Take me to the Steps

Don’t have the time or enough PVC pipe to build a heavy-duty launcher for your paper rocket? Don’t worry, you can launch a rocket with just a short piece of pipe, a recycled pile of “trash,” and a little bit of tape. It works a lot like the kind of Stomp Rocket you may have seen at the toy store, but you can make this one yourself!

The instructions below are just for the launcher. If you want to know more about making a rocket, we’ve used this template for the Compressed Air Rockets, adapted from a design by Rick Schertle. You’ll need paper and masking tape to build those, but you can put just about anything on this launcher. See step 10 of the Compressed Air Rocket project to learn more about making a paper rocket that fits on this design.

milkjuglauncher

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Project Steps

Collect your materials.

Use a bike inner tube that is beyond repair. It’s fine if it’s full of pinprick leaks that you don’t want to patch. I pumped mine up first to make sure that I used the worst of my collection of old inner tubes.

You may want to have a spare milk jug or two around, too, as the plastic may break after repeated launches.

Remove the valve.

Cut the inner tube on each side of the valve.

Attach the tube to the milk jug.

Stretch one end of the tube over the mouth of the milk jug. This may require extra strength from an adult. Try to get it far down over a ridge.

Add some duct tape around it to keep it snug.

Attach tube to pipe.

Wrap the other end of the tube around one end of the pipe.

Add some duct tape around this end of the tube it to keep it snug and minimize air leaks.

Make a rocket!

The instructions below are just for the launcher. If you want to know more about making a rocket, we’ve used this template for the Compressed Air Rockets, adapted from a design by Rick Schertle. You need paper and masking tape to build those, but you can put just about anything on this launcher. See step 10 of the Compressed Air Rocket project to learn more about making a paper rocket that fits on this design.

Rocket instructions:

https://makezine.com/projects/make-15/compressed-air-rocket/

Template:

http://cdn.makezine.com/uploads/2014/06/rocket-form-template.pdf

TIP: have extra pieces of pipe with the same diameter to use as a physical form, so you can wrap your paper at the right tightness–not too tight (or it won’t be able to slide off) and not too loose (or the air will escape out the back instead of propelling it forward.)

Put your rocket on the end of the pipe.

Slide the rocket over the open end of the pipe, but not as far down as the duct tape.

Prepare for Launch!

Hold the pipe over the duct tape. Make sure you’re not touching the rocket.

Aim the rocket up … or at least away from everyone else.

Lay the tube flat so that there are no kinks or folds in your line that would slow your launch.

Count down to BLAST OFF!

Pick the person who can stomp the hardest. Or find a place to grab onto something while you jump onto the jug with all your weight. You need a lot of force to crush the milk jug!

Count down: 3….2….1….

Jump onto the jug and watch your rocket fly!

Refuel the launch pad.

Wash off the pipe’s end with soap and water, dry it off, and blow air back into the jug so you’ll have some “fuel” to launch the next rocket.