Ultimate Wildman Level Three Certification Build

Fearoflightning said:

I was planning on using 6g as my backup charges. I'm going to start ejection testing at 4.5g. I have decided on 4 4-40 pins in the nosecone and 2 4-40 pins in the drogue. The latter is still slightly up in the air, but I like the large margin 4-40 pins give.

I will drill 2 1/8" holes on opposite sides and ends of each parachute bay just clear of the couplers to provide pressure relief from altitude change.

I will do ejection testing next week!

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I've got the Performer 150 from Ken Allen which is almost the same thing. The booster is 60" and the payload 48". I'm using 4g FFFFg for the drogue charges and 5g for the main. One gram larger on each of the backups. As long as it opens the drogue will pull everything out on the way down. I use a pilot chute on the nose cone to pull the D-bag and main out. All I need for main ejection is a couple of feet of separation so the pilot catches air. I use 4 4-40 nylon screws as shear pins on the nose cone, but only two on the booster.

BTW, I bought one of these swivels because my drogue shock cord was so twisted up from the spinning fin can on the drop to main deploy that the drogue was twisted in it and not doing anything. This on the fin can, and no problems.

Not sure that swivel will be big enough?

Update time!

I got my main chute, a 168" spherachute:



I plan to use a deployment bag (for the first time) after seeing how huge this thing is. I ordered the xxl size that apogee had, but am not sure how to choose a pilot chute. Any input?

I also drilled and tapped my shear pin holes and drilled pressure vent holes, then rigged the entire recovery system. I ended up buying swivels from amazon.





Finally, I made switch mounts and epoxied those in line with my vent holes:





I'll solder wires on the PCBs tomorrow and do ejection testing!

I plan to use a deployment bag (for the first time)

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I used one for the first time on my L3. Fantastic outocome (it worked :wink. I am a convert now. Makes the chute packing easier too.

Great looking AV bay - and I see you have a FWFG cone, sweet! You are close, u going to fly naked or paint?

Nick@JET said:

Great looking AV bay - and I see you have a FWFG cone, sweet! You are close, u going to fly naked or paint?

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Thanks!

I will fly the first time (shakedown flight) with just primer, but when I get around to the cert flight it will be painted. Once I decide on a design....

Ejection testing went well today, I will be using 4.5 grams for each primary and 6 for the backups.

Is there any rule of thumb for choosing a pilot chute with a deployment bag?

I would asked the Chute/Deployment Bag Manufacturer.

Fearoflightning said:

Thanks!

I will fly the first time (shakedown flight) with just primer, but when I get around to the cert flight it will be painted. Once I decide on a design....

Ejection testing went well today, I will be using 4.5 grams for each primary and 6 for the backups.

Is there any rule of thumb for choosing a pilot chute with a deployment bag?

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I don't know if there is any "rule of thumb". I think it depends on your bag, how tight it is, and how things are packed.

I use a 5" diameter bag in a 6" rocket. The chute is packed very tight. The shroud lines are then zig-zagged into elastic straps on the outside of the bag so they unfurl first and the lines are stretched before the chute is pulled out and opens. The bag is attached to the pilot chute that brings the nose cone down. I sized my pilot so it drops the nosecone about 3 - 5 ft/sec slower then the main drops the rest of the rocket. I then put a 100 ft dacron line (150 lb.) between the inside of the bag and the top of the main chute. That keeps the pilot and nose cone attached to the main, but allows the pilot to stay well above the main on the way down. The 100 ft. also allows the main to open before the pilot gets too high above the main so there isn't a large load on the dacron line.

I've finished priming:



Now I have to decide on a paint scheme.... But it won't get painted until I'm out for the summer I'm afraid...

I'm still a bit confused on how I should rig a deployment bag. I've found plenty of resources showing how to pack the chute in the bag, but very few showing how I should attach it to the harness and pilot chute. Several have shown the nosecone detaching from the rest of the rocket with the bag and pilot chute, but since I will have a tracker in mine I'm not fond of that setup. I guess my question is how do I set up a deployment bag in a classic dual deploy system?

Fearoflightning said:

I've finished priming:

View attachment 314245

Now I have to decide on a paint scheme.... But it won't get painted until I'm out for the summer I'm afraid...

I'm still a bit confused on how I should rig a deployment bag. I've found plenty of resources showing how to pack the chute in the bag, but very few showing how I should attach it to the harness and pilot chute. Several have shown the nosecone detaching from the rest of the rocket with the bag and pilot chute, but since I will have a tracker in mine I'm not fond of that setup. I guess my question is how do I set up a deployment bag in a classic dual deploy system?

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There was a thread about this the other day. See https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?139401-Pilot-chute-sizing for some options. I use the freebag setup a lot. If you plan on deploying at 500-700ft, the 2 rocket sections usually land within 100 ft of each other.

