyst in whistle mix actually slows down the burn rate as compared to
iron oxide or copperoxichloride. The only use I found for this catalyst is when I make long winded
screamer rockets and use it mixed in the sodium benzoate fuel as the catalyst. It works quite well
in this capacity.
If you want to try making your benzoate mix burn hotter, try using copperoxichloride for the catalist.
It will also make the salicylate mix burn hotter also. I asume you are using iron oxide right now. I
found when using this catalist with either mix, you get a hotter or faster burning mix. It seems to
work better with the benzoate than with the salicylate or just affect the benzoate mix more.
Difference between salyclate and benzoate whistle
Salyclate whistle used in rocket fuel is the best for power. Benzoate whistle has it's uses in rocket
fuel also, but not if you are making a rocket that you want to lift a heavy payload. You could use a
benzoate rocket to lift a heavy payload, but the dimensions would have to be larger than the
salyclate rocket.

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Salicylate burns faster than benzoate no matter what ratio you mix it or what catalist you use. For
end burn configuration, I've found salicylate to be the loudest. For core burn configuration, the
main difference between the two is the raspyness is greater with the benzoate.
I can only say that if you make a rocket using the same tooling and use benzoate whistle in one
and salicylate in the other mixed to the same ratio, with no heading, the salicylate rocket will go
almost twice as high as the benzoate rocket.
You can increase the altitude of the rocket by increasing the increments of salicylate one at a time
until the rocket blows. Then back off one and that is the max amount of salicylate mix you can
press into the rocket before switching to the benzoate mix.
Others
No whistle on take off is a sign of using a poor grade of potassium perchlorate.
Increment size for a 2 lb. LWS should be about 10-12 grams, no bigger.
Testing 4lb. whistle rockets could be a problem because they make so much noise. You can hear
them 3-4 miles away.

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HYBRID ROCKET USING THE UNIVERSAL HYBRID SPINDLE

Introduction
Since I first came up with this rocket, I've expanded this spindle to make 4 different motors with it
and now call it my new universal spindle. Five different rockets can be made using the universal
hybrid spindle.
1. Black powder motor
2. Strobe rocket
3. Long winded screamer
4. Hybrid motor
5. Colored tail rocket
So with this one spindle you can make kick-ass rocket motors. The black powder and hybrid motor
are the only two that use a nozzle. I use no clay choke above the fuel in my motors except in
hybrid motors when lifting heavy payloads because a short delay is built into the rocket which
needs added strength to withstand blow through. This rocket is a high performance rocket motor
when made in all the different types. You won't be able to hand ram any of these motors if you
decide to make them so I hope you have a means to press them. The number # 1 hybrid mix
doesn't give a tail to the rocket when fired. So to get a tail, this is where I use the # 2 hybrid fuel.
Hybrid # 1 Mix
The hybrid tooling is designed to use hybrid fuel and a slower burning black powder fuel above the
hybrid fuel. First, there is a clay nozzel, then 4 - 7 increments of the hybrid fuel is pressed in, then
the rocket is finished with black powder to 1 increment above the spindle, then as blukhead any
fuel can be pressed into the motor to give a colored tail or whatever you want it to look like as it's
returning to earth. The maximum number of hybrid increments used in the rocket before they blow
up is 7. You can make this motor any power you want up to power level 7. All of the rockets I have
designed around that spindle are on the red line already which means if you change any of the
increment numbers, you might have a cato with your rockets. This can all vary with the way you
make your whistle fuel also. Even using iron oxide or copper oxichloride for the catalist makes a
noticeable difference in the performance of the rocket. You must use a rocket tool designed to
make these rockets. The loading pressure I use is 8500-9000 psi. The fuel I use in the motors can
be used in all the sizes of the different size motors. So once you make up the fuel, you can make
any size rocket that you may have.
HYBRID # 1 MIX:
The hybrid #1 fuel I use in these rockets is made using:
76
23
1
2.5
10

potassium perchlorate
sodium salicylate
iron(III)-oxid
vasoline (2.5 bis 3)
charcoal, ballmilled to a very fine powder
lacquer thinner

The hybrid fuel is the whistle mix with added charcoal, 10 parts, and its ballmilled very fine. Use
ballmilled charcoal, not just airfloat. After all the ingredients are sieved through a 40 mesh screen,
then add the charcoal to the rest of the mix and screen through a gravy strainer. Then melt the
vasoline and add lacquer thinner, approximately 20 grams to a 100 grams of fuel. Mix this through
out the fuel until you have a very damp mix and then force it through a window screen and spread
it out to dry.

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Black powder # 7 mix:

60 potassium nitrate
30 charcoal, ballmilled
10 sulfur
5 dextrin, water & alcohol
The black powder used is riced with water and alcohol.
Hybrid # 2 Mix
I now have another fuel that can be used in place ot the hybrid fuel. With this method, you do
combine the two fuels together and use this as the only fuel in the rocket. With this method, the
rocket truly looks like a black powder rocket but it isn't and it has kick ass power like the original
hybrid #1.
HYBRID MIX # 2
60 %
76
23
1
2.5

Whistle mix # 2
potassium perchlorate
sodium salicylate
iron(III)-oxid
vasoline (2.5 bis 3)
lacquer thinner

40 %
75
15
15
10
2.5

Black powder mix # 1

potassium nitratet
charcoal, ballmilled
charcoal, 40 - 36 mesh
sulfur
soluble gluttinus rich starch, water & alcohol

100 %

total

First you make a batch of straight whistle mix. Then you make a batch of black powder. These two
mixes are made up seperately and then blended together. I don't use 5 parts dextrin anymore. I
use soluable gluttinus rich starch and use only 2.5 parts. Make sure you ballmill one of the 15 parts
of charcoal and get it real fine. I usually ballmill mine for 12 hours overnight. The 36-40 mesh
charcoal gives the rocket a nice tail. The black powder has to be riced with water an alcohol and
then dried. By ricing the fuel, you mix in the water and alcohol to wet the black powder and then
force it through 20 mesh screen, spread it out and let it dry. You do the same with the whistle mix,
only you are adding lacquer thinner and dissolved vasoline to the whistle mix. Then screen it with
the same mesh size screen, spread it out and let it dry good. The whistle mix is usually pretty soft
once it is completely dry, so I put this through the screen also.
After these mixes are made up, I always run them through a gravy strainer one more time after
they are dried to get them pretty fine. What I have been doing with my black powder is to get it
pretty wet in the first stage of ricing it. Then I spread it out and dry it for about 25 minutes in the sun
and before it is very dry, I rice it one more time before it gets to hard. This makes a nice grain for
blending it into the whistle mix. Then you blend them together at a rate 60 % whistle mix and 40 %
black powder by weight. You want a good blend without too many big chunks of either fuel in the
mixed blend for better results. Press this blended fuel all the way to the top of the spindle with one
extra increment above the spindle, then decide what you want for a tail and press that in. I believe
this fuel can be made to be as powerful as the original hybrid fuel. Using the blend method of the
two fuels together is the only way to get a good tail using whistle mix. I've tried adding charcoal to
whistle mix alone and it just wouldn't burn with a tail.
To regulate the power of the hybrid rocket change the number of increments of hybrid fuel or
change the intensity of the whistle mix. You get a weaker mix if you use sodium benzoate as the
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Universal Hybrid Rocket Tool

fuel as compared to sodium salicylate. Salicylate out performs benzoate if mixed to the same ratio.
You also can regulate the power of this fuel by adding more or less black powder. Change the
black powder content to 60 % instead of 40 % and get more tail and less thrust. You can play with
this ratio until you get your motors to cato if you are using a good grade of perchlorate to make
your whistle mix.
Flight Preformance of the Hybrid Rocket
These rockets can lift very heavy payloads. At the convention in Wi. in 2001 I lifted a 6'' diameter
ballshell with a 1'' motor to a good height. Remember, the rocket loaded to power level 3 had
49.8 lbs. of thrust. With a well made, version of the hybrid rocket, you can push a 4'' ball shell
higher than what it should go. So to tweek the rocket, use only as many increments of the hybrid
fuel in the rocket that you need to lift it to a proper height. And anyone who has seen my rockets fly
with just a salute heading on them, I always let them come back down a 1000 feet or more so
when they finally go off, you can still hear them.
Hybrid rocket tooling dimensions
I use a 950 series bronze to make my rocket spindles. First, the spindle is 20% shorter than a
standard black powder spindle. The nozzel diameter is larger than the standard black powder
spindle. For example, a 3/4'' or one lb. rocket motor, the diameter. of the base of the spindle is
0.430 and the length is 4.2 '' long. Scale this up or down to get other size spindles. The base has
the 30 degree taper which is typical of a black powder spindle and this dimension is included in
4.30 inch length. The taper on the spindle is 1-1/2 degrees. The tool set also needs 3 rammers
with holes and 1 solid rammer. The black powder motor you build with this spindle will be as good
as any black powder rocket you can make.

