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Went to my Mom's again and brought home my TLP Tan-SAM TYPE 81.

Spent some time here contributing stuff I hope is helpful to a couple of good threads.:)

It's nice to be spending time here on the boards/forums once again.:)
 
I spent a fair bit of time writing emails regarding our Dragonfly upscale. The nosecone has come in at 12 pounds, 12 ounces. Not bad for a 12.75" x 73.75" cone... The fins are going to be made from plywood skinned with carbon fiber sheet and our supplier is going to send me a sample of the gloss sheet he is planning to cut the skins from.

On top of this, I am trying to help locate a new launch site near us (I know lots of farmers) and spent most of morning recess working on that. If I can convince one more farmer (I already have two on board) we should have access to about 1000 acres, about half of which is open (grass or nursery stock), a third of it is Christmas Trees, and the remainder brush/woods.
 
Finished the paint design for my Rocketry Warehouse Formula 150. This Formula 150 has an extra 2 feet of body tube so it will be 10 feet tall and 6" diameter.

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Resuscitated my lawn-dart-ed Solar Warrior. The motor mount failed so I....
1. Wrapped 150 grit around a dowel to scrape off as much epoxy residue as I could (this is actually a lot harder than it sounds, that stuff does NOT want to be sanded)
2. VERY cautiously sanded the top CR from a new Solar Warrior kit (the kit is $7, engine mount is $5. So now I have a SW that I can stuff a 29mm in!)
3. Epoxied the **** out of the new MMT. Installed Kevlar thread.
4. Installed a little "stop" made out of epoxy putty in the BT. My theory is that if the mmt tries to push up, the epoxy putty will stop it. Maybe? I don't know.
5. Glued in the new MMT.Realized that the "tail cone" actually works well as a structural element - if you smear epoxy all over everything, you're gluing the tail cone to the mmt and the body tube, which gives the mmt something else to "hang on" to.
6. Figured out a new trick for cutting and tying the kevlar cord:
a. Pull kevlar cord through BT. Make a mark at the top of the BT. Tie cord to pencil. Drop pencil through MMT.
b. Tie knot with a loop in cord just shy of the mark. Drop cord back through BT to check length. Clip sharpie to loop. Drop back through mmt. Remove sharpie.
c. CAREFULLY lower shock cord down through BT and mmt. I could have tied a weight but the shock cord is heavy enough that I was able to lower it in. At this point the kevlar cord and the shock cord are sticking out the back of the rocket. Tie them together.
d. Shove everything back through the MMT. HEY LOOK AT THAT, FOLKS!
7. Put rocket on shelf and planned trip to buy some D12s for this weekend.
 
mccordmw said:
I just got in a bunch of Estes Chuter 2 and MIRV kits to build with kids for a fun launch once the weather is nice. Building time this weekend! Also fiddled around with my spring-launch deployment bay last night.

Can't wait for spring!
Click to expand...

I have a Chuter 2 and LOVE it. It's small and light and fast. I found zero use for the second chute, though. First time I tried it, the body came down reasonably; the nose took a LONG time and almost hit the "oh, they're WAY over there out of the flight area" power lines, even though I cut a huge spillhole. If you want it in two pieces, a short streamer is PLENTY for the NC section.
 
neil_w said:
How was your MM glued in originally?
Click to expand...
Insufficiently, it would seem.

(sorry, I couldn't resist.) Seriously, though. I epoxied it. Don't know what happened, but when I pulled it out, it seemed like the cardboard of the CRs had, for lack of a better word, degraded. The cardboard had delaminated and softened. I know that BP motors can produce some moisture, but this cardboard looked like it had been rained on :(
Estes offered me a new one, but I'd already bought a replacement, so they sent me a Quinstar :D
 
Picked up a Craigslist score today.

Edsal/Sandusky 44x43x18 locking flammable cabinet. This will be going in the garage, which you can see in the backdrop is still a work in progress on it's way to be a fully conditioned workshop.

Picked this thing up for $200 (cheapest I've seen new from a store is about $620 after tax). Just a few dings with no chips in the powder coat, but otherwise appears new...it even had the key. I plan to store motors, "ejection powder", "dual deploy initiators", "motor starters", and the inevitable research chemicals in it. I have been looking for a good locking metal cabinet to put the fun stuff in as my boys know enough to use the stuff, but at 4 and 7 I don't really want to leave it up to child impulse control to know not to do it. I'm 99% sure they would never mess with it. However, as I recently explained to my boys while rewiring a breaker box, many things can be learned by trial and error, but some things don't give you the chance to learn from the errors. Plus it looks cool.



Also, received my Mongoose 54 for once the garage is finished...I have to go put up insulation now.
 
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Cl(VII) said:
Picked up a Craigslist score today.

Approx. 44x43x18 locking flammable cabinet. This will be going in the garage, which you can see in the backdrop is still a work in progress on it's way to be a fully conditioned workshop.

Picked this thing up for about $200. Just a few dings, but no chips in the paint and it even had the key. I plan to store motors, "ejection powder", "dual deploy initiators", "motor starters", and the inevitable research chemicals in it. I have been looking for a good locking metal cabinet to put the fun stuff in as my boys know enough to use the stuff, but at 4 and 7 I don't really want to leave it up to child impulse control to know not to do it. As I recently explained to my boys in the context of the breaker box, many things can be learned by trial and error, but some things don't give you the chance to learn from the errors.

