Building a Fully 3D Printed Sugar Rocket Motor!

[@sweaterdog5475]

I have been playing with some rocket fuel as well! I have found that 65% OX and 35% Fuel works better! Also instead of using powdered sugar using granulated sugar has a much more, Happy reaction.

[@zorgonec]

Granulated sugar, but with powdered kno3, or?

[@seventeenshaun6424]

@@zorgonechonestly finely granulated sugar and kno3 is a good mix

[@2kbk817]

Well done mate. Looking forward to seeing your progress and where this takes you!

[@igore4ek1988]

Excellent project! 3d printed rocket is a rare type. like it.

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

I will be posting a video in the near future of my optimized 3d printed sugar motors and I will make the .stl files available for download!

[@burkabu]

Great job! Just a tip, the video would be a lot more satisfying if you filmed the actual launch better :)

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

Hey thanks for your feedback! We didn’t expect the rocket to take off so when it did we were stunned and didn’t follow it up sadly. But future videos will be better and more camera angles.

[@bubbyfishspla]

@@theeverydayengineer1701 please do!

[@LaurinSchmidig]

Wow. You deserve way more subscribers

[@LeviWilley-l7o]

Cool project! Maybe you would try do design an optimized nozzle for better thrust!

[@nerys71]

and yet an electric motor has moving parts :-) hehehe. LOVE that 3D printing works! would love to see one with PLA to see if it holds up. cheaper plastic easier to print and less electricity to print it.

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

I did a PLA motor, it survived but barely. The nozzles whole grew 2 or 3 times more than the ASA nozzles whole. So PLA is possible but you will lose more thrust from the nozzle throat expanding due to the heat.

[@nerys71]

@@theeverydayengineer1701 Interesting. I am surprised there is any difference at all at 2000'F what about the casing? did it hold up fine with PLA ? I can do casing in PLA and Nozzles in ASA ??? I also wonder about adding an ablative coating like some grill or engine high temp paint to the inside of the nozzle surface area. it only has to last for a second or so might make the difference.

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

@@nerys71 that’s a good idea, coating the nozzles with something might help. And my PLA casing held up but lost all rigidity, so it could work but it’s close to failing I think.

[@Pyrotechnicduck]

Underrated!

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

Just wait and see, my next video should come out next week!

[@alinajafpour3248]

Nice work. Couple of things. You designed the motor to be a core burner but you ignited the motor from the end which essentially made it an end burner. End burners typically don’t produce very much thrust, so you’ll want to ignite it from the very top of the core so the entire core’s surface area will be exposed and combusting at once. That said, your press fitted end caps might not hold under the added pressure, so perhaps enhance the design there.

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

I agree! I am going to invest into E matches that will sit at the bottom of the core and will do a better job of igniting the entire core. I think most of the core does ignite however but it does very I will admit.

[@SpaceBird_Aerospace]

I have a competitor now

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

Yes you do! Hahaha. I have many big plans for this channel.

[@JonCherba]

Sorbital as the sugar, potassium nitrate as the oxidizer, a tiny bit of red iron oxide...use an electric skillet and melt the sorbital. It works so much better.

[@topicalq3042]

isnt that dangerous as the plastic can burn or melt?

[@TKTrooper]

Was there a reason you didn’t heat and melt the mixture before adding to the casing?

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

Yes, I did not have and did not want to buy a skillet, but this summer I will be cooking the fuel into a solid mixture, and will be launching a rocket with those new motors

[@2robotguy]

More thrust is possible if you melt your mixture then pour. freezing the case in ice might allow it not to in the pouring process. Proper PPE will be required. Also when the plastic nozzle expland a great amout of thrust is lost. maybe casting your nozzles with plastic mold might work better. Keep up the good work, looking forwards to more videos.

[@RobbertDIYprojects]

Think it's interesting. But I would like to build them a lot bigger

[@LT72884]

Excellent experimentation. A couple of things for you. The more compressed that fuel is the better, hotter and more thrustier it will be. I use a hammer and a metal rod to compress mine. The reason for this, if we zoom in with a microscope on our mixture, it looks like swiss cheese which we dont want. So compressing it helps fill in the interstitial spaces. The other thing, try cooking it and making a molten mixture. The melting process makes for a full lattice structure and fills all those spaces. Look up diy class 1 rocket sugar motor by rotary rocketry on KZbin. Lastly, do not use a fuse. Use an igniter and stick it all the way to the TOP, not the bottom. Core burners, what you made, light from the top down and then burn from inside to outside. This is what creates the pressure for the thrust. With sugar motors, they are about half the power as regular motors. Again, most excellent project and process. Keep it up

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

Thank you for your comment! This summer I will be resuming my videos and will be. Poking the fuel since the powdered fuel is too unreliable and tends to break apart and cause unpredictable thrust.

[@devnitrate]

incredible, i was setting myself on the same project a few days ago and found your channel today. Also, it would be cool that in your next video you add an ejection charge to your motor.

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

That’s awesome! I would recommend doing 30% powdered sugar and 70% KNo3. That will provide up to double the thrust I have found. Also I found that PLA nozzles don’t hold up well so ASA is the best I have found so far. Good luck!

