Wooden Rockets
After I got a lathe, I made this series of wooden rockets. These are built to accomodate standard Estes model rocket engines.
The yellow rocket is the only one that I launched. I never gave a thought to what would happen when the heavy wooden rocket came down (nor did any of the other college educated people who were present). I parked nearby because I used my car battery to ignite the rocket engine.
 |  |  These are the disassembled pieces of the rocket to the left. On the lower right is a brass bushing that I made to protect the wooden parts from the rocket's exhaust.
After taking this photo, I remade the nosecone in order to fit the parachute. |
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 |  |  In this design, the ejection charge causes one of the two parts of the fuselage slide lengthwise, deploying the parachute. |
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 |  |  This technical drawing shows the interior of one of the designs along with the grandiose name and logo I used for the venture! |
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 |  This is the only one that I actually launched. The nosecone was solid maple, and there was no parachute. I never gave a thought to what would happen when it came down. |  |
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