Latest from UpscaleCNC

Here is the latest custom creation, a 5.5" Bertha fin and rings assembly designed for LOC tubes. The fins and rings are notched so they overlap. This positive locking design provides excellent strength and is self jigging. This can be built outside the rocket and then slid in through full length slots or use the fins to jig the rings into position. Once the motor tube and rings are glued into the airframe, the fins can be reinstalled through the slots. This set of parts was created for a member of MARS. 54mm LOC mmt, 7 ply 3/8" Baltic birch for a 5.5" LOC airframe.

UpscaleCNC will be getting under way in the next few months with a website detailing capabilities, stocked material, price estimates, and more. Rings, fins, foam nosecone kits, all custom and all to your specification. Have an idea in mind but don't have the tools to execute it? We know rockets and will be happy to help.

Watch this space for updates and details of new projects!

Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC

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Todays customer is repairing a 3" rocket; the motor mount and old shock anchor was ruined. He asked for two 3"-54mm rings and a 3" to 54mm coupler ring, all notched for a loop of Kevlar he plans to glue to the motor tube. Custom made, while ya wait this time. Thanks Mike, fun afternoon!

Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC

Very cool stuff so far !

Kenny

I would like to see about having fin cores made for my Heatseeker upscale. There is an Openrocket file in the high power threads. I have to update the file this weekend as I have changed some minor things. But the fin shape is pretty much good, it's the tab I am adjusting as I change the rockets design.

Thought about building the fins in the Mega Der Red Max style with a ply core and balsa skins. I am getting a router table soon and it will allow me to shape the edges of the fins and cut the body tube slots.

On you Big Bertha fin and motor mount set, can you size that to fit a 4inch LOC tube? A nose cone would be needed also. That could make a really nice Mega Bertha with 38mm engines.

Nice work, will keep watching.

See ya,
Rod

RodRocket, PM sent

Wow, that stuff is cut friggin' nice.

RodRocket said:

On you Big Bertha fin and motor mount set, can you size that to fit a 4inch LOC tube? A nose cone would be needed also. That could make a really nice Mega Bertha with 38mm engines.

Nice work, will keep watching.

See ya,
Rod

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This guy will push the envelope! He did my Level 3 WAC Corporal parts for me. I am very satisfied with his work! I've also seen the other work he has done. Notably, Beeline Tracker bay pods/mounts. The design he came up with is simple and ingenious. I've a tracker bay mounted in 3 of my nose cones and will be ordering more from him as I need them.

I will upload more photos of the parts he's made for me after I get some work done on them.

For anyone with a Beeline Tx and minimal space, Nat will hook ya up with a sweet kit for the nose cones! Be forewarned - they require a little work to the nosecone for prep. I'll leave those details to Nat

Can you pics of the nose cone mount?

I will be making one tomorrow, starting with a standard 4" PML cone. Pics of the entire process will appear late tomorrow afternoon! Mike (mrwalsh85) may have some pics of the smaller mounts (LOC 38mm cone) I have made him.

N

Thanks for the info. Will keep in touch.

Very nice work!

Look again at those pictures in post #1. Explain to me why EVERY rocket above a certain size & weight isn't built like that?

Much simpler build with much greater strength - what's not to like?

(cvanc goes off to make another stupid fin alignment jig)

My fleet of UpscaleCNC tracker gear!


Tracker pod with beeline transmitter being installed. Notice the opening for whip.


Closed up ready to fly!


Installing in custom made bulkhead installed in a Performance Rocketry 3" FG nosecone


Installed and secured.


Same tracker pod from above removed from PR 3" cone and installed in a LOC 2.56" cone. There wasn't enough room for an eyebolt so Nat machined two holes for a kevlar loop to be installed.


Installing tracker in the 38mm nose cone. This is different because there is no room for a pod so the pod is actually the mount. The tracker itself simply slides in and a bulkhead is bolted on as in the following photo.


38mm LOC cone showing "closed up" ready to fly. Note that there is even a notch to provide relief (as to not induce stress on the tracker pod)

As I said, great work!

Mike Walsh

Very nice.

Thanks Mike! Here are some shots of all the parts prior to assembly. These were made this afternoon for a friend. His was being installed in a PML 4" cone and so a bulkhead was made for that cone. Inside most plastic cones there is a step just in front of the shoulder and the bulkhead is sized to sit against that step. You have to shove it through the inside of the shoulder, distorting the cone a little, but then it pops out and will sit flat when pulled up against the step and epoxied.

The 24mm cartridge goes from rocket to rocket. Each 54mm or larger cone gets a bulkhead, some cones require a new cartridge lid, most large ones don't. PEM nuts are pressed in on the back for the lid to screw down.

The second image here shows the bulkhead that retains the 2-56 threaded rod and has a hole for the whip antenna.

See this Flickr page for more details:
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/87612242@N00/sets/72157626363871318/




Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC

Today's customer had a different take on our tabbed and notched fin and rings design. This is all sized for PML tubes, 3" motor, 7.5" airframe.



Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC

A customer who likes big rockets contacted us for some custom rings and plates. These were made to a spec'd dimension, probably for sono tube. No problem, big or small. That's a 6" caliper...

Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC

Wingarcher said:

Today's customer had a different take on our tabbed and notched fin and rings design. This is all sized for PML tubes, 3" motor, 7.5" airframe.

View attachment 124666 View attachment 124665 View attachment 124667

Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC

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I am so excited to get this L3 cert project going, and this fin assembly is awesome. This is for a 3x Upscale Estes Der V-3.

Just got my package and these are some of the finest CNC'd parts I have ever purchased.

