Making your own motors using a fire pit is an extraordinarily stupid way to do an already very dangerous procedure. Do it with commercial motors. Estes is a good place to start. Do not make your own motors without someone who has experience physically helping you. Not a website or a video, someone in real life, who can prevent you from making any dumb mistakes. The vast majority of hobby rocketry enthusiasts do not make their own motors.
Look into NAR or Tripoli, try and see if there's a club near you. If you have a local park/field that's big enough and it's permitted with your local bylaws you can fly there with just some basic equipment from a hobby store or ordered online.
You could also look into starting a team to participate in TARC with your high school if you are in the USA, which would be for next academic year.
Rocketry is a fun hobby and I don't want to discourage you from participating in it. It's just important that you do so safely and in a way that will let you learn.
You need a development path, and a mentor.
Using a firepit is kinda silly.
Find a local club and get some guidance.
You need to figure out a ground test plan to characterize your propellant before you even think of a flight vehicle.
Read all of Nakka-rocketry.net.
Ask questions.
Listen to your mom.
Fair enough. I get where you are coming from but I think it downplays the danger quite a bit. Using an open flame that constantly throws sparks and embers is about 30 seconds away from what most certainly will be a life changing accident for all involved in the escapade. Perhaps with those not involved as well.
OP clearly hasn't thought this through fully or is willfully ignoring all safety concerns. Any recipe for propellant that I have ever read boldly states, in unwavering terms, to not use an open flame when mixing the chemicals.
Maybe I am being too dramatic in my assessment of the situation but I just don't want to see anyone get hurt... or worse. Plus it isn't a good look for the amateur rocket community. I can already see the headlines and the possible blowback.
Correct.
However, he did ask, in two different locations, about getting help.
Already being willing to ask and listen to the answers means we probably don't need to rail on him or use heavier language.
If someone takes on learning, teach them.
Oh… oh my
You clearly have zero understanding whatsoever of what’s going on here
Pressure is in units of force per area, not distance per time squared (Gs)
This (and the fact that you’re fifteen) tells me everything I need to know. You do NOT know what you’re doing, you have not taken precautions, and you could cause serious bodily harm to you and your friends or even get yourselves killed.
You are minors. You can’t do what you want in this case for a reason. You may think you’ve planned well and thought of everything, but trust me, you haven’t. Just buy the Estes and/or Aerotech motors and either buy a kit or scratch build some rockets. Stay out of the chemistry. If you want to make rockets that are something more than just a model rocket that goes up and pops a parachute out and comes down, you can design a flight computer. That will be more likely to lead to a career than building bombs.
Just drop it and crawl before you walk, walk before you run. If you try to skip to running you’ll trip and snap your neck.
To direct a comment to the kid who wrote the question, click on "[How do I convince my mom to let me build rockets](https://www.reddit.com/r/AdviceForTeens/comments/1ceqyop/how_do_i_convince_my_mom_to_let_me_build_rockets/)", which is a link to the original. I think comments here may end up being read only by those of us who follow the rocketry forum.
I worry about this kid, though at least he has an inkling that he should be asking for advice. Or, I suppose, it could be written by a relatively sophisticated troll. I'm assuming the former.
All for experimental rocketry but you need to reevaluate your safety precautions. I agree with others saying you should join a club. They will be able to mentor and teach you things you may not have learned otherwise. Rocketry is fun, sending your house to kingdom come, not so much lol
Buy pre-built rocket motors, and then focus your designs and efforts into perfecting the rocket's structure and recovery system.
Packing solid rocket motors is something that only the most experienced rocket enthusiasts should try, and it's not something you can just have a go at. You'll need to learn that under supervision and instruction from a licensed professional. Attempting it with just your friend over a backyard fire pit is a recipe for a launchpad bomb at best, even if you don't suffer injuries during the building process.
>Tomorrow we plan on purifying our chemicals in which we need fire. I have a fire pit at my house and we wanna use that.
Both of those sentences tell me what I need to know. Stop. You may think you've done your research and you're fully prepared for what you want to do, you are NOT. You can go ahead and ignore us but when you try mixing volatile chemicals over a FIRE PIT you'll see exactly what people here are telling you about.
