What did you do rocket wise today?

Today I received a small order by mail.

Started the rebuild of my pool noodle rocket. Last flight ended with a bounce when the parachute failed to eject and did major damage to the internals. Redesigned for easier repair now...

Received my Eggfinder Quark kit and a live cup center for my wood lathe.

Still working on painting my projects. Put the decal on the Binder Excel. I think it rocks.

Popped Jim Waters saucer dome out this morning

Kenny

Finishing off a Laser Lance kit. Paint is drying now. I'll post photos tonight.

Today I made the realization that my grandfather's old Delta scroll saw, which he gave me when he moved to FL, is probably a better tool for cutting out fins than my father's bandsaw is. So I got it working and cut out a set of fins for a 2.5" Cherokee.

Made up all the ejection charges I'll need for MWP, helped my wife continue building her first ever rocket, simmed out a bunch of possible motors for MWP.
Hey, everyone... Sign up for MWP!!!

Continued working on the MIM -23B HAWK improved



And packed for an early launch tomorrow. My V2 and FLAIL will both soar for the first time

I got my Nike Smoke Jr ready to fly, even though its still in primer (did a bit of filling/sanding today). I also fitted and glued up the fins for the 2.5" Cherokee G into the rear airframe, did the internal fillets, closed up the rear, and epoxied on the motor retainer. And I did a bit of wetsanding and paint touch up on my upscale Firecat before putting a clear coat on it.

Willie said:

Still working on painting my projects. Put the decal on the Binder Excel. I think it rocks.



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Great looking rockets! I didn't follow the paint scheme or use the decals on my Excel, but it flies great. That's the dual deploy version, isn't it?

Primed my soon to be O'Boy Oberto rocket today.

Just did 3 superb launches. FLAIL on D21 and V2 on D21 and E30

Madison Alum said:

Great looking rockets! I didn't follow the paint scheme or use the decals on my Excel, but it flies great. That's the dual deploy version, isn't it?

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First time ever following the vendor's paint scheme (at least somewhat). I was excited by how it turned out. Now I need a opportunity to fly it.

Put an Eggfinder LCD Receiver into a vintage Star Trek Tricorder toy (lights and sounds still work ):

KenECoyote said:

Put an Eggfinder LCD Receiver into a vintage Star Trek Tricorder toy (lights and sounds still work ):

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Now that's classy!

KenECoyote said:

Put an Eggfinder LCD Receiver into a vintage Star Trek Tricorder toy (lights and sounds still work ):

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LOVE. IT.



First thing I thought when I saw that was "Ok, THAT's awesome."

Paint job done.

swatkat said:

Paint job done.

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Nice fade. Getting good coverage in bright/fluoro colors is not easily done. You succeeded.

Made 6 launches at the MARS launch yesterday, then finished up the basic construction of an upscale Cherokee.

Saw KenECoyote's tricorder in person yesterday. Gotta love a Trekkie!

Finished the ebay on my Wildman Puhisher and am testing some Pyrodex Ejection charges. Will also be working on my TLP AIM-54C would like to get that done for the delayed METRA launch. Gotta love hurricanes!

After bouncing around for a 2 hours in the trunk, found some ebay stuff that needed to be redone because of vibrations. First DD MPR rocket so expecting some things to go wrong. I may keep the 2 hours 'bump' test in mind for future projects until I get more experience.

Yesterday got my BS budget for lvl 3 motor and case $715.00 allowed


my wife offered above or Richard Petty Rookie driving experience , She did the driving #19 , I'm taking the wocket budget in exchange , so encouraged her to buy souvenirs

michigander said:

Yesterday got my BS budget for lvl 3 motor and case $715.00 allowed


my wife offered above or Richard Petty Rookie driving experience , She did the driving #19 , I'm taking the wocket budget in exchange , so encouraged her to buy souvenirs

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Hmm that's a tough one, depends on how many laps...and the track! Having raced cars for 18 years...I think your case will last longer than the drive, I'm on your side , good luck with the L3

o1d_dude said:

Nice fade. Getting good coverage in bright/fluoro colors is not easily done. You succeeded.

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Thanks and yes... they are a pain. White Primer to make it pop and three coats of the orange. Two of the red. Highlights in gloss black. It's a learning curve. I'll be bringing a efw of these to the SARG launch here soon. (fingers crossed for a little rain between now and then).