Chuck

We made parts for a 7.5" LOC tube based WAC Corporal, mrwalsh85 posted about it above. Don't seem to be any pictures, maybe Mike can post a few. Anyway, the next step of the project was to create foam plugs for the tail cone. The fin can had been designed with the tail cone in mind, of course. The motor tube extends below the last airframe centering ring and the fins tab into a smaller ring that represents the minor diameter of the tailcone. Needed to fill in the gap between the two rings- with foam. Stuffing chunks in and hot wire cutting is an option of course, but we don't have a wire cutter and don't want to make one.

The process is this: Determine a linear function that describes the line of the cone (we used the point/slope method to do this as it is a straight cone) and then use Excel to calculate the radius of the cone at various stations along its length. The stations were 0.25" apart. These radii are converted to vector circles in two groups. The foam we use is nominally 2", but for precision it is machined to 1.75" first so we use groups of 7 circles. In this case we aren't making a full cone shape, we're making something less than 1/3 of it to fit between the fins, so the fins were drawn in and vectors cut away until we were left with just the piece that fits between the fins and butts against the motor tube. The exterior is a staircase that is an approximation (a "greater than" rectangular approximation of the area under the curve, if you recall the beginnings of integral calculus) of the finished shape of the cone.

We needed two pieces to fill the gap in, one at 1.75", one at something like 1.15".

First set of pictures shows the process- blank foam ready to go, oversized pocket machined down (these are from the thinner pieces, so the pocket is deep; the larger pieces just had a 0.25" pocket), and then the finished part cut and tabbed to stay in place while cutting. The pocket was a little small, so there was some bit rubbing on the right side-- that's why the foam is torn a little. While not good practice, this didn't cause any problems with the parts so we didn't reprogram after the first one.



Here are the finished pieces set into one of the three slots in the rocket. The fincan is still loose in the airframe but everything is lined up in this dry fit up. Note- the tailcone shape will extend to the rear edge (top in this picture) of the rear (top) centering ring. Foam won't go, so a small amount of filler or filled epoxy will get wiped on to finish the line once the steps of the foam are sanded off. All the foam will then be fiberglassed of course.



And here's the obligatory pile of parts on the floor photo. Thanks for watching...



Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC

Dry fit of fin can showing bolt pattern on the aft CR. The bolt pattern is to accept the AL ring (the outer 6 holes), and the inner circle of holes is for clearance for the screws that will hold the Aeropak retainer to the AL ring.


Obligatory pile of parts on the floor photo.

Time for an update- our customer's WAC Corporal build is coming along. We were asked to make some parts for the external conduit on the rocket. The conduit will be built with a section of 54mm airframe tubing. Rather than try to mount the tube direct to the rocket a series of bulkheads were made- these are what's left after 54mm ID circles and 7.5" OD circles intersect. The tube was cut just a little "short" so the bulkheads make contact, not the tube. The gap is filled with epoxy fillet and the tube will be fiberglassed for durability.

Pile 'o parts on the floor:


Is it a canoe? Bulkheads prior to gluing in one of the sections of tube.


Set in place, you can see the gap created by the bulkheads.


Thanks for watching.

Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC

Been busy and haven't had a chance to post on this thread. Today's customer project is a 5.5 Saab missile fincan. We used the design from our customers Rocksim file and added in the Upscale treatment- interlocking fins and rings!

Here's the pile of parts picture.




Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC

I might have missed it, but can you post your web address?
Would you be able to drill holes for an aerotech motor retainer with the flange?
It all looks great :handshake:

I have a web domain name, but no website attached to it, yet. Life here has been a lot busier than I thought it would be through the start of this year due to some family things. Still cutting parts and so on, just haven't had any time to sit down and put a website together. For now, feel free to PM me here, and we can work things out.

Yes, I can drill holes in particular arrangements-- the question is knowing what the bolt circle is for those holes in that retainer. I assume you're talking about one of those rear closure flanged things? Will Aerotech fess up the details?

Nat

Wingarcher said:

I have a web domain name, but no website attached to it, yet. Life here has been a lot busier than I thought it would be through the start of this year due to some family things. Still cutting parts and so on, just haven't had any time to sit down and put a website together. For now, feel free to PM me here, and we can work things out.

Yes, I can drill holes in particular arrangements-- the question is knowing what the bolt circle is for those holes in that retainer. I assume you're talking about one of those rear closure flanged things? Will Aerotech fess up the details?

Nat

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He probably means Aeropack flanged retainer.

Aeropack- I can do those, too. The ones I've done so far have been spotted 1/8" holes for location and customers have drilled them out for the inserts or for clearance to use with nuts and lockwashers on the backside.

I was thinking of a 38mm rear closure that someone made for aerotech motors that had a drilled flange for retention. Not sure who made them, I dont' think they were Dr Rocket, although they were red. I seem to recall some discussion about their legality for use with certified motors.

N

Wingarcher said:

Aeropack- I can do those, too. The ones I've done so far have been spotted 1/8" holes for location and customers have drilled them out for the inserts or for clearance to use with nuts and lockwashers on the backside.

I was thinking of a 38mm rear closure that someone made for aerotech motors that had a drilled flange for retention. Not sure who made them, I dont' think they were Dr Rocket, although they were red. I seem to recall some discussion about their legality for use with certified motors.

N

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I think that was the Rocketman Ky Michaelson.

This most recent project displays just how custom our drawing and cutting service is. We recreated these fins from our customers OpenRocket file and Upscaled it by adding on the usual interlocking fin and ring features. Fin tab length was calculated to create a fin hang off to the rear and allow a 1/4" ring recess.

Can anyone guess what model is being built here? It's roughly 1/4 scale, and that long stick is a nosecone profile template.

Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC

Nat
It is related to the history of early military rockets. I.E. the first real big R+D program. I won't spill it though !!:wink:
Jeff Moon
ex STS/ss bar have to redo level 1 tripoli.