12" Talon on a P

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And finally, we near the last photo of the casing teardown -- and a new requirement for the naysayers and second-guessers -- when you fly a rocket that has a motor casing that you can just BARELY reach half-way through in order to clean... come talk to us.

Amen to that!

p.s. You have no idea how challenging it is posting build thread updates while you're serenaded with songs about cheesy Doritos and smelling like butt. Don't ask. :bangpan:

Maybe they're hinting that you need a shower?
 
Chief Associate Beer Wench of the Apocalypse ("Tennille" to some) has pointed out that the Talon's funeral happened when it landed in the dumpster and has no idea why we're having a wake AFTER the funeral.

Yeah, but we never had a chance to properly mourn our loss, smoke our stogies, drink some beer and remember the good times. It was more like a dump and run, since we were all in such a hurry to get out of there after the flight.

Either way, hoist a Fat Tire or whatever your best local amber ale is (If it's yellow, please let it mellow) in the Talon's honor at 5 pm PST on Saturday. And if ya wanna post pics in tribute, go for it!

drink_beer-3029-714003.jpg
 
The only one of the four O-rings to sustain any damage. VERY minor scorching on one side.

There goes my next theory about some jerk pretending he knows something about o-rings and recommending a size that caused a burnthrough and vectored thrust. ;)

-john
 
There goes my next theory about some jerk pretending he knows something about o-rings and recommending a size that caused a burnthrough and vectored thrust. ;)

-john

Haha! Seriously though, without your help, we never would have gotten this motor together. Thanks so much for stepping up when we needed ya. Now we know what size to get for next time!
 
Chief Associate Beer Wench of the Apocalypse ("Tennille" to some) has pointed out that the Talon's funeral happened when it landed in the dumpster and has no idea why we're having a wake AFTER the funeral.

Because you can.

Is any other reason necessary?!

BTW, for cleaning large motor cases...pressure washer at the car wash, if you have something stubborn.

-Kevin
 
troj,

That's funny. We had to use my dad's pressure washer for all the dust in the trailer but it would have taken a year to do that casing. That's a special kind of dirty in there.
 
That's funny. We had to use my dad's pressure washer for all the dust in the trailer but it would have taken a year to do that casing. That's a special kind of dirty in there.

A little helpful tip with you on the pressure washer.... They will remove skin, if you get your hand too close to the nozzle.

Don't ask how I know. And yes, it's uncomfortable.

-Kevin
 
A little helpful tip with you on the pressure washer.... They will remove skin, if you get your hand too close to the nozzle.

Don't ask how I know. And yes, it's uncomfortable.

Yeah, so router bits do that, too! Ask Chris! :eek:

This pressure washer isn't that powerful -- I've shot myself in the foot before and it felt like harsh sandpaper but no damaged skin. The one at the car wash must be a tad meaner.
 
Thanks for the liftoff pics, cjl and Chris - they look great, and thanks for the motor love, too. Last time we burned this motor, it was in a 6" airframe that was a little shorter than the Talon, so I'm used to seeing the flame look bigger. Only when I scaled the plume and put it next to the rocket did I realize that it reaches up to the red band - yep, that's about what it was last time!

Glad to see you guys got the hardware apart in a timely fashion on this firing :cheers: Before that case gets fired again, I need to make a new nozzle insert, that one looks like it's starting to get a little ratty. (Edit: the current conservative configuration is starting to get a little old hat; this will give me an opportunity to tighten up the throat, too, for a little better performance.) Other than that, it looks like everything survived quite well.
 
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Glad to see you guys got the hardware apart in a timely fashion on this firing :cheers: Before that case gets fired again, I need to make a new nozzle insert, that one looks like it's starting to get a little ratty. (Edit: the current conservative configuration is starting to get a little old hat; this will give me an opportunity to tighten up the throat, too, for a little better performance.) Other than that, it looks like everything survived quite well.

David,

Yes, the nozzle is showing some erosion, but everything else looks great. I calculated the flame length last time at 12 feet. I think this one's a tad longer... maybe 14 feet? And I, for one remember that we (as a group) made only half of that motor. Whereas you, as an individual, made the other half later that week. Thank you again for a beautiful motor. If you're interested, I edited the Assembled Motor.pdf file with the corrected dimensions. :cheers:
 
Before that case gets fired again, I need to make a new nozzle insert, that one looks like it's starting to get a little ratty. (Edit: the current conservative configuration is starting to get a little old hat; this will give me an opportunity to tighten up the throat, too, for a little better performance.) Other than that, it looks like everything survived quite well.

While yer at it, you can ya make one for the O casing as well? ;)
 
While yer at it, you can ya make one for the O casing as well? ;)

Yea! That O is a sweet little case. First I need to get out of grad school, though... being back in Cali will make things a lot easier :p

I just headed back to the first page of the thread to grab a link for my Talon post on the TDK blog, and realized that you guys flew the rocket exactly one year to the day from when the first build pics started to show up here. That's insanely cool.
 
Man I wish I had the budget you guys have to just order up 6" hardware and fly huge projects.

Alas I am left to machining my own parts.

Oh we don't have a huge budget, believe me. The O motor case was from the first Talon three years ago. It shares the same bulkhead and nozzle carrier as the P casing, so we can interchange.
 
The wake begins in 10 minutes. A moment of silence will be observed at 5:15pm Pacific. Thank you.
 
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