The Rutherford rocket engine for the Electron orbital rocket is said to be
almost entirely 3D printed, including the pumps,so I assume so is the
injector.
K
On Tue, Aug 11, 2020 at 10:43 PM Brian Feeney <alaiadesign@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Would 3D metal printing of the injector head / holes help with the Burr
problem.
Do post printing cleaning up of the hole walls, injector face.
There would be several other benefits to 3D printing the whole engine,
even in a few pieces, as in the saddle jacket over traditional methods.
Costs have come down quite a bit and several companies seem to be doing
this as a preferred approach.
Cheers,
Brian Feeney
On Wed, Aug 12, 2020 at 1:31 AM ken mason <laserpro1234@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Jon, one other fabrication technique that is unique and worthy of
mentioning because it's viable even on a small scale and has flown 100's of
times to orbit
that being the RM-81 Agena rocket engine of 16KLbF,or 71KN. The nozzle
shown in the pic is drilled from a solid billet at a hypoid pattern. Since
the nozzle contour is the most difficult part of the rocket engine to
manufacture this technique makes the process much easier. Once fabricated
the chamber can be configured in a number of ways like two concentric tubes
with the aforementioned helix cooling coil forming the cooling channel(s).
It does take experience in drilling long deep holes where the bit can
wander w/o proper technique. Peck drilling is ideal here. The beauty of the
hypoid pattern is the cooling hole density is greatest at the throat just
where the heat flux is greatest. The Agena nozzle is made from lightweight
easy to machine/drill aluminum which conveniently has good thermal
conductivity.
K
On Sun, Aug 9, 2020 at 10:21 PM Jonathan Adams <jonadams2002@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
How would one, particularly on an amateur scale go about manufacturing
the thrust chamber for a small liquid-propellant rocket engine?
I was wondering this because it seems like a difficult component to
manufacture, as a longer combustion chamber would be difficult to machine
via CNC turning or a similar process due to complications with removing
shrapnel from inside the chamber as it is being machined.