Click to expand...

I do the same thing. Even though not required by letter of the law, best to keep AP contained in something like this.
 
dixontj93060 said:
I do the same thing. Even though not required by letter of the law, best to keep AP contained in something like this.
Click to expand...

Yep. The $200 buys me at least 10 minutes of direct flame (based on rating it would still be >100 deg F below auto ignition point even then) to get everyone out of the house in a worse case situation. Now that I will have a place to put it, it feels like a prudent investment.
 
Cl(VII) said:
Picked up a Craigslist score today.

Edsal/Sandusky 44x43x18 locking flammable cabinet. This will be going in the garage, which you can see in the backdrop is still a work in progress on it's way to be a fully conditioned workshop.
Click to expand...

Does this have blow-out panels or vents? Not trying to beat you up or anything, but if you keep "thermally decomposing materials" in a locking cabinet, you can be creating a bomb. I've seen several situations at different research projects where the safety inspector made departments re-order cabinets that were for storage of energetic materials and oxidizers. I don't have the book with the regs handy, so I can't quote either NFPA or ATF regs about storage lockers for explosives, but I think they "suggest" vents of some kind.
 
sooner.boomer said:
Does this have blow-out panels or vents? Not trying to beat you up or anything, but if you keep "thermally decomposing materials" in a locking cabinet, you can be creating a bomb. I've seen several situations at different research projects where the safety inspector made departments re-order cabinets that were for storage of energetic materials and oxidizers. I don't have the book with the regs handy, so I can't quote either NFPA or ATF regs about storage lockers for explosives, but I think they "suggest" vents of some kind.
Click to expand...

Dual 2" vents with flame arrester screens (if you look at the picture of the open cabinet you can see one of the vents in the top right, the other is in the bottom left...at work we slowly bleed nitrogen into the lower left one and connect to the fume hood exhaust lines with the top right one). These are NFPA and OSCA certified for Class 1,2,3 flammable liquids. Basically the same thing we store our organic solvents and chemical reagents with in lab. This is one of the real deal storage cabinets. I've worked in an organic chemistry lab for 15 yrs, and was suspicious based on the price, so I gave it a good going over before I bought it. I appreciate the observation though, many of the cabinets that get advertised for storage of paint and such are basically just metal boxes with no real special design to them. That is why I was so shocked to get a legit one for the money.
 
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I'm building my Aerotech Mirage. Dad wanted me to make some modifications, but I decided to just follow the instructions, and build it "stock".

2016-01-24 22.26.38.jpg

2016-01-27 21.56.48.jpg
 
Sabrina said:
I'm building my Aerotech Mirage. Dad wanted me to make some modifications, but I decided to just follow the instructions, and build it "stock".
Click to expand...

Wang :D Dang :D Sweet :D Pudding! :p Looking good girl! A well deserved Christmas gift (from her parents) too a well deserving young Rocketeer...

I myself haven't done much recently except eat, sleep and, work but...but, i did receive something in the mail yesterday (a late Christmas gift for the Wildchild) shhhhhhh :eek:......a book.

Some of you remember those "things":confused: Never needs electricity to open up, never needs to be recharged, get bored- use them to press flowers! Full of bright vivid pictures, not pixelated digital imagery...

Some of my most valuable possessions are books. :eek:
 
Decided on and installed some recovery gear in my TLP Indigo.:)

I've got an E20-4 for her maiden flight.

Won't be long now. It's supposed to climb into the 40's on Sunday....
Fingers crossed for little to no wind.
I've been known to scrub many a maiden launch due to the slightest of breezes.

I also got my LPR Pad out so that I can put up a Sounding Rocket or two prior to the flight to test the wind.
 
SS/EA 6BBL 71 Cuda said:
Wang :D Dang :D Sweet :D Pudding! :p Looking good girl! A well deserved Christmas gift (from her parents) too a well deserving young Rocketeer...

I myself haven't done much recently except eat, sleep and, work but...but, i did receive something in the mail yesterday (a late Christmas gift for the Wildchild) shhhhhhh :eek:......a book.

Some of you remember those "things":confused: Never needs electricity to open up, never needs to be recharged, get bored- use them to press flowers! Full of bright vivid pictures, not pixelated digital imagery...

Some of my most valuable possessions are books. :eek:
Click to expand...

You should see my living room, Gus...
I'm in the middle of 4 different books... My never ending pile
 
michigander said:
what in the world are you building ? :y:
Click to expand...

A 4.9x upscale of the Binder Design Dragonfly. It is going to be a beast, the nosecone stands over six feet tall. ;)

rharshberger said:
The DFH, Dragonfly from H3$$. :)
Click to expand...

Yep, that's about right...

So far we have been extremely fortunate with materials donations from two fabricators of carbon fiber components. We have also received funding from a major aerospace corporation (a $500 STEM grant) and private donations ($825). Considering that I've never spent much over $200 on a rocket (and most a whole lot less) this is a serious investment. I sure hope the sucker doesn't blow up... :)
 
70+ degrees here today, so I took PTO and got the ridge and soffet vents in the garage/workshop today. I am cautiously optimistic I may get this thing done in a month or so.
 

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