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Universal Hybrid Rocket Tool

3/4 WHISTLE ASSISTED COLORED TAILED ROCKET

Whistle rocket fuels
WHISTLE MIX # 2
76
potassium perchlorate
23
sodium salicylate
1
iron(III)-oxid
2.5 vasoline (2.5 to 3)
lacquer thinner
Making whistle assisted colored tailed rocket
There is no nozzle used in this rocket. For the colored tail rocket, press in three increments of #2
whistle mix, then press the color of your choice to about 1 inch above the spindle. Most colored
fuels burn not too fast so 1 inch above the spindle is a starting point. Vary the amount above the
spindle to get the required delay. If the colored fuel burns real slow, just add and extra increment of
whistle to the rocket before starting the colored fuel.
If using the hybrid spindle to make these rockets, without a nozzle, press in three increments of the
fastest whistle mix you can make, using sodium salycilate. This will take up about one inch of the
spindle length. (size rocket: 3 increments = 1 inch). Use only 7 grams for each increment in a
size rocket. Total 21 grams of whistle mix, then finish with black powder or use a colored fuel for a
colored tailed rocket, like the magnesium red, Steinberg formula to about above the spindle.
Loading pressure on these rockets is around 8500 psi. These will be kick ass rockets because of
the long spindle, but you don't need to use this long of a spindle to make red tailed rockets. These
things take off so fast, you don't even know that the first few increments pressed into them is
whistle mix. This is what gives the rocket it's boost on takeoff. And the red color is there at the
same time. You can even make a red tailed rocket using a shorter spindle such as the standard
whistle rocket spindle which is about 2-1/4 inch long by using the same technique, whistle and then
the red formula.
This is the formula I use for my red tailed rockets only I use -200 mesh magnesium and 5 parts
potassium dichromate. I then bind with NC and acetone. The parlon makes it pretty sticky when
ricing but this works good when used in all my rockets where you see a red tail. This formula was
the original chuffer formula that you gave in your post that Doc Steinberg used at my house back in
2001. He didn't use any potassium dichromate or acetone and NC lacquer. Shelf life on this is
pretty good also. The last batch I made is over 2 years old and still works good.
The hybrid tooing you have is perfect for what you want. Just take either the red or green
magnesium composition you have already, and start with 3 or 4 increments of the salyclate whistle
comp on the instruction sheet, then finish your rocket with either color comp. What you will have is
a very fast flying green or red rocket. Try it before you consider another spindle and see what you
decide. So the loading steps would be: press in 3 increments of whistle first, then press in the
remaining space in the rocket with the color comp. Once you have about 5/8 inch above the color
that you chose first, then you could use the other color above that so the change goes from red to
green or green to red. Or, make the increments 1/4 inch thick above the spindle and press in red,
green and back to red or just the opposite so you have a three color change.

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Universal Hybrid Rocket Tool

LONG WINDED SCREAMER ROCKET

Whistle rocket fuels
WHISTLE MIX # 2
76
potassium perchlorate
23
sodium salicylate
1
iron(III)-oxid
2.5 vasoline (2.5 to 3)
lacquer thinner
WHISTLE MIX # 3
64
potassium perchlorate
32
sodium benzoate
1
iron(III)-oxid
5
vasoline
lacquer thinner
Making Long Winded Screamer Rockets (LWS)
There is no nozzle used in this rocket. 4 increments of whistle mix #2. Then whistle mix #3 all the
way to the top of the rocket tube. Leave enough space to grab the motor with a vice grip to pull it
off the spindle after inserting the solid rammer into it. On the increments above the spindle, I
always add flake titanium in each scoop before I press it in.
Pressing Long Winded Screamer Rockets (LWS)
I have used loading pressures on LWS anywhere from 7000 to 9500 psi. If it works at 7500 psi,
don't use any more pressure. I've always used New England tubes so I know what kind of
pressures these tubes can take. Just remember when you start pressing the first few increments,
don't go up to the calculated pressure right away. Start at least 1000 psi less than what you finish
the rocket with. And as you press up the spindle, increase the pressure gradually until you reach
the calculated number. As you can see, on the first press, you are only pressing on the fuel around
the spindle so you aren't pressing on the full diameter of the tube. If you start right at 4'500 pounds
of force, the actual loading pressure will be around 11'130 psi. Don't worry about maxing out your
Pressure Force Gauge. It can take it.
I also found that using benzoate whistle that is used above the salycilate whistle mix in the LWS
rocket, if it is catalized using copper oxichloride, this will also cause a cato. So if making a LWS
rocket, use only iron oxide in the mix. Using copper oxichloride makes it burn to hot. When ever I
make these rockets, I always use at least 9000 psi loading pressure, and sometimes I accidently
bump it up to a lot more. And I've found that more is better than not enough. What I also do with a
finished rocket is to place the plastic bag into a ice cream bucket with a good fitting lid for extra
protectio
Better screaming
Using a good grade potassium perchlorate for whistle mix is the answer to very loud, screaming
rockets. I have used just about every kind of perchlorate there is available and found that the two
best potassium perchlorates to use are #1, Swedish potassium perchlorate and #2, Taiwanese.
These two potassium perchlorates give the best sound. Also, use copperoxichloride for the catalyst
instead of red iron oxide. I know Swedish is not available anymore and have starting using. The
longer the core into the fuel that is made, the louder the scream also. There is no need to recess
the fuel into the nozzel end. When using a good grade fuel, it will scream damn good without the
recess. I suspect the perchlorate you are using is a cheap, chinese grade and you never will get

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Universal Hybrid Rocket Tool

that stuff to whistle very loud. Make sure you know what type of perchlorate you are buying
because it has a most profound effect on the whistling character of the mix.
Flight time
There is only one straight whistle rocket, the Long winded Screemer on that sheet of instructions,
and if you don't do it exactly the way it says on the sheet, good luck. Just make sure you use a
long fuse on the rocket. There isn't to much latitude on making up that rocket, but when made with
properly made fuel, you will be amaized how well it flys. 15-18 second flights will be average before
the heading activates and the rocket will still be up a long way.

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Universal Hybrid Rocket Tool

ENDBURNING ROCKET
Making endburning rockets using hybrid mix # 2
I now use the # 2 hybrid fuel exclusively in my endburn motors. Making Estes motors has been a
lifetime passion of mine. I make a special spindle that looks similar to Estes nozzles. It is oil
hardened to stand up to the pressures that it takes to press these motors. Also, the first rammer is
made from aluminum with an insert of the same material that the spindle is made from. The
endburn spindles are not stainless steel. They are made from 4041 alloy steel and will rust in you
let them, so keep them oiled when not in use. I use 4140, alloy steel and oil harden each one
before I use it. You can't touch it with a file. I don't know what the hardness is, but I do know that it
is some where above 60 rockwell.
And I only use New England paper tubes to make these motors because they are the only kind that
will work consistantly. The fuel that can be used is straight black powder made to burn as fast as
possible. The other fuel that can be used is what I call # 2 hybrid fuel, which is a blend of whistle
and black powder. You need costly equipment to make them, meaning a good hydraulic press with
capabilities of measuring loading pressure.
Once the rocket has burned off 3/4 of it's fuel, then the speed gets pretty high if you don't have a
very heavy heading on it.
HYBRID MIX # 2
60 %
76
23
1
2.5

Whistle mix # 2
potassium perchlorate
sodium salicylate
iron(III)-oxid
vasoline (2.5 bis 3)
lacquer thinner

40 %
75
15
15
10
2.5

Black powder mix # 1

potassium nitratet
charcoal, ballmilled
charcoal, 40 - 36 mesh
sulfur
soluble gluttinus rich starch, water & alcohol

100 %

total

To increase the power of end burning rockets, add whistle mix (Hybrid #2)
The best way to increase the power of your black powder would be to add whistle mix to it instead
of making black powder using potassium perchlorate alone as the oxidiser. For maximum power in
an endburn motor with a good tail to boot, I use, what I call my Hybrid #2 fuel. What's nice about
using the Hybrid #2 fuel in endburners or the hybrid rocket, you can change the ratio of BP to
whistle mix and play with it to get any power you want. It doesn't matter what kind of perchlorate
you use with this, because you can vary the strength by varing the two ratios. Change the black
powder content to 60 % instead of 40 % and get more tail and less thrust. With this mix, I've won a
few trophys at the PGI in my endburn rockets. The fuel burns very fast and the extra course
charcoal gives off a nice tail. And the most important thing to do when making these rocket engines
is to use a sleeve on the tube and press them to at least 8000 psi or they will just blow apart. I use
around 9000-9500 psi. And the next most important thing is to use only New England, virgin kraft
tubes. You cannot make an endburn rocket longer than 2-1/2 to 3 inches if using cheap tubes
before you get a burn through in the sidewalls of the tube. If you don't have New England tubes,
then the whole task becomes real difficult and I wouldn't even try to make them. I found that the
burn rate for this fuel is about 1 inch per second or slightly less.

