L3 Project Build Thread - Performance Rocketry Competitor 4
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AlnessW
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Hi all, as you've probably gathered from the above postings, my L3 cert was a huge success!!
Thanks Fred for the nice pictures and Rob for the video. 3 shear pins...
Chuck - you BET I used 3 rail buttons!!
Got plenty more to post, but wanted to update you all for now!
Thanks Fred for the nice pictures and Rob for the video. 3 shear pins...
Chuck - you BET I used 3 rail buttons!!
Got plenty more to post, but wanted to update you all for now!
jackman
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Way to go Wilson! It was a special day for both of us!!!
AlnessW
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Thanks, you too Gary! It most certainly was indeed.
AlnessW
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Launched at NXRS on Saturday morning...
After loading the rocket on the tower I touched base with Bob Yanecek who was ready and waiting to witness. After many good lucks from members, Chris Andrews got to do the honors. The M1297W lit right up thanks to the big igniter I used and Code Blue flew straight as an arrow to 13,334. That M just kept going and going! Lost sight of the rocket until Chuck (chuck5395) called on the FRS radio with a good eye on the rocket under drogue. The main deployed perfectly at 1,000 and landed almost due east of the flightline. The BRB900 indicated that I had landed only 0.88 miles from the pad, which was nice to see! Of course, the rocket happened to be half a mile from the closest road which meant for a decent walk through the sage. Fortunately I had a few extra hands to help carry everything back to the truck, which was a huge help! All told, the flight was picture perfect and couldnt have gone any better Hooray!
Around the campfire that night Pete Ekstrom did my L3 crowning by putting 3 marks in charcoal on my forehead good times!
More pictures and video will follow shortly.
Oh yeah, now to update my signature!!
After loading the rocket on the tower I touched base with Bob Yanecek who was ready and waiting to witness. After many good lucks from members, Chris Andrews got to do the honors. The M1297W lit right up thanks to the big igniter I used and Code Blue flew straight as an arrow to 13,334. That M just kept going and going! Lost sight of the rocket until Chuck (chuck5395) called on the FRS radio with a good eye on the rocket under drogue. The main deployed perfectly at 1,000 and landed almost due east of the flightline. The BRB900 indicated that I had landed only 0.88 miles from the pad, which was nice to see! Of course, the rocket happened to be half a mile from the closest road which meant for a decent walk through the sage. Fortunately I had a few extra hands to help carry everything back to the truck, which was a huge help! All told, the flight was picture perfect and couldnt have gone any better Hooray!
Around the campfire that night Pete Ekstrom did my L3 crowning by putting 3 marks in charcoal on my forehead good times!
More pictures and video will follow shortly.
Oh yeah, now to update my signature!!
AlnessW
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Finally, a bit of closure...
- The West Systems epoxy DID NOT fail.
- The 3 (not two, but THREE) rail buttons WERE aligned and DID NOT bind on the rail.
- I DO understand what shear pins are and why they're important.
- I DID NOT die from shooting my own catalyzed paints.
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Yea, but will that boat glue hold up to a real M or N????
:smile::smile::smile::smile::smile::smile::smile::smile:
:smile::smile::smile::smile::smile::smile::smile::smile:
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AlnessW
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Salvage-1
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Throw a rock.... you'll hit someone.
AlnessW
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Hmm, isn't that the largest commercial 75mm motor available?
If some EX'er out there could do a 75mm N motor that would be WAY cool...
Actually, Fred offered me an M2150 hand pack to fly at NXRS, but the forward closure didn't have an eyebolt.
AlnessW
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Sigh...
Our last high power launch of the season was last weekend, and Code Blue did fly. It didn't end well, sadly...
Down at BALLS last month, I had the rocket fully prepped and assembled, ready to fly on a CTI M840 White moonburner. This was to be my biggest motor to date, as well as Code Blue's biggest push. Unfortunately on Saturday, within literally a half hour of being ready (actually less than that), the launch organizers shut everything down and limited flights to 8K due to some tiny, whispy-looking clouds rolling in. Things only got worse from there as it soon turned into a heavy cloud cover that was persistent throughout the remainder of the weekend. A very disappointed flight line packed up and left starting early Sunday morning.
For the next month Code Blue sat in my shop, still fully assembled and eagerly awaiting our October launch. When the time came I had it on the tower first thing Saturday morning:
The button was pushed, and that thing was out of there! It rode on top of a HUGE white flame on its way to 21K (according to the GPS).
Shortly after apogee reported some bad news it was coming in very fast. As Gary Lech keeps calling out the altitude it became clear that we were coming in ballistic, then seconds later we hear a RRRRRSHHHH in the distance the fairly telling sound of a main chute being deployed at several hundred miles an hour. This was my Oh s*** moment as we were all pretty certain that the rocket was down now. Entering in the last set of coordinates gave me a waypoint that was about a mile southeast of the flightline in the direction we heard the impact sound.
