Two Stage Rocket

Discussions about rockets, construction materials, adhesives, nozzles, nosecones and fin design.
Rocketman
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Two Stage Rocket

Post by Rocketman »

My buliding partner and I are planning to build a two stage rocket with a booster and sustainer but we need an in depth explanation of the deployment device between the booster and sustainer, i've visited several websites and get the idea but if anyone has some nice diagrams and a great text explanation for the system, I would appreciate it. Any tips about building, launching, designing, or anything else about two stage rockets would be helpful
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U.S. Water Rockets1
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Re: Two Stage Rocket

Post by U.S. Water Rockets1 »

Rocketman wrote:My buliding partner and I are planning to build a two stage rocket with a booster and sustainer but we need an in depth explanation of the deployment device between the booster and sustainer, i've visited several websites and get the idea but if anyone has some nice diagrams and a great text explanation for the system, I would appreciate it. Any tips about building, launching, designing, or anything else about two stage rockets would be helpful
Here are a couple of designs for staging mechanisms for water rockets.
http://www.geocities.com/wrgarage/stage.htm
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/ ... /pics.html

Here is an example of an advanced two stage rocket.

Air command rockets

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Rocketman
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mechanism

Post by Rocketman »

for some reason i can't find any 1 way valve or check valve which seems to be the core of almost every mechanism, so if anyone could supply a source of where to get these valves
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Spaceman Spiff
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Re: mechanism

Post by Spaceman Spiff »

Rocketman wrote:for some reason i can't find any 1 way valve or check valve which seems to be the core of almost every mechanism, so if anyone could supply a source of where to get these valves
Hey Rocketman!

I have used a bunch of different check valves in the past. One of the simplest ones is a small valve you can find in a store that sells aquarium supplies. It's a plastic tube thingy with a rubber pice inside that only opens in one direction letting air in but not out. Some of these don't work well at over 80PSI.

You can also use a presta a shrader valve from a bike tire. These allow air in but not out with a spring loaded stopper but they are somewhat strong and need a lot of pressure to force the stopper open to let air in. Tire pumps usually have a mechanical thing that pushes the stopper upen to let the air through and releases it when you take the pump off and it closes again.

I make my own valves using little plastic beads I got at a craft store. I use a plastic tube that has a taper (it use to be a ballpoint pen) and The inside is a little bigger than the ball at the fat section. I put the bead inside and then melted the end a bit to trap the bead so it can't come out. I slide two hoses on the ends of the tube and glued them on.

When I put air in the tapered end, it pushes the bead to the fat end and goes around the bead. When air tries to go backward it pushes the bead to the narrow end and it goes to the point where the bead can't move any more and touches the sides, closing the valve. Works great!

I hope this helps!
Spaceman Spiff
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Drag_Racer408a
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Post by Drag_Racer408a »

i made a crude 2 stage crushing sleeve awhile back and i used a similar idea to spacemans last one. I used airsoft bb's for my check valve.

Hope you get it figured out!
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Spaceman Spiff
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Post by Spaceman Spiff »

Drag_Racer408a wrote:i made a crude 2 stage crushing sleeve awhile back and i used a similar idea to spacemans last one. I used airsoft bb's for my check valve.

Hope you get it figured out!
Are those metal BBs?

What I really wanted was to find one of those toy guns I had as a kid that shoots those little rubber balls that were slightly larger than a BB. Anyone else remember those things?

I think a regular BB is a bit too small and takes a while for the air to go throuhg that small sized hole.

This might be a positive effect in some cases, but I wanted pressure to equalize in both chambers, so the bigger the hole the better.
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Rocketman
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Post by Rocketman »

hey guys, i've tried some of the one way valve ideas but haven't had any success, for some reason they all let air come in from both ways, i've tried using nylon bushing-spring-bearing-nylon bushing and it doesn't seem to work, also the staging mechanism hasn't been cooperating either, if anyone could share what the absolute simplest and easiest mechanism is, i would appreciate it, thx
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Tim Chen
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Post by Tim Chen »

Rocketman wrote:hey guys, i've tried some of the one way valve ideas but haven't had any success, for some reason they all let air come in from both ways, i've tried using nylon bushing-spring-bearing-nylon bushing and it doesn't seem to work, also the staging mechanism hasn't been cooperating either, if anyone could share what the absolute simplest and easiest mechanism is, i would appreciate it, thx
You should do a google search on "Crushing Sleeve" mechanism. Loads of people have used that with a lot of success.
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ChocolateFudgeCake
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Re: Two Stage Rocket

Post by ChocolateFudgeCake »

Can you explain it in a different way? I don't get it.
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