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Universal Hybrid Rocket Tool

The endburn rocket I won competition

The endburn rocket I won competition with was a 3/16 wall, I inch ID rocket made with New
England Papter Tubes (NEPT). It was pressed to 9000 psi. The fuel consisted of 50 % whistle mix
mixed to a ratio of 76-23-1-2.5 which is potassium perchlorate, sodium salicylate,
copperoxichloride and vasoline respectively. The other 50 % of the fuel was 75-15-15-10-2.5 black
powder that was wetted and riced and dried. The ratio was potassium nitrate, ballmilled charcoal,
36-40 mesh chaocoal, sulfur, and soluable glutenous rice starch respectively. The ratio of fuel was
measured by volumn, not weight. You can regulate the power of this fuel by varying the black
powder percentage in the mix. Only by making the two fuels seperately and then mixing together
after dried can you get the charcoal tail that this fuel gives to the rocket. You can regulate the
power output of the fuel and it give a nice tail. You could always increase the amount of salicylate
in the mix also to slow it down but I never did it this way. It won't be difficult to control the burn rate
because all you have to do is add more black powder to the mix, say a 60-40 ratio with the 60
being black powder. I like the power of whistle mix for endburners. They out perform black powder
for the obvious reason and don't require the high loading pressures the black powder does.
Endburning rocket made from commercial black powder
I have made endburn motors using straight black powder, using commercial made 3fg and 4fg but
the loading pressures to remove all the little grains into a solid mass goes up to about 15,000 psi. I
had to use a solid sleeve made from steel in order to do this. I have pressed some of the New
England tubes to a loading pressure of 30,000 psi without destroying the tube. Until I polished the
inside of the sleeve to a bright, mirror finish, I couldn't even push the tube out of the sleeve after it
was finished. By the way, the 30,000 psi loading pressures I did was on a .100 thick walled tube.
When there isn't much wall to crush, you don't have these problems with smashing down the tube.
Just use small increments as you press.
If I would have used meal powder instead of 3fg, You might be able to reduce the loading pressure
by a few thousand psi. If you use black powder only to make your rockets, you will have to wet it
and rice it, ''push it through a Screen'' and dry it. If you don't do this, the powder will burn much
slower than ''riced powder''. After ricing the powder, you have a nice flowable, dustless fuel that is
much easier to work with also. Ballmilling the fuel over night would improve the burn rate and get it
to burn as fast as possible. I also used willow charcoal but any charcoal will work. I was never
satisfied using straight BP to make my endburn rockets though. You get so much more power
when you add whistle mix to the BP.
Another way to use your whistle mix in an endburn configuration would be to add ballmilled
charcoal to you straight whistle mix. Start out by adding 5 parts to a 100 gram batch of whistle mix.
Add the charcoal right along with the other chemicals before you add the vasoline or whatever you
using. This is what I call my hybrid #1 mix which I use in a core burn rocket. The added charcoal
slows down the fuel just enough to prevent catoing. If the motor catoes, add 10 parts charcoal to
each 100 gram batch. Just keep adding charcoal until the rocket stops catoing. Remember to add
ballmilled charcoal, the finer the better.
New England Paper Tubes
I disected a New England Paper Tube (NEPT) and found there are 4 layers of paper glued
together. Then, these four layers are rolled together to form the tube. I would love to see just how
this operation is performed. This must be a trade secret because no other company in the USA
makes these kind of tubes. The best wall thickness to use is 1/8 inch walls. I can press a rocket 7
inches long without burn through. And use a good fitting sleeve on all your tubes.
Nozzle diameters for endburn rockets
To give you a heads up on nozzle diameters for endburn rockets, I use for a 1/2'' rocket a diameter
of .120 thousands. For a 5/8 dia. 0.140, a 3/4'' rocket 0.165, a 7/8'' dia. rocket 0.180 and the 1'' id
rocket at 0.220. I just made my first 4 LB. endburn and made it to 0.340 and tested the fuel I use in
all the other ones and it seemed to work pretty good. Have the first rammer tapered on the end to
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Universal Hybrid Rocket Tool

about 80 degress included angle or 40 degrees on a side and the exit part of you nozzel tapered to
30 degrees included angle or 15 degrees on a side. This angle is what Estes uses on the motors
they make. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me also.
Nozzle Erosion
What you could do to allow for the nozzle erosion as it burns farther up the grain, press a hotter
fuel into the motor. I've done this before on the longer motors that I've built. Since the nozzle is
slightly enlarged, it could use a faster fuel burn without a cato. Just a thought.

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Universal Hybrid Rocket Tool

STINGER MISSILE
Making stinger missile using hybrid mix # 2
What I use for fuel in these short spindled rockets is my hybrid #2 fuel. This fuel gives a nice tail
and very powerful and less likely to cato then straight whistle mix. Press a clay nozzle. Then use
the # 2 hybrid fuel all the way to the top of the spindle and then finish the rocket with anything you
want for a bulkhead. With the stinger tool set, you will be able to make a pretty powerful core
burning rocket also.
HYBRID MIX # 2
60 %
76
23
1
2.5

Whistle mix # 2
potassium perchlorate
sodium salicylate
iron(III)-oxid
vasoline (2.5 bis 3)
lacquer thinner

40 %
75
15
15
10
2.5

Black powder mix # 1

potassium nitratet
charcoal, ballmilled
charcoal, 40 - 36 mesh
sulfur
soluble gluttinus rich starch, water & alcohol

100 %

total

The main factor when using a stinger spindle is to make sure the side vent drilled into the side
goes through clay before it hits fuel. A special rammer make for the first increment of clay rammed
into the rocket should be made first with a longer than normal taper to accomplish this. With the
exhaust from the small hole going through clay first, erosion will be minimal.
Several factors determine how well your rocket will perform. First, an increment of fuel pressed into
the tube shouldn't be more than 2/3rds. the diameter of the tube. Second, the loading pressure
should be around 6500 psi. If they still blow after doing this, add an extra hole to bottom of the
rocket, exactly opposite the the first one. If they still blow, add another hole to the bottom of the
rocket and space them 120 degrees apart. I use two side vents in each motor and they really buzz
on take off. Very impressive little rockets. Start with 3/16 holes on each side and make them
smaller until you get a cato. Maybe you won't have to downsize the holes at all. These will be the
best sounding hummers you ever heard.
Making stinger missile using whistle mix #2
Also, this spindle would make a very powerful whistle rocket by using straight whistle all the way
up. There is no nozzle used in this rocket. It should work with a mix of 76-23-1-3 salycilate or
benzoate mix. If it blows, then use a 70-3-1-3 mix instead. They have to be pressed using 9000 psi
loading pressure. If using #2 hybrid, don't forget the nozzle.
WHISTLE MIX # 2
76
potassium perchlorate
23
sodium salicylate
1
iron(III)-oxid
2.5 vasoline (2.5 to 3)
lacquer thinner

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Universal Hybrid Rocket Tool

