Is this a good L3 rocket?

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Don’t think so little man. PVC is strictly forbidden for any launch, even in the world of Tripoli.

BadAzz Rocketry previously sold kits that used PVC body tubes. For motor cases, of course not. But I don't think it is that bad of a material for body tubes.

Edit: The only mention of PVC in the Tripoli safety code is in the research safety code, excluding it from the list of appropriate motor case materials.
 
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You could use bolts and calculate shear forces to prevent fins from shearing off. The material failure point is a real concern. I do not think straight PVC alone would survive. Maybe if plywood was layered with G10 sheets and wrapped for bulkheads. I was thinking of fiberglassing it. Perhaps it would be safer to use a PVC tube as a cheaper mandrel to roll your own 12" fiberglass airframe tubes. 12" fiberglass tubes are horridly expensive. Just rambling.
 
No, that's really not feasible. Most of us spend more than $150 on parachutes, let alone harnesses, hardware, electronics, etc. My advice would be to take your $150 and spend it on L2 motors and get a little more experience flying and deploying high power rockets properly. There's no prize for quickest to L3.

Oh lord I wish my parachute was only $150. All together I was in the $1300 range before the first attempt (parachutes and hardware are killers)...I'm in another $225 for the second attempt. :facepalm:
 
7.5" diameter, 0.080" Wall, 72" long Blue Tube 2.0 at $140? Maybe? What do you guys think of Blue Tube stuff?
 
No it's not.... Last I heard PML Quantum tubing rockets are still allowed to fly.


Quantum isn't PVC, it's ABS tubing. You can tell because it's soluble in acetone and it has a very distinctive sickly-sweet styrene smell when it's cut by a power tool.
 
Oh lord I wish my parachute was only $150. All together I was in the $1300 range before the first attempt (parachutes and hardware are killers)...I'm in another $225 for the second attempt. :facepalm:

I understand. I was saying if he built something that is a light rocket for a L3- Say a 4” glass or carbon bird. Get larger and heavier and chutes can get quite pricey.


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Not to monkey wrench this for all the debbie downers.... I picked up my 4" extreme wildman for around $115 on the yard sale here :p found a 60" chute for i think $30 bucks. traded some stuff for other things.

Keep your eyes open when people are dumping old kits or piles of them. Find an empty spot in your shop. Fly a bunch of L2 stuff. Fill that spot with deals when you find them, and keep money in PayPal so when deals pop up, you can jump on them FAST. First cash always wins.
 
7.5" diameter, 0.080" Wall, 72" long Blue Tube 2.0 at $140? Maybe? What do you guys think of Blue Tube stuff?

I am not a fan of it. While version 2 is a bit better it still has warping issues from what I have been told.

Version 1 would visibly warp from the heat of the sun.


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I've seen someone (many may know) do his L3 using 5 gallon buckets--those are pretty cheap!

One of the first M's a saw fly (1991?) was a cardboard rocket with no fiberglass, and a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket as a boat tail. It did not end well. Shreaded. And extra crispy. ;-)
 
I am not a fan of it. While version 2 is a bit better it still has warping issues from what I have been told.

I don't take mine swimming, but I've got piles of good straight V.2, My optima are all BT and I've flown, blown, and crashed all three of them :) still all true.

It does shrink and swell a bit with temp and humidity, but I haven't had one seize yet.
 
Don’t think so little man. PVC is strictly forbidden for any launch, even in the world of Tripoli.

I know PVC motor casess are bad, but I didn't think a PVC airframe was a problem, it's heavy plastic but it's not metal. I've definitely seen a PVC rocket fly before, though it was at Black Rock so perhaps some rules were being bent. Needless to say it was a tube-fin rocket. :) It included a transition (like a 4" to 2" reducer, or something like that) and if I recall just had a PVC end-cap for the nose. Thought I might have had a picture of it, but can't find it so maybe not.

Heh, I see the post two above mentions a rocket, wouldn't even know that was PVC looking at it. The one I described above was obviously PVC, as it included PVC couplers and reducers, and was just the natural white PVC color with the printing still visible.
 
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Here. It's already been done. PVC is proven. What a shocker it doesn't take a fiberglass kit? Literally couldn't sleep about it for some odd reason.

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?58482-Ari-s-6-quot-PVC-sewer-pipe-tube-fin-L3-rocket

Not a shocker at all. There are plenty of L3 rockets done with cardboard, phenolic, and other materials. Heck, there was one that was made out of bass drum shells.

Fiberglass is likely the best commonly used material. It is not the only one.


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Not a shocker at all. There are plenty of L3 rockets done with cardboard, phenolic, and other materials. Heck, there was one that was made out of bass drum shells.

"Jurassic Kick" - made of drum shells by Rikki Rockett, drummer for the band Poison.
An early HPR flyer out in CA - Lucerne IRRC. Where is he today BTW ?

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Pretty cool, MaxQ. So many rocketeers are into music, or should I say so many musicians are into rockets?
 
I've seen someone (many may know) do his L3 using 5 gallon buckets--those are pretty cheap!

From the Ether...

The same rocket came to mind, but I was wondering if those were 5 gallon or 1 gallon? That rocket brought new meaning to "flying without paint".

Jim
 
I don't take mine swimming, but I've got piles of good straight V.2, My optima are all BT and I've flown, blown, and crashed all three of them :) still all true.

It does shrink and swell a bit with temp and humidity, but I haven't had one seize yet.

+1. I have a several BT rockets, including my L3, and they hold up well. Relatively easy to work with, too.

David
 
Pretty cool, MaxQ. So many rocketeers are into music, or should I say so many musicians are into rockets?

John, yes...met quite a few here on TRF...all kinds of music.
Me...I can't play a thing...but I listen real good :)LOL.

