ZeptoBlog

Well I’ve done it. I signed up for the Sparkfun AVC. So what is it? The competitors have to build an autonomous vehicle that can circumnavigate the Sparkfun building. The fastest time wins. Sounds easy enough, right?

Here is my entry so far:

So far all it is using is a compass and a multiplexer so I can switch it back and forth from manual to compass driven steering.

Keep watching for more information.

For a while now I have been shooting rockets with my kids down at the park. It’s fun and we get the bug once or twice a year to go out and shoot some more. I have a friend who has taken it to the next level and joined a model rocket club and gotten his Level 1 certification for high power rockets. This is getting serious. So I am getting the bug to step up my game. I went out to my local club launch the other day and I got more excited. My problem is that it gets expensive quick and I don’t really want to spend $20 or more for each rocket engine that I use. So I am in the research stage right now. It turns out that there are a lot of different angles when it comes to rocketry. I am going to use this post as a way to store links to sites that I find useful or at least interesting. If these links are useful to you then let me know.

general rocketry information
Rocketry Planet
Rocket Reviews

rocketry parts
Red Arrow Hobbies
Estes Rocketry
learningthings.com
HobbyLinc seem to have good discounts on rockets
Apogee Rockets

rocket motors / rocket fuels / rocket chemicals
RCS
Musketeer (black powder)
making charcoal
Sky Lighter
ODA (ignition)
Aerocon (nichrome)
Quickburst (ematch)
Quickburst (pyrogen)
shock cords
Firefox FX
Pyro Creations

build your own rocket motor
James Yawn
black powder motor

local rocketry club
Superstition Spacemodeling Society
rocket doc

What is a Carbide Cannon? As it turns out, if you take some Calcium Carbide and mix it with water, it produces lime (which settles in the water) and Acetylene gas. Acetylene gas is explosive. I’ll bet you are already thinking of how to make use of that information. Well, we gave our boys a book for Christmas called Backyard Ballistics. You are probably thinking that we are bad parents for teaching our 9 and 11 year old boys stuff like that. Your probably right. The book shows you how to make a cannon that will make a lot of noise as it generates and acetylene gas that you ignite. Here are some pictures of my cannon that I built.

My first attempt did not fire. I think the ignition hole is too big and let the acetylene out too fast. I stuffed a little paper towel in the hole and it worked great.

This is my first successful firing of the carbide cannon: I leaned over it when it went off and nearly took out my eye. Not too smart.

So I did it a second time.