The stock Madcow sleds are too small for redundant systems. Not enough room to cram everything needed where it needs to go. I was planning on building a new '
larger' sled, from scratch, but wouldn't you know it? My local Home Depot had nothing in 1/4" plywood, except for 'finish' plywood in 4'X8' sheets. High dollar stuff and I only need a few square inches. "No, no, no!" Not going '
that' route! I bought some 1/4" thick '
paint mixing sticks', instead... and decided to expand upon my small lot of sled with those paint sticks. As it turns out, I think that this might be a blessing in disguise. I cannot mount both altimeters and both batteries on the face of the sled. Best I can do is mount the two altimeters and 'one' battery on the face. The second battery must be mounted on the underside of the sled. This is where the 'blessing' comes in. I'll now be somewhat evenly distributing the weight of the batteries on opposite sides of the centerline of the rocket rather than having '
ALL' of the weight/mass on one side of that centerline. Equal/opposite weight distribution = centerline 'balance'!
I'm sure that there are better ways to pack a bunch of stuff on a small sled, but I'm out of time. Airfest is just 'round the corner and I need to simply "Git 'er Done!"
This battery setup is as strong as a tank and was actually quite easy to do via paint mixing sticks and epoxy. "Them batteries ain't going nowhere, nor will the connections come loose!"
This is the 'business' side of the sled:
This is the 'underside' of the sled housing the second battery:
Side View of Sled Arrangement: