New classes at academy for science and design!

[jflis]

It's a new season and I've been invited back to teach a beginner and an advanced rocketry class for the Academy for Science and Design (a local charter school).

We have the advanced classes Tuesday afternoons and the beginners on Thursday. Yesterday was our first advanced (4kids so far) and we spent the time explaining the course and some basic design considerations.

Some class requirements I've set for this class include:

Proper documentation including detailed parts list, overall dimensions (including weight), clean scale drawing showing internal components, full size fin patterns, etc
Based on weight, and an understanding of the motor thrust curves, they must select a proper motor selection
They must locate the CG and, using Barrowman, calculate the CP and show these on the drawings.
Further, they will help design a class launch controller and will then build it, learning basic electricity and soldering techniques. We will raffle this off at the end of the session.

Kids received a bag of parts (all different) with the restriction that their design can use only the parts in their packet.

Going to be a very intensive 9 weeks!

The beginner class will build the Rhino and learn basic stability and construction techniques. Will post photos as we go along.

Gonna be a good season!

 

[Fuse Eh!]

Looking forward to seeing those photos! Have a great season!!

 

[ckreef]

Sounds like an awesome advanced class can I sit in on it :wink:

 

[Daddyisabar]

This is great, a whole new generation of younglings and padawons learning rocketry the right way. Boy I sure wish I had some fancy education when I twas but a wee BAR, instead of having to grow up on the mean streets of the RSO table. Just tell them if they don’t learn it the right way they will start down a Dark path that will forever rule their destiny. Just look what I had to go through launching my last scratcher – the Dornier 217:



“Yes Sir, those canted motors at the front of the rocket, above the CG, will provide real flame fins to stabilize this airplane rocket with the other “fins” placed 180 degrees apart.”

“Yes sir, just under half the weight of the fully loaded rocket is nose weight. I kinda guessed at what I needed before I had to glue the nose cone on. I weighed all the stuff on the Weight Watchers food scale, it only weighs up to a pound and with the needle going over I’m guessing this one weighs about 20ish ounces. See here where my pinky is – that is about where the CP should be, and by holding it hear you see the CG is giving it something like a caliber of stability.”

“No sir, I do not have Rocksim. I use mindsim and hopesim.”

“That big fin - a - the wing – that is way forward, well it really makes this rocket look cool.”

“Yes those are square edges on the squishy, label papered balsa. Sorry for that bit of goo under the paper but my work area is a dirty, cluttered and unorganized mess.”

“Yes I made my canted motor tubes by using three small drops of CA on the tubes and centering ring and then shoved the home made mount into the Plasticine nose weight.”

“Yes those are tiny, stock Estes parachutes crammed into the plastic nosecones with lots of talc.”

“Sir, if you just fly the nose of the rocket, the rest of the rocket will follow behind for the ride and cause no problems.”

“Yes sir, if it breaks my plan is to reinforce the paper tubes by squirting them with super thin CA – cough – cough. PO BOY phenolic, that’s what they call it.”

“No sir, positive motor retention would weigh too much, requiring even more nose weight.”

“Widely spaced motors in external pods look really cool – and it works on the Space Shuttle!”

“Recovery via two tiny plastic chutes, violently blown out of a small space if the motor lights, will bring this bird down slow enough to at least avoid catastrophic damage.”

“Just a pinch of lovely dog barf above the motor is all I had room for.”

“Yes sir I realize those are Estes igniters but I just couldn’t afford those fancy Quest ones for this four engine cluster. But I have every confidence our old club system has enough juice to light them off.”

“Yes sir, I only used one heavy coat of primer, dry sanded. Cough – cough. I was going to use some sanding sealer but I had run out –cough –cough. But that wood filler does wonders a coverin’ up the sin. Cough – cough.”

“I’m sure the tail plane is sufficiently behind the motor exhaust that it will not catch of fire, I thought about that one a lot.”

“Yes sir, here is my rough penciled construction sketch. Don’t mind the little piece of black electrical tape placed over that one motor mount . . . that was just an idea and when I showed it to our certified Level 3 member he suggested blacking out the naughty bits before showing this sketch to anyone else.”

“It is made out of a Baby Bertha, Patriot, and mini DRM tubes and cones; I don’t know what the BT or PNC numbers are. I just hack on the parts until they fit.”

“I know the whole thing is a bit asymmetrical, but it should be OK.”

“If those little machine gun bits glued on to the surface get caught on the recovery gear they should just break off.”

“Yes sir, my primary concern for this rocket was that it looked good.”

"Yes, I am a Liberal Arts Major and have no engineering background."

“Everything will be OK if all the motors light at approximately the same time – no worries here. “ Actually I am scared beyond the means of rational thought.

“Yeah, I really think I need the power from all the motors to get her going fast enough off the rod.”

“Really, take her to the very back pad and be sure to call a double plus heads up! YES! He thinks it will work. I can fly again.”

 

[Pat_B]

Always enjoy seeing what you're doing with your various classes. It's nice to have an advanced class every so often. I've done a lot of local classes with various groups but never seem to be able to garner much interest in advanced topics. That's where the fun is!

 

[astroimgur]

Sounds like your students will all be lvl 3 ready when they graduate. :eyepop: Wish I could find a class like this in my area...I'm ready to start working for my lvl 1 cert.

 

[jflis]

My hope is to groom these kids for TARC in the very near future...

 

[jflis]

We had our beginner class yesterday. No pix as we haven't started building yet.

Introduced them to rocketry and the Rhino kit. Discovered that only about 1/4 of the kids have ever done rocketry before and 1 of them has had one of my classes before. Since he has already built a Rhino, I am going to bring him a Triskelion for something different.