NateLowrie said:

There was a thread about this the other day. See https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?139401-Pilot-chute-sizing for some options. I use the freebag setup a lot. If you plan on deploying at 500-700ft, the 2 rocket sections usually land within 100 ft of each other.

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After reading through that thread, I have a few questions:

1. Is there any reason to attach the bag and pilot chute to the apex of the main parachute as shown in the integrated configuration below instead of the method of attaching the bag and pilot to a third loop on the harness as was shown in the thread?



2. It seems that any small(ish) parachute would work for the pilot, so I think I'm going to go with a 32" skyangle. Anybody see any issues with that?

About the "free bag" configuration, I know that the nosecone would likely land very close to the rest of the rocket, but in the (unlikely) event of a main deploy at apogee it would not, thus loosing any tracking when it would be needed most. It also means that I would have to buy another, larger, parachute.

My L3 was done with the bag attached to the avionics bulkhead and the drogue pulling the main lines, and then the chute, out of the bag.

There was a discussion about whether to pull the bag of the chute or the chute out of the bag, but in the end the risks were similar and I went with the above solution.

Fearoflightning said:

View attachment 314246

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I use a combination of those two methods. My chutes are set up in the free bag configuration, but I have the TAC-Bag connected to the apex of the main chute. The pilot chute is sized to drop the nose cone slightly slower then then main drops the rest of the rocket. That keeps the pilot and nose cone above the main, but allows the small line to keep everything tethered together without undo stress on the line.

If you are coming to LDRS, stop by E5 and I'll show you how it's set up.

I have decided to use the integrated method as shown in the diagram above. I ended up with a fruitychutes deployment bag and a top flight 36" parachute as my pilot.



Does anybody see any problem with this setup? I am doing a shakedown flight this weekend and will ask my TAPs as well.

Fearoflightning said:

I have decided to use the integrated method as shown in the diagram above. I ended up with a fruitychutes deployment bag and a top flight 36" parachute as my pilot.

View attachment 315294

Does anybody see any problem with this setup? I am doing a shakedown flight this weekend and will ask my TAPs as well.

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Looks great! How are you attaching the shock cord?

NateLowrie said:

Looks great! How are you attaching the shock cord?

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The shroud lines of the main parachute (the quicklink by the bag) will attach directly to the main harness.

Fearoflightning said:

The shroud lines of the main parachute (the quicklink by the bag) will attach directly to the main harness.

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Where is the bag/pilot chute being attached?

NateLowrie said:

Where is the bag/pilot chute being attached?

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The bag is attached to the apex of the main chute and the pilot is attached to the bag. I'll post a picture of the whole thing drug out when I get a chance...

Fearoflightning said:

The bag is attached to the apex of the main chute and the pilot is attached to the bag. I'll post a picture of the whole thing drug out when I get a chance...

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Then you should be fine.

It's been a while since I've updated this, and I have a lot to update!

My shakedown flight on a research L went well! It was a little under-powered, but that allowed me to see the whole flight and how the recovery system lines everything up on descent. Max altitude was 1700ft. The deployment bag worked beautifully!






[video]https://youtu.be/z3cEh7u6Wjg[/video]

A few more pictures I forgot to attach and can't figure out how to edit in oriented correctly....

Sweet nice job, that thing is a monster! When are you planning your cert flight?

Nick@JET said:

Sweet nice job, that thing is a monster! When are you planning your cert flight?

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Thanks! I'm planning on September 23rd in Bayboro.

I realized I haven't updated this in a while, so here goes!

I had to re-prime after it got drug through the field at Bayboro. I enlisted my friends help and HVLP gun for the orange and clearcoat, but was able to do the white and black with rattle cans.

Pics for your enjoyment and me for scale:







My cert flight is planned for October 14 if all goes well. Hopefully I'll have a ham license and a tracker by then too!

Looks very nice. Are you going to put some type of decal on it? Stickershock23 has a great product.

crossfire said:

Looks very nice. Are you going to put some type of decal on it? Stickershock23 has a great product.

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I thought about a roll pattern on the white tube, but I'm not quite sure...

Fearoflightning said:

I thought about a roll pattern on the white tube, but I'm not quite sure...

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I think it looks great as is!

Yeah, a large stickon would be nice. I've just about given up on doing "glass" finishes due to the work involved............... They get dinged all to heck anyways. The chance that a rocket flight is going to fail is directly proportional to how nice it looks! Kurt

dixontj93060 said:

I think it looks great as is!

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Me too- I would not change anything.

Fearoflightning said:

I thought about a roll pattern on the white tube, but I'm not quite sure...

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Could use stripes, so it'll go faster.
But this is your L3, you don't want it to go out of sight too fast......

Spirals! If stripes make it go fast, spirals have to increase drag!