STROBE ROCKET
Making strobe rockets
There is no nozzle used in this rocket. Start with 4 increments of whistle mix #2 and then strobe
mix #4 to 1/8" above the spindle, then finish with 2 - 3 more increments of whistle mix #2 for a bulk
head.
WHISTLE MIX # 2
76
potassium perchlorate
23
sodium salicylate
1
iron(III)-oxid
2.5 vasoline (2.5 to 3)
lacquer thinner
STROBE MIX # 4
60
ammonium perchlorate
25
magnalium, 50-50, -200 mesh
15
barium sulfate
5
potassium dichromate
NC lacquer & acetone, about 10% mix of NC lacquer
Just make sure the increments for each press is not more than 3/4'' high after you press it into the
tube. The only thing that will cause either of these rockets to cato is too much salycilate whistle mix
pressed in first.
Preparing strobe mix
What I suggest you do is once you have all the chems to make your strobe mix, start with the
smallest batch you can make up and test it first for strobe rate while it's burning. You can make a
strobe rocket with any strobe rate that it burns with, but to make a good, keep climbing type of
rocket, the strobe rate should be pretty fast. You have to start some where so this is what I
suggest, and what I use for my strobe fuel: 60 AP, 25 magnalium, 200 mesh, 15 barium sulfate, 5
potassium dichromate. Wet with NC lacquer dilluted to 10% with acetone. It doesn't matter what %
you use, really. Mix it in good and get the mix pretty wet. Then rice it through a gravy strainer or
whatever you have available. While it is still wet, pinch a tiny pyramid of comp and set it aside to
dry for 15 minutes. What you want is a small pellet that is firm and solid to test. With a lighted
match, test how it takes fire and watch it burn and note the strobe pulse. To increase the strobe
pulse, you can do this two different ways. Reduce the mesh size of the magnalium or introduce
straight magnesium powder into the mix, keeping the metal content as 25 parts. I have found that
substituting 1-1/2 parts of magnesium into the mix increases the strobe rate. It will vary according
to the mesh size of the magnesium. I suggest using the finest magnesium you have. The 2 micron
atomized magnesium works good. I mostly used 400 mesh granular magnesium. If you go the
other way and change the mesh size of your magnalium alone, it will take some expermenting.
Just change the ratios of the mesh sizes you mix together. If you still have a slow strobe burn rate,
then I suggest you use and combine both methods together. By making small batches and testing
first, you won't have a whole bunch of almost usless strobe mix laying around. As for the
suggestion to substitute the barium sulfate with strontium sulfate, this is what I use to make my red
strobe mix with. The formula I use here is a slightly modified Simizu formula: 48 AP----22 atomized
magnesium-100-150 mesh----6 parts granular magnesium-400 mesh---19 strontium sulfate----5 P.
dichromate. Bind with NC lacquer and rice. I should mention that I use 90 micron AP in both mixes.
Any more questions and I'd be happy to ramble on.
NC Solution
I've used 25 % premade NCL and used up over a pound of smokeless powder to make my own
NCL. It doesn't matter what the concentration of NCL you use to make strobe mix for rockets. All I
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Universal Hybrid Rocket Tool

do is mix about 2 tablespoons of smokeless powder in a quart jar with acetone filled to 1/2 inch of
the top and let it dissolve for about 3 or 4 days. Shake it up every day until it's dissolved and then
use about 2 tablespoons of this mix added to a 6 ounce cup and dilute it within a 1/2 inch of the top
with acetone. Stir it up and it's ready to use. This is about enough to moisten a kilo of strobe mix. I
get it wet enough before I rice it and spread it out and dry. While I am mixing it in, if it doesn't get
wet enough, I add only acetone to the strobe mix. I've done it enough times and never measured it,
but I usually get it pretty wet with the acetone wetted NCL. It's like a syrup before I add the acetone
to the mix. I think I used about 3 tablespoons of smokeless powder once when I was making up a
batch in a quart jar and it was so thick, I poured half into another jar and added acetone to each jar
to fill it up. It still was heavy enough before dillution. The smokeless powder I used was a single
base powder also. Made sure that's what you use to make your NC lacquer.
Strobe rocket mix - strobe rate
If it still strobes to the ground then your strobe is burning way to slow and probably your whistle mix
is way to weak also. If you can't make your strobe mix strobe fast enough then your barium sulfate
is the culprate. This chemical is probably the most biggest reason people have problems with
they're strobe rockets. Get a different batch of barium sulfate or add the finest granular magnesium
you can find at about 2-3 parts per 100 gram batch and leave out the same number of grams of
magnalium. You have to have the right strobe rate to the mix or the rocket just doesn't fly high
enough. Also, if the whistle mix is fast enough, you lose height also.
Increase the strobe pulses per second
I also found that barium sulfate, when used in the strobe formula that I use for strobe rockets, can
be blamed for a slow strobing pulse rate if it is not pure. I have no way of testing barium sulfate for
purity because I am not a chemist but have narrowed it down to this chemical as causing all the
problems I have encountered with strobe mix. The strobe rate should be just right to make a good
strobe rocket but there are ways that I have found to tweek the mix if your barium sulfate is tainted
with impurities. I've always wondered where I could get pure barium sulfate to test my suspicion of
this chemical being the culprit of crappy strobe mix. And what I mean by crappy is that the strobe
rate is very slow when burned. The best way to increase the strobe pulses per second is to
substitute a few parts of very fine, granular magnesium in place of the magnalium in the mix.
Whenever someone asks me how to make strobe mix, I always tell them to make a tiny batch first
to test and see if you have good barium sulfate. Almost always, the mix has to be tweeked to get
the right strobe rate before it can be used in a strobe rocket.
Strobe rocket mix - sensitivity of formula
I don't think there is a more sensitive mix than strobe mix. When you test this stuff on a steel anvil
or on concrete both in friction and pounding on it, it scares me every time I do the test to show
someone how sensitive it is. Yet, I've never had an accident when making strobe rockets. Strobe
mix can explode, when two metals come in contact with each other with a small amount of fuel
between the metal. It won't happen every time because I've proved that. But I heard of one guy
that let his buddy press up a few strobe rockets and one of them blew in the process. What he did
was use the solid rammer to soon and pressed down onto the tip of the spindle. The guy got hurt
but not to serious. So remember that when you are pressing up rockets, don't let your
concentration wander. That's the biggest problem I find when pressing rockets for a few hours at a
time. And don't be in a hurry when pressing them either. Your thoughts cannot wonder during this
time.
Pressing strobe mix - Danger
Adding titanium to a whistle mix just makes it more sensitive when pressing. I know of one incident
where, while pressing a small comet using strobe mix, the operater let the comet sit under
pressure for a few moments. He turned away and took a few steps and it went off. Since then, I
never let the pressure sit on any kind of mix I'm pressing. I've always told anybody that presses
whistle mix, don't let the pressure well on the mix. Release it immediately. Although I never press
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Universal Hybrid Rocket Tool

whistle rockets with titanium in the core, I do use it in the delay portion of the rocket. In the tens of
thousands of whistle rockets that have been pressed in the past without incident, it proves it can
happen. I still think the titanium played a big part in your mishap, but we will never really know for
sure.
Store strobe rockets
Why did they blow up. That's a good question. Probably the most important factor in making these
rockets work in the first place is loading pressure. Second, was the fuel completely dry when they
were pressed up ? Third, were they kept dry since they were pressed ? Storing these kind of
rockets, ones with whistle mix and strobe fuel for more than a few months, in an environment
where the temps are up and down affects the performance of these rockets. If the rockets were
stored in a air tight containers, and the fuel wasn't completely dry when pressed, good luck. There
are a whole bunch of things to consider if you plan on storing these kind of rockets motors for any
length of time. Even if the tubes you were using had be exposed to a lot of humidity before they
were pressed can affect a stored rocket motor. It all boils down to moisture. Whistle fuels and
strobe mix don't like moisture. If you can keep this out of the picture, then a lot of problems would
be solved.
What I suggest you do is press up a few using at least 8500 psi loading pressure and then place
them in a double plastic bag with a dessicant bag also, and let them sit for a few months. Just
make sure the fuel is absolutely dry. Then test fire one right after you press it to make sure you
haven't screwed something else up.

