Best rocketry tools - What is yours?

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Pricey:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000HI5WUS/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

but I'll have to get one. I've been using these, but only on LOC paper tubing, $6.99 for five:

Diamond Rotary Cutting Discs 5 Pc

https://www.harborfreight.com/diamond-rotary-cutting-discs-5-pc-69657.html

5pc diamond rotary cutting discs even cheaper from Amazon. I'm buying some of these with my next order from them which will also include the Dremel 543:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000P49NCC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
 
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My brain, my hands, from there it could a wide variety of tools. I would argue my Dremel. What is next on the tool parade is a drill press followed by a router and router table.
 
Microlux sabre saw with pressure table. Makes quick work of cutting fins from thick balsa, basswood, or thin plywood.

X-Acto razor saw and mitre box for cutting small parts and airframe tube.

Dritz cutting mat.
 
Copied the post below from a thread 5 years ago on Sanding Blocks.

But after the Red Devil sanding block, I would rate a Dremel Moto-tool as second.

Although we are pretty much overlooking some "given" standard tools, like a modeling knife and good straight edge/ruler.

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?8648-Sanding-Blocks

My favorite Sanding block is the one in the attached photo.

mtDNOw3.jpg


By “Red Devil”, #3319. I have in the past found it in Ace Hardware type stores, but not sure about recently so call first if you are thinking of going to get one.

Online listing:
https://www.reddevil.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1155#.VX02klVViko

The paper clamps onto the block. It uses a 4.25 x 5.5” sheet of sandpaper (so, it uses a 1/4 piece from a 8.5 x 11” sheet of sandpaper)

The block has a rubber pad about 1/8” thick, but I do not like that. So, I remove the rubber pad so the block is flat and sturdy.

Now when I say this is my favorite sanding block, I do not mean favorite of several types. What I really mean is I have never used anything as good as this, so this is the only kind of sanding block I use..... unless I've misplaced one of them or forgot to bring one to a launch.

I use this for sanding fins, wings, glider parts, helicopter (Rotaroc) blades, pretty much everything that a flat type of sanding block can be used for. Been using this kind of sanding block since the early 1970’s.

- George Gassaway
 
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Really enjoying learning what you guys are finding as great tools. Coming from the racing industry, a lot of tools simply didn't exist - you had to make them.

There are so many good tips in here! New purchase tools, repurposed tools - even interested in those homemade tools.

Keep them coming, thanks!
 

I've seen those. For most of my sanding needs, what I like in a sanding block is a flat hard surface (which is why I remove the 1/8" rubber backing that comes with the block). Though I can see that for some things the spongy blocks could be useful.

A nice thing about the Red Devil block is how easy it is to replace the sandpaper, using the clamping lever.
 
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I can't imagine building rockets without double-sided tape. I get mine in two sizes from the Golfsmith store. #1 tool by a mile!

Jim
 
I can't imagine building rockets without double-sided tape. I get mine in two sizes from the Golfsmith store. #1 tool by a mile!Jim

Now you might have to splain this double sided tape fave. I' have some, but fail to see where it can apply in low or mid power rocketry.
 
Now you might have to splain this double sided tape fave. I' have some, but fail to see where it can apply in low or mid power rocketry.

I'd guess that about half my double-sided tape consumption is in the two sanding blocks in the pic. The small one just seems superior to me compared to any block where the sandpaper is just held in place on the ends. I use the large flat board for sanding the ends of tubes flat, sanding fins flat or beveled, or whatever. I need devices that let me sand things perfectly flat, and these do that.

I attach sandpaper to body tubes to sand conformal shapes. I attach sandpaper to dowels to sand fillets. Etc., etc., on the sandpaper.

I use a lot of double-sided tape with the drill press to hold things where clamps won't fit. Holding a bulkhead to drill the center hole is one of many examples.

I use double-sided tape with my router, again, where clamps won't work. I have a jig that I use to bevel fins. I attach the fin to the jig with the tape, pass it over the bit, and the job is done. Takes 10 minutes to perfectly bevel 4 G10 fins.

There are easily a 100 other ways I use double sided tape. There are obviously alternatives for most all of them, but the tape often does the trick.

I can imagine less usefulness for low/mid power rocketry, as you have to be able to separate the parts from the tape (not easy with cardboard or balsa), but for the things I do, it's really handy.

Jim

Sand.jpg
 
Hmm great idea Jim, I never thought of that.

CW - I really like those blocks as well

The great George G. & Dave Carver - definitely a tool I will be ordering. My rocket budget just busted along with upcoming Father's Day sales my LDRS funds are dropping

I also like dowels of every size
 
The Estes grey plastic fin alignment jig. Good for builds, and also good for repairs, as you can put the intact fins into position and guarantee the re-attachment is perfectly positioned. It also makes a great painting stand; just wrap the base in newspaper then poke the 13 casing through the paper into the center hole.

