Apogee Aspire - Dual Deploy

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Has anyone ever converted to dual deploy? I recently picked up the components to do just that as a foray into DD. Plan on keeping on relatively smaller motors to learn the system and techniques without losing it.

Cheers
 
Don't expect Mach speeds or a "mile high" on a G motor due to the added weight and if going to H's expect to lose the rocket and the altimeter if no facility for tracking is included.

One could do a Tele-Mini for RDF purposes but I would be leary of punching it up really high unless I was at a very wide open venue.
Had a friend who had a rocket land a couple of miles away on a golf course next to a water hazard. Was an M project with a main at apogee.
Surprised the duffers to see this thing coming gently in under the main parachute. Called the police (who were already aware we fly rockets on our site) and they got a hold of the flier and he recovered the rocket with laughs all around. Kurt
 

Thanks, I actually did get one of these - I'm posting the assembly of the ebay below.

Don't expect Mach speeds or a "mile high" on a G motor due to the added weight and if going to H's expect to lose the rocket and the altimeter if no facility for tracking is included.

One could do a Tele-Mini for RDF purposes but I would be leary of punching it up really high unless I was at a very wide open venue.
Had a friend who had a rocket land a couple of miles away on a golf course next to a water hazard. Was an M project with a main at apogee.
Surprised the duffers to see this thing coming gently in under the main parachute. Called the police (who were already aware we fly rockets on our site) and they got a hold of the flier and he recovered the rocket with laughs all around. Kurt

I appreciate the input....my expectation was much less than that - more like flying on an E or F to 1200-1500 feet or so and deploying the main closer to 500-600 feet?

These are nifty ebays for small rockets and very affordable. Well worth the price compared to scratch building your own.

They are really neat. I'm attaching pictures of my build of the ebay. I've never built an ebay before or installed electronics and the directions made it very easy and straightforward. I still need to complete programming the EasyMini and put together the charges, but its about ready to put together with the Aspire kit.

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1200 to 1500 feet should be fine. You might consider 700-800 foot main to give it some time to fill but that's just my persuasion.
I modified an AT HV Arcas to fly on H128's. Gets 1400' and nice DD flights that one can appreciate within sight. Tried an H168 and fin flutter (from the plastic fins that were stock) caused an easily repairable crack in one fin.
End of pushing the envelop there.

I do have an EggFinder mini nose tracker for an Aspire but vegetating as to how I will fly it. Now if Mr. Beans can come up with a chute release mini for 29mm it's a no brainer. G's and baby H's would give an exciting ride for the GPS tracker. Kurt
 
I have a pair of Aspires with dual deploy and think they are great fun. Red I built with a payload section to carry a cheap 9g camera or tracker. Red was also the “test dummy” of the pair. Red survived several deployment ground test but not unscathed. First test I used tiny sample containers for the charge canisters. The plastic bits ripped holes in the aft tube. After building a new rear end the second test put the aft section through my screen door when it slipped off the test stand. I settled on charge sizes around .4-.5g. Shock cord lengths at 7 feet. The sections are so light they will separate at dramatic speeds. I lost a third rear end when the shock anchor ripped out. Black did manage to kiss Mach1 with apogee at over a mile. I cheated though. Fins were made from 1.2mm acrylic and I used a tower with a launch site above 5000 feet. Three spotters a couple large helpings of tracking powder and my Walston tracker it still took an hour to fined it. Great little rocket. God has snatched several of mine for his mantle.

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I have a pair of Aspires with dual deploy and think they are great fun. Red I built with a payload section to carry a cheap 9g camera or tracker. Red was also the “test dummy” of the pair. Red survived several deployment ground test but not unscathed. First test I used tiny sample containers for the charge canisters. The plastic bits ripped holes in the aft tube. After building a new rear end the second test put the aft section through my screen door when it slipped off the test stand. I settled on charge sizes around .4-.5g. Shock cord lengths at 7 feet. The sections are so light they will separate at dramatic speeds. I lost a third rear end when the shock anchor ripped out. Black did manage to kiss Mach1 with apogee at over a mile. I cheated though. Fins were made from 1.2mm acrylic and I used a tower with a launch site above 5000 feet. Three spotters a couple large helpings of tracking powder and my Walston tracker it still took an hour to fined it. Great little rocket. God has snatched several of mine for his mantle.