We hopped in the truck and drove for a bit, but we were still a little under a mile from the waypoint. After hiking around in the sage for a while we got lock again, which was good since it meant that the GPS was still OK. Gary spotted my main chute and upon recovery we discovered it was ONLY a main chute, not connected to anything. Walking a little farther we found the nosecone (unharmed with the GPS inside) and some harness, then walking further still we found this
Damn. Our theories were exactly right. No drogue at apogee, but the main deployed. After digging what remained of the fin section out, I came across some very crunched sections of fiberglass airframe, as well as lots of little pieces of altimeters. My estimate is that there is still about 36 worth of 4 fiberglass buried underground Ive noted the GPS coordinates should I wish to return with a shovel sometime, but I have I feeling it will remain there for the unforgiving rocket gods
Back at the shop, this rocket went into the "rocket operating room" for some surgery to get the motor case out, and to see if I could get an idea as to what happened. This where it gets ugly...
Pre-surgery.
Using a Dremel to remove the section of airframe that had jammed up over the fin section.
Crunched end of the (borrowed) CTI 75mm 6-grain case.
Fin section post-surgery. At first glance, it does not look too bad...until you realize that all 3 fins are cracked and 1 has broken free entirely.
What I was able to recover (i.e, dig out of a hole) from the altimeter bay. Again, lots of little pieces of altimeters, but if you look closely you'll see the remains of a 9V battery, switch, both bulkheads, etc etc...
Some pieces of airframe.
In doing an autopsy, it would appear as though both drogue charges fired, but didnt cut the shear pins for some reason. (I could identify a burned ematch in each PVC cap.) Beyond that I have no idea...
This was the 5th flight of this rocket, and currently I'm not sure what I can salvage other than the nosecone, a motor retainer, and maybe some rail buttons. I'm currently waiting to hear back from CTI as to whether the motor case is repairable.
Time to get going on a new project, I guess. I miss this rocket already...
Our last high power launch of the season was last weekend, and Code Blue did fly. It didn't end well, sadly...
Down at BALLS last month, I had the rocket fully prepped and assembled, ready to fly on a CTI M840 White moonburner. This was to be my biggest motor to date, as well as Code Blue's biggest push. Unfortunately on Saturday, within literally a half hour of being ready (actually less than that), the launch organizers shut everything down and limited flights to 8K due to some tiny, whispy-looking clouds rolling in. Things only got worse from there as it soon turned into a heavy cloud cover that was persistent throughout the remainder of the weekend. A very disappointed flight line packed up and left starting early Sunday morning.
For the next month Code Blue sat in my shop, still fully assembled and eagerly awaiting our October launch. When the time came I had it on the tower first thing Saturday morning:
The button was pushed, and that thing was out of there! It rode on top of a HUGE white flame on its way to 21K (according to the GPS).
Shortly after apogee reported some bad news it was coming in very fast. As Gary Lech keeps calling out the altitude it became clear that we were coming in ballistic, then seconds later we hear a RRRRRSHHHH in the distance the fairly telling sound of a main chute being deployed at several hundred miles an hour. This was my Oh s*** moment as we were all pretty certain that the rocket was down now. Entering in the last set of coordinates gave me a waypoint that was about a mile southeast of the flightline in the direction we heard the impact sound.
We hopped in the truck and drove for a bit, but we were still a little under a mile from the waypoint. After hiking around in the sage for a while we got lock again, which was good since it meant that the GPS was still OK. Gary spotted my main chute and upon recovery we discovered it was ONLY a main chute, not connected to anything. Walking a little farther we found the nosecone (unharmed with the GPS inside) and some harness, then walking further still we found this
Damn. Our theories were exactly right. No drogue at apogee, but the main deployed. After digging what remained of the fin section out, I came across some very crunched sections of fiberglass airframe, as well as lots of little pieces of altimeters. My estimate is that there is still about 36 worth of 4 fiberglass buried underground Ive noted the GPS coordinates should I wish to return with a shovel sometime, but I have I feeling it will remain there for the unforgiving rocket gods
Back at the shop, this rocket went into the "rocket operating room" for some surgery to get the motor case out, and to see if I could get an idea as to what happened. This where it gets ugly...
Pre-surgery.
Using a Dremel to remove the section of airframe that had jammed up over the fin section.
Crunched end of the (borrowed) CTI 75mm 6-grain case.
Fin section post-surgery. At first glance, it does not look too bad...until you realize that all 3 fins are cracked and 1 has broken free entirely.
What I was able to recover (i.e, dig out of a hole) from the altimeter bay. Again, lots of little pieces of altimeters, but if you look closely you'll see the remains of a 9V battery, switch, both bulkheads, etc etc...
Some pieces of airframe.
In doing an autopsy, it would appear as though both drogue charges fired, but didnt cut the shear pins for some reason. (I could identify a burned ematch in each PVC cap.) Beyond that I have no idea...
This was the 5th flight of this rocket, and currently I'm not sure what I can salvage other than the nosecone, a motor retainer, and maybe some rail buttons. I'm currently waiting to hear back from CTI as to whether the motor case is repairable.
Time to get going on a new project, I guess. I miss this rocket already...
jackman
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RIP my friend.
AlnessW
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Thank you for the nice note! A sad end to a great "career," indeed. And yes, launch reports on their way!
Thanks guys...
rocketgeek101
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Sad to hear this! At least she got you your level 3.
AlnessW
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That is true - she did serve her original purpose, but after that didn't last quite as along as I would have liked...
Thanks Nate, a real sad ending indeed. As for salvaging - well, the nose cone is OK. Waiting to hear back from CTI as to whether the motor case can be trimmed down to a 5-grain. But I think the fin can will go up my shelf...
AlnessW
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Thanks Rob...
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