Rocket motor / rocket RPG / whatever, get in here

[TheGerman]

What Estes rocket motor would someone need in order to propel a nerf football that has been cored to accept a PVC pipe down its center, riding on a steel cable, slightly downhill at about 50-60 yards at a decent rate of speed?

Asking for a friend.

 

[Aftermath]

About 50 years ago I could have answered this off the top of my head.
I'm unable to find the weight of a Nerf Football, plus yours has a piece of PVC in it. What does your contraption weigh?
The first thought I have is that those motors MIGHT be too fast to shoot at. Also, the fire..not sure if that matters.

Water Rocket Launcher Directions

www.nasa.gov

 

[CoryT]

I think a C6-0 should work pretty well, a D12 might be a bit much. You want a booster or plugged engine, no ejection charge

 

[CoryT]

Coupled with a bag of black powder for the initial boom/smoke, you can simulate an RGP pretty well. Just wire the igniters together.

 

[Jscb1b]

D12.

 

[Clob McStrunk]

Subscribed

 

[sirhrmechanic]

D12.

This...

Sirhr

 

[TheGerman]

So it looks like the common ones on amazon are

Estes A8-3, B6-4, C6-5​

Do these sound right as far as the models I can use to test? Or is there a better place/better versions?

I know zero about this stuff.

 

[CoryT]

Burn time on the D12 is about 2 seconds, might still be burning at 50 yards, C11 is in between those, just under 1 sec burn time. Cheap enough to buy a pack of each and test before you stock up.

 

[CoryT]

So it looks like the common ones on amazon are

Estes A8-3, B6-4, C6-5​

Do these sound right as far as the models I can use to test? Or is there a better place/better versions?

I know zero about this stuff.

Don't use the -X other that -0, that's the delay to the ejection/ignition charge. You want a booster engine, a -0 so it just burns out.

 

[Jscb1b]

A=micro b=small c=medium d=fuck yeah.

 

[Aftermath]

https://estesrockets.com/wp-content/uploads/Educator/Estes_Engine_Chart.pdf

 

[Jscb1b]

The first number is burn time, the second number is the delay time to pop the shute. The ABC's are the size of the motor and thrust.

 

[CoryT]

If your simulator weighs 10 oz, a D12 should get you about 230 FPS per Sec, so still burning at the end of a 50 yard track. You can always use a multi engine core, 3 C11's would launch at 347 FPS/Sec, burn < 1 sec

 

[Sean the Nailer]

You have been given some fantastically accurate information. Run with it.

FWIW, just in case you're interested, an "I" engine will lift a 4' 1x1 an easy 225' into the air, straight up. You have to make them yourself though.

 

[1911hombre]

I really think an A-series would be good for what you want to do. Also, in the case of the A8-3, depending on what effect you want, you would have a 3 second pause down at the end of the line and then the ejection charge. This may or may not fit into your desired assclownery. A-,B-, and C-series engines are about as big as a nickel; D-series between a quarter and half dollar. I wish I had a dollar for every rocket I lost in a corn field.

 

[n2ishun]

For something like that you can probably use a C02 cartridge.
*Should* be cheaper and easier to rig too.

 

[W54/XM-388]

Going the exact opposite direction, instead of a rocket motor, you could use highly compressed air driving out a stream of slightly soapy water as the reaction mass. You can get a lot of thrust and all you have to do is pump the tank back up and fill up the water.
It is of course easier to make a simple one when things are going up than down...

 

[acudaowner]

slow but it's got a jet attached , and it is loud .

 

[EddieNFL]

This might work.

 

[carbonbased]

Will the nerf football ever get wet? In my time, nerf fb got heavy when wet.

 

[BCP]

I'd go D or E that was what sent my hamster into the next county.

Also depending on friction it might not go straight, just bounce around or something.

 

[hollowoutadime]

Use a small funnel or similar going into the front of the PVC pipe to guide it along the cable to reduce friction.

 

[stefan73]

Doing some simulated training, cool beans.

Probably look at an E16-8 it has about 5.9lbs of max thrust for a fraction of a second. Total thrust duration is about 2 seconds.