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PRESSING ROCKETS
Hose clamps on sleeve
Over the past 16 years, I gotten used to using PVC split sleeves. It takes me around 2 hours to
make a sleeve from PVC to fit the 1-1/4'' new england tube sold by Jim B. You have to start with 2''
PVC and get it down to fit a 1-3/4'' tube. I prefer PVC sleeves, because they're just easier to make
and still work good, in my opinion.
First, get your sleeve to fit without being completely closed around the tube when the clamps are
on and tight. If you didn't have a gap in the sleeve, the tube would be loose in the sleeve, or slightly
not tight. Second, just make sure you support the sleeve with as many hose clamps as you can put
on it. A lot of people leave to much room between hose clamps, when they press rockets and this
leads to problems. Place them as close together as you can get them and right up to the top of the
rocket casing. When I'm using a long sleeve to make a rocket, I use a powered screw driver to
remove the clamps. The PVC sleeves work on all sizes and is easiest to make.
One thing that's important when removing the spindle from the motor, do this only after it's
removed from the sleeve. This allows the motor to relax slightly, and the spindle will come out
easier. Otherwise the sleeve has a tighter grip on the internal portion of the motor and after the
sleeve is removed, the spindle will be slightly relieved.
BP loading pressure
A rule of thumb that I use for loading pressure is 6500 psi. If you use this pressure on all your
rockets, the burn rate of the black powder can be pretty fast. Whatever the ratio you are using right
now and your rockets are working good, increase the Nitrate content by 5% increments and stop
when your rockets begin to blow up. Then use the last mix you made where they worked. You will
be suprized by the increase in performance of you rockets by pressing them instead of pounding
them. By the way, my loading pressure that I use on any rocket I make is around 8500 psi.
You need less pressure force for the first increments
The first increment is pressed to a lot more loading pressure that what is calculated for the entire
diameter of the rocket tube. And with the increment being on the extreme end of the rocket, it
burns up pretty fast and never has really given me any problems.
Just remember when you start pressing the first few increments, don't go up to the calculated
pressure right away. Start at least 1000 psi less than what you finish the rocket with. And as you
press up the spindle, increase the pressure gradually until you reach the calculated number. As
you can see, on the first press, you are only pressing on the fuel around the spindle so you aren't
pressing on the full diameter of the tube. If you start right at 4'500 pounds of force, the actual
loading pressure will be around 11'130 psi.
Calculate the area of your spindle at the bottom and the top. Notice the difference and then
calculate what force change you would have to make to keep the loading pressure the same all the
way to the top of the spindle. If your spindle doesn't have much taper to begin with, just keep the
force the same all the way and don't worry about it. I use around 9000-10,000 psi on all my rockets
I press.
Pressure Force Gauge Converter
It's easy to confuse the two terms of pressure and force. Force is the actual weight that is put upon
the rammer, like putting a car on top of the rammer. Pressure is the amount of weight on a given
area. All gauges are calibrated in psi. And yes, the pressure force (PF) gauge has a piston inside
that is 1 square inch in area. So when a force is applied to it, it reads out in psi and since it's
applied to one square inch of area, it also reads out the actual force applied also. In order to
calculate loading pressure, you have to know the weight applied to the rammer. The pressure force
gauge tells you that right away. Divide the reading by the tube area to get loading pressure.
Example: The area of a inch tube is 0.442 square inches. Divide 2'873 pounds by 0.442 and
you get 6'500 psi. Divide 3'757 pounds by 0.442 and you get 8'500 psi. Harold Bentley was the first
to use this idea a few years ago.
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The tube wall stretches and the paper tears apart from high loading pressure.
I use only New England high quality tubes to make all my rockets motors. If you use a thick wall
tube made with a cheaper grade paper, then you really can't use a high loading pressure such as I
do. When using a high loading pressure with thick walled tubes, the tube wall can become
compressed outward and downward and what happenes then is the tube wall stretches and the
paper actually tears apart and the wall becomes very weak. This can happen with the more
expensive New England tubes also. Thats why I say 6500 psi should work good. Any pressure
higher on a thick walled tube could start to tear the paper fiber and weaken the tube.
On all my endburner rocket motors, I use a thin walled New England tube with only a 1/8 inch wall.
These motors are pressed to 9000 psi and still maintain there wall integrity because there isn't so
much paper to compress. Of course, the internal pressure isn't present during firing as you would
have in a core burner.
The wall thickness on my tubes that I use to make hybrid motors are 3/16 inch but I still press them
to 8500 psi. Press up a motor using 8500 on a thick walled tube and then cut it apart and tell me
what you found. There will be tear lines going up the tube that will be at least one half or three
quarters deep in the wall of the tube. And you wonder why the rocket blows when you fire it. There
isn't any tube wall left to support the internal pressue generated. So I suggest using a good grade
tube to start with.
Increments
An increment, after it's pressed into the rocket, shouldn't take up more than 2/3rds the diameter of
the tube itself. As long as the increment doesn't take up more than 2/3 the diameter of the tube
your are pressing, this is just about right. My increments are probably closer than 1/2 the diameter
of the tube. Small increments are better that larger ones.
With a tool set, 7 grams is about maximum for an increment. This is about one scoop, or one
slightly rounded teaspoon. And in a 1/2" endburner is about a level 1/2 teaspoon. That's probably
around 4 grams.
The old tale of an increment should be equal to the diameter of the tube just won't work on the
more powerful, high energy fuels being used today, including black powder. I don't think rockets
were pressed, using a hydraulic press when that statement was rule of thumb. A modern day black
powder rocket out performs the old black powder rockets that were made by pounding years ago.
Buy the way, the black powder rockets I press today are pressed to 8500 psi without any problems.
To large Increments
To large of an increment will cause those rings around the tube. Also that's why the ram is sticking.
For some reason, when using the same amount of fuel for an increment, volume wise, black
powder will do this. You can hear the creaking or snaping sound as you press on the increment in
the higher pressure stage. This is your tube crushing downward and causing those lines in the
tube. Just use less of an increment for each press. You may still get some lines in the tube, but
don't worry to much about it. I would have also said your sleeve doesn't fit tight either. Use as
many clamps on the sleeve as you can get and as close as possible to each other. The reason you
didn't get those lines on your old tubes is because the cohesion of the paper in those cheaper
tubes gives more easily on the inside of the tube and doesn't extend to the outside, where you can
see it. I get those lines on most all of the rockets I make, but some are more visable than others.
Spacers to reduce travel of the hydraulic press
When ever I made a larger rocket using longer tooling, I place spacers under the tooling. I only use
1 inch of travel in my hydraulic press. I just insert or remove spacers under the tooling I'm using.
The farther you extend the ram on any kind of hydraulic device, the more wobbly it becomes and
introduces an unstable condition. Figure out a way to place spacers under you tooling to raise and
lower the height of your pressing needs. I have a bunch on 1/2 inch thick plastic pucks, some
thicker, that I machined flat and use those under my tooling. I also have some pieces of steel pipe
about 3 and 8 inches long, with a plate on top to set the pucks onto for large distance changes.
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When pressing small endburners, I use the 8 inch pipe spacer and a plate on top with a bunch of
1/2 inch spacers on top of that and remove the 1/2'' spacers as I press up the motor. All these
spacers have to be perfectly square, including the pipe. I machined them in a lathe to make sure.
And last, if your press isn't perfectly square with what you are pressing, with all the spacers in
place, it's junk. So just make sure everthing is square and very rigid. If you get any sideways
flexing, fix so it doesn't do this.
Misalignment in the press
Any misalignment in the press will bending your spindle. But why: When pressing with a long
spindle, you will note as your pressing progresses up the spindle, that your spindle is no longer in
the center of the tube when you look down into the tube. That's caused by not pressing evenly.
And if the comp isn't perfectly level before you press the increment, this will only amplify the
problem as you press up the spindle. Woody had this problem at the convention this year and I
showed him how to correct this problem. Take a skinny dowel or a welding rod long enough to
reach to the bottom of the increment just dropped into the tube and swirl it around until you level it
off before pressing. Do this with each increment until you can visually see each increment that you
put in, and note each increment to see if it is level before pressing.
On the bent spindle, make sure the hole in the rammer is clean also. If composition was filling up
the hole, then you are pressing against a dead head inside the rammer. It is absolutly imperative
not to allow fuel to become built up on the inside of your rammers. This is a problem that can lead
to bad consequences. Always look into the rammers before each use and check to see if any fuel
is built up inside. This reduces the size of the hole and it will jam on the spindle before it reaches
the line scribed on the rammer. At least I hope there is some kind of marker on the rammer to
show where this will happen. At least, put a piece of tape on the rammer to show the jam line. After
you are finished with each rammer, clean it out before setting it down and going to the next
rammer. I use a jackknife to scrape out any build up of comp inside my rammers with a very gentle
motion, trying not to scrape any metal out. My rammers last forever. After 10 rockets, I put my
rammers in my lathe and polish out the bores with Mother's Mag-Aluminum polish to a bright, shiny
finish. This keeps the comp from sticking tight to the rammer for awhile. What you could do is get a
small dowel or drill bit and wrap tissue around it and put a dab of polishing cream on it and run it
inside the bore to clean it up. Use a hand drill to spin the dowel.
Remove an jammed rammer
I once had to remove a jammed rammer from one of my new customers spindle. What I do is cut
off the tube and remove all the fuel from around the spindle. Then I place the base in a vice and try
removing the rammer by any means first. If it won't move, I then heat around the rammer with a
propane torch to expand the aluminum. After a few seconds of heating, bang! The rammer flew off
the spindle and hit me in the hand. That tells me there was comp inside the rammer. I learned my
lesson also. I don't know if the rammer was close to the jam line on the rammer or not but there
was fuel composition inside the rammer. Don't let this happen to your rammers.
Make sure everthing is removed from the tooling and you just have the bare tooling with the stuck
rammer sitting on the spindle. Place the base of the tooling in a vise and tighten is up so it can't
move horizontaly. Take a vise grip pliers and snap it onto the rammer near the end of the rammer.
Then take a propane torch and heat up around the entire circumference of the rammer with out
getting any heat on the spindle for about 6 or seven seconds. Don't stand in front of the rammer,
the direction it is going to come off the spindle. You might have a little comp inside the rammer that
will ignite when you heat it and it will come off the spindle very quick. After heating it, twist and pull
on the vice grip to loosen the grip of the rammer. If it doesn't move at first, heat it some more and
give it another try. It should come off after heating it up and expanding the rammer slightly. If it
doesn't come off, cool the entire set up in a cold pail of water and try again. You may have to get
aggressive on the vice grip this time. This method has worked for me ever time.

