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Thanks guys
Egads, I love this project!
-Kevin
Egads, I love this project!
-Kevin
3/4 Mercury Redstone
- Thread starter Feckless Counsel
- Start date
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I would suggest looking at some of the newest construction adhesives. I dont know for sure that youll find one that would work, but they are engineered to require less surface preparation.
The V2 used stick-on vinyl to wrap the styrofoam. Held together very well.
If Karl or any of the other V2 team can chime in here to confirm any other adhesives used would be great to add to the detail.
If Karl or any of the other V2 team can chime in here to confirm any other adhesives used would be great to add to the detail.
krusty
Rocket Powered Kangaroo
The styrofoam was stuck in place with expanding foam in a can. I know there was another glue used earlier on, but the expanding foam proved to be ideal.
Krusty
krusty
Rocket Powered Kangaroo
Here's my photos from the V2 project - https://www.flickr.com/photos/oflittleinterest/collections/72157656389061348/ you can see how it went together 
Krusty
Krusty
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Krusty,
Thank you for this exceptional photo essay. There is a lot to learn in those photos and we will surely study them for detail.
Below are three photos for which I would appreciate your understanding.
First there appears to be some internal assembly or alignment using a board. Can you say what is happening here?
Next appears the application of tape. Is that tape purely cosmetic or is it also “structural” in that it prevents drag separation after burnout?
Last there appear to be a series of access holes along rocket’s axis. What is their function?
Feckless Counsel
Thank you for this exceptional photo essay. There is a lot to learn in those photos and we will surely study them for detail.
Below are three photos for which I would appreciate your understanding.
First there appears to be some internal assembly or alignment using a board. Can you say what is happening here?
Next appears the application of tape. Is that tape purely cosmetic or is it also “structural” in that it prevents drag separation after burnout?
Last there appear to be a series of access holes along rocket’s axis. What is their function?
Feckless Counsel
Not too sure about the first pic, but I remember there being a flat board holding the parachute in place (one was facing up and one facing down) as the two halves were stacked together. The long stick might have been used to do some final adjustments on the chute in between the two bulkheads. Maybe Krusty can illuminate us further.
Second pic I will defer to Krusty again. Definitely not structural. I suspect repair.
Third shot shows three access ports that each contain the electronics for that stage. Each set of electronics had a radio command receiver (Plan A) and RRC3 altimeter (plan B) for actuating the pressure-assisted separation and deploying the chutes (airbag). They were basically round plastic food containers, about 8" high with a screw lid. Electronics were mounted on a sled and held in by the screw-on lid. The bottom of the container was glued in place in the styrofoam body. On flight day the electronics is connected to a wire harness and the unit screwed into place. There was provision on each avionics pod to measure the battery voltages externally. Each also had a switch with three positions: Off, On, Armed.
There was also an umbilical system (with remote release) to enable us to pressurise the separation tanks (from a SCUBA tank I think) to 20 and 30 bar, ready for flight. Both of these access points were on the center section. You can see one just above the electronics I am installing in the attached pic, and the upper umbilical (I think) snaking past and making a nuisance of itself in the pic.
Second pic I will defer to Krusty again. Definitely not structural. I suspect repair.
Third shot shows three access ports that each contain the electronics for that stage. Each set of electronics had a radio command receiver (Plan A) and RRC3 altimeter (plan B) for actuating the pressure-assisted separation and deploying the chutes (airbag). They were basically round plastic food containers, about 8" high with a screw lid. Electronics were mounted on a sled and held in by the screw-on lid. The bottom of the container was glued in place in the styrofoam body. On flight day the electronics is connected to a wire harness and the unit screwed into place. There was provision on each avionics pod to measure the battery voltages externally. Each also had a switch with three positions: Off, On, Armed.
There was also an umbilical system (with remote release) to enable us to pressurise the separation tanks (from a SCUBA tank I think) to 20 and 30 bar, ready for flight. Both of these access points were on the center section. You can see one just above the electronics I am installing in the attached pic, and the upper umbilical (I think) snaking past and making a nuisance of itself in the pic.
