Free Butterfly Fins - Limited Offer

Hey,
So the design he came up with was the first in what was going to essentially be an open source rocketry items site. In other words, people could come up with their own designs and uplaod them to the site, allowing others to use them freely.

I would upload a pic of the letter he sent me but I can't find it right now. But I can assure you that sharing the design is totally fine (and completely with the point of his original intent).

Matt

TangoJuliet said:

I just stumbled onto this (old) thread. Is anyone still making these? I'd like to have some also and would be willing to pay for them.

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Check your PMs.

blackbrandt said:

Hey,
So the design he came up with was the first in what was going to essentially be an open source rocketry items site. In other words, people could come up with their own designs and uplaod them to the site, allowing others to use them freely.

I would upload a pic of the letter he sent me but I can't find it right now. But I can assure you that sharing the design is totally fine (and completely with the point of his original intent).

Matt

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I have the same thought, but figured that I would give Wes the courtesy of asking permission.

If you go to wcraven's profile, there is a drawing on his page. I am not very computer say but one may be able to get the critical dimensions from that.

I understand.

Hey Folks,

I have no problem with folks sharing these. Especially if you improve it and share it further. AFter the initial buzz, and I sent them out to folks I took the silence to mean they weren't liked very much. Turns out they were. Hang out here and I'll be back shortly with more information / files if folks want them.

Thanks,

Wes

TangoJuliet said:

I just stumbled onto this (old) thread. Is anyone still making these? I'd like to have some also and would be willing to pay for them.

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Drop me a pm with your mailing address and I'll send you some for free!

Wes

wcravens said:

Hey Folks,

I have no problem with folks sharing these. Especially if you improve it and share it further. AFter the initial buzz, and I sent them out to folks I took the silence to mean they weren't liked very much. Turns out they were. Hang out here and I'll be back shortly with more information / files if folks want them.

Thanks,

Wes

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Wes, they work great and are easy to use, thanks once again for sharing these with the community.

Wes, I don't use them for every build but there are some where your butterfly jig is just the right tool. I find the butterfly jig to be a a great alternative to more more spendy tools for the frugal rocket surgeon.

I like your original concept of a free marketplace for such stuff and I aplaud you for your altruistic intentions with the fin jig; but, I think that you could use this to help subsidize your rocket habit.

Long time no post, Wes, whatcha been up to?

Here's a picture of the Butterfly Fin Jigs in use on my current build of a Madcow FG MiniFrenzy. The yellow paper on the rear fin is to center the fin properly because Madcow used thinner G10/12 for the rear fins than the front one. The fin near the center of the tube is just being used as a spacer to gap the angles.

The only modification I might make to these great little jigs is an additional set of slots on the top edges for the rubber bands going around the airframe, they wouldn't even need to be very deep.

Thanks again Wes.

That is so cool. Thanks for sharing. For those that are still using them, are they worth $10. It's hard for me to make them for less. I don't mind anyone making them themselves but if anyone is going to sell them I would like something in return. I've wondered about licencing them to someone like Appogee who could manufacture them for less.

what do you all think. I'm wide open to any ideas that the community may have.

neil_w said:

Long time no post, Wes, whatcha been up to?

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Hi Neil, I've been caught up in a lot of things. I got my Amateur Radio license last April so that I could use some radio transmitters in my rockets but I have ended up with an other hobby. I've also changed jobs and taken on some pretty heavy lifting with my new responsibilities. Keeps me pretty busy.

I try and stay active with my local radio and rocket clubs, but I've not been on the forums so much.

All of that plus the fact that tolerance for turning the dining room into Santas Rocket Shop has pretty much been expended. ;-). I'm wanting to set up a building space in my garage.

Where is all the time? Can we buy more?

Wes

wcravens said:

That is so cool. Thanks for sharing. For those that are still using them, are they worth $10. It's hard for me to make them for less. I don't mind anyone making them themselves but if anyone is going to sell them I would like something in return. I've wondered about licencing them to someone like Appogee who could manufacture them for less.

what do you all think. I'm wide open to any ideas that the community may have.

Click to expand...

As for the marketability of the BFJ's, $10 for a set doesn't sound unreasonable, but I also don't know what the market will support. The big advantage to these is the ability to scale them up to larger airframes and they require very limited storage space. The angle I used is 3/4" x 3/4" x 1/8" aluminum from Home Depot at $6.99, that combined with the BFJ's would be a fin jig for less than $20, not a bad price to me.

Here's some more pics of the Butterfly Fin Jigs in use this time on a Madcow Cowabunga.

Because I love these little jigs for most of my builds now I have to bump this thread with a new project everytime I use them. Due to the small diameter of the airframe (BT50) and my lack of a suitable cradle I used the jigs upside down. The mini spring clamp is to pull the top edges together since my spacers wanted to cause the angles to cock in the jig slots. Awesome little jigs for most airframes up to 4" so far and great for LPR and MPR too!



PS: the ugly plywood cradle is actually my version of the Kuhn tube cutting jig, its ugly but it works.