Soda Bottle Rocket and Stand

Today, my friend and I will teach you how to create a soda bottle rocket and stand out of cheap materials.

Here are the materials:

Materials for the Rocket:

1. 2 Two liter soda bottles

2. Glue or duct tape

3. Weights for the front of the rocket

Materials for the stand

1. Two end caps

2. Valve stem

3. Heavy heavy duty glue

4. Bike floor pump

5. PVC pipe and 1 tee and 1 elbow

6. 7' normal PVC pipe

7. Strong tape

8. 2 male thread adapters.

Step 1: Building the T Shaped Part of the Launcher

1. Cut your PVC pipe into 4 segments that are 3',1',1', and 4 inches.

2. Take one of your end caps and drill a hole into it in the center. This hole should be large enough to put the valve stem through.

3. Use something like barge cement or bathtub sealer on the outside of the valve stem to glue the stem in on the inside.

4. Put the valve stem end cap and the other end cap on the ends of both of the 1' sections of PVC pipe.

5. Put the other ends of the PVC pipe into the PVC tee

6. Screw one of the male thread adapters into the base of the tee

7. This should create the T shaped part of the launcher.

Step 2: Building the L Shaped Part of the Launcher

1. Take the 3' section of PVC pipe and glue one end of it into the PVC elbow.

2. Take the 4 inch section of PVC pipe and glue one end of it into the other end of the PVC elbow

3. Glue the other male thread adapter to the end of the 4 inch section of PVC pipe so that the thread is not in the pipe it is in the air for the bottle

Step 3: Completing the Launcher

1. Glue the other end of the 3' piece of PVC into the end of the male thread adapter from the T shaped launcher and make sure that when you glue it the end of the L shaped launcher is straight up in the air. If it is not straight the rocket will not go straight up in the air

Step 4: Building the Rocket

1. Cut the top off of one of the soda bottles and glue it to the bottom of the other 2 liter bottle.

2. Make three fins of any design that you would like while making sure that they are as even as you can get them

3. Glue the fins onto the rocket

4. Put some sort of weight into the nose cone that you glued onto the bottom of the bottle (We recommend using small rocks/pebbles as weights)

5. You may add any other designs you want to the rocket such as color.

Step 5: Launching the Rocket

1. Attach a bicycle pump or air compressor to the end of the valve stem

2. Fill the bottle about 1/4 to 1/3 full of water

3. Screw the soda bottle rocket onto the male thread adapter at the end of the L shaped portion of the launcher.

4. Pump the bicycle pump until your rocket has enough pressure in it that it can launch

5. Make sure everybody is at a safe distance form the rocket