Hello!
I've been having problems, mainly with machining and in general when trying
to make a hybrid nitrous-paraffin ground only rocket engine it's been quite
rough, and the lack of a mentor and machining knowledge has led to about
three weeks worth of work just being a couple of tubes. I have been trying
to cut o-ring grooves for probably about 6 hours, and have just completely
failed. I technically have a couple of grooves in the outer tube, but I
worry that if I purchase lower profile o-rings that it still won't be
sufficient sealant and it will just be a glorified bomb when I go to ground
test it. That's the other issue, the last chance I really have to test it
is on october 30th, and that deadline has me kind of cramming, and the
absolute last thing I want to do is to rush it, and make a bomb instead of
a rocket engine. I've also been bad and skimped a little on the math and
other parts for time, and my plan really just boils down to shoving nitrous
through a tube with paraffin, standing very far away, and hoping for the
best.
Is it worth it to try and continue with this subpar design, or should I
scrap it and pick it up later when I have more time / experience?
I really want to do this, but I also want to know if it's going to actually
be severely dangerous or just have no chance at success. How much can you
bodge a rocket engine and still have it work ok?
Thanks.
- Jack