material for fins.

any suggestions ? maybe i shall just ask some company to cut some small pieces of thin steel ? lol but that would be weird

Welcome to the forum.

Avoid steel unless you really need that strength. Read the afety code. I can see no reason for steel fins.

Wood, fiberglass, CF, maybe aluminum in certain situations.

Pretty much anything but that, actually.

I have seen rockets with aluminum fins. I have never flown one, but could see the use in high speed rockets.

Exactly! As someone mentioned, read your NAR model rocket safety code. Nonmetallic parts only to the extent possible.

No need for metallic fins, period, unless you work for NASA or the military.

Rockets are to made of FRANGIBLE materials that disintegrate if the rocket goes awry and impacts something... IOW the rocket disintegrates and absorbs the force of impact by destroying itself rather than inflict heavy damage or injury on whatever or whomever it's impacting... to the extent possible.

Balsa (which is very lightweight and can be strengthened with CA glue or better yet paper skins glued on), basswood, lite ply, foamcore, etc. are all acceptable fin materials. Metals are not (and shouldn't be even if some folks have seen it done before.)
Later! OL JR

luke strawwalker said:

Exactly! As someone mentioned, read your NAR model rocket safety code. Nonmetallic parts only to the extent possible.

No need for metallic fins, period, unless you work for NASA or the military.

Click to expand...

I agree for the most part, but there are no absolutes. I have seen prefects fly rockets with aluminum fins. I think in many cases aluminum may be safe than the ferous and CF parts people use. If you can demonnstrate a need then I am sure the powers to be will agree it is needed.

Seventh cavalry said:

any suggestions ? maybe i shall just ask some company to cut some small pieces of thin steel ? lol but that would be weird

Click to expand...

The question is not easy to answer because there is nothing constraining it.
What you are asking sounds like an engineering design question - and engineering is the art of doing something so that it meets the constraints placed on the application of the design. (or something close to that)

So let's start with some basic questions:

1) What size and weight rocket do you have in mind?
2) What motor(s) do you think you will fly it on?
3) What is the expected maximum speed the rocket will reach?
4) How much do you plan to spend on this rocket?
5) Do you have any experience building rockets? If so how much?
6) Do you plan to fly this with a club or on your own?
7) Do you belong to NAR/TRA or any other organization in the rocket hobby?
8) Where are you located (roughly)?

That's enough to get us started. If you don't know the answer to a given question - just say so and we'll follow up with more detailed questions or help you decide the answers if you like.

Enjoy the hobby!

UncleVanya said:

1) What size and weight rocket do you have in mind?
2) What motor(s) do you think you will fly it on?
3) What is the expected maximum speed the rocket will reach?
4) How much do you plan to spend on this rocket?
5) Do you have any experience building rockets? If so how much?
6) Do you plan to fly this with a club or on your own?
7) Do you belong to NAR/TRA or any other organization in the rocket hobby?
8) Where are you located (roughly)?

Click to expand...

Great synopsis of the questions you need to ask to justify any rocket componient upgrade. I rarely use any metal other than alumimum and steel in the hardware - nuts, bolts, threaded rods.

One more thing... you asked what you can use for fins. Here are some answers:

Balsa
Basswood
Plywood
Fiberglass
Carbon Fiber
Paper
Honeycomb Nomex
Aluminum (very rare but not zero use)
Steel (not used by 99% or more of hobby rockets - some high performance amateur rocket groups use them)
Body Tubes (made of Paper, Fiberglass, Phenolic, PVC, Carbon Fiber etc.)
Found objects
Food (Noodles, fiberglassed bread, etc.)
Sticks (not really a fin but a way to provide stable flight)
Traffic Cones
Plastic Knives and forks

Honestly the list is nearly endless.

cwbullet said:

I agree for the most part, but there are no absolutes. I have seen prefects fly rockets with aluminum fins. I think in many cases aluminum may be safe than the ferous and CF parts people use. If you can demonnstrate a need then I am sure the powers to be will agree it is needed.

Click to expand...

:eyeroll::no::duck:
OL JR

PS. Just because a "prefect" does it doesn't mean it's safe or should be done... proves to me once again how glad I am not to have any HPR on my place...