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Rocket Racks – Medium chained event – How to


Building a medium size chained event rack is quite simple. We need a way of holding the rockets upright and ready to fly, and a method of passing fire from the main timed fuse to the rockets. In this example we will use banks of rockets rather then individual rockets. This will give us some flexibility later.

Materials needed:
Materials for setup
Before we start lets look at your rockets. You did buy some rockets didn’t you?
On a piece of notepaper make the following entries

Rocket Length: __________________________
Stick height: ____________________________
Body length: ____________________________
Tube inside diameter: _____________________
Number of banks: ________________________
Inside Rack Width: _______________________

Measure the over all length of the rocket from nose cone to end of the stick and jot this down next to rocket length. Measure the length of the stick all the way up to the rocket body tube and jot this down next to stick length. If you subtract stick height from length you have the rockets body length, mark this down in your notes. The banks of rockets will be held by some cardboard tubes. To determine the inside diameter size needed grab four rockets arrange them so all are facing the same way and measure the width as shown in Figure 10A below.


Figure 10A

This measurement will be used to select your tubes. Remember the 4 rockets should slide easily into the bank tube with about one quarter inch clearance on all sides. So if your width measurement is two and one half inches the inside diameter of your bank tubes should be three inches. Jot this measurement down next to tube inside diameter.

Now you need to make a decision on just how big this rack will be; how many banks do you want? For the example I have selected twenty banks so I will need twenty tubes big enough to hold my four rockets (three inches) wide and long enough to support my rockets about two thirds of their body length. The wall thickness should be at least one eighth inch to prevent burn through.

Ok now you’ve found your tubes (if you haven’t check the appendix for common sources or www.someurl.com/sources). To save space I’ll make my rack 2 banks wide and ten banks long. So line up 10 tubes on a flat surface side to side and measure the length as seen in figure 10B. Jot this down next to Inside Rack Width in your notes.


Figure 210B

The main frame of the rack will be cut from readily available one by four pine planks. We will need three pieces cut to the length marked as Inside Rack Width, we will call them shelves. We will also need two sides cut to the length recorded as rocket length. Once cut lay out the sides and shelves to form a frame as seen below and line up the bank tubes. This is done to make sure your measurements are all correct and the bank tubes fit snuggly. If not, make any adjustments needed before continuing.



If your tubes fit snug we can prepare to drill our pilot holes that would support the rocket sticks keeping them straight. Place a carpenters square on the top shelf and mark the center of each tube as seen below. After all tubes are marked transfer the lines onto the face of the shelf.



Now divide the shelf into four equal sections lengthwise by marking the center, then dividing each section in half. If you like you can erase the center division it is no longer necessary. Where the lines intersect we need to drill pilot holes. Clamp two shelves together making sure the marked one is on top and drill the pilot with a one quarter inch drill bit as seen below.



Trace the pilot holes with a one inch butterfly bit this will give you enough space for the rockets to lift out of the banks without pulling the rocket next to them with it.



It’s time to re-assemble the rack and make sure all of our holes line up properly. We will need 8 side panels to hold everything together. The side panels will run from left to right covering each of the shelves and are tacked in place with an abundance of finishing nails.



When we started this project we stated two goals that must be accomplished for the rack to be successful. 1) We need a way of holding the rockets upright and ready to fly. 2) A method of passing fire from the main timed fuse to the rockets. Our passfire will consist of Visco style fuse up one side and down the other inserting a loop into each bank this will greatly simplify loading the rack. We can also select different speed fuse to speed up the sequence or slow it down depending on the effect we want to create.

To get started lay the rack on a flat surface. Using a one quarter inch drill bit, bore holes through the bottom lattice board side panel and tube bank for each tube as seen in the picture below. Now that you have drilled your holes take a piece of fuse and fold it in half length wise and insert it into the hole you just drilled. Does it slide in easily? If not you may need to widen the hole with a larger drill bit. If it slides in easily but fits snugly; congratulations! You’re done.



Loading your rack.
You will need a length of fuse at least four times longer then side of your rack don’t cut it from the roll. Fold the fuse over and push it into the portfire hole if you continue to push the fuse in it will form a loop and run all the way around the inside of the bank tube. This will fill the bank with fire ensuring that the fuses on the rockets take fire. Form another loop from the fuse and push it into the next portfire hole just as before, repeating this step for each bank up one side and down the other. Loading the rockets is as simple as dropping them into the bank tubes. To ensure reliability try to make sure the rockets fuses are touching the timing fuse loop. I like to load every other bank with a different variety of rocket ending with several banks loud whistling rockets.

More pictures will be added about how to fuse this rack

You may experiment with different types of Visco fuse. Visco fuses come in a wide variety of speeds from six seconds per inch to faster then 3 inches per second! You do not need to use the same fuse for all banks either starting with a slower fuse and then changing to a faster fuse later builds the intensity of the effect. The delay between banks will be the length of fuse between the portfire holes. For a spectacular grand finale type effect a new paper fuse has appeared on the market called super fast paper fuse this burns at approximately thirty six inches per second!


A word of caution
This rack should be placed far away from the audience as a safety precaution. When a rocket lifts out of a bank it may pull other rockets from that bank this can cause rockets to fly horizontally in any direction including at your audience. It is important to place this rack at least one third further from the audience then the any rockets maximum height at apogee. If you are unsure what an appropriate safe distance is consult a professional or do not use this rack!

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