Project
3 inch PVC rocket

Construction

• This rocket used 3 inch cellular ABS or DWV pipe for the rocket body. The engine was attached to the bottom of the rocket with a 3x2 ABS reducer. The inside portion of the 2 inch reducer was ground down to allow the 2 inch PVC engine to fit snugly inside it. The engine was assembled with the reducer around it before the nozzle was attached to it. This arrangement put the center of gravity very far back on the rocket and a great deal of weight had to be added to the nose. The nose cone was turned out of a single piece of wood by a wood working company. A 2" PVC pipe filled with Pourstone was attached to the bottom of the nosecone to provide the necessary ballast for the rocket to be stable. Fins were made from 1/4" foam core with a card stock laminate and attached to the rocket body with fully threaded aluminum rods. This was also the first rocket that used a convergent / divergent Pourstone nozzle instead of a choke.

Pros

• Convergent / divergent nozzle increases the thrust dramatically.
• Fins and nosecone provide an aerodynamic shape.

Cons

• Adding weight to the nosecone is a waste of energy.

Pictures

• Me next to the two rockets in the desert.
• The first flight was perfect.
• The force of the rocket lifting off made the weight in the nosecone fall back into the rocket shifting the center of gravity and making the rocket go horizontally across the desert.

Video

• None

CAD Drawings

• Flight 04 rocket design.