Been there. Done that concerning cardboard rockets and fee DD canisters. Blew two of 'em right out the sides.

Might I suggest since the powder requirements are so small, use some folded paper to hold the charge so when it blows, it gets gas
+ paper confetti. Should be gentler on thin walled cardboard tubes unless one goes really "gonzo" with the powder load.

The EggFinder Mini is made for a nose GPS tracker for this thing. Make a little coupler payload bay and let most of the device sit as far up
into the nosecone with the base cut open as one can stick it. Paint the nosecone (if you do) with non-metallic paint and track away.

Kurt
 
.4-.5 grams in an aspire? Wow! Did you have to increase the size because of the small tube diameter?

I've never had to use more than .3 for my electronic Pro Series II rockets! (with a shear pins)
 
.4-.5 grams in an aspire? Wow! Did you have to increase the size because of the small tube diameter?

I've never had to use more than .3 for my electronic Pro Series II rockets! (with a shear pins)a
I feel the same way. I tried several different size charges. Best guess I have is there not much room for the charge to combust. I am using the finger gloves tip as a balloon for the charge canister. When I went down into the .2-.3 range I would get incomplete separation on occasion. I am using a cheap F4 powder so that could be a variable as well. The igniter/wire hole in the bulkhead could also be venting part of the expanding gas as well. It is large enough for a quest ignighter pyrogen charge to pass through. I have thought about some glue there after the igniter is installed but have never done it.
 
Little snip of electrical tape. Don't want any corrosive gasses getting out of where they're supposed to be.

Good luck and keep experimenting!
 
Ancient thread but

When I use an online calculator for the Aspire ejection charge I get .04g - .05g. (about 1/2-ish full in a .22 long rifle case)
For my LOC IV I get .4 - .5g. Both are using 4fff powder

Unless I'm wrong, which is entirely possible, .4-.5g of 4ffff is a little stout.



Caveat - first time dual deploy on Saturday (7/10/21) for both rockets
 
I don't see much reason for a DD setup on the Aspire. Just use the streamer provided with the kit for the same results. You may want some kind of tracking however. There are several light weight options that wont affect your max altitude or speed too much.
 
The only reason for dual deploy in an Aspire that I can think of is a long burn motor that doesn’t include an ejection charge. Think G12ST-P or H13ST-P. I’m planning on putting an H13 in one for Airfest. Or maybe on the Salt Flats.
 
The only reason for dual deploy in an Aspire that I can think of is a long burn motor that doesn’t include an ejection charge. Think G12ST-P or H13ST-P. I’m planning on putting an H13 in one for Airfest. Or maybe on the Salt Flats.

Did you ever fly your Aspire DD on an H13? How was the flight? I am considering doing
the same for Red Glare next month.
 
Did you ever fly your Aspire DD on an H13? How was the flight? I am considering doing
the same for Red Glare next month.
We shut down for winter. I should fly it next month. I haven't finished the tracker nose cone mod but other than that it's good to go. The motor is an Aerotech I205W.

To the "you don't need DD for an Aspire" comments. If you fly HP at 4CRA it has to have redundant dual deploy. It's part of our agreement with the BLM and others.
 
We shut down for winter. I should fly it next month. I haven't finished the tracker nose cone mod but other than that it's good to go. The motor is an Aerotech I205W.

To the "you don't need DD for an Aspire" comments. If you fly HP at 4CRA it has to have redundant dual deploy. It's part of our agreement with the BLM and others.
I don’t know how you would get two altimeters in an Aspire. It’s tough enough to get one in it.
 
