Adjustable Angle for Makerbeam Mini Launch Rail

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Kruegon

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I've been looking at the Makerbeam and Mini Rail Buttons on railbuttons.com and I like the idea. I seem to get a lot of rod whip on my mid power stuff. Making the pad swivel is easy, but I want to be able to angle the rail without having to angle the whole pad.

I have seen bolts that use a wing screw and allow 180 degrees of angle but I can't locate them. Does anyone have a source or proper nomenclature for this item?
 
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Wing/butterfly head bolt, if that is what your thinking of! Turnbuckles would also work and are used, especially for a smaller set up like that.
 
I mounted my rails on a tripod, using a drill chuck. This is the pad:
21038338445_29ffdbabeb_b.jpg


I chose a tripod that has a wide leg spread, so that I could keep it low and less tip-prone. Camera tripods have a 1/4-20 stud for camera mounting anyway, so if you use a 1/4" chuck, it should thread directly on. But a 3/8" chuck has a larger thread. I used a keyless 3/8" drill chuck that came from a cordless drill that I was scrapping, so I made a 1/4"-20 to 3/8"-24 thread adapter (drilled out a 3/8" bolt and tapped the hole) so that the chuck could be threaded onto the tripod's head. The rail itself is inserted into a cup that I designed and had a co-worker turn out of a scrap of aluminum. Its sized so that the rail has a snug fit. The cup necks down to a 3/8" post that gets clamped in the chuck. I made up cups for both 20mm mini-button rail and the 10mm micro-button rail.

Due to the chuck, the rails are essentially quick-swappable, and can easily be changed out for various rods up to 3/8" diameter. The tripod head essentially gives my complete freedom for tipping/angling/pointing the rail as required. The ball head has a notch on one side to allow the head to be pivoted 90 degrees (for taking portrait photos), which allows the rail to be dropped horizontal for loading. It can then be angled, set, then rotated and set. Its much easier and faster to make adjustments than it is on the heavy 1010 pads, though you do loose those adjustments every time you tip it down to load a rocket.
 
Not quite what I was looking for. This will be the club's rail. The president will be welding a quadpod together. We're just looking for the bolt/stud to change the angle.

The item we seek looks like a bolt with a flat, on it's side circle that matches up to an identical piece. A standard hex or wing bolt passes through the middle if the two flat circles to create the angle pivot and hold the two tightly together. Sometimes the two parts have teeth to help set the varying angles.

Am I even describing the piece correctly?
 
I'm having a hard time putting together what you're describing. The closest thing that springs to mind is the seat mounting hardware from an older-style bicycle, that clamps the seat to the seat post and holds the seat angle with serrations in the washers:
$_1.JPG


I know this isn't what you're actually after, but maybe the washer clamp is like what you're trying to describe?
 
You could use a makerbeam hinge and a turnbuckle to make an adjustment setup. Use the hinge to connect the rail beam to a plate, mount a small piece of makerbeam (cut at an angle) to the plate, and mount the turnbuckle between the small beam and the rail beam.
 
Our club uses the Harbor Freight 2-3/4" Vacumn base swivel vise, we remove the vise from the mount and replace it with a HF drill chuck, and attach the whole assembly to a MPR pad. The chuck allows the use of rods or rails with a short section of rod to adapt them.
 
One thought I had which I want to eventually try is a metal adjustable flag bracket (pretty cheap on Amazon...under $!0):
31pub1502qL._AA160_.jpg


However the hole diameter is 1", so you'll need either a longer screw or some adapter, but that should be a simple fix. Other issue is there is often limited adjustability since they often have notches for only a few positions.
 
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You can bolt any 2 pieces of flat stock together and as long as you use the 90 degrees of angle that is tightening the bolt you will be fine. You don't want to use the other 90 that loosens it to set the angle. You don't need any lock washers, grooves etc., friction works. I made one up using this method (flat stock). It has launched up to 15 lb. rockets with no problems, other than the whole tripod falling over after a launch with a kick ass motor.

Launch pad 1.JPG

Launcher-top.jpg
 
One thought I had which I want to eventually try is a metal adjustable flag bracket (pretty cheap on Amazon...under $!0):
31pub1502qL._AA160_.jpg


However the hole diameter is 1", so you'll need either a longer screw or some adapter, but that should be a simple fix. Other issue is there is often limited adjustability since they often have notches for only a few positions.

I used one of those for actually mounting a flag on my front porch. A heavy gust of wind caught the flag and snapped the bracket casting at the base.
 
I used one of those for actually mounting a flag on my front porch. A heavy gust of wind caught the flag and snapped the bracket casting at the base.

I've had that happen to several metal as well as plastic mounts with my flags in high wind. This is because of the drag of the flag in high wind combined with leverage effect (plus cheap pot metal construction) basically tearing apart the mount...this is actually a bit more preferable than ripping out a piece of your siding or wall. :) However in this case, the mount should be plenty strong for the mini rail mentioned here and I would think as well as the next larger. Heck, it's probably about 10x+ stronger than an Estes plastic launch pad.
 
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