The kids are excited, and so am I . Should be a good group!

Oh, and we also got our park permit for our launch at a local park ball field.

Good stuff!

 

[jflis]

Well, I haven't posted much cuz there hasn't been that much to post The 1 week I neglected to bring my camera and when I DID remember my camera, we got so caught up in what we were doing that I forgot to take any pictures! LOL

Starting to get some now, though, so here is a sampling.

First, the beginner class. We're building Rhino kits and have about 15 kids in the class. We're going slow so that the kids can learn a bit more about rocketry/rockets and, frankly, because we have the time

At this time, we have a single fin attached and have begun our parachutes. Below are some pictures and the following descriptions:

• As I say with MOST of my classes (cuz I HAVE to...), "there's one in every class..." LOL
• With one fin drying, we begin work on our parachutes. These kids are new to this so they don't know yet that parachutes are the curse of model rocketry.... But they WILL learn! LOL
• Understanding how the shroud lines work.

Last week the kids learned the value of glue filets as they assembled the engine mount. This week they learned the "double glue" method of attaching fins including having one kid try to attach the fin "old-school" so that they could see what they were missing...

Next up the advanced class.

 

[jflis]

What I love about advanced rocketry classes is that you get to see imaginations at work. Within the constraints of stability, and the limits of their bags of parts, these kids have full reign on what they want the final product to look like. Although they don't know it yet, near the end of the session I will make them each a decal sheet to dress up their models.

For those who missed it, each kid (there are 4 in this class) gets a custom bag of parts and they have to design their own model using just these parts. I made one exception. If they come up with a design that is marginally stable, but REALLY want *that* design, I will provide nose weight to bring it back into stability. The trick there is, THEY have to calculate how much nose weight they will need (not me!).

The first 2 classes were lessons on stability (CG/CP and an introduction to Barrowman), basic design considerations, parts and part numbering (defining), working with balsa (grain, shaping, filling, etc) and how parts go together (what adapters are for, what couplers are for, etc).

This past week they were finishing there designs and getting them to the point where they could actually begin cutting parts. Some of the designs they are coming up with are incredible and we're having a great time.

Here are some pix:

• Another thing i LOVE about advanced classes is you see kids using tools you RARELY see in model rocketry! Here, this young man is using a graphing calculator to optimize his fin size to use up the greatest amount of balsa. It's an odd fin shape, with curves, and he wants to make them as big as possible, but he knows they must fit on the sheet provided. And he DOES know how to drive that calculator, let me tell you!
• Checking their scale drawings and the provided list of cone and tube sizes, the kids make minor corrections to their drawings and begin drawing up full size fin patterns.
• An example of one of the designs, making use of 6 short tube-fins that will have to be cut. Another design has tube fins cut at an angle. Great stuff!

Also, in case you missed it, the end product here is not just a flying model rocket, but a full set of clear and complete documentation including a scale drawing, full parts list, pattern sheet and any special instructions that may be needed. The kids have their work cut out for them. This is probably the only after-school program they've ever been in that included HOME WORK! LOL

We're on winter recess right now so no more updates till next week!

jim

 

[jflis]

Classes are going strong!

The beginner class has finished the basic construction of their Rhino kits. The only thing remaining is installing the shock cord mount and attaching the parachute and shock cord. This will allow us to spend the next 2 sessions painting!

The advanced class has finished their designs are are hip deep in constructing. We spent most of this past week cutting fins and tube fins. We will begin attaching fins and such to the models this coming week.

Also, I have posted the Photo Album for this class and hope to update it at the end of each week. Check it out!

Here are a couple of more pictures:

• Learning how to sand curved fins with sand paper wrapped around a tube coupler
• Nearly perfect job on those fins! Good stuff!
• Beginners finishing up their rockets in hopes of painting next week.
• Now that's a whole box of fun, right there!

 

[jflis]

This past week we began final assembly with the advanced kids and will finish them up next week. They are also tasked with calculating the CP of their designs and we hope to compare that to the Cut-Out method.

The beginner class began painting their models and we will finish that next week.

The week after that, weather permitting, we fly! If not, then we have a rain date for the following week.

I have uploaded the latest set of pictures (from our main page click on PHOTO ALBUMS then ASD). Here are a couple from this past week.

Good stuff!

 

[Pat_B]

Lots of neat activity Jim!

 

[jflis]

The beginners have finished their models! Weather permitting, we will launch next Thursday . Here's a pix of them and their models. The full photo album has been updated and you can see it on our web site.

The advanced class didn't make any progress this week as we had a snow day and the class was canceled. So, next week we will finish them!

 

[jflis]

Well, this week the advanced class finished the assembly of Their rockets. Their designs came out great! (see attached pic)

The beginners got to fly there Rhino's and we had a ball! I've attached a few pix, but you can see the full set on the photo album on our site

Next week we fly the advanced rockets and meet one more time with the beginners.

The week after that we begin our next session! Don't know about the beginners but the advanced class will be doing the ACME Spitfire

Good stuff! If you've never held a rocket session with a group of kids, you really need to add that to your bucket list

 

[SteveA]

They look great Jim! My first class is about to finish theirs and have another class at an area grade school next week. I love this time of the year.

 

[jflis]

We got the advanced kids out to launch and it was fantastic! All of their designs flew perfectly! That concludes the winter session at ASD. On Monday we begin our Spring session. The advanced class will be building the A.C.M.E. Spitfire while the beginners will build the custom designed "Down the Tubes"

All of the photos are posted on our site. Here are a couple...

Keep watch!