[@devnitrate]

​@@theeverydayengineer1701 anyway i plan on making a one time use engine (and potentially the fuselage) and thanks for the ratio because i use a 60 : 40 Kno3 to sugar ratio. I don't know if you're interested but i have made 3d models of a rocket that i can share with you if you want. Also do you know about when will the next video come out ?

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

@@devnitrate your welcome, and actually my next video will be a short video about my updated motor and nozzle. Then I am actually working on a rocket that’ll be 3d printed and will have a custom telemetry computer that deploys the parachute. I just have no timelines but hopefully in the next 2 weeks I’ll have another video out. Thanks so much for your interest.

[@devnitrate]

@@theeverydayengineer1701 hi ! Sorry to bother you but do you have any tips because when i put in a metal rod and compress the powder fuel and i take out the metal rod it adheres to the fuel and if i get it out it decompresses everything so i have to recompress and i don't have the middle hole. I have tried putting oil but it didn't work.

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

@@devnitrate hey, no problem. Since the propellant is a powder the whole in the middle known as the “core” is very fragile. What I do is I pull the metal rod with pliers, then once the rod is coming out I push the rod back in and re compress the propellant lightly then the rod isn’t so tight and will slide out by hand, then just do that a few times as you pull out the rod. Sometimes the cores just break though. Powder fuel is easy to make but doesn’t pack well. However any more of a high power fuel is too powerful for FDM printed nozzles, in my opinion.

[@wikifly1861]

How did you calculate the throat diameter of your nozzle?

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

I didn’t not “calculate” with numbers the diameter of the nozzle. I used trial and error and a lot of testing. I made a guess and then shrunk down the nozzle size until the motor blew up.

[@shelbystiffarm5218]

To the moon!!🚀

[@AKDayzplays]

cool project ,im making a mold to cast a ciment nozzle

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

That’s awesome!

[@anthonyreid1435]

stl files?

[@tecnologiapolivalente]

Congratulations on the video. Could you provide the stls you used in your video? Excuse my English, I'm Brazilian and I'm using google translator

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

I will post the STL files but I will be making a new video with an updated design and fuel mixture plus a larger motor for my new rocket.

[@SimpleRokets]

When do you make the next video?

[@shockwaveriderz]

You should consider using a convolute paper tube within the 3d printed motorcasr. Also consider a screw on nozzle., with the screws on the outside of the motor case. The harder you press the powder the better. Get a 1 ton arbor press, so you can get repeatable pressures on each powder increment. I would also use equal measured increments of the powder. This will make more powerful. Motors. Also use sorbitol instead of powered sugar. Also consider using melted sorbitol cast into a paper tube you insert Into the motor casing. Consider using a filament made with carbon fiber for greater strength and heat resistance. Show some pics of the nozzle to see how it erodes. . Finally, use an electric igniter instead of a fuse fuse.

[@TheRealThomas_]

A start of something big 🎉

[@BrianKelsay]

Do you have 3d files available for motor cases? I'm about to get a printer.

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

I will look into posting All my 3d files for each project I do. Soon I will release a video with a more optimized rocket motor. So far I have doubled the thrust I get. So when I release that video I will post the files!

[@makeKodyfamous]

Hey, nice work! However, I think you should look into safer options for igniting you motors rather than a torch and fuse. You should maintain a distance and can do this by purchasing existing Estes ignition systems. Also, if you melt your O/F mixture together and cast it in the casing you will have a more homogeneous propellant and a much better burn rate (more thrust). Lastly, you should incorporate a converging diverging nozzle to increase the thrust even further. I did this by 3D printing a mould and casting plumbers concrete. I would highly recommend working and testing your experimental motors on a test stand rather than any type of moving vehicle in order to limit your risks in the case of a catastrophic failure. Great work, have fun, but please be safe!

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

Thanks for your advice! I will be looking into better fuels in the future. And plan on making more advanced nozzles as well.

[@mlattanzio64]

You can share the stl

[@michaelbarrett2346]

Thank you

[@thatrandomscientist1704]

Nice! Have you tried making the diameter of the hole through your fuel larger? It could make a big difference, as it did for my rockets

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

I have not tried actually, I will try on my next video where I will be building a bigger motor

[@andr3742]

stl?

[@gentrybrown9034]

resin 3d prints are more heat resistance and might be more resilient for your purposes

[@TheExplosiveGuy]

You should look into using melt cast Sorbitol and KNO3, it is far more powerful than rammed powder. Rammed powder sugar rockets are extremely weak and unreliable, melt cast sugar fuel is much better. Also, never use powdered sugar for rocket fuel, it typically has flow additives that inhibit burn rate like sodium bicarbonate. Use regular table sugar or Sorbitol ground up in a coffee grinder. Sorbitol will be the best option because it has the lowest melting temperature, if you can find a filament to make your casing from with a higher melting point than Sorbitol you will be fine.

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

Thank you for your advice! I will definitely look into sorbitol since heat is an issue for my motor nozzle. And I am using ASA plastic which has a decent melting point. I’ll do some testing with my new thrust measuring system which I should have a video on later this week.

