PML Small Endeavour Build

I'm finally getting around to building the PML Small Endeavor. This will be my first rocket not made of cardboard tube and plywood fins.

Any tips, suggestions, or random thoughts that you might have are welcome.

thoroughly sand everything that will be joined with epoxy...especially fiberglass.




Braden

Following the instructions inclosed with the kit, I began by sanding the entire outside surface of the quantum tube with 400 grit sandpaper. I then sanded the area of the tube outside the fin slots with 150 grit to help the fin fillets grip the tube. Finally, I sanded the inside of the tube where the centering rings and fins meet up with the tube.

The centering rings needed a light sanding so that they would fin smoothly inside the tube. The "Notched Centering Ring" needed the notch enlarged so that the piston strap would fit properly.

UPscaler said:

thoroughly sand everything that will be joined with epoxy...especially fiberglass.

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Thanks Branden. That seems to be a common theme with quantum tube. Maybe I'll go back inside the tube and sand it again for good measure.

Scrape up the inside of the tube pretty good as well, i used an exacto knife to make small scratches where the CRs would be. To rough up the root tab of the fin, use a hacksaw, dont cut to deep, just a little.


Alex

I just loved my Small Endeavor! Was a great flyer until it was torched by an Aerotech motor CATO :cry:

Thanks for the tips, Alex.

Next up, the "Notched Centering Ring" was epoxied to the motor mount tube (being careful not to get epoxy in the notch area).

I would leave the piston out. More problems than its worth. You must clean inside of tube and piston after each flight. Sometimes in cold weather they stick. Dog barf or a nomex shield will not fail you. Its your rocket build it how you want. Just my ideas.
GP

For motor retention, I have been using threaded brass inserts in most all my rockets and they work well for me.

The aft centering ring is marked along a center line.
Then two 15/64 holes are drilled.
Lastly, the inserts and put in place with a little epoxy for good measure.

crossfire said:

I would leave the piston out. More problems than its worth. You must clean inside of tube and piston after each flight. Sometimes in cold weather they stick. Dog barf or a nomex shield will not fail you. Its your rocket build it how you want. Just my ideas.
GP

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Thank you for the suggestion. This is my first PML rocket and I've never built a piston system. I'm also still learning how all the various systems work. I'm going to go with the PML piston and rely on the manufacturers expertise in this matter. Time will tell if I should have headed your advise...:shock:

crossfire said:

I would leave the piston out. More problems than its worth. You must clean inside of tube and piston after each flight. Sometimes in cold weather they stick. Dog barf or a nomex shield will not fail you. Its your rocket build it how you want. Just my ideas.
GP

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X2

And those brass tubes ,why not rail buttons already

I`ve built my fair share of PML rockets and I love them plenty......pistons and brass tube go directly to the spares box !

If you fly from a rod ,then I see the need, but really ,on their bigger kits too , brass tubes !

Doesn`t Loc give cardboard lugs too ?



:2:

Paul T

You got that right. Those brass tubes will not be used. I've built kits from Binder and MadCow and they both came with rail buttons. The LOC-IV that I built with my son came with a cardboard straw that did get tossed to the side.

chuck5395 said:

You got that right. Those brass tubes will not be used. I've built kits from Binder and MadCow and they both came with rail buttons. The LOC-IV that I built with my son came with a cardboard straw that did get tossed to the side.

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I know ,how cheap is that ? A big rocket manufacturer and they can`t at least give you both !

My friend made an LOC Magnum 5.5" kit DD and the thing came with straws :eyeroll:

We looked at each other and had a good chuckle over that !

54 mm MMT and straws....WTF is up with that :wink:

Enjoy the build ,nice kits and no spirals to fill and clean everything first with dishsoap ,then alcohol ,course sand and again clean with alcohol.

You will not have problems !

Cheers

Paul T

Great kit,my first high power kit,I did my level 1&2 cert with it,ditch that chute and go with 24'' x type chute

I used a Small Endevour for my level 1 cert. It worked ok, but wish I had installed rail buttons. I did not have a rail at that time, so used the brass lugs. Now my Endevour has both.

