Post Your Jigs and Such

Dave, I do the same thing. For a pilot drill. I use the top end off of single use motors. You can also leave the bottom bulkhead in place even when you go to glue the new motor tube in place. I drill/file "half holes next to the fin tabs. Then apply "thickened" epoxy to the motor tube at 1/3 circumference marks. Line up the epoxy with the "half holes" and insert motor tube. Once in place give it a slight spin to engage the epoxy to fin tabs.

Tony

Brilliant! Our forum member's cleverness never ceases to amaze me.

The Pad Cam
Now that I have several Mobius HD cameras for my rockets I hardly use the old GoPro 3. I got tired of watching onboard video where's there no sound until it launches. Kind of boring on a long video sitting on the pad.
Inside I mounted the GoPro looking slightly above horizontal so I can place it about 20' from the pad. It has a Lexan window to keep the camera clean.
Inside is a recycled 500watt UPS, USB charger & GoPro power cable along with the large micro SD card. It lasts about 7-8 hours, a typical launch day.
The bonus is a long range baby monitor receiver on the outside of the box.
Your onboard camera AND my GoPro capture all the LCO chatter including the countdown. I place the transmitter on the pole of one of the PA speakers.

The Motor Rack
Again, got tired how I transport things, especially motors in the trailer.
I'm running out of wall space so I wanted to build a motor rack that handle all the loaded motors and spare cases I would need for 1 launch.
The only space I had was near the side door and half of it would be over the 6"deep wheel well.
The right half of the 6" deep box that houses the shorter motors sits on top of the wheel well. The left side of the box is about 11" off the floor, ideal for my longer motors so the weight of all of them rests on the side on the wheel well or the floor. Just a handful of screws to the wall and it's installed.

Next week I'll be getting the trailer ready for the MDRA Sod Farm launch. I should have some good photos how to maximize the inside of any trailer.

Let's see more jigs!!!

Dave A said:

Let's see more jigs!!!

Click to expand...

heres 1

The Irish don't jig, they dance and drink, not necessarily in that order! LOL
This a real jig.....

My 3rd version of a tube slotter, I am working on making it simple to make and easier to use.
The plexi-glass glide is a fluting jig from Rockler.

The other day I made a jig to slot FG tubes on my table saw. I started by finding a "Incircle of a triangle" Calculator https://keisan.casio.com/exec/system/1223428152
An incircle triangle is what's the larges circle that can fit inside a, in this case a equilateral triangle. I then squared off the three points. These would ride up against the table saws fence. I bolted this 'thing' and a bulkhead to one end of some 1/4 all thread. The other end of the all thread had a inside centering ring and then another ring with that matched the OD of the tube.


Then I needed to find a blade that cut .125" which I had. Also where and when to start the cut. I marked the places with some tape and made sure I only raised and lowered the blade 2 turns each time.



It came out nice and straight..some 'splintering' but that will just give my fillets and tip to tip something to grab on to.


Tony

just an old mitre box for tube marking and launch lug alignment
plastic fin jig for 18, 24mm

It came out nice and straight..some 'splintering' but that will just give my fillets and tip to tip something to grab on to.


The filament wound tubes are under a fair amount of tension, that contributes to the splintering of the edges sometimes more than my carbide blade causes. You will find once you cut 3 or 4 slots, the area around the slots will distort to a into a more square shape, once you force the centering rings into them it will go back to a round shape. When I slot them with the router, I have to make several passes or the fins will not fit.