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ROCKET ENGINE CASINGS

Motor casings soaked in wood hardner
I've soaked some of my 3/4 inch NPT motor casings in wood hardner. It really seems to increase
the wall strength of the tube. What I was interested in doing was to make the ends of the tube itself
stronger. That way, an epoxy used to glue in the bulk head would hold better. With a paper tube,
the only holding strength you have is only as deep as the next layer of paper and glue. By using
the wood hardener, and soaking the tube for an hour, the hardener would soak deep into the paper
and make it one solid thickness. This is what you need to make a composite motor, one solid
chunk of tubing. This would also hold the nozzel intact.
Tube loading pressure test
Don't let wall thickness of a tube gives you a lot of strength to the tube. It does if you are hand
ramming a tube but when you begin to press rockets, wall thickness doesn't mean poop. Why do
you think Estes model rockets are made from such thin tubes ? The wall thickness on the D
engines is only 0.100 thick. These motors are pressed to at least 15'000 psi or maybe more. What
happenes to the wall of the tube when subject to that kind of pressure ? It compresses down and
outward or gets thinner. What happenes to a thick walled tube if you squeeze it down with 15'000
psi. It does the same thing but more so because the wall is so thick because of all the paper. What
happenes then ? The wall actually stretches so much outward and downward, the paper tears itself
and leaves you with a breeched tube. You can't see it from the outside but if you cut open the tube,
you will find tears along the walls going up the tube. Now the wall is only 1/16 inch thick that isn't
broken. What's left is a 1/4 inch walled tube with probably a wall thickness of 3/16 left and it's split
more than half way through. If you don't believe me, I have proof of this. Even a good NEPT will do
this if too much loading pressure is used. These two operations of making rockets by pressing or
pounding will vary the result, depending on the condition or type of tube you are using. You can
only make an endburner from NEPT tubes more than 5'' long before it burns through the side wall
of the tube. I know some guys make them longer for drivers on wheels and girandolas, but they
wouldn't fly by themselves and go 4000 ft. high. I'm talking about high power rockets that use a fast
burning fuel and that need at least 8000 psi loading pressure. And the whole idea here is pressing
the motors using thick walled tubes and using high loading pressures. It just can't be done using a
cheaper, thick walled tube.
A good, strong, hard wound tube with a thin wall is better than a thick walled, softer wound
tube
A good, strong, hard wound tube with a thin wall is better than a thick walled, softer wound tube for
making rockets or any other kind of device that requires pounding or pressing of the composition
into it. The simple reason for this is because of the wall thickness of a tube will determine how
much it will distort during the pounding or compressing that you give it. It also depends on the type
of paper the tube is made from. I've seen some pretty good tubes made from a good grade kraft
paper and some tubes made from a thick paper board with thick walls that weren't worth for
making rockets. And since I believe in using extreme forces to press rockets, the wall thickness is
very important in determining the strength of the finished product. What really determines the
quality of a rocket is what type of tube you make if from. That's why I use New England paper
tubes made with virgin kraft with walls no thicker than 3/16 inches. The end burn rockets I make
have a 1/8'' thick wall and the heavyer tubes have a 3/16'' wall. If the wall thickness is greater than
3/16'', the paper will compress and stretch more than a thinner tube because there is just more
there to do so. Because of this, each type tube has a certain amount of pressure that can be
applied to it before this becomes detramental to the strength of the tube. Once this pressure
becomes enough to start stretching and tearing the fibers of the tube, then the strength of the tube
is lost. Imagine a tube inside a sleeve, being pressed with a composition. If the tube has a thick
wall, at a certain pressure, the paper starts to compress downward and outward. And what
happenes at this point, the tube starts to tear the paper fibers and the strength is lost. Take the
same tube made with the same paper with only 1/2 the wall thickness. Using the same pressure
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exerted on the tube, there is less volume of paper to be compressed or to give when pressed. The
affect on the walls of the tube is not as severe as it was with the thicker walled tube. The damage
to the tube walls is less. Every tube has a certain amount of pressure that can be exerted to it
before this damage occurs. And this damage will occur sooner to a thick wall tube than a thin wall
tube. I do use rocket tubes other than New England tubes but for purposes where the strength is
not so important. I've made some pretty impressive long winded screamer rockets using a thin
walled, and cheap tube in my opinion from Impulse Reactions. I also made a hybrid rocket using a
thin walled, grey type of paper tube and it worked very good. If I would attempt to make the hybrid
rocket with a thick walled tube of the same paper quality, I don't think it would work. I now have
New England tube in every size up to 1-1/4 inch and as small as 1/2'' diameter. I'm sold on these
tubes and use them exclusively.
A thick walled tube isn't required when using the New England tube
A thick walled tube isn't required when using the New England tube. The 3/4 inch version tube
offered by Jim B. at only 1/8 inch wall will work for an endburner made to 7'' long without burn
through. I also have 7/8'' tubes in 1/8 wall thickness that I have made 7-1/2 inch long endburners
and no burn through. I press these in a solid sleeve and use 6860 lbs. of force or 11,433 psi. and
they still don't burn through. I would say you could have a wall thickness of 3/16 using the 6 lb.
rocket tube and make this work without any burn through. The percieved thought that thicker is
better but that is simply not the case. The thicker the wall, the more paper there is to give under
high pressure. And this is where the destruction begins in a rocket tube. Using a thick walled tube,
especially one of those cheaper tubes, the more you compress, the more it stretches and tears the
fibers of the wall and the weaker it becomes. I have over pressed the 3/16 walled tube also. I
simply used to much loading pressure on the rocket and for some reason I cut it open and found
fractures running up and down the tube that were about 1-1/2 inches long and went half way
through the wall thickness but could not be seen on the outside. One of the most important items to
prevent the tube from expanding while pressing is to use an extremely close fitting, unforgiving
sleeve that won't give under compression. If using a plastic sleeve, this has compressability or give
to the walls. Since this is the easiest material to use, I use it. But with my solid sleeves, they are
made from solid steel and don't give one bit. I hope you see the concept. Rich Wolter makes
sleeves out of aluminum that close onto the tube being pressed. These work probably the best of
all of any sleeve I've seen. There is no way the outside of the tube can expand beyond the OD. of
the tube as it's being pressed. Of course, the OD. expands once you take it out of the sleeve. This
is understandable. The tube bulges slightly more than the original dimensions, but not while it's
inside the sleeve. Once I press out the finished rocket from one of my solid sleeves, there is no
way I could get it back inside the sleeve. I have this theory, which I call the relaxation theory. Once
this tube is taken out of the sleeve, you can fire the rocket and it will work perfect. Let this rocket sit
for 24 hours and fire it, it will explode. Why ? First, the tube hasn't relaxed to nutralize the
pressures exerted onto it. During this period of relaxation, the grains must crack and change
internally and this is what causes it to explode 24 hours later after it's made. Also, if this rocket was
pressed with fuel that puts it on the red line in the first place, the event of catoing will happen also.
Firing this rocket right after it's made, these events haven't had time to present itself. I once made
3 rockets and fired them right after I made then and they all worked perfect. So, I made up ten
more to bring to a shoot a week later. Every one blew up on launch. Another possibility is the fibers
in the tube are slowly opening up and tearing open at a very slow rate. The tube finally stops this
self destruction after a few hours but by this time, it's to far gone to work any more and it will cato.
So using to much pressure to press your rockets can do damage also, especially with thick walled
tubes. So, this is my theory.

