Batch Box - First Test Fire Success

It was an exciting day yesterday as I dry assembled my firebricks into a 6” batch rocket core for my first test burn before I fine tune my masonry bell design and begin the actual build in my shop. It took under an hour to get temperature into the brick and a bed of coals, awakening the dragon. I placed a thermocouple through one of the IFB’s in the 2nd course of brick down from the top of the riser to monitor temps. The batchbox door was just stacked brick which I fiddled with throughout the burn. One of the details that I’ll need to continue to test are the air intake sizes. Being at 8,000’ is significantly different from being at around sea level where much of the work was done to determine intake sizes.

The test performance really exceeded my expectations and I think it was a big success. I ran the test for a little over 2 hours and achieved a peak temperature of just under 1,500 F. I’m anxious to proceed to the next phase of the build. Many thanks to Dr. Thomas Rubino (Rocket Scientist) for his advice and encouragement.

Great start Glenn;
Seeing my young intern get his first look at a dragon in full flight is so satisfying!
I will start immediately on all the paperwork to promote you to a journeyman Rocket scientist.
Your certificate, lab coat, and pocket protector will arrive just as soon as we have such things...
Until then, keep up the good work and keep us posted with plenty of pictures.