Long, Slow Burn

A friend and I were preparing for our demonstration at Sawnee Elementary School on Monday and we were test launching a plain bottle. No fins, no doubled up bottle, no nose cone. Just the bottle. We loaded it onto the 1/2 inch launching tube just fine, however, the PVC collar wouldn’t stay up over the cable ties. It kept slipping down.

Now that I look at it today, I see that the flange is much smaller than the normal diameter of the flanges on a 2 liter bottle. A normal flange diameter is approximately 1 7/16 inches (37 mm). This flange measures 1 1/4 inches (32 mm). I think I’m going to sacrifice this bottle to the Fin God. It’s a green bottle so it was probably either Sprite or Mt Dew. I’ll pay closer attention next time I’m ripping off the label.

Moral of the story: (1) watch those flanges or (2) carry a different diameter collar with you. {grin}