---------------------- -- -- -- How to make -- -- Sugar Rockets -- -- -- --Written & Typed by-- -- Cloaked Warrior -- -- -- ---------------------- Combine these 3 substances in the following proportions by weight: Potassium Nitrate.......63% Sugar...................27% Sulfur..................10% (you can by this stuff at the drug store) Note: use a diet scale or a gun reloading scale to measure the ingredients What to do with the chemicals ----------------------------- Put the 3 combined chemicals into a plastic refrigerator container with a very tight lid (use a soft margarine container). Now be sure that the lid is on TIGHT. Shake the container for about three minutes. You just made the rocket propellant! This should be a yellowish powder... Making the Casing(s) ------------------- Items needed: 2 inch wide gummed, brown paper packaging tape Scotch tape 1 foot length of 1/4 inch diameter hardwood dowel single edged razor blade wet sponge Cover the hardwood dowel with several strips of Scotch tape (layed lengthwise onto the dowel). Now cut a strip of gummed paper packaging tape (8 in. long) and lay it, gummed side DOWN, on a flat surface. Dampen all but the last inch of the back of the tape with a wet sponge. Turn the tape over and start at the dampened end, start rolling it up around the Scotch-tape-covered dowel. After having one layer of tape around the dowel, moisten the GUMMED side of the rest of the tape and roll it up around the dowel as tightly as possible. Problem(s): Many times the paper tape will start to run off to one side or the other. You can correct it like this (example-run off to the LEFT): Use a single edged razor blade to the unrolled portion of the tape right next to the roll. Start the slit at the LEFT edge of the tape and cut across the tape to within 1/4/ of an inch of the RIGHT edge. Once the tape has been partially cut, pull it to the RIGHT and correct the mistake. (Or vice-versa) LAST STEP IN MAKING THE CASING: when done rolling a casing, hold the last edge of the tape against a flat surface for a few moments; then slide the casing off the dowel and ALLOW IT TO DRY...you can also bake the casing(s) in your kitchen oven at 160 degrees (F) for about 30 minutes... Making the Nozzles ------------------ Items needed: Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty Epoxy Glue (part A and part B) 'Six Penny' (3/32") Ungalvanized finishing nails (quantity: amount of casings made) one length of 1/4 inch diameter hardwood dowel a 7/64 inch diameter drill bit a 1/8 inch diameter drill bit 'Six Penny' finishing nails are about 3/32 inch in diameter. You will now make the core of your rocket(s). Instead of using finishing nails you may use piano wire that have the same diameter. You must pack the propellant down around the finishing nails or piano wire., then removing it when you're finished. Problem(s): The finishing nails have a little row of grooves right near the head. This will cause problems as you pull the finished rockets of the nail, so piano wire is prefered. The nozzle is made of the putty. To one you are first going to form a little 1/4 inch long plug of putty in one end of each casing. You MUST only form a 1/4 inch long plug of putty otherwise... We are now going to tell you how to make a gauge (in case you use too much putty or too little than required). Cut off a six inch length of the 1/4 inch hardwood dowel that you bought to use the casing with. Wrap about a dozen layers of masking tape around it so that one edge of the masking tape is EXACTLY 1-3/4 inches from one end of the dowel. Slide a casing over the dowel and run the end of it up against this edge of the tape. If you look in the open end of the casing, you will see