IEBPROJECT CASE STUDY
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A CAD render of a short tan cylinder with vertical slots cut in its wall and a grey disc with radial openings on top

Model-rocketry conceptDrawing 23 of 47

Reaction
Wheel

A reaction wheel sized to slide into a model rocket's body tube, done as a proof of concept. It only exists as a CAD assembly and a teardown animation. I never built it, so this page is short.

Sheet 02 of 05/Idea

How a reaction wheel works

A reaction wheel spins a flywheel one way so the body around it turns the other way, because the total angular momentum has to stay the same.

An animation of the cylindrical reaction wheel module disassembling itself, lifting off the top disc, then the plates, standoffs and rails, leaving a small motor on the base
PL 02A 30 second animation that takes the assembly apart, part by part, down to the motor. It's the one thing this project produced.
A CAD render of the module with its outer shell removed, showing a white circular plate held above the tube on a ring of short standoffs
PL 03Inside the module, a plate sits on a ring of standoffs, and slotted rails down the tube wall locate it.

Sheet 03 of 05/Design

What the CAD shows

I drew it as one module that slides into the body tube already assembled, instead of a set of parts fitted around the rocket. That's the one decision I'd still stand behind.

Sheet 04 of 05/Not done

What I didn't do

I never sized a motor or worked out any inertia numbers, so there's no way to know if it would have turned the rocket.

Sheet 05 of 05/Next time

If I picked it up again

I'd start on a bench instead of in a rocket, and see how far the body turns once the wheel spins up.