2 replies to this topic

[paul 1]

Hi all,

I’m a new member to the forum and I must say it is reassuring to know that so many people show an interest in pyrotechnics. In my teens (some time ago) I was heavily into pyro and had no end of fun. What stopped me was the uncertainty about the legality of the hobby. We seem to be in a situation in the UK where any hobby not involving kicking a ball around a field is considered weird. It was pyro that originally attracted me to a career in science and it still heavily interests me.

I’ve always wanted to experiment with composite solid rocket propellant based on the NH4ClO4-Al-HTPB formulations but I find myself perturbed in not knowing that is legal and not. Can anyone shed some light on this? In fact are their any clubs in the North West which test flight rockets with experimental propellant? I always found the motors you buy for model rockets quite lame and my interest in this soon died.

I find the situation all quite confusing sometimes. A guy at Salford University makes some whopper sized rockets using sugar-NaClO3 and his firings are occasionally shown on local news. This is clearly legal otherwise it would have been picked up on. What’s the deal?

Paul

[Richard H]

The simplest answer I can give (since other people have posted this information in much more detail countless times), is that you can not manufacture more than 100g of propellent / pyrotechnic composition at any one time, and that what you can do with that composition in terms of making a rocket motor or performing some manufacturing operation upon it, is at best a grey area.

Small scale experimentation is probably not going to cause you any problems provided you observe safety precautions, have a healthy respect for your neighbours, and conduct yourself in a responsible manner.

With regard to Steve Bennett, it is doubtful that the large rockets he was making were indeed powered by weed killer and sugar. I think that myth was part of the mystique he generated following his sponsorship by Tate & Lyle. I know for a fact he was using commercial Aerotech high power composite motors in some of his flights. These same motors are used by many UK rocketeers.

[BigG]

Please Search before posting. There are a number of very long legal threads that talk about the law. No need to open a new thread for that.