I've used the eject piston in every PML rocket I've got. I love not having to use dog barf or a chute protector. I clean my inside tubes maybe every third flight. One thing about the pistons, consider soaking the inside of the piston with epoxy, making sure you don't get ANY on the q-tube side. Makes the piston tougher, less likely to shatter if too much Bp is used for the ejection.

Following the instructions in Step2:
*The motor tube is marked out for where the strap will be affixed.
*A layer of epoxy is laid down, the strap is put in place and held in place with masking tape.
*With the remaining mixed epoxy, the top centering ring is further secured to the motor tube with a sloppy fillet.

After several people have cautioned me to make sure that I sand the quantum tube well, I came up with the following. Using a Drum Sanding Kit from Harbor freight, I put the drum onto a 1/4" piece of all-thread I had and the chucked it up in the cordless drill. I'm pretty pleased with the results.

Next up was the need for a new, high tech, tool to apply epoxy to the inside of the body tube. Yep, you guessed it, spoon-on-a-stick.

* a picture of the high tech tool
* a picture taken looking down from the top of the body tube to see the centering ring in place
* a picture of the aft end of the rocket with the aft centering ring in place to help center the motor mount

I'll 2nd or 3rd the rail button suggestion. The PML kits are a great step forward from cardboard, although they have thier place too. After a dozen or so flights I took the lugs off mine and installed rail buttons, repainted it and it looked great. It flew great too and drifted over everything - never saw it again. I looked for it for 2 days. I miss that rocket.

A few years back I lost a PML Callisto in the Fall. In May the following year, Kevin T. came walking over the horizon with it. Sanded and repainted and I still have it. So, maybe one day I'll see my Small Endeavor again.

You'll love it, it's a great flyer. You know the next step right? Once you go to fiberglass you won't want to build anything else.

Wow, can't wait to fly this thing after hearing that!

Based upon the advise I received here, I have used a knife to scratch up the sides of the fins and a hacksaw to put a few groves on the root edge.

Now the first of six fins is attached.

No pictures for this post.

After I finished epoxying the forward fins, I decided to go ahead and apply the internal fillets BEFORE attaching the aft fins. This way I had more room/access to the forward fins without the aft fins being in the way. So, 12 fillets later, I am now ready to attach the aft fins tonight.
-Chuck

The internal fillets on the forward fins turned out pretty well. Next up was the attachment of the rear fins.

Once all the rear fins where securely attached, it was time for the internal fillets. This was done much like the forward fins.

It was about half-way through this process that I remembered that others put tape around the rear end of the motor tube to prevent getting epoxy on the motor tube were it's not wanted. I now know why these smart people do this....

Oh well. Live and learn.

I epoxied a small block of ply to the top of the aft centering ring. This will be the "target" for the hole I drill for the aft rail button.

And now at long last the aft centering ring is epoxied into place. The retaining bolts were coated with petroleum jelly to prevent getting any epoxy in the threaded inserts.

Work on the piston begins by epoxying the strap to the bulkhead.

The bulkhead is then epoxied into the tube and set aside to cure.

Inspired by "qquake2k", I went ahead and made my first motor retention plate. Not too bad (just a little off center). Once I file down the outside tips I think it will do nicely.

The last bit of work I got done were the external fin-fillets. These will be sanded after they cure. I'm pretty happy with the overall results.

chuck5395 said:

Thanks Branden. That seems to be a common theme with quantum tube. Maybe I'll go back inside the tube and sand it again for good measure.

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better safe the shredding!

Heavy sanding is a good thing to keep with you when building with Quantum tubing and Fiberglass tubing, in fact, we use 60 grit sandpaper on our bigger fiberglass stuff, but I think that's over doing it on a 2 inch rocket.


A friend flew his L1 with a small endeavour on an I300 Blue Thunder, that thing was outta there, and QUICK!



Braden

Looking good so far, what colors do you have in mind for the finish?