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krusty
Rocket Powered Kangaroo
I think you're correct - I'm pretty sure that Pic 1 was prodding and poking the parachute into place so it wasn't pinched between the bulkheads - once the retainer board was removed, the parachute flopped onto the bulkhead and probably splayed out a bit. With the parachute back into place, the two halves could sit flush.
The tape was purely cosmetic
OTT's covered the holes
Krusty
The tape was purely cosmetic
OTT's covered the holes
Krusty
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Liquid nails was used to tack the foam to the aluminium on the fins early on (but not the solvent based version) - Automotive Sticker Vinyl was used to wrap the whole thing, everything else is as OTT and Krusty have mentioned
No shear pins were used, again IIRC, everything just stacked into place the tanks for the CO2 system were used to couple the whole thing together.
Yep, Stewie on the cherry picker used a stick to get the parachute to cooperate lol & lots of cosmetic tape!
No shear pins were used, again IIRC, everything just stacked into place the tanks for the CO2 system were used to couple the whole thing together.
Yep, Stewie on the cherry picker used a stick to get the parachute to cooperate lol & lots of cosmetic tape!
stickershock23
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Should I put an add to cart button for this size Redstone on my website?? LOL
Nytrunner
Pop lugs, not drugs
Just ship them a few rolls of black vinyl. They'll probably need one per stripe lol
A house painter has already been contracted. :lol:
krusty
Rocket Powered Kangaroo
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TRF,
May I please update you on last weeks progress?
Cutting has continued with capsule formers. Below are CAD drawings alongside the capsule parts stacked on pile. In five hours six parts are produced. Time under spindle is about 30 minutes for most parts. Crosschecking, file conversion, generating tool path, mounting and unmounting material double that time.
Unfortunately one of those capsule formers contained an error and must be scrapped. So far, and as far as we know, only two sheets require scrap. Ultimately I think we will make 5% scrap by sheet. Since most parts are annular scrap by square-foot approaches 80%. There are many donut holes.
Parachute containers arrived from Tape Ease. Recall their product is convolute fiberboard cylinders for architectural lamination. On initial inspection we are pleased. Inside diameter is 17.0-inch. Outside diameter is 17.5-inch. Material is very stiff but just a little heavy. We measured no draft. After peeling the ship layer material is accurate to within 1/8-inch diameter or, equivalently, about 0.7%. The material is illustrated below.
Bulk order of fiberglass tubing is two weeks late. Supplier says that is because recent hurricanes have caused a shortage. Tubing is used for tent poles.
Feckless Counsel
May I please update you on last weeks progress?
Cutting has continued with capsule formers. Below are CAD drawings alongside the capsule parts stacked on pile. In five hours six parts are produced. Time under spindle is about 30 minutes for most parts. Crosschecking, file conversion, generating tool path, mounting and unmounting material double that time.
Unfortunately one of those capsule formers contained an error and must be scrapped. So far, and as far as we know, only two sheets require scrap. Ultimately I think we will make 5% scrap by sheet. Since most parts are annular scrap by square-foot approaches 80%. There are many donut holes.
Parachute containers arrived from Tape Ease. Recall their product is convolute fiberboard cylinders for architectural lamination. On initial inspection we are pleased. Inside diameter is 17.0-inch. Outside diameter is 17.5-inch. Material is very stiff but just a little heavy. We measured no draft. After peeling the ship layer material is accurate to within 1/8-inch diameter or, equivalently, about 0.7%. The material is illustrated below.
Bulk order of fiberglass tubing is two weeks late. Supplier says that is because recent hurricanes have caused a shortage. Tubing is used for tent poles.
Feckless Counsel
Thought about putting some sort of seat in there? Should be enough room
Looking great!
Looking great!
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0011001100
A Person
0.7% error? Dang I want that supplier that's incredible.
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OverTheTop,
We’ve had many offer their recliner chair almost always with an invitation to joy ride the boss.
Feckless
We’ve had many offer their recliner chair almost always with an invitation to joy ride the boss.