[@TheExplosiveGuy]

@@theeverydayengineer1701 I'm happy to help, I love rockets! And if there's one piece of advice I can give you it is to try and design a nozzle that incorporates a stainless steel washer in the throat/convergent zone with the ID hole the same diameter as your nozzle's throat, perhaps run a print that stops printing halfway through at a pocket you design into it for the washer at the throat, where you place it inside and let it continue printing on top of it. The Kn ratio (the ratio between the surface area of burning fuel and the cross-section of your nozzle convergent zone) will change too much if you only use a plastic filament, causing the rocket to exponentially lose thrust throughout the burn as the nozzle enlarges. I'm curious if there's a filament that would work well for nozzles as-is, perhaps a ceramic based one that can be sintered in a kiln with a calculated shrink factor but I don't know jack all about 3D printing, I'm just a rocket nut lol. I _do_ know that ASA, despite having one of the higher print temps, will not withstand that amount of heat, it will erode in a split second. Once you see what a melt cast and cored KNSU or KNSB rocket will do you'll understand, it's a different ballgame than powdered and rammed fuel. I personally use a composite mix of bentonite clay, grog (sharp sand made from crushed ceramic pottery) and a small amount of high temperature epoxy resin to bind it all together to make my nozzles, which gets rammed under hydraulic pressure with form tools to mold it into shape and cure while under pressure, it has great heat resistance and strength, but of course if your goal is to 3D print everything then the washer will be your best bet. And by the way, if you try the melt cast fuel method, chuck 1 to 2 percent powdered red iron oxide (rust) into the mix, a 64/34/2 ratio will serve you well. Red iron oxide is a burn rate catalyst and will make your fuel burn faster, giving you a higher peak thrust. Be warned, it may require a thicker/stronger casing and better bonding between the casing and nozzle, the chamber pressure will greatly increase.

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

@@TheExplosiveGuy I looked into the melt sorbitol fuel, it seems interesting! But you make a valid point that 3d printed nozzles might not work at those temps and pressures. I will try and compare powdered sugar vs sugar vs sorbital in a powdered form with my thrust measuring system I built. But in the future I will make more powerful rockets with stronger nozzles. Thanks for your advice, I definitely plan on using more powerful rocket fuels in the future!! Thanks!

[@TheExplosiveGuy]

@@theeverydayengineer1701 You're welcome! If you start getting deeper into motor manufacture, you should do some research on APCP rocket fuel, it's the bee's knees lol. It stands for Ammonium Perchlorate Composite Propellant, and as the name implies it uses AP instead of KNO3 as the oxidizer, and instead of sugar it uses finely powdered aluminum and a polyurethane binder like HTPB or PBAN as fuel which makes it room temp castable. It's very energetic and is used in basically all military and aerospace solid rocket propellant formulations. I've been playing with it lately (I'm using HTPB, it's a room temp cure vs an elevated heat cure with PBAN) and have had wild success. Here's a quick test grain I made with an additional 10% of smokeless gunpowder for some extra spunk, there's no nozzle on this either, just a loose grain; kzbin.infoJRC3gVj4MBY?feature=share I didn't core it deep enough, that's why it slows down at the end...

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

@@TheExplosiveGuy right I have been looking into APCP for future motors. After my thrust measuring system video I am building a rocket with electronic recovery and some cool arduino stuff in it. This rocket will be modular and be able to accept lots of different motor sizes. So it’ll be my test bed for future motors and idea! Also I watched and subscribed to your channel.

[@lucasduparcq]

if you make the nozel slichtly bigger and compact it a litel less it is gonne work way better;)

[@meanman6992]

Why no updates in a year?

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

I am in college for engineering and work. So last summer I had lots of free time to work on these videos. This summer I hope to get a few videos out since I’ll only have a job and no classes. I hope to make a video next month actually.

[@LaurinSchmidig]

Yay another data kraken

[@shuvorahman419]

Can I get the stl file please

[@BOOMERBOYYT]

could you send me the file

[@raynolucas3623]

Give a link to 3dfile atleast

[@IBHiNation]

I'm shocked the nozzle cap stayed on.

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

Me too! The nozzles are very tight though, I have to use a mallet to get them in and 3d printed parts have little ridges which greatly increase their friction. With more powerful engines I might have to glue them on or make them lock some how.

[@junkaccount8302]

I know the goal is to be fully 3d printed, but that Nozzle is not going to work. Throughout the flight you will lose thrust and efficiency as the nozzle melts. It would be better to make a more conventional nozzle for sugar rockets. However there are filaments that have ceramic or metal powders in them, but you’d need a kiln in order to post process the piece. This way it can still be 3d printed and won’t damage the nozzle so much though out the flight.

[@theeverydayengineer1701]

Hey thanks for your comment! The nozzle throat doesn’t increase in size by very much with the ASA nozzle. It does increase some but very little. In the future I will move on from 3d printed nozzles and casings once I am done pushing ASA to its limit.

[@andreroy2762]

👍👍👍👏👏👏😂😂🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️👍👍