5 Times rebuild

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qquake2k

Captain Low-N-Slow
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Some of you might be aware of the mishap I had with the first flight of 5 Times A Fool. As I said, I'm rebuilding it. "Rebuild" might be a generous term, since all I can save from the original are the rail buttons and nose cone. Version 2 will be different, I've decided to make it zipperless. I'm also making the fins 10% smaller, and using 1/4" plywood instead of the 5mm I used on the first one. The 5mm was birch, but only three layers and not very strong. The 1/4" that I got from Michael's is five layer and much more robust. I've also decided to mix up the paint scheme, with a black forward section and a red aft section, with one black fin.

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...NAR-Snow-Ranch-03-04-17&p=1674670#post1674670


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View attachment 5 Times baffle02.ork
 
I cut out the centering rings with a 3-1/4" hole saw, and sized them on the lathe. I cut the center holes with a 1-3/16" hole saw, and sized them with the Dremel. I also cut and sized the baffle plate for the coupler, and epoxied rail button blocks on the centering rings.

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As usual, I pinned the fin blanks together to cut and match sand them at the same time. Since these are so long, I put a third pin in the corner, that I cut off at the last cut. Then sanded the fins and rounded the leading edges on the stationary belt sander. And rounded off the rail button blocks on the small disc sander.

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Looking good,you'll have much better success the second time around!
 
I think so too. I learned some lessons from the failed flight.
 
Well, I cut them close to the ID with the hole saw, than sand with the Dremel until the ring fits on the motor tube.
 
Finally getting back to the rebuild. I cut the body tube with the bandsaw, like I've done in the past. Didn't work so well this time. It obviously cut it at an angle. If I rotate the two tubes to the right orientation, the gap disappears. That would be the easy solution. I would just have to align them whenever I prep the finished rocket. The better, and more difficult solution, would be to make a razor blade jig and recut the ends square. I haven't decided yet what I'll do.

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I got the aft body tube fin slots marked, drilled pilot holes in the aft centering ring, and epoxied the forward centering ring to the motor tube.

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Flooded the coupler with CA, mounted it on the lathe, and sanded it smooth. Got the half moon baffles epoxied into the motor tube. And epoxied the motor mount into the aft body tube.

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I discovered I had cut the fin tabs a bit too long, so I trimmed them on the bandsaw. Cut the slots, and epoxied the fins on.

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I tried sanding the fins and tabs to make them fit better, but still had gaps. The no run glue that I use for external fillets seems to have covered them.

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No matter how much I sanded and polished the coupler, it was still too tight. So I flooded the body tube deeper with CA, and hit it with a sanding stick. Voila!

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As had happened with the first 5 Times build, I had to trim the rail button block on the aft centering ring to fit between the fin tabs. Using 1/2"
nylon spacers as usual, I epoxied the baffle plate into the coupler. I have no idea how it ended up crooked, that's never happened to me before. And finally, I epoxied the aft centering ring in place.


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No matter how much I sanded and polished the coupler, it was still too tight. So I flooded the body tube deeper with CA, and hit it with a sanding stick. Voila!

Neat sanding stick! I haven't seen that before. Do you go full speed with the drill then?
 
Yes, as fast as the drill would go. I also moved the stick around inside the body tube to put more pressure on it.
 
I attached the Estes retainer with JB Weld. I coated the u-bolt nuts with epoxy so they wouldn't come loose. And epoxied the coupler into the aft section.

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The forward bulkhead needed to be about 2" into the body tube to clear the nose cone shoulder. I happened to have a 1-1/4" PVC pipe coupler,
which is 2-1/4" long. Perfect! I also cut the end off the nose cone, sanded it, washed it, and wiped it down with an alcohol prep. It's now ready for paint.


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Red! I'm really liking this satin paint, it seems to be more forgiving than gloss.

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