Feckless
Charles_McG
Ciderwright
You need a 3/4 scale chimp to play the role of Ham.
My son is about 3/4-scale chimp sized, and is about as crazy as a monkey!
Find a 3/4 scale stuffed monkey toy and there you go! Kurt
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TRF,
Today we continued cutting pieces on the ShopBot. That work was exclusively in 3mm thick stringer material.
Pictured below are capsule stringers. Those are somewhat wasteful of the sheet. We tried several arrangements to improve yield. Ultimately we could only achieve eight capsule stringers per sheet. Okume plywood cost $60 per-sheet.
Also pictured are capsule stringers in a sheet with fin stringers.
We have been using drywall screws to secure sheets for processing. Today we tried using 18 gauge plastic nails dispensed from a nail gun. Plastic nails were considered because they can be placed without concern for damaging bits. We found the clipped nail heads pull through 3mm Okume. The nails had difficulty penetrating 12mm birch. Finally the plastic nails left stubs in the MDF scratch board that prevented the next sheet from lay flat. We are back to screws.
Now all that remain are two sheets of booster stringer, 5 formers and few miscellaneous small parts. Given the present rate that completes our cut list in another 10 hours. If we can receive fiberglass longerons we are ready to assemble about 17 November.
Feckless Counsel
Today we continued cutting pieces on the ShopBot. That work was exclusively in 3mm thick stringer material.
Pictured below are capsule stringers. Those are somewhat wasteful of the sheet. We tried several arrangements to improve yield. Ultimately we could only achieve eight capsule stringers per sheet. Okume plywood cost $60 per-sheet.
Also pictured are capsule stringers in a sheet with fin stringers.
We have been using drywall screws to secure sheets for processing. Today we tried using 18 gauge plastic nails dispensed from a nail gun. Plastic nails were considered because they can be placed without concern for damaging bits. We found the clipped nail heads pull through 3mm Okume. The nails had difficulty penetrating 12mm birch. Finally the plastic nails left stubs in the MDF scratch board that prevented the next sheet from lay flat. We are back to screws.
Now all that remain are two sheets of booster stringer, 5 formers and few miscellaneous small parts. Given the present rate that completes our cut list in another 10 hours. If we can receive fiberglass longerons we are ready to assemble about 17 November.
Feckless Counsel
Excellent progress
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TRF,
Today we worked nine hours. We have about 2 hours remaining to compete all cutting operations. We are down to the small stuff like rudders, servo boxes and antenna fairings. As pictured below we are trying to pack those tightly into our remaining sheets.
We also assembled two middle airframe sections. We were very happy with those parts. Assembly required about an hour. Stringers fit perfectly into formers with a firm squeeze of the hand. Rarely did we need a clamp to close joints. Hopefully skinning these frames will be just as easy.
Frames seem to pull themselves square. Of course we want to be sure. The discussion made several ideas for measurement. Anyone here have a recommendation for checking square in large cylinders?
Capsule is a disaster. Assembly required 4 sets of hands to get started. As one side of stringers was seated stringers on the opposite side popped out. We tried clamping as we go. Then, as we wrestled with the assembly, stringers began to crack at changes to direction. Observing these stress concentrations we realize the capsule is not safe for flight. So we set it aside for redesign.
We are beginning to feel the weight of time but are still hoping for a March / April launch at Higgs Farm, Price Maryland. That is just 4 months remaining.
Feckless
Today we worked nine hours. We have about 2 hours remaining to compete all cutting operations. We are down to the small stuff like rudders, servo boxes and antenna fairings. As pictured below we are trying to pack those tightly into our remaining sheets.
We also assembled two middle airframe sections. We were very happy with those parts. Assembly required about an hour. Stringers fit perfectly into formers with a firm squeeze of the hand. Rarely did we need a clamp to close joints. Hopefully skinning these frames will be just as easy.
Frames seem to pull themselves square. Of course we want to be sure. The discussion made several ideas for measurement. Anyone here have a recommendation for checking square in large cylinders?
