In order to create the clay nozzles and fuel grains, you need to hammer them into place. To do that, I’ll need to create tamps with proper shapes and clearances for the nozzle, spindles, etc. Each motor uses 4 different tamps, and they are made from nylon plastic in order to be lightweight and durable. This also makes them a hell of a lot safer than making them from steel, since in the worst possible situation (where the motor spontaneously ignites during the ramming process) the tamps will simply shoot out the top of the motor rather than exploding into metal shrapnel. These are relatively easy to make, provided you happen to have aircraft-length drill bits (18″). Also, the nylon does not make a nice chip on the lathe and turns into a mass of spaghetti, but to combat that, just stop every once in a while and don’t let it build up like I did 😛
