BALLS 26 - September 22-24, 2017

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FredA Please send me a PM, I make the guides. I am terribly sorry that your flight did not go well.

This is the first time that I have heard of them actually causing a crash or indeed a failure of this type. I'd like to hear every last detail if you don't mind, in the interest of safety.

Thanks,
Bill Cook _/)_
 
Flight went perfect. Straight as an arrow to 63,458' on the big red bee GPS and 61,800 on the Ravens..... Recovered 6.3miles from the pad. Will fly on an O3400 next year if I can find one.

If anyone by chance has a video from the flight line of my flight, please hit me up. I have on board video and video from the tower, but nothing from the flight line and would like to splice together on a video compilation.
 
Nice job! I can't wait to see the video.

Flight went perfect. Straight as an arrow to 63,458' on the big red bee GPS and 61,800 on the Ravens..... Recovered 6.3miles from the pad. Will fly on an O3400 next year if I can find one.

If anyone by chance has a video from the flight line of my flight, please hit me up. I have on board video and video from the tower, but nothing from the flight line and would like to splice together on a video compilation.
 
Flight went perfect. Straight as an arrow to 63,458' on the big red bee GPS and 61,800 on the Ravens..... Recovered 6.3miles from the pad. Will fly on an O3400 next year if I can find one.

If anyone by chance has a video from the flight line of my flight, please hit me up. I have on board video and video from the tower, but nothing from the flight line and would like to splice together on a video compilation.

Over 60K, that is awesome.
 
Flight went perfect. Straight as an arrow to 63,458' on the big red bee GPS and 61,800 on the Ravens..... Recovered 6.3miles from the pad. Will fly on an O3400 next year if I can find one.

If anyone by chance has a video from the flight line of my flight, please hit me up. I have on board video and video from the tower, but nothing from the flight line and would like to splice together on a video compilation.

So, there were two N5800 flights over 60K?

Nice job!

Jim
 
I lost my 75mm minimum diameter, button was pushed by mistake so no one was watching it leave. CTI M840 long burn going to about 36K, exhaust smoke showed it heading a little East then went into a cloud, GPS showed it 1.5 miles north??? then lost the lock on it. So if anyone finds it I would appreciate a note, Blue & Silver with Binder bolt on aluminum fins on the engine case.

Mike Gross
 
I lost my 75mm minimum diameter, button was pushed by mistake so no one was watching it leave. CTI M840 long burn going to about 36K, exhaust smoke showed it heading a little East then went into a cloud, GPS showed it 1.5 miles north??? then lost the lock on it. So if anyone finds it I would appreciate a note, Blue & Silver with Binder bolt on aluminum fins on the engine case.

Mike Gross

I saw it fly from slightly after liftoff, until it reached that one large cloud, then didn't see it again. I was surprised as everyone was when the rocket we weren't watching took off. It flew very well while I could see it. I'm sorry I can't be more help than that. I hope you find it in great shape.


Steve Shannon
 
So, there were two N5800 flights over 60K?

Nice job!

Jim

Thanks
I only had 1 flight on the N5800 to 63,458'. Since Adrian was commenting on my flight, I provided altitude readings from both the BRB GPS and the Ravens. Jim, I had to leave early on Sunday. Did you get your 3 stage off?
 
I saw it fly from slightly after liftoff, until it reached that one large cloud, then didn't see it again. I was surprised as everyone was when the rocket we weren't watching took off. It flew very well while I could see it. I'm sorry I can't be more help than that. I hope you find it in great shape.


Steve Shannon

Thanks Steve, we all know that any rocket can come up missing on any flight, but I wish I had seen it go. Oh well, Balls 27 is only about 358 days away and since this year they found a 9 year old rocket, there is always hope for mine.

Mike
 
Thanks
I only had 1 flight on the N5800 to 63,458'. Since Adrian was commenting on my flight, I provided altitude readings from both the BRB GPS and the Ravens. Jim, I had to leave early on Sunday. Did you get your 3 stage off?

Yes, you had 1 flight but there was another (I was a TAP on that project).

We got the three-stage launched, but only the first stage lit. I believe the second stage was just outside of my tilt criteria, but I won't know until I recover the altimeter file.

Jim
 
Yes, you had 1 flight but there was another (I was a TAP on that project).

We got the three-stage launched, but only the first stage lit. I believe the second stage was just outside of my tilt criteria, but I won't know until I recover the altimeter file.

Jim

Very cool! I did not see the other N5800. Do you recall what altitude they were able to achieve?
 
Another Picture.....

My 6-inch pinned motor was "interesting" this year.
It was a rushed effort as part of "Plan B" and it showed.

The goal was a big sparky with black smoke.
I used a variant of a proven formula, loading it with excessive (10#) of Titanium wanting black smoke and major sparks.

I had a custom foam mandrel CNC'ed and the motor was cast as a case-bonded mono-grain finocyl.
We then melted out the foam with Acetone.

Well....the melt out left a motor that was really hard to light.
Took three igniters and when it finally "lit" it sat on the pad for a good 10 seconds with a small flame coming out bottom and licking up the sides before it really started to burn.
Once burning, it went straight to high pressure turning the smoke white and burning the bulk of the Ti inside the motor.
The sparks were nowhere near what we expect or seen before with the same [huge] lathe curls.

But the motor humped!
Burn was hard and we got about the same altitude as a standard propellant.