I finally created a Flickr account and today I uploaded photos of a family launch (meaning, I launched with the family that happened on Sunday.

More pictures of family than rockets, but here it is : https://www.flickr.com/photos/135848867@N04/albums/72157657199899373

Thanks for the praise guys!

Today I took a video of my Eggfinder Tricorder in action - not sure how to get it to imbed...tried several times, but I got the link in:
[video]https://vid1108.photobucket.com/albums/h417/Kendo68/2015-10-05%2020.11.28.mp4[/video]

Finished my L2 rocket! I kept thinking I was finished and then having to add one more thing or drill one more hole...but I think its finally truly ready. I still have to do ejection charge tests, but she's ready to fly.

(For those who like actual info, this is a LOC Precision Hyperloc 835. The plan is to fly it on a CTI J293 Blue Streak on October 16th in Brothers, OR for my L2 attempt.)

bclark989 said:

View attachment 273651

Finished my L2 rocket! I kept thinking I was finished and then having to add one more thing or drill one more hole...but I think its finally truly ready. I still have to do ejection charge tests, but she's ready to fly.

(For those who like actual info, this is a LOC Precision Hyperloc 835. The plan is to fly it on a CTI J293 Blue Streak on October 16th in Brothers, OR for my L2 attempt.)

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Nice looking rocket, good luck with the L2 flight.

bclark989 said:

View attachment 273651

Finished my L2 rocket! I kept thinking I was finished and then having to add one more thing or drill one more hole...but I think its finally truly ready. I still have to do ejection charge tests, but she's ready to fly.

(For those who like actual info, this is a LOC Precision Hyperloc 835. The plan is to fly it on a CTI J293 Blue Streak on October 16th in Brothers, OR for my L2 attempt.)

Click to expand...

Beautiful! I would've done the charge tests first since the finish looks too nice to put through the ground tests. Maybe wrap up the rocket first? I'm thinking about options for L2, so this one is now on my list!

Finished assembling and testing my first Eggtimer product a Quark, it was also my first electronics soldering attempt.

Just finished assembly and testing of my first Eggtimer product: the Quark. As someone who has never done any SMT component soldering it was definitely worth it to watch a couple of videos on YouTube about soldering electronics. The very first piece mounted on the Quarks board is a 14 pin IC Processor. The kit contains everything you need to assemble the stock unit (except tools of course), the only addition I made was the terminal block for the ejection igniter connections the terminal block is available from Eggfinder you just have to add it to the order.

Not only does EggFinder have an excellent Assembly Guide available for download, they also have a pictoral assembly guide on the Eggtimer Rocketry website. As this was my first one to assemble ever it took me about 3 to 4 hours to complete the unit and test it. Eggfinder includes extras of all the little tiny parts (1 extra of each part), of course the larger easier to manage parts there is only the required number. The board is well marked as to where all the parts go, each set of solder pads has a number next to it indicating what part attaches to that pad, and there are also pictographic representations of the larger parts on the board so its easy to tell which end is which.

My tools were a cheap Radio Shack 15 watt soldering iron 64-2051B, a pair of curved tweezers, sidecutters, a pair of sprue cutters, a 10x Jewelers Loupe (I actually have had it for years) and it is a must for inspecting the solder joints to check for bridging and or incomplete joints. Eggtimer provides the proper solder, about 12" of which I used about 2".

Tools I wish I had: a free standing magnifier since my eyes are pretty good, but darn those SMT resistors and capacitors are tiny.

Testing: The initial test is nothing more than connecting a battery and listening for the beeps, all went well. My next test was the addition of Christmas light bulbs to the drogue and main channels and putting the whole unit inside the marinating bowl for our FoodSaver, waiting for the unit to chirp/warble its ready, then hit the vacuum button and wait for the pretty lights. For some reason the Foodsaver only pulled enough vacuum to get 393' on the first test but the Quark went ahead and fired both channels. The second test went to just over 10k equivalent pressure and the apogee fired then at 500' the main fired. Now the only thing left to do is build the rockets it goes in and fly it since the unit appears to be functional.

Modes: the Quark can be set for Apogee or Apogee +1 by a jumper, then either 300' or 500' main, a third jumper can add either 300' or 500' more to the main deployment giving the option of a main at 300, 500, 800, or 1000 feet.