I have to get my lathe set up (which means finding the pieces) and clean off my workbench.
 
Everyone's mentioning build tools, and there is some great stuff there. But at a launch, the only tool I take with me is my multitool. Use the pliers to pull the staples out of the motor package, use the knife to cut open the Mylar bag, use the small, slotted screwdriver to put in shear pins, use the medium screwdriver to turn on the altimeter at the pad.

Clip mine on my belt, and it's the only tool I need all day.
 
I need a tool that will get my line straight for the nosecone paint always tricky trying to get a line straight around the curve.
Like painting a tip
A tube. Paint the tip color first, then just hold a tube over the tip and paint below it. And it can be a flimsy tube rolled out of a single sheet of copy paper, so you can easily roll whatever size you need.
 
I'd really have to say a good fin alignment jig. Everything really falls together nicely...except the fins.
Especially surface mounted fins on LPR.
Even with TTW fins, it's nice to have a jig that will hold them at the correct right angle to the penetration of the air frame.
 
I use my Dremel a lot. A great tool for rocketry. Had mine for over 10 years, I think the bearings are going out though.
 
I'd really have to say a good fin alignment jig. Everything really falls together nicely...except the fins.
Especially surface mounted fins on LPR.
Even with TTW fins, it's nice to have a jig that will hold them at the correct right angle to the penetration of the air frame.

Where the grey plastic Estes one won't do, I've cut jigs out of foam board. (Corrugated cardboard is probably just as good.) Draw the pattern in a drawing program so you can be sure of the angles, glue the print to the foam board, and cut. The cutting is the part prone to errors; anything I do freehand is prone to errors. (I really suck.) So that would be a another great reason to have access to a laser cutter.
 
Everyone's mentioning build tools, and there is some great stuff there. But at a launch, the only tool I take with me is my multitool. Use the pliers to pull the staples out of the motor package, use the knife to cut open the Mylar bag, use the small, slotted screwdriver to put in shear pins, use the medium screwdriver to turn on the altimeter at the pad.

Clip mine on my belt, and it's the only tool I need all day.
Yes! Incredibly useful both at the range and for those times when I don't want to hunt for a proper screwdriver or pliers. I'm using the Leatherman Juice S2 -- bought it twice since the TSA took one.
 
Good general stuff for tech hobbies:

[video=youtube;YBQp04glQqc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBQp04glQqc[/video]
 
God. He blesses me with a job to make money to spend. He gives me a brain and a steady hand. He gives me patience for tedious projects. He allows me time for my hobbies. He brings me joy every time I purchase, build or launch a rocket.
 
OK, I know some people don't like it when I get pedantic, but sometimes I just can't help it.

Your hands and brain are not tools. They are parts of you, and what they can do are your intrinsic abilities. Tools are the things we make to extend our intrinsic abilities. We can all dream up new rocket designs, but many of us depend on computers to work out the details and ensure they will (probably) fly right. We can hold tubes, balsa sheets, etc. in our hands, but we need knives or saws or something to cut them to length and to shape. Etc. It's only those ability extenders that are tools.

And God - if you believe that stuff - is even further from being one of our tools. As the source of our intrinsic abilities, He is a step away from the objects that extend those abilities since the "chain of creation" if you will goes God -> us -> our tools. While He my provide rocketry related miracles, like the safe recovery of a rocket after the main chute opens over a mile up, those would be things that He hath done, not things that we used a tool to do. (Besides, who really wants to say "God is such a tool"?)

So you hands, your brain, and your deities may be important, but they are not tools, and so they are not germane to this thread.

OK, I'm done now. Sorry.
 
OK, I know some people don't like it when I get pedantic, but sometimes I just can't help it.

Your hands and brain are not tools. They are parts of you, and what they can do are your intrinsic abilities. Tools are the things we make to extend our intrinsic abilities. We can all dream up new rocket designs, but many of us depend on computers to work out the details and ensure they will (probably) fly right. We can hold tubes, balsa sheets, etc. in our hands, but we need knives or saws or something to cut them to length and to shape. Etc. It's only those ability extenders that are tools.

And God - if you believe that stuff - is even further from being one of our tools. As the source of our intrinsic abilities, He is a step away from the objects that extend those abilities since the "chain of creation" if you will goes God -> us -> our tools. While He my provide rocketry related miracles, like the safe recovery of a rocket after the main chute opens over a mile up, those would be things that He hath done, not things that we used a tool to do. (Besides, who really wants to say "God is such a tool"?)

So you hands, your brain, and your deities may be important, but they are not tools, and so they are not germane to this thread.

OK, I'm done now. Sorry.

Yea Verily Reverend....:D
 
My wife saw something cool at LDRS34 yesterday - a simple shoe holder that was re-purposed to a rocket holder - all horizontal, great idea. She liked it so much she went out and bought me one.

more like, we are God's tool, but its all good.
 
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