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STRMan
02-10-2008, 08:51 PM
When I was young, my buddies and I used to have a piece of pipe that had an outside diameter of 18mm. We would roll our own rocket tubes with this pipe. We would start by wrapping the tube with paper, then use white glue cut in half with water to moisten the paper as we were rolling it onto the tube. We would just build it up until it seemed as thick as a store bought tube. Some tape would hold things together until the glue dried, and then we would have a new tube at our disposal. We could then trim the tube to whatever length we needed.

We would also cut off a small piece of a spent engine casing to make an engine block, or a larger piece of a spent engine casing to make a coupler.

Does anyone around here do stuff like this anymore, or am I just a dinosaur?

tbzep
02-10-2008, 09:02 PM
I don't, but P'rfesser Terry McCreary (the one that wrote the propellant book) has dabbled in it. He made some pretty decent tubes several years ago. I don't know if he still does it. That's the only first hand home rolled tubes i've seen.

Solomoriah
02-10-2008, 10:00 PM
I handrolled one 11" tube using two pieces of copier paper; it came out a bit wrinkled, and I could have sanded it smooth, but I was using a formerly candy-powder-filled carrot for the nose cone, so I left the wrinkles alone... came out sort of neat. I gave it to my daughter, and it's been flown exactly once so far (and did quite well).

I won't waste my energy doing it again. Too much work.

stefanj
02-10-2008, 10:18 PM
The earliest Estes publications assumed that rocketeers would roll their own tubes and lathe their own nosecones.

In Jr. High, I took a shop class that had a rocketry segment. We rolled tubes. I introduced the teacher to motor-casing engine blocks (he was using a stick stuck through the tube). I don't recall what we used to make nose cones, but I do recall trying to use the shop vacuum former to make cones using existing Centuri and an AVI cone as a mold. The plastic cone melted and the wooden cone blistered. Hey, I was in Jr. High.

Mark II
02-10-2008, 10:20 PM
When I was young, my buddies and I used to have a piece of pipe that had an outside diameter of 18mm. We would roll our own rocket tubes with this pipe. We would start by wrapping the tube with paper, then use white glue cut in half with water to moisten the paper as we were rolling it onto the tube. We would just build it up until it seemed as thick as a store bought tube. Some tape would hold things together until the glue dried, and then we would have a new tube at our disposal. We could then trim the tube to whatever length we needed.

We would also cut off a small piece of a spent engine casing to make an engine block, or a larger piece of a spent engine casing to make a coupler.

Does anyone around here do stuff like this anymore, or am I just a dinosaur?
I built this guy three years ago. The BT is made from 5 layers of cardstock that I formed by gluing the layers around a length of 2" Schedule 40 PVC pipe with white glue. Because I was using 8" x 11" cardstock, I had to make the BT in 4 sections (3 lower and 1 payload section), joined by couplers made from 3 or 4 layers of cardstock that I rolled around a kitty treats jar. After the 3rd layer, the body tube sections started to get really tight and hard to remove from the PVC "mandrel", so I had to stick bags of ice inside the pipe to get it to contract enough to let me slide off the sections. I printed the graphics on sections of poster board and glued them onto the completed airframe, and then realized that I had screwed up the printing, so I printed them out again on photo paper and pasted that layer over the poster board. So the airframe is actually 7 layers of paper and is a little bit heavier than I had planned. The OD that I wound up with for the airframe was... 66 mm, or 2.6" (sheesh!) :o. (I know, I know, I could have saved myself a lot of trouble if...)

The nose cone is made from a single layer of printed poster board, and the nose cone shoulder is made from 3 layers of cardstock. The combo was then reinforced with a single layer of fiberglass on the inside, and it is hard as a rock and quite pointy. The fins are made from several layers of basswood, airfoiled and covered with photo paper, and are mounted through the wall to the motor mount. The motor tube is 38 mm, and is also made from a few layers of rolled cardstock. The centering rings and bulkheads are basswood. The payload section has a length of allthread running through the entire length, onto which I bolted stacks of fender washers for nose weight.

The overall length is 40" and the weight (with parachute) is 3.2 lbs. For recovery, I plan on using a 32" SkyAngle chute. I say "plan" because I have not launched it yet. It should go fine on H or I motors, once I finally get my Level 1 cert. :o (Not many opportunities to fly HPR up in my area.) It is about a 3.8x upscale of the FlisKits Midnight Express. I used the Tour de Deuce decor because I liked it and also because it was easier to print than the original graphics. ;)

In the photo it is sitting on a bench next to 2 micromaxx versions of the ME, which you can just barely see in front of the red fin.

Mark

Mark II
02-10-2008, 10:30 PM
Here are a couple of closeup shots of the micro versions.

Mark

maricopasem
02-11-2008, 09:04 AM
I roll my own tubes periodically. The attached pictures all have tubes that were rolled from cardstock.

NavyChief
02-11-2008, 08:24 PM
Over the last three weeks, I have tried to follow Mr. Yawn's website for making candy motors. On his website, he has lots of references and video of making your own motor casings. His same technique can be used to make your own body tubes.

here is Jimmy Yawn's Website (http://www.jamesyawn.com/modelrocket/intro/index.html)

tony
US Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer (ret)
NAR 87549