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There are different ways to eject parachutes from water rockets. The technique we like to use is called Side Deployment (aka Horizontal Deployment) wh...
Get a clean bottle with a nice aerodynamic shape and straight sides. Remove the label and clean off the glue with mineral turpentine.
Cut off the neck and the base off the bottle.
Glue half a ping pong ball into the hole left by the neck of the bottle. This gives the nosecone a nice rounded shape. If you are using different size...
Cut two circles out of some Corriflute sheet. You can find this stuff almost everywhere. Old signs make a good source.WARNING: In the interest of pub...
Next, cut 4 strips of cardboard and bend them 90 degrees along their lengths to make four 'L' shaped brackets.
Glue these to the edges of the V with contact glue as shown in the photograph.
Now, make all the necessary holes in the V to support your release mechanism. You can use a Tomy timer, or as we are using here an RC servo motor conn...
Cut out another smaller rectangle (the ejection plate) from the Corriflute sheet. This will be used to eject the parachute. Make sure the corrugations...
This lets you to place the rubber bands inside the corrugations. Use a piece of tape to close the cuts again.NOTE: When attaching the rubber bands to ...
Securely attach all your release mechanism components to the V.
Glue the V to the two previously cut out circles.
You want to make sure that no pieces are overhanging the circles because you will need to be able to slide the entire assembly into the nosecone aero-...
Keep the inside of the V clear of all major protrusions. You can mount things like batteries in the far end of the V.
Slide the mechanism into the aero-shell. You can push it up as far as it can go. This will stop it from moving upwards when the rocket starts decelera...
On the aero-shell, mark out the boundary of the mechanism where the parachute will come out.NOTE: You should make the hole only a little smaller than ...
Now cut out all the necessary holes. We often only make small holes for the switches to help streamline the aero-shell. To make small holes just heat ...
Next we make the support ring for the mechanism. This holds the mechanism in place against positive G's. Cut a cylindrical section from another bottle...
Curl one end of the section on an old frying pan on low heat. You can use the curling technique shown in the Splicing Video.
Trim the bottom of the section so there is approximately 1 or 2 cm of straight wall left.
Glue the entire mechanism to the top of the support ring.
Fit the rubber bands into the holes made earlier along the edge of the V. We use two skewer sticks on the edges to give the rubber bands a nice rounde...
Detail showing how the rubber band is threaded. Experiment with the rubber band size to give you different tension on the ejection plate.
You can add extra tape to the base to ensure a good join between the mechanism and support ring. (Silver tape shown here)
The parachute door comes next. How this is attached and how the door latch mechanism works will depend on your design. The door hinge can be on the si...
Cut out the door so that it is at least 5mm bigger than the hole all the way around. Often you can use the same bottle that you made the support ring ...
Attach the door to the aero-shell. This can be achieve with strong tape. You may want to use a piece of cloth instead that is glued to the door and sh...
Now its time to make the other side of the latch that holds the door. This is made from a strip of left over PET bottle used to make the door and supp...
After securing the plastic loops with wire, cut out the slot for the door latch with a craft knife. Make sure the door loop is a couple of mm smaller ...
Using some long nose pliers turn a paperclip into the latch pin as shown. Make sure the end of the pin is sanded or filed to a nice smooth finish to s...
Insert the latch pin through the latch and door, and tape the latch to the aero-shell. This makes sure that the latch and door are well aligned.NOTE: ...
The aero-shell is now almost complete.
Attach a length of string to the servo motor arm. (horn). Use a fairly strong thread or nylon line.
Insert the mechanism into the nosecone and thread the string through the appropriate hole above the latch.Insert the pin in the latch and attach the s...
Okay time to go get some coffee here comes the tricky bit.Now test the mechanism to see if it unlatches the door. You can cut the pin to length or adj...
To secure the mechanism inside the aero-shell just tape the support ring to the inside wall of the aero-shell. You could secure it in other ways if yo...
The side deployment nosecone is now complete. You just need to attach the parachute to the rocket. Tying the parachute string somewhere near the cente...
All that remains is packing the parachute and the nosecone is ready for flight. We normally tape the nosecone to a pressure tested bottle and keep the...
For lots more instructions, and videos on how to build water rockets please visit:http://www.AirCommandRockets.comhttp://www.AirCommandRockets.com
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