Nose weight. 4oz of metal vs 4oz of clay, is one safer than the other?

Recently had a 'close call' @ FITS when my nose cone separated at apogee. It came in hot into the camp, and lawn darted. buried itself a couple inches into the ground. No person or property was hurt, thank God.

I had ~4oz of clay as the nose weight. The nose tip containing the weight held up fine- was still intact. So, let's say this lawn darted into somebody's vehicle. Would 4oz of metal done any more damage? I don't think it would have.

The reason I'm asking is it's time to replace the nose cone, and upon the advice of some fellow rocketeers I'm planning on running kevlar into the nose tip, pinning it, and burying it in steel or lead shot saturated in epoxy. I feel this will almost eliminate the chance of separation, and will lead to a safer rocket overall.

However, I am hesitant to fill a pointy tipped nose cone with metal... It sounds bad, but in all reality *if* separation occurred I feel it would do the same amount of damage as almost any other nose weight.

Thoughts?

At those speeds, shot encased in epoxy is going to behave very similarly to clay. Won't make a bit of difference.

4ozs is 4ozs when its in a nose cone the outer part is rigid, doesn't make a difference wether its metal or clay the rigid part is going to be doing the damage.

Yes 4oz is 4oz, however..

I have found clay has a tendency to shift in the NC, thus changing the CG ratio. Metal I can bond into place a lot more reliably.
OTOH, clay will deform and my lessen damages. Metal is full-on. Of course this depends on the rigidity of the NC.

This was just an Estes plastic nose cone, and it hit hard. Buried the tip in the ground. Clay wasn't deformed a bit.

TBSSJoe said:

This was just an Estes plastic nose cone, and it hit hard. Buried the tip in the ground. Clay wasn't deformed a bit.

Click to expand...

My thoughts? You posted this in the High Power Rocketry where Estes plastic nose cones are not often discussed. Assuming you have a high power rocket, I'm wondering why you are using a plastic Estes nose cone and adding a quarter pound of stability correcting weight when a nose cone better suited for High Power (LOC, Madcow, etc.) probably wouldn't need a lump of lead or clay at all...

Worth considering: In shooting sports, the statement goes 'Every bullet fired from a gun has a lawyer attached". Rocketry falls into that same category so one should act accordingly. Be safe.

Valid point. You're probably right. This was on a Leviathan that was shortened to a Big Daddy. This particular flight was on a G, but I was getting ready for an H. I didn't think the nose cone would take *that* much load. Obviously I was wrong.

Many people have done their L1 certs on Estes Levathans.

It won't make any difference from a kinetic energy standpoint, however use steel shot not lead shot. Lead is toxic to animals and steel is not.

Bob

bobkrech said:

It won't make any difference from a kinetic energy standpoint, however use steel shot not lead shot. Lead is toxic to animals and steel is not.

Bob

Click to expand...

if you are using a farmer's field, avoid metal all together. Last thing you need is the farmer complaining his machinery got damaged and you can't use the field anymore.