So seeing this, I've got two thoughts:
1) It sounds like you're a little burned out and tired. Try to get some
sleep... step away from the project and do something else to clear your
mind.
2) It seems like you're worried about your rocket engine failing and that
becoming a safety hazard. One of the things I've learned over the years
with this stuff is that things fail and you need to still be safe when
things fail. This means that your safety plan can't be, "I need to make it
so good that it won't turn into a bomb". Instead you should be thinking
about your safety plan such that if your motor becomes a bomb no one is
hurt.
So here's what I would do... take a little break and clear your mind.
Revise your safety plan/setup. Do the best you can on your rocket motor.
Then setup video cameras and potentially watch a cool disaster from a safe
distance and possibly behind a berm (or whatever your revised safety plan
suggests).
Hopefully this helps some and maybe relieves some of the stress.
Joe
On Fri, Oct 15, 2021 at 9:17 AM Jack Hanna <jackhannaofficial@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
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