What did you do rocket wise today?

Assembled an Eggtimer Quark, had an issue with one leg of the processor getting a poor solder joint (it was enough to make connection, but the buzzer was really quiet and "static-y" sounding), at first I thought it was a bad buzzer, but it also didn't seem to give the proper beeps, so I re-checked/touched up the two 4.7k resistors and then check all the legs I could see on the processor and sure enough the one closest to the edge of the board and the buzzer looked like it had a hairline crack under it, touched up the joint and BINGO!

Cris Erving make an awesome little kit!

I read through the first 100 pages of this thread .

Received my L3 NAR card!
Also Working on rocket storage instead of the domino affect of falling rockets

Read from page 101 through 201

Did some avionics tests today...an RTFQ Micro M8N GPS plus a TBeacon used 28mAh on a 1S lipo over a 30 minute test. I didn't ask the TBeacon to do any transmissions besides the boot one & the GPS lock one. I'll do more tests soon with the Easymini also wired in there along with the TBeacon doing some position transmissions. I'm putting a 1S 150mAh battery along with those components in my 29mm min diameter build. I'm guessing it'll get me about 1.0 - 1.5 hours of useful battery life (using 80% of the lipo).

Read through pages 202-300 of this thread.

hobie1dog said:

Read through pages 202-300 of this thread.

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You've ready seen people come and go in the TRF timeline. That is a lot of info.

Cut new fins for the problematic Wizard upscale...again.

I have done the read too awhile back.
I have a pretty good deal of Sodmiester's stuff memorized verbatim.

I didn't have Internet access most of the day, but read through pages 301-330 of this thread.

hobie1dog said:

I didn't have Internet access most of the day, but read through pages 301-330 of this thread.

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Ok, now I have to ask: why?

neil_w said:

Ok, now I have to ask: why?

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Just wanted to read all the way through the thread and pick up more knowledge, as I spend most of my time in bed and have nothing else to do. Believe me , being unable to be a normal productive member of society, bites the big one. For years I said, "I would give anything to not have to work", but when you lose your health and then not be able to do the things you want to do, you realize that's an untrue statement.

Customized & 3d printed a fin alignment tool for my 29mm min-diameter rocket build. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1900378

hobie1dog said:

Just wanted to read all the way through the thread and pick up more knowledge, as I spend most of my time in bed and have nothing else to do. Believe me , being unable to be a normal productive member of society, bites the big one. For years I said, "I would give anything to not have to work", but when you lose your health and then not be able to do the things you want to do, you realize that's an untrue statement.

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Gotcha, I was just curious. Seemed like a tough slog to get through it all, and a lot of it is sort of transient and uninteresting, but I suppose there's some gems in here as well.

I'm curious to know what the cost is to print something like that? I'm not technically competent enough to get into CAD or 3D printing myself, but a fin alignment tool like that, that could be sized for differing BT diameters could be very useful.

TangoJuliet said:

I'm curious to know what the cost is to print something like that? I'm not technically competent enough to get into CAD or 3D printing myself, but a fin alignment tool like that, that could be sized for differing BT diameters could be very useful.

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I uploaded it as-is to 3dHubs and the price quotes were mostly in the $4 - $10 range, plus shipping if you can't pick it up. If you can bunch a few jobs together, you can dilute the set-up fee. So there's a basic idea, assuming the size I uploaded is anywhere close to correct (would I have needed to customize it to size first? I'm not really sure).

If you're not confident with CAD skills, I strongly recommend setting up an account on TinkerCad.com and go and play. It has some limitations but you can still do some good things with it and it is very easy to use. For fin jigs and such it's 100% sufficient. Once you get comfortable you can decide if you want to step up to more sophisticated software. Then use a commercial service (I use 3dHubs because it's typically much cheaper than others) to print.

It's a lot of fun.

Ordered an Estes Executioner, and bought a Tandem-X kit from Hobby Lobby for $17.99 thanks to their 40% coupon.

Read through pages 331-360 of the thread, slow day.

You're getting there.....

I intended to buy a Comanche-3 kit that I knew was on the rack at Hobby Lobby using the 40% off coupon to go with the Mini Comanche-3 I bought last summer, but as has become quite typical, the BT was crushed in the package. But I didn't leave empty-handed... I purchased a Sky Warrior instead.

Once again Rustoleum has disappointed me. I bought a can of 2X in gloss white for my Redstone. After the 5min of shaking and then testing the spray.....it still had intermittent seconds of blobs coming out as I painted. This is the second time Rustoleum has let me down....the first time being with a can of "paint and primer". I decided to try them again as most all modelers seem to sing it's praises. It's back to Krylon for me. Hopefully the blobs will sand down without issue.

Probably an old can that's been on the shelf for a long time.
I never noticed a date code, but there should be one so you know the date of manufacture.
I've had problems lately, but from cans that I've about 5 years.
I started storing them upside down, that seams to help some, but not a fix.

ballistic_trep said:

Once again Rustoleum has disappointed me. I bought a can of 2X in gloss white for my Redstone. After the 5min of shaking and then testing the spray.....it still had intermittent seconds of blobs coming out as I painted. This is the second time Rustoleum has let me down....the first time being with a can of "paint and primer". I decided to try them again as most all modelers seem to sing it's praises. It's back to Krylon for me. Hopefully the blobs will sand down without issue.

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They have low pressure to begin with, and very cheap, low quality nozzles so it is to be expected.

neil_w said:

I uploaded it as-is to 3dHubs and the price quotes were mostly in the $4 - $10 range, plus shipping if you can't pick it up. If you can bunch a few jobs together, you can dilute the set-up fee. So there's a basic idea, assuming the size I uploaded is anywhere close to correct (would I have needed to customize it to size first? I'm not really sure).

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The design I uploaded needs to be stretched to the height you'd want. The design is 10mm, but I printed mine 70mm high. I didn't pay attention to how much filament it said it would use, but my guess is it's somewhere in the $0.50 to $1 range. Once you have a 3d printer, the dollar cost of parts is pretty much insignificant. The design & printing times are the only real gotcha.

For the design, I used Thingiverse's integrated "Customizer" on an existing design. With a pair of calipers to measure my actual rocket parts (tube & fin thicknesses), it took about 5 minutes to design. It took about 4 hours to print it. My printer's reliable enough that I can pretty much just hit print and not worry about it until it's done (although, I can watch it on my cell phone). So, the time really isn't that big of a deal either.

Read through pages 361-435 of this thread...?.getting closer, lots of good information so far.

Ordered a Mars Lander kit, the Semroc reproduction.

In late 1970 or early 71, I got the Estes Mars lander kit. But I was nowhere near ready for it. Overwhelmed.

Cannibalized some of the parts for a few things, otherwise the kit was wasted.

I think I'm a little bit more ready this time.

Do a build thread George....that kit is on my list as well. I think I'll build a BSV first.

To follow up on the 3d printed fin guide cost, printed at 70mm tall this worked out to be 73g worth of plastic. It's $26 for a 1kg roll of PETG, so that's about $1.90 worth of plastic. Some will say it's not worth the time, but I think it's way worth it to have perfectly straight fins...especially on this min-diameter build I'm doing.

Here's a shot of the completed print.

Fred Garvin said:

Do a build thread George....that kit is on my list as well. I think I'll build a BSV first.

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There has been at least one if not more nice build threads on the Mars Lander in the past. Search in TRF as well as Google. When I am able to get around to building this, I will document some. But it will not be a how to build thread.