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OTHERS
N.C. laquer
For the past 16 years I've been using mostly homemade NC laquer made from single base
smokeless powder and used it in many of my different mixes. I experimented and used it to bind a
lot of different mixes that I use in my rockets. I even used it to bind black powder and thought it
would give more power output just because it was in the fuel. Can't really say it did what I
expected. I use it to bind the intensely bright red formula used for the red tailed rockets. And I first
used it to bind strobe mix. To use double based smokeless powder could be dangerous. I guess
there hasn't been much experimenting with double based smokeless powder. I find that using NC
lacquer to bind a lot of different mixes is a lot faster then using water and alcohol for drying
purposes and most all these mixes I use are for delay trains in my rockets for colored tails.
Mineral Oil in BP Rockets will reduce the thrust sinificantly
To be honest, I have never added oil to black powder to slow it down. Why? There is an easier way
to slow the burn rate of black powder without adding anything else to the powder. Just use
unballmilled fuel or change the ratio of ingredients. For every 1% oil you add to the fuel, you
reduce the amount of thrust about 12%. How do I know this? Our Friend Nicolas Guerin ran a
thrust test on end burn motors and added from 1 to 4% minerial oil to ballmilled black powder. On
each rocket engine tested, the thrust was reduced by approximately 12% on each engine as the oil
was increased. If this happens with endburn motors, the same will happen with core burners. So to
slow the fuel down, try unballmilled fuel first. If they still blow, just change the fuel ratio until you get
one that works. By ricing the fuel with water and alcohol, and drying, this will hold down the dust
problem.
Make Charcoal From Shavings to Eliminate the Grinding Step
When making charcoal, use any wood that's been sawed up or shavings because this will
eliminate the grinding step involved. If using cut up pieces or chunks of wood to make charcoal,
then the next step is to grind it up into a finer mix, then into the ballmill or whatever. If using
sawdust to start with, you eliminate this step altogether.
Balsa wood to make Rocket Sticks
Balsa wood logs makes good charcoal and excellent rocket sticks, nice and light and straight. I
made 5/16 inch sticks 36 inches long out of a small piece after it was dry and got about 80 perfect
sticks out of it.
Sticks for Rockets
Length and thickness of rockets sticks:
1/2'' I.D.
3/4'' I.D.
1'' I.D.
1-1/4'' I.D.

20'' x 1/4''
32'' x 5/16''
38'' x 3/8''
60'' x 1/2''

As for sticks, I never balance mine. For 1/2 inch rockets, I never use any sticks longer than 30
inches. On my 3 lb. rockets with a 6 inch ball shell on top, my stick is about 5/8 inch square and 4
feet long and never had a problem yet. PS: You may get different numbers from somebody else. If
the numbers call for longer sticks, don't beleive them. Why waste lumber.
I have found the best wood to make sticks from is nice, straight grained cedar. Use only soft wood
like pine or spruce or cedar is my favorite, with NO knots in the wood. Any kind of softwood will
work. The lighter the wood, the better. You don't need a heavy wood to make sticks, as long as it
doesn't have any knots. Make sure you don't have any knots. That is a weak spot. Check each

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stick you've made and bend it slightly in all directions and check for a weak spot. If there is one, it
will break. Better to break in your hand that in the air 50 feet up.
End burn motors definately need a longer stick. Why, I don't know but I make them longer than the
ones I make for a regular rocket.
Fins for rockets
Just trying to build rocket motors that work was my intention 40 years ago. I started out in model
rocktry. Since then, I've kind of evolved towards pyro rockets but have mastered the model rocket
engine. Just to see them fly, I put a stick on them and let them fly. When you talk of stability in
flight, it amazes me the different paths that a rocket takes in it's upward journey. Out of maybe 10
rockets, maybe only two or three will fly straight and true. I know the rockets would fly much
straighter and more stable, when you put fins on the rocket. I have done this in the past, just to see
how they would fly. It really does improve the flight of the rocket. I make my own engines to lift my
model rockets, similar to the Estes motors that you can buy. The rocket always flys as straight as
an arrow. It would be really nice to have every rocket fly that true with a stick attached to it. No
more worries about where it's going to go. That ain't no fun either.
Fusing rockets
I fuse all my rockets right at the very beginning of the fuel train. With a rocket with a nozzle, just up
inside past the clay nozzel. If you can fuse your rockets farther up into the core and they don't blow
up, all this means is the fuel you are using is kind of weak or the spindle is pretty short. The longer
the spindle, the more power the rocket will have until you get to the maximum length that the core
can be made and then you start to cato.
I'm very specific on where to fuse all my rockets on the videos on my rockets and it's good to
question this step. Since all these rockets are on the verge or I've heard some one say on the red
line, it's very important to insert the primed fuse into the rockets that have nozzles, black powder
and the hybrid motor just far enough to touch the powder beyond the clay. Then insert a piece of
tissue balled up and press it into the nozzel hole far up enough to hold the fuse tight against the
powder train. For the LWS and the strobe rocket, the primed fuse is taped to the stick as close to
the bottom of the rocket as you can get with the prime blob just touching the fuel grain. That's all
there is to it. One more thing, when using chinese fuse, the kind that burns completly away, wrap
two layers of masking tape around the fuse first. Otherwise, as soon as the fuse burns past the
tape that is holding it onto the stick, it will fall away and fail to light the rocket. Not every time , but
this will happen just when you have five guys waiting to use the launch tube you are using. After
you have the tape on the fuse, then tape it on the same as you would the American visco which
this doesn't happen using this kind of fuse. The prime I use is to dip it into nc lacquer and then
some fine black powder like ground up lift powder or even whistle mix, but I always use 3fg slightly
ground up. Meal would work great.
Launching rockets
For a launch tube, use a 1 inch diameter piece of pvc pipe and take a steel rod about a foot long
and sharpen it on one end and duct tape this on one end of the pvc tube very firmly. Jab the point
of the steel rod into the ground to set your launch tube. Drop the stick into the tube and let the fuse
hang out over the edge of the pipe. Launch. Don't launch anymore rockets from a leaning saw
horse. Also, you angle of launch was too much on the rocket in you demo. I seldom ever worry
about about the wind. A good flying rocket will go rigth through a good wind.
Now take some gummed tape and roll a tube over a sample of your rocket tube. Use this tube to
make a heading tube and put some silver powder in it and, if you had some of my special endcaps,
glue one into the top of the heading tube first, then insert the banger fuel, put a little glue around
the heading tube on the inside, and slide it over the finished rocket motor. Put your stick on and
fuse the rocket and you are ready to go.