Capsule is a disaster. Assembly required 4 sets of hands to get started. As one side of stringers was seated stringers on the opposite side popped out. We tried clamping as we go. Then, as we wrestled with the assembly, stringers began to crack at changes to direction. Observing these stress concentrations we realize the capsule is not safe for flight. So we set it aside for redesign.
We are beginning to feel the weight of time but are still hoping for a March / April launch at Higgs Farm, Price Maryland. That is just 4 months remaining.
Feckless
Nytrunner
Pop lugs, not drugs
That capsule makes it sound like you're trying to put a barrel together.
Any local Cooper's (barrel makers) to consult? Lol
Any local Cooper's (barrel makers) to consult? Lol
For tall cylinders I rotate the base at a fixed location (use a turntable of some sort, or jig it into a horizontal V-groove for repeatability) and measure to a location fixed vertically at the height concerned. A steel rule clamped to my shelving is the normal setup for me. Look for the gap between the pointer and the cylinder in question staying the same as the base is rotated.
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TRF,
We have been busy. Will have some detailed updates over the holiday. Until then please enjoy the attached photo. Our Makerspace quickly ran out of room for this project. So we rented a 28-foot dry van to store and eventually transport the project.
These five pieces are the rockets airframe. The shorter sections contain parachute canisters and recovery hard points. Those go either end of three joined longer pieces. It already looks big relative to the dry van and parking lines. But please note we still have a ten foot booster, a capsule and an escape tower to add.
Feckless
We have been busy. Will have some detailed updates over the holiday. Until then please enjoy the attached photo. Our Makerspace quickly ran out of room for this project. So we rented a 28-foot dry van to store and eventually transport the project.
These five pieces are the rockets airframe. The shorter sections contain parachute canisters and recovery hard points. Those go either end of three joined longer pieces. It already looks big relative to the dry van and parking lines. But please note we still have a ten foot booster, a capsule and an escape tower to add.
Feckless
MaxQ
Tripoli 2747
Prodigious !
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TRF,
Our team put in about 25 hours recently. A good portion of that time was spent on alignment. Two dimensions are top of mind: straightness and twist.
1. Small errors in straightness, equivalently plumb, add up quick. If we accumulate just one degree error then capsules center will be offset about 1 foot from boosters center. Note straightness has a relationship to parallelism between ends of any one section.
2. Twist does not affect assembly because sectional interfaces are symmetric. The presence of twist is, however, an initial defect contributing to spiral buckling. We want to minimize it.
Our remedy to straight and twist is fixtures located by fiberglass longerons. Pictured below are the fixtures. An airframe sits atop the bottom fixture which is cruciform and contains several alignment marks (holes). A bar shaped fixture is fitted to opposite side of the airframe. Plumb bobs and a construction laser are used to check alignment top to bottom.
When alignment is out we used notched boards to push the assembly to untwisted plumb. Then we glued longerons and stringers. When we removed those notched boards the airframes fell slightly out of alignment.
To lock airframes plumb, square and untwisted we really need a careful application of skins. That is a story yet told.
Feckless Counsel
Our team put in about 25 hours recently. A good portion of that time was spent on alignment. Two dimensions are top of mind: straightness and twist.
1. Small errors in straightness, equivalently plumb, add up quick. If we accumulate just one degree error then capsules center will be offset about 1 foot from boosters center. Note straightness has a relationship to parallelism between ends of any one section.
2. Twist does not affect assembly because sectional interfaces are symmetric. The presence of twist is, however, an initial defect contributing to spiral buckling. We want to minimize it.
Our remedy to straight and twist is fixtures located by fiberglass longerons. Pictured below are the fixtures. An airframe sits atop the bottom fixture which is cruciform and contains several alignment marks (holes). A bar shaped fixture is fitted to opposite side of the airframe. Plumb bobs and a construction laser are used to check alignment top to bottom.
When alignment is out we used notched boards to push the assembly to untwisted plumb. Then we glued longerons and stringers. When we removed those notched boards the airframes fell slightly out of alignment.
To lock airframes plumb, square and untwisted we really need a careful application of skins. That is a story yet told.
Feckless Counsel
