We discovered throught Google+ that Craig Bonsignore has been doing a great weekend project… 3D printing rockets and launching them with compressed air!
Below is a short video of a successful launch. The rocket landed right besides the launch platform:
A great way to spend a sunny afternoon! And it’s a nice bonus that those PLA-plastic scraps will biodegrade (eventually). Also, as with any adventure, this is not without peril. As with any decent experiment, it’s always nice to have things explode. Be sure to see the ‘bloopers’. Maybe add a little parachute in the next version?
The bamboo-skewer tipped paper rocket was the only surviver in the fleet. It wasn’t 3D printed…. but was fabricated primarily from the same blue tape used on the bed of my Ultimaker! Some more pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cbonsig/sets/72157630700398094 … The launcher is from Make: Vol 15, and instructions are here: http://makeprojects.com/Project/Make-Compressed-Air-Rockets-Kit/2235/1#.UA4jrDGe5sE