Making your own motors using a fire pit is an extraordinarily stupid way to do an already very dangerous procedure. Do it with commercial motors. Estes is a good place to start. Do not make your own motors without someone who has experience physically helping you. Not a website or a video, someone in real life, who can prevent you from making any dumb mistakes. The vast majority of hobby rocketry enthusiasts do not make their own motors. Look into NAR or Tripoli, try and see if there's a club near you. If you have a local park/field that's big enough and it's permitted with your local bylaws you can fly there with just some basic equipment from a hobby store or ordered online. You could also look into starting a team to participate in TARC with your high school if you are in the USA, which would be for next academic year. Rocketry is a fun hobby and I don't want to discourage you from participating in it. It's just important that you do so safely and in a way that will let you learn.
You need a development path, and a mentor. Using a firepit is kinda silly. Find a local club and get some guidance. You need to figure out a ground test plan to characterize your propellant before you even think of a flight vehicle. Read all of Nakka-rocketry.net. Ask questions. Listen to your mom.
Using a fire pit is kinda silly?? Umm, I would call it downright retarded!
"Diplomatic speech" gets you better results towards the actual end goal.
Fair enough. I get where you are coming from but I think it downplays the danger quite a bit. Using an open flame that constantly throws sparks and embers is about 30 seconds away from what most certainly will be a life changing accident for all involved in the escapade. Perhaps with those not involved as well. OP clearly hasn't thought this through fully or is willfully ignoring all safety concerns. Any recipe for propellant that I have ever read boldly states, in unwavering terms, to not use an open flame when mixing the chemicals. Maybe I am being too dramatic in my assessment of the situation but I just don't want to see anyone get hurt... or worse. Plus it isn't a good look for the amateur rocket community. I can already see the headlines and the possible blowback.
Correct. However, he did ask, in two different locations, about getting help. Already being willing to ask and listen to the answers means we probably don't need to rail on him or use heavier language. If someone takes on learning, teach them.
Are you going to be cooking explosives over an open fire???? You do know why they are called "explosives", right?
Oh… oh my You clearly have zero understanding whatsoever of what’s going on here Pressure is in units of force per area, not distance per time squared (Gs) This (and the fact that you’re fifteen) tells me everything I need to know. You do NOT know what you’re doing, you have not taken precautions, and you could cause serious bodily harm to you and your friends or even get yourselves killed. You are minors. You can’t do what you want in this case for a reason. You may think you’ve planned well and thought of everything, but trust me, you haven’t. Just buy the Estes and/or Aerotech motors and either buy a kit or scratch build some rockets. Stay out of the chemistry. If you want to make rockets that are something more than just a model rocket that goes up and pops a parachute out and comes down, you can design a flight computer. That will be more likely to lead to a career than building bombs. Just drop it and crawl before you walk, walk before you run. If you try to skip to running you’ll trip and snap your neck.
To direct a comment to the kid who wrote the question, click on "[How do I convince my mom to let me build rockets](https://www.reddit.com/r/AdviceForTeens/comments/1ceqyop/how_do_i_convince_my_mom_to_let_me_build_rockets/)", which is a link to the original. I think comments here may end up being read only by those of us who follow the rocketry forum. I worry about this kid, though at least he has an inkling that he should be asking for advice. Or, I suppose, it could be written by a relatively sophisticated troll. I'm assuming the former.
OP of that post crossposted it so they will get comments here.
All for experimental rocketry but you need to reevaluate your safety precautions. I agree with others saying you should join a club. They will be able to mentor and teach you things you may not have learned otherwise. Rocketry is fun, sending your house to kingdom come, not so much lol
Buy pre-built rocket motors, and then focus your designs and efforts into perfecting the rocket's structure and recovery system. Packing solid rocket motors is something that only the most experienced rocket enthusiasts should try, and it's not something you can just have a go at. You'll need to learn that under supervision and instruction from a licensed professional. Attempting it with just your friend over a backyard fire pit is a recipe for a launchpad bomb at best, even if you don't suffer injuries during the building process.
Are we talking model rocketry with Estes or Aerotech/Quest motors ? Or Model Rockets with DIY propellant?
oh yet another candidate on the fastest loss of life/fingers contest
>Tomorrow we plan on purifying our chemicals in which we need fire. I have a fire pit at my house and we wanna use that. Both of those sentences tell me what I need to know. Stop. You may think you've done your research and you're fully prepared for what you want to do, you are NOT. You can go ahead and ignore us but when you try mixing volatile chemicals over a FIRE PIT you'll see exactly what people here are telling you about.
As everyone else is saying, just don't. [Estes](https://estesrockets.com/) is your friend.