Reaming bottles for easier loading

[bugwubber]

There's a website offering a reaming tool for sale that is designed to bevel the end of bottle nozzles so that they load easier on o-ring 1/2" pvc style launchers. For those using 1/2" tube launchers with o-rings, do you ream/bevel your bottle nozzle ends? Any downside to doing so?

[SaskAlex]

Do you have a link to this beveling tool? I've never seen any other tools to do the job, so actually made one myself a while back. It was little more than a nail sticking out of a piece of 1/2" pipe at about a 45 degree angle. The nail had a cutting edge filed into it. It worked surprisingly well- the plastic is pretty soft and cuts easily.

Beveling the edge makes it quite a bit easier to get the bottle onto a tight o-ring. You really don't need a nice bevel though- I used to take a round file to the inside of my bottle necks, and that works well, too. The only downside I can see is that it can make it difficult to seal the bottle neck with a regular cap. This could make the bottle more difficult to use as a second stage, or to use it on the "top side" of a tornado tube. If you only put on a small bevel, though, this shouldn't really be a problem. Oh, and if you later want to machine a nozzle, say to use the bottle as the sustainer of a multi-stage rocket, the beveled or filed neck doesn't have as nice an edge to ensure the nozzle aligns perfectly with the bottle. Again, not a big deal, but I think that's the reason I stopped filing my bottle necks.

[U.S. Water Rockets1]

There's a website offering a reaming tool for sale that is designed to bevel the end of bottle nozzles so that they load easier on o-ring 1/2" pvc style launchers. For those using 1/2" tube launchers with o-rings, do you ream/bevel your bottle nozzle ends? Any downside to doing so?

We've never needed a reaming tool to load bottles on our o-ring launcher design. The o-ring should not be compressed so that it would cause a problem because if you compress it to the point it protrudes that far, then you have distorted it to the point it is no longer sealing properly. The o-ring should not be compressed at all when no bottle is installed.

Occasionally, we find a bottle that is snug on the launch tube and does not slide smoothly, which is easy to fix with a rolled up piece of sandpaper rotated around inside the neck for a few seconds.

[bugwubber]

There's a website offering a reaming tool for sale that is designed to bevel the end of bottle nozzles so that they load easier on o-ring 1/2" pvc style launchers. For those using 1/2" tube launchers with o-rings, do you ream/bevel your bottle nozzle ends? Any downside to doing so?

We've never needed a reaming tool to load bottles on our o-ring launcher design. The o-ring should not be compressed so that it would cause a problem because if you compress it to the point it protrudes that far, then you have distorted it to the point it is no longer sealing properly. The o-ring should not be compressed at all when no bottle is installed.

Occasionally, we find a bottle that is snug on the launch tube and does not slide smoothly, which is easy to fix with a rolled up piece of sandpaper rotated around inside the neck for a few seconds.

What outside diameter o-ring do you use? I think mine are 7/8ths. I have to rotate the bottles a bit to get them to seat.

[U.S. Water Rockets1]

There's a website offering a reaming tool for sale that is designed to bevel the end of bottle nozzles so that they load easier on o-ring 1/2" pvc style launchers. For those using 1/2" tube launchers with o-rings, do you ream/bevel your bottle nozzle ends? Any downside to doing so?

We've never needed a reaming tool to load bottles on our o-ring launcher design. The o-ring should not be compressed so that it would cause a problem because if you compress it to the point it protrudes that far, then you have distorted it to the point it is no longer sealing properly. The o-ring should not be compressed at all when no bottle is installed.

Occasionally, we find a bottle that is snug on the launch tube and does not slide smoothly, which is easy to fix with a rolled up piece of sandpaper rotated around inside the neck for a few seconds.

What outside diameter o-ring do you use? I think mine are 7/8ths. I have to rotate the bottles a bit to get them to seat.

It sounds like your diameter is fine. It depends on if the o-ring is stretched to fit over the ID or not. If the ID is not being pushed by the tube which makes the OD larger as well, then the chances are that you are putting the o-ring into a channel that is too thin and is compressing the o-ring as it squeezes into the narrow gap. Squeezing to fit a slot will make the o-ring stand out from the slot farther.

[bugwubber]

Do you have a link to this beveling tool? I've never seen any other tools to do the job, so actually made one myself a while back. It was little more than a nail sticking out of a piece of 1/2" pipe at about a 45 degree angle. The nail had a cutting edge filed into it. It worked surprisingly well- the plastic is pretty soft and cuts easily.

Beveling the edge makes it quite a bit easier to get the bottle onto a tight o-ring. You really don't need a nice bevel though- I used to take a round file to the inside of my bottle necks, and that works well, too. The only downside I can see is that it can make it difficult to seal the bottle neck with a regular cap. This could make the bottle more difficult to use as a second stage, or to use it on the "top side" of a tornado tube. If you only put on a small bevel, though, this shouldn't really be a problem. Oh, and if you later want to machine a nozzle, say to use the bottle as the sustainer of a multi-stage rocket, the beveled or filed neck doesn't have as nice an edge to ensure the nozzle aligns perfectly with the bottle. Again, not a big deal, but I think that's the reason I stopped filing my bottle necks.

Well, now I'm not one to rush off and buy things, MPU430 being the exception, so I cut a slot in a piece of 1/2pvc and installed one of my damaged hunting broadheads. This one hit an oak log and has a slight bend in the tip- enough to ruin it for archery but not for this purpose! Think I'll file down those blades cause they are still quite sharp.

