分享

从无到有 建立水火箭

 yongmao 2011-11-25

从无到有 建立水火箭

首先我购买了一个轮胎,用轮胎的嘴子做水火箭的喷嘴如下图:

+=













Making the hole, method 1:
I find it easier to get a hole centered by starting with a small bit to make a pilot hole, then enlarging it with larger bit.  Here the pilot bit is 1/8 inch, the final bit 3/8 inch.  The bottle gives me something to hold onto while the drilling is done.  Yes, this is a crude method.  Stay tuned for a better one.












A sharp knife is used for gross enlargement of the hole.  It is then smoothed-up with a piece of 320 grit wet-or-dry paper rolled around a pencil.  High tech.







The valve stem should be a tight fit.  Fortunately, the neoprene covering tapers a bit from the threaded tip up to where the bulb used to be, so we make the cap-hole just big enough for the skinny end to fit into, and the fatter end will almost not pull out of.

Cutting the valve stem
I start by cutting the neoprene around the brass core with a sharp knife, then hacksaw through the core.  Yes, you can just hack through the rubber too, but the knife cuts it more cleanly.  The sawed end is rough, but it is soft brass and surrounded by firm rubber.  It is reasonably finger-friendly, so I resist the urge to true it up.












Note that there are two sizes of valve stems.  Either will work, but the longer size ("2 inch") is much better.  It gives me something to grab when attaching the valve to the air pump.

Test-fitting the valve stem.
I smear a little grease on the valve-stem every time it is inserted.  This makes the release much more consistent, I think.  Palmer's Coco Butter skin cream is my favorite.  Slick, non-toxic, and smells good.  Vaseline works fine too.













So now we have a pressure-valve.  Time to test it.

I fill the bottle about 1/2 full of water, screw on the plugged cap and attach the valve-stem to an air pump.  The bottle is pointed bottom to the sky, the pump is started and the operator moved to a safe spot.
Well, the first of these was launched without any stabilizer.  It went flooey and flew all over.  Good thrust, no stability, so the next one got a stick.  It went fairly straight, but not very far.  Got caught in a rocket-eating tree and is still there after two months.  Stick heavy.  Bad aerodynamics.  Need a better stabilizer.


    本站是提供个人知识管理的网络存储空间,所有内容均由用户发布,不代表本站观点。请注意甄别内容中的联系方式、诱导购买等信息,谨防诈骗。如发现有害或侵权内容,请点击一键举报。
    转藏 分享 献花(0

    0条评论

    发表

    请遵守用户 评论公约