If you don't have access to an air compressor or air tank with a spray-nozzle, you can either make your own rocket launcher (watch second video below), or make the blow-gun rockets. Either way, you're going to be launching sky-high in no time!
Materials:
- Two straws each in two different sizes
- two sheets
- index cards
- scissors
- tape
- hot glue gun
- air compressor or air tank with spray-nozzle
- metal tubing that fits just inside the larger straws
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Make a very long straw by joining two straws with tape. Roll an 8½x11-inch sheet of paper into a long tube and tape it shut. Cut triangle fins out of the index card and hot glue to the base end of the rocket.
Construction Tip: Younger kids can roll the paper around a dowel to help.
To make the nosecone, cut a circle out of paper. You can trace the inner diameter of masking tape roll to get a good circle. To make a flat circle into a 3D cone, begin to cut the circle in half, but stop cutting when you get to the center. Slide one flap over the other to form a nose for your rocket and tape it shut. Pile a lot of glue inside the cone insert the long straw and wait to for it to dry. Slip the straw inside the tube and seal the nosecone to the rocket body.
When dry, blow into your straw to check for leaks. It should be impossible to blow through. If you have a leak, go back and fix it now. Otherwise, slip a metal tube slightly larger than the straw over the straw and blow hard. Tip: Check a hardware store for the metal tube.
What’s going on? This rocket uses air pressure to launch itself skyward. When you blow hard, you create a higher pressure region behind the rocket. Higher pressure always pushes, so off it goes!
If you have an air tank or compressor handy, the nozzle from it to blast these rockets hundred of feet in the air! Check out the video below for making your own rocket launcher that uses a bicycle pump!
Repair Tip: If your straws come loose, simply cut the rocket body just below the nosecone and rebuild the straw-cone assembly, fastening it in place when dry.
Materials & Tools:
1-1/4" SCH40 PVC pipe pieces:
| 1-1/4" SCH40 PVC pipe pieces:
1-1/4" Fittings:
1" SCH40 PVC pipe pieces & fittings:
1/2" SCH40 PVC pipe pieces:
More fittings:
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You do not need facebook to watch these videos, simply push play and you can watch the videos!
For those of us who are not on facebook, can you please upload the launch video to the website?
Yes, it’s posted to the FB group – do you have access to it?
https://www.facebook.com/groups/superchargedcamp/
Hi. We’d like to see this launcher in action. Do you have a video you can share so we can watch the launch?
I’ll see if I can post a video right below the main video.
can you give me a video of the launch
At a hardware store.
where do you get pvc glue.
I got mine from the hardware store like Home Depot, but craft stores might also have them (JoAnn’s, Beverly’s, or Micheal’s).
Where can we get the metal tubing?
Oops – another uploader error.. Ok, I just transferred the file and tried it myself – works all the way til the end. Let me know if you still have trouble.
Hi Aurora.
I got to the bit where you were just showing me the air compressor nozzle.
Also now it’s saying video not found or access denied!?!?!?
Ben.
The video length is 7:27, and it should play all the way through for you – where are you finding the error occurs? The last part of the video says “go have fun…” did you get that far?
Hi Aurora.
I was watching this video and noticed that there is 2 minutes of it missing off the end.
Could you work it out.
Thanks.