I was just thinking of knocking off the inside edge a bit, no more than 1mm in

reamer.jpg (26.9 KiB) Viewed 65 times

Here's a pic of his tool:
http://www.waterrocketpop.com/images/or ... g_tool.jpg

[U.S. Water Rockets1]

Do you have a link to this beveling tool? I've never seen any other tools to do the job, so actually made one myself a while back. It was little more than a nail sticking out of a piece of 1/2" pipe at about a 45 degree angle. The nail had a cutting edge filed into it. It worked surprisingly well- the plastic is pretty soft and cuts easily.

Beveling the edge makes it quite a bit easier to get the bottle onto a tight o-ring. You really don't need a nice bevel though- I used to take a round file to the inside of my bottle necks, and that works well, too. The only downside I can see is that it can make it difficult to seal the bottle neck with a regular cap. This could make the bottle more difficult to use as a second stage, or to use it on the "top side" of a tornado tube. If you only put on a small bevel, though, this shouldn't really be a problem. Oh, and if you later want to machine a nozzle, say to use the bottle as the sustainer of a multi-stage rocket, the beveled or filed neck doesn't have as nice an edge to ensure the nozzle aligns perfectly with the bottle. Again, not a big deal, but I think that's the reason I stopped filing my bottle necks.

Well, now I'm not one to rush off and buy things, MPU430 being the exception, so I cut a slot in a piece of 1/2pvc and installed one of my damaged hunting broadheads. This one hit an oak log and has a slight bend in the tip- enough to ruin it for archery but not for this purpose! Think I'll file down those blades cause they are still quite sharp.

I was just thinking of knocking off the inside edge a bit, no more than 1mm in

reamer.jpg

Here's a pic of his tool:
http://www.waterrocketpop.com/images/or ... g_tool.jpg

That's a great invention. It looks like you could make something like that by putting a slot in a piece of PVC and using it to hold a knife blade at a similar angle.

[bugwubber]

Do you have a link to this beveling tool? I've never seen any other tools to do the job, so actually made one myself a while back. It was little more than a nail sticking out of a piece of 1/2" pipe at about a 45 degree angle. The nail had a cutting edge filed into it. It worked surprisingly well- the plastic is pretty soft and cuts easily.

Beveling the edge makes it quite a bit easier to get the bottle onto a tight o-ring. You really don't need a nice bevel though- I used to take a round file to the inside of my bottle necks, and that works well, too. The only downside I can see is that it can make it difficult to seal the bottle neck with a regular cap. This could make the bottle more difficult to use as a second stage, or to use it on the "top side" of a tornado tube. If you only put on a small bevel, though, this shouldn't really be a problem. Oh, and if you later want to machine a nozzle, say to use the bottle as the sustainer of a multi-stage rocket, the beveled or filed neck doesn't have as nice an edge to ensure the nozzle aligns perfectly with the bottle. Again, not a big deal, but I think that's the reason I stopped filing my bottle necks.

Well, now I'm not one to rush off and buy things, MPU430 being the exception, so I cut a slot in a piece of 1/2pvc and installed one of my damaged hunting broadheads. This one hit an oak log and has a slight bend in the tip- enough to ruin it for archery but not for this purpose! Think I'll file down those blades cause they are still quite sharp.

I was just thinking of knocking off the inside edge a bit, no more than 1mm in

reamer.jpg

Here's a pic of his tool:
http://www.waterrocketpop.com/images/or ... g_tool.jpg

That's a great invention. It looks like you could make something like that by putting a slot in a piece of PVC and using it to hold a knife blade at a similar angle.

Yep and at $3.50 I almost pulled the trigger just because he came up with it, but then I remembered my $12 damaged broadhead.

[Asupremeflight]

Harbor freight has a deburring tool that I got for $2 I think it can do the same thing to the ID and the OD. http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9 ... PgtxgYWXfC

[Prodigy Rocketry]

It has been rare to find a 2 liter that fits tight but when I do i just use my cordless drill and a 1" tapered stone bit or 1" ball stone to just relieve the entrance restriction a bit to not cut the O rings durring loading. The very tight neck issue will actually help a POP type launch for better performance; just not cutting those O rings can be an issue.

[bugwubber]

Since I originally posted this, we've launched about 300 different water rockets on our launcher. Most were sub 2l. We chamfered the edge of almost all of them for easier loading. Some brands such as Pepsi definitely had narrower openings for us although this should vary regionally by bottlers. The chamfer tool I made now has a permanent home in the field box, making it simple to reach for if a new rocket has difficulty loading.

Bugwubber

[U.S. Water Rockets1]

Since I originally posted this, we've launched about 300 different water rockets on our launcher. Most were sub 2l. We chamfered the edge of almost all of them for easier loading. Some brands such as Pepsi definitely had narrower openings for us although this should vary regionally by bottlers. The chamfer tool I made now has a permanent home in the field box, making it simple to reach for if a new rocket has difficulty loading.

Bugwubber

It must surely be a regional thing because all of the bottles we source locally fit perfectly no matter what the brand or where we purchase them. There are sometimes very tiny variations from one to another, but nothing that prevented the bottle from loading on our PVC launch tube. The O-Ring seal we use makes up for any small variance in opening diameter.

[bugwubber]

I suppose I could probably find a thinner O-Ring than the -208s that I'm using. At some point I'll have to get a decent set of calipers and guages to take accurate measurements.

To be clear, I.can slip a small strip of PET up to 3/4" wide between the pvc and bottle nozzle. The issue I've had is that some bottles collapse before I can work them over the o-ring. Knocking off the inner edge of the nozzle eliminates that problem.

Bugwubber