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Delay fuse
For the delayed fuse, get a piece of cotton rope about 3/8'' diameter, the kind that is used for
sashing and pull out the inner nylon section used to reinforce the rope. Make the piece about 3
inches long and then after the nylon is removed, slide the hollowed out end over the visco and pull
it tight to snug up the rope. You should have about 2-1/2 inches hanging from the visco. Fluff up
the rope and light it with a cigarette or cigar lighter that doesn't have much light. You probably have
at least 15 minutes before the visco lights and you can be sitting on your porch watching in saftey.
Staged rockets
I've only made 2 stage rockets and they go so high, you loose site of them, except at night. The
biggest concern when making these rockets is the delay between each stage. The delay in a
rocket is the portion of fuel that's left burning in the rocket after it stops producing thrust. In order to
keep the first stage from blowing through, a bulkhead has to be pressed into the rocket thick
enough to prevent this. And since the delay has to be short enough before the rocket starts to lean
over before it lights the upper stage, a clay plug has to be pressed into the motor to prevent blow
through. This clay plug has to have a passfire hole through which to transfer fire to the next stage.
This is where it can become tricky. From this passfire hole, you could put a loose layer of grainy
black powder or a piece of black match leading up into the next stage. If your upper stage rocket
uses a pretty strong fuel, you may get a cato at this point. If not, the fire will transfer to the next
stage. I only taped the stages together. And the staging rockets I made were using endburn
motors, not core burners. On an end burner motor, you don't even need a delay and fire tranfer is
easy because you don't even need a clay choke. To get more info on the staging of these motors,
I'd talk to the guys that did the three stage motors at the convention this year. I saw these rockets
and was quite impressed with they're performance. I wondered how they didn't blow from stage to
stage myself. They had to use a weaker fuel that what I use in my rockets.
What I do to attach a booster to another rocket is roll a tube right over the upper stage rocket
motor, using gummed tape. This tube is cut down to about 2 inches long and glued onto the lower
portion of the upper stage rocket and extends 1 inch below the bottom of the rocket motor. Then,
slide the booster inside the protruding 1 inch that extends below the upper stage. The fit is slightly
adjusted, using masking tape on the booster engine so it fits slightly firm. When you fasten the
stick onto the arrangement, tape only the upper stage to the stick and leave the booster hang. As
soon as the booster is finished burning, it will blow off the stick. There is some tuning of the booster
rocket motor though that you will have to so you don't have a long delay between stages. You want
a very short delay between the stages so what you have to do to the booster stage is use only
about enough delay above the spindle to to get the delay you need. And here is where the tuning
comes into play. A very short delay increment above the spindle will not prevent the rocket from
blowing through the top of the booster stage. So what you have to do is press enought fuel above
the spindle, then add a clay plug to get the extra holding strength that is required to prevent blow
through. Then you have to drill a passfire hole through the plug to get the next stage going. What I
do then is firmly press into the passfire hole a little whistle mix to transfer the fire to the upper
stage. I haven't made a whole lot of staged rockets but I'm sure Dan T. could give you his version
of staging. I kind of interested myself how the staging of whistle motors works that I've seen fly at a
few shoots I've been to. Because I make my motors on the ''Red Line'' most of the time, a blast of
fire going into the next stage would usually result in a cato of the upper stage. So I'm interested in
other methods also. I've mostly staged only endburn motors, and here I glue in a short, fast
burning fuse that I scavaged from a festival ball shell, cut it about 3/8 inch long, and drop in a blob
of NC lacquer into the nozzle end of the upper stage motor, then insert the fuse, and prime it with
some meal pwd. In an endburn motor, you don't need to press in any delay at all in the booster
engine. So as soon as the booster burns out, fire is right there to ignite the fuse going into the
upper stage. There is a slight delay but so short, you can't even see it happen because the rocket
is pretty high already. We can all wait until we hear from Dan and see what he does.
Nozzle
For nozzel material, you should have bought a supply of the cheapest cat litter you can find. The
fine granual type is what I use. Then, smash up some flower pots, the reddish collered type and
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Universal Hybrid Rocket Tool

screen it through a window mesh size screen and use whatever falls through the screen. I mix this
about 50-50 together and use this without any other additives to make my nozzels. Some times I
add powdered graphite to the mix also. This allows somewhat less friction between the granuales
when pressing. About a 15-20 to one amount. You can buy catlitter at about 100 times cheaper
than bentonite clay from any supplier and that's what cat litter is, bentonite clay. Just don't buy the
kind that has any perfumed mix added to it or all those little blue crystals.
When using graphite in the clay nozzel material, it acts like a lubricant and allows the clay-grog mix
to consolidate to a tight, compact nozzel easier than if it wasn't used in the first place. Use it in
place of oil or wax that's usually added to the clay. I never add oil or wax to my clay. I did find out
that removing the first rammer used to press in the clay nozzel into a rocket came out easier if
graphite was present in the clay.
I have run some simple tests using the type of clay I press into some of my rockets where graphite
is present in the mix and clay without it. By using around 3-4% graphite in the clay, the mixture
presses tighter and to a more compact plug than without the graphite. The same occurs with
whistle mix or any other type of fuel you compact into a casing whether pounding or pressing when
vasoling is added.
To light payload
If one launches a fast, high speed rocket without a heading to slow it down somewhat, it reaches a
speed that causes it to become very unstable because of the aerodynamics of the rocket.
Something isn't just right on the rocket and causes it to whip and go goofy and this is what breaks
off the stick also. This was a big concern at our shoots in the past where our rockets were going in
the opposite direction. The problem was happening with all long winded screamer, strobe and
hybrid rockets using a light payload, except with the black powder version rocket. It would only
happen if a light payload was used on the rocket, because with a light payload, the rockets would
shoot off the launch pad like a bullet and reach a speed that would affect the rocket. If a heavyer
payload is used on the rocket, this critical speed can not be achieved to cause this unbalanced
flight characteristic. Every rocket will have a different speed before this imbalance is reached. After
making many of these rockets myself, I know just about how heavy the payload should be to
prevent this eradic flight. Only when the rocket is made where the stick is in the slip stream of air
that can hit it, this will become a problem. A wide and big heading placed on a rocket usually
covers up the stick hanging out on one side anyway, so this won't affect the flight.
If you hold a rocket, with the stick pointing away from you and you sight down the rocket, what you
see is what the air acts against while it is in flight. What you see is the top of the rocket with the
square of the stick on one side. During flight, air acting on the area from the stick cause a breaking
action on one side of the rocket and in turn, the rocket would fly in that direction, if the air drag
becomes to great. The speed of the rocket determines how much this angle backwards will be and
the size of the cross section area of the flight stick. And it usually is opposite the direction in which
the rocket is pointed.
So to balance out the drag caused by the main flight stick, add a second stick with the same corss
sectional area 180 degrees opposite the flight stick. This second stick only has to be 3 inches long
with the same cross section area as the longer main flight stick. This extra stick placed opposite
the main flight stick is just there to balance out the drag caused by the main flight stick. This is the
method I have come up with to stabilize the light-headed, fast take off rocket by using the extra
stick. So if you make a super, fast take off rocket, put enough weight on the rocket heading or use
the extra stick on the lighter rockets.
I know this subject hasn't been discussed before but the problem never came up until the speed of
these rockets became so great. We had this problem last year at our club shoots and it was my
duty to find out why our rockets were not going where they were suppose to go. And this is the
solution to the problem so far, putting the extra stick on the rocket. It's a new problem but then we
have rockets like they never had 20 years ago either.
Any knots in a rocket stick will cause the rocket to fly as you described. Don't use lumber to make
your sticks if there are any knots present. I suggest you get some clear cedar and cut your sticks
from that.

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4" and 5" shell making

I don't make many shells but my 4'' and 6'' shells break with great precision. I don't even glue the
joints. What I use for break is H-3 on rice hulls to a ratio of about 10 to 1, using ballmilled willow
charcoal. Then I place about 1 rounded teaspoon of benzoate whistle in each half near the center
of each hemi before I close it up. Then I spike it in using 1'' wide strapping tape, with one complete
layer around the entire shell. I start with a stripe from the fuse to just beyond the bottom portion of
the shell. Once I have on 8 verticle strips, I put 1-1/4 layer around the joint horizontially. Then I fill
in the gaps vertically. This is for a 6 inch shell. Most of my shells are lauched on top of a rocket but
I have fired probably 15 shells from mortors and never had a failier. The only difference between
each shell is how they are fused. For the rocket launch, I just use a hand rolled tube going into the
center of the shell with black match up the the center and with the mortor launch shell, I use Jap
time fuse. It would be difficult to see any difference between my shells and a comercially built
paper shell. It took a while to tweak the break of these shells but this is how I make them. For a
little harder break, add slightly more whistle to each half. With the 4 inch shell, I use the same
spiking technique with slightly less whistle mix.
It may seem like I am using way too much H-3 but I weighed out the amount one time and used a
8-1 ratio and coated the rice hulls and found that the break was slightly weak. Having never
weighed out the amount before, I assume this 10-1 ratio is what I was using, because the rice hulls
didn't look as dark when I used the weighed out proportion. And the weighed out proportion was
rolled onto the rice hulls where the H-3 that had the better breaks was made using the method of
mixing wet hulls with the H-3 throwen into a plastic bowl with a cover and shaken up until I couldn't
see any rice hulls anymore. The next batch I make will be weighed out and rolled onto rice hulls
using a 10-1 ratio to see if this isn't closer to what I had before I weighed out the mix.

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