Early 90's - there used to be a science show on the Sci Fi Channel ...back in the day.
"Inside Space" - host Geof Fox....he went out to Lucerne for an episode called Rockin Rocketeers ............IIRC.
It was an early look at this growing sporting group of hobbyists flying big rockets...they had the familiar faces of the time, including Frank Kosdon, Chuck Sackett's project 463 and the Damien/Russo Team Wac Corporal two stager, and the California crowd.
Rikki Rockett was one of them, with his really BIG Bertha......very funny interview ...a head banger into rocketry. He pretty much admitted to being a science nerd type in school...with an addictive personality.
Very enthusiastic bunch...infectious. They had a bit on the Pacific Rocketry Society as well.
I have that episode on VHS...I should get it digitized on DVD.
Quite impressive stuff at the time....my, how things have changed.
 
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Quantum isn't PVC, it's ABS tubing. You can tell because it's soluble in acetone and it has a very distinctive sickly-sweet styrene smell when it's cut by a power tool.

Good to know. I was always told it was PVC. I do know it breaks easily in cold temps. Mine snapped in half in 26 deg F when it landed.
 
$150 to build a L3 rocket? :surprised:

Mine went about like this:

$1,100 - fiberglass
$500 - main and drogue chutes
$150 - custom recovery harnesses
$50 - hardware
$50 - motor retainer
$290 - motor casing
$130 - electronics
$300 - paint

That's over $2,500. And that's before you add the price of a M reload.

I'm sure it could be done cheaper, but not for $150.
 
Loc 7.67 inch kits (Patriot or Bruiser) ship with 75mm motor mounts for between $250 and $320 from Chris’ Rocket Supplies. An experienced flyer with good building skills can certify L3 with one of them on an M1297. It’s not $150 and it doesn’t include the motor. That’s about the least expensive kit that I would try.
 
Loc 7.67 inch kits (Patriot or Bruiser) ship with 75mm motor mounts for between $250 and $320 from Chris’ Rocket Supplies. An experienced flyer with good building skills can certify L3 with one of them on an M1297. It’s not $150 and it doesn’t include the motor. That’s about the least expensive kit that I would try.
+1. LOC Bruiser.

From the Ether...
 
$150 to build a L3 rocket? :surprised:

Mine went about like this:

$1,100 - fiberglass
$500 - main and drogue chutes
$150 - custom recovery harnesses
$50 - hardware
$50 - motor retainer
$290 - motor casing
$130 - electronics
$300 - paint

That's over $2,500. And that's before you add the price of a M reload.

I'm sure it could be done cheaper, but not for $150.

Hmm . . . An "EL CHEAPO" L3 rocket ?

Components : ( Links below )

3 - QUIKRETE (Common: 8-in; Actual: 7.5-in) QUIK-TUBE 48-in Concrete Tube Form $ 9.07 each from LOWES - $ 27.21 ( use one to make Coupler, E-Bay, & Switchband )
1 - 3/4-in Birch Plywood, 2 feet X 4 feet ( Centering Rings and Fins ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LOWES - $ 26.74
1 - DRAIN-SLEEVE 100-ft 6-in Pipe Sock ( Use Rick Boyette's "QUASI-GLASS" method ) . . . . . . . . . . LOWES - $ 31.98 ( Optional )
1 - 32oz. - MINWAX "Polycrylic" ( Use with Rick Boyette's "QUASI-GLASS" method ) . . . . . . . . . . . . LOWES - $ 17.97 ( Optional )
1 - 75mm or 98mm Motor Mount Tube of your choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ( Various Sources ) - $ 15.00 - 40.00 ( Paper, Phenolic, or Blue Tube )
1 - LOC PNC-7.51 Nose Cone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ( Various Sources ) - $ 90.00 +/- ( Build your own - "ACE FUGUE SHROUD METHOD" - MUCH Cheaper )
? - Hardware & Recovery Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ( Various Sources ) - $ TBD ( Based on Choices & What you may already have on hand )

____________
$ 68.95 - $ 233.90 ( Depending on choices )


https://www.lowes.com/pd/QUIKRETE-C...in-QUIK-TUBE-48-in-Concrete-Tube-Form/3005463
https://www.lowes.com/pd/3-4-in-Birch-Plywood-Application-as-2-X-4/1000066199
https://www.lowes.com/pd/DRAIN-SLEEVE-100-ft-6-in-Pipe-Sock/3199151
https://www.lowes.com/search?searchTerm=polycrylic+32

https://www.apogeerockets.com/Building_Supplies/Nose_Cones/High_Power_Nose_Cones/PNC-7-51



Dave F.


ACE FUGUE SHROUD METHOD - 1.jpg ps_fugueshroudcut.jpg
 

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my L3 cost about $50 in materials back in 2005 dollars:
8" concrete tubes (2)
8" plastic funnel
1/4 sheet 1/4" plywood
75mm phenolic motor mount tube
rail buttons
aluminum rivets
5 minute epoxy
expanding foam
sand ballast

Shock cord, parachute, flight electronics and motor were additional. Crashed it on its first flight [ejection charge too small], rebuilt [another concrete tube] and flew fine on L's and M's. Back then they wanted a picture of you doing 'work' on your L3 project, so I sent a picture of me riveting the funnel onto the front. Was it a 'work of art'? not at all. Works of art cost a lot more, as people have noted in other posts :)

If one acquires an understanding of strength of materials and how to estimate loads, one does not have to overbuild. Precise fabrication without fancy tools has been going on for centuries with simple geometry and careful hand work. That said I did use a router. A cheap router costs less than a fancy kit, and you still have it after your recovery system fails for some reason.

br/

Tony
 
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