You could tell the rocket & motor were happy about the flight - it made a happy face in the flame (Happy as seen from the rocket's perspective)
Check out this picture:
DSC_2085.jpg
 
Another Picture.....

My 6-inch pinned motor was "interesting" this year.
It was a rushed effort as part of "Plan B" and it showed.

The goal was a big sparky with black smoke.
I used a variant of a proven formula, loading it with excessive (10#) of Titanium wanting black smoke and major sparks.

I had a custom foam mandrel CNC'ed and the motor was cast as a case-bonded mono-grain finocyl.
We then melted out the foam with Acetone.

Well....the melt out left a motor that was really hard to light.
Took three igniters and when it finally "lit" it sat on the pad for a good 10 seconds with a small flame coming out bottom and licking up the sides before it really started to burn.
Once burning, it went straight to high pressure turning the smoke white and burning the bulk of the Ti inside the motor.
The sparks were nowhere near what we expect or seen before with the same [huge] lathe curls.

But the motor humped!
Burn was hard and we got about the same altitude as a standard propellant.

You could tell the rocket & motor were happy about the flight - it made a happy face in the flame (Happy as seen from the rocket's perspective)
Check out this picture:
View attachment 329008

That is pretty cool, I don't believe I've ever heard of a plume emoji...

I'm glad it finally lit, that was probably a long ten seconds!


Sent from my iPhone using Rocketry Forum
 
...........and since this year they found a 9 year old rocket, there is always hope for mine.

Mike[/QUOTE]


This is super exciting . I look forward to the report when its all done .

Eric
 
If anyone found an iOn Air Pro Lite camera on the playa from the Q flight that shredded on Sunday I would appreciate it they could get me the video. We don't know if the air frame buckled or if a fin came off first.

Stephen
 
DSC_6687 - Copy.jpgDSC_6690.jpgDSC_6692.jpg
Team project of an O3400 to M840 2 stage flight. Unfortunately the sustainer came apart as it was approaching mach 4 at an elevation of 45,000 ft. We will be attempting again next year.
 
Unfortunately the sustainer came apart as it was approaching mach 4 at an elevation of 45,000 ft.

Sorry to hear this.
Can you elaborate on the failure? Shredded fins? Coupler failure? NC failure?
 
It appears that the nose cone canted and was pushed into the airframe. Part of the forward end of the airframe broke out. There was nose cone paint inside the airframe on the side that broke out. Unfortunately, there was about a 2.5 inch gap between the nose cone coupler and the AV-bay. Still got 60k' and everything was recovered.
 
Hand rolled carbon fiber tube. 3 layers of 3K twill weave and 3 layers of 3K plain weave. Aeropoxy laminating epoxy.
 
It appears that the nose cone canted and was pushed into the airframe. Part of the forward end of the airframe broke out. There was nose cone paint inside the airframe on the side that broke out. Unfortunately, there was about a 2.5 inch gap between the nose cone coupler and the AV-bay. Still got 60k' and everything was recovered.
Glad to hear you got it all back.

Can you tell us what shape nosecone you used? We are working on a high performance rocket and are having a discussion as to nosecone shape. I'm planning on a Von Karmen but wanted input from others who have gone above Mach 3.

Thank you,


Tony
 
Hi Tony,
Used a FWFG aluminum tipped 5:1 Von Karmen nose cone. Painted with high temp paint. No issues handling the flight.
Chris
 
Another Picture.....

My 6-inch pinned motor was "interesting" this year.
It was a rushed effort as part of "Plan B" and it showed.

The goal was a big sparky with black smoke.
I used a variant of a proven formula, loading it with excessive (10#) of Titanium wanting black smoke and major sparks.

I had a custom foam mandrel CNC'ed and the motor was cast as a case-bonded mono-grain finocyl.
We then melted out the foam with Acetone.

Well....the melt out left a motor that was really hard to light.
Took three igniters and when it finally "lit" it sat on the pad for a good 10 seconds with a small flame coming out bottom and licking up the sides before it really started to burn.
Once burning, it went straight to high pressure turning the smoke white and burning the bulk of the Ti inside the motor.
The sparks were nowhere near what we expect or seen before with the same [huge] lathe curls.

But the motor humped!
Burn was hard and we got about the same altitude as a standard propellant.

You could tell the rocket & motor were happy about the flight - it made a happy face in the flame (Happy as seen from the rocket's perspective)
Check out this picture:
View attachment 329008

Fred - I'm glad to hear that the motor lit, but bummed that it took so long. Last weekend I tested a 75mm finocyl (don't do it, way to small to be worth it) and it took a couple of seconds to come to pressure, but not 10. The 75mm was in 5 grain case, so not a really long L/D ratio. I used 6 50 caliber pyrodex pellets to light the motor, I smeared them entirely in axle grease to beforehand and stacked them in a triangle, two deep. I used an e-match at the bottom to get it going. Big long whoooosh, followed by smoke, then the motor was on.

I'll do some tests melting out the mandrels so the next one doesn't have the same pucker factor.

Edward
 
Blog about BALLS I stumbled across today.
Balls 2017


Yes, you had 1 flight but there was another (I was a TAP on that project).

We got the three-stage launched, but only the first stage lit. I believe the second stage was just outside of my tilt criteria, but I won't know until I recover the altimeter file.

Jim

That wouldn't happen to have been a sub-minimum diameter flying case by a certain Anonymous member would it?
 
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