I don’t know how you would get two altimeters in an Aspire. It’s tough enough to get one in it.

It's an Aspire but I've modified it a bit. I use a pair of EasyMini's in the Av Bay. The tracker in the nose is the part I'm having trouble with. I have about a month to figure out how to make that work. I'll take some photos and post once I finish the build.

Yes, in September at BlackRock. H13 to a couple feet short of 9,000 feet.

Oops. Sorry about that. I was struggling to figure out the H13 question but didn't look into the rest of the posts far enough. Almost 9,000'... very nice.
 
Re Aspire DD: Do you rivet or screw the payload to the AV-bay like in larger rockets or do you fasten it some other way? What about shear pins at the nose? Do you just use "shear tape" there?
 
I use small screws. Nylon. Sometimes stainless steel but the weight adds up and Nylon hasn't given me any trouble. I haven't figured the nose out yet. I've had a few ideas but implementing is often the ruination of a "good" idea.

I tried to follow what I did on my L1 rocket. The nose cone electronics on the L1 look like this (note... I've given up on this for the Aspire):

Back side. Power distribution and hall effect switch

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Tracker side

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This the back side of the L1 Av bay (LOC IV). I'd post photos of the Aspire but I'm visiting grandkids and I'm about 1,000 miles south of location of the Aspire right now

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This IS NOT the version as flown. That version is much tidier. I've since updated my power distribution so that the board can switch two computers independently and I'll use that board in the next rocket. The charge port is common to the battery port. I typically use two batteries per computer by plugging the second battery into the charge connection. I thought I had better photos than these.

Obviously the Aspire is much too narrow to put the electronics and power distribution side by side like this

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All's I have to say is the smaller the rocket, the harder it is to pull off DD. I gave up on it and use larger diameter rockets to do DD.
Getting the wiring in and small enough switches can be a PITA.
Did a G80 on an immaculately painted standard Apogee Aspire years ago when I first started back into rocketry at a "major" launch and it disappeared up into the nether world. The Wildman said over the P.A., "Well Kurt, I hope that was a single use engine!" It was so I didn't lose reusable casings.
A year later, I got the rocket back. It was found by another flier the same day it was lost and was turned in. Took awhile to get it back and I retired it. It was obvious the streamer deployed and brought it in safely though a long ways away.
I launched a couple of Aspires in a smaller launch site with smaller motors and as soon as I thought I should give up looking for them, I hear the "rattling" of the oversized mylar streamers I used with the rocket coming in very close to me. That was a rush if you ask me. Hearing the rocket coming in.
Come to think of it, I did do a G80 to offer up to the rocket gods a well used Aspire and that s.o.b. came down within sight and I retired it. Man, that was a long wait for it to come down and I guess the winds aloft were not that bad. I was getting ready to launch a gentle BP rocket when I heard the Aspire "rattling in"!
If one can, buy some aftermarket silver/gold mylar colored material. Get a long metal straight edge and cut as long a length of a streamer as one can. I forgot how long I did mine but it was long. Take the time to fan fold the streamer. I know, a real PITA.
Then, once the folds are set in the streamer, use a heat gun gently to set them some more. Once that's done and one is ready to fly, roll the streamer up and if it's too thick to pack into the Aspire, cut some length off until the streamer fits.
Cut a shorter length of streamer to put on the harness too. Why? Because the longer one can rattle up against the shorter one and if one is in an isolated area, you'll hear the Aspire coming in even if you don't have a visual. Your ears will point your eyes and boy that is so cool where one's ears point them to a rocket coming in.
I have to admit this only works well when one can launch privately by themselves. At a major launch with P.A.'s blasting might not be able to hear the rattle of the mylar streamers.
If one has an isolated site to launch up an Aspire on a good sized motor, can be a lot of fun with a long "noisy" streamer arrangement.
Kurt
 
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