4" custom Iris build

BigBlueDart said:

Actually, I think it was a Pinnacle nosecone sold by Giant Leap Rocketry. This build has been going on so long I'm forgetting details like that, but pretty sure I got the majority of my initial materials from them.

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Good to know, thanks!

Last night I was just putting together a few things in my avionics bay. I mounted my battery holders and will drill holes to pass the wires later. I put the mounting posts for my altimeter a little bit ago. Last night I also added the terminal strips on the bulkheads and one snap action switch mounted. Not much that's too significant, yet, but you know... pictures.

Fleshed out just a touch more. Half the wires will be for the still to be purchased altimeter. Wires will probably be shortened and will definitely be cleaned up with cable ties. Still need to make some connectors for the ejection charge wires.

So, a couple of weeks ago I made some connectors and placed them through the bulkheads and into the terminal strips. What is going to be the best way to plug those through-holes, now? Assume that I want to be able to remove and replace them if necessary due to corrosion down the road.

BigBlueDart said:

So, a couple of weeks ago I made some connectors and placed them through the bulkheads and into the terminal strips. What is going to be the best way to plug those through-holes, now? Assume that I want to be able to remove and replace them if necessary due to corrosion down the road.

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Depending on how large the holes are rawl nuts aka rubber well nuts a type of expanding rubber fastener would possibly work. For some reason I cant see your attachment.

rharshberger said:

Depending on how large the holes are rawl nuts aka rubber well nuts a type of expanding rubber fastener would possibly work. For some reason I cant see your attachment.

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Well, I have wires going through the holes. The holes are small, just big enough to easily pass the wires through, but I wanted to seal off the interior of the avionics bay from any ejection charge gases.

Electrical tape? Makes a single use gasket of sorts

Nytrunner said:

Electrical tape? Makes a single use gasket of sorts

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Yup, or masking tape. That's all I've ever done. Never had a problem with the tape letting gas into the AV bay.

BigBlueDart said:

Well, I have wires going through the holes. The holes are small, just big enough to easily pass the wires through, but I wanted to seal off the interior of the avionics bay from any ejection charge gases.

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I usually cut a slot in the side of the hole for the wire to sit in then the well nut can fully seal, no issues with ejection gasses so far (no noticeable spike on the altimeter data either).

jd2cylman said:

Yup, or masking tape. That's all I've ever done. Never had a problem with the tape letting gas into the AV bay.

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If that's what works for folks here, then it's good enough for me! I'll just do some masking during my prep and call it good.

Nice paint job. And I liked the back of your sled. Looks solid. Always fun to see how other people do things.

FerdBerful said:

Nice paint job. And I liked the back of your sled. Looks solid. Always fun to see how other people do things.

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Thanks! And with regards to the sled, I'm still in the "it's fun to see how I do things" phase. I'm just flailing about and grabbing onto this method and that as I come across them here or elsewhere on the internet. I couldn't tell you what my next avionics bay will look like, just that I hope it will incorporate some lessons learned, and possibly trying out some new ideas, too.

So... yeah... I've actually flown this thing twice, now. And I suck at updating the thread. Anyway, I flew it first on a Cesaroni I445 Vmax, primarily to get my L1 certification, again. This was at Hellfire 22 on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah last August. I don't have the data in front of me right now, but I believe I flew to about 1200 ft AGL. Dual deployment was perfect:



Then this past Saturday I finally got around to completing my L2. This time the bird went up on a Cesaroni K600. It got lost in the clouds pretty quickly and we were all waiting for about 2 minutes before it appeared again under the drogue chute. Main chute popped at just the right time. Altimeters read out 8,000 ft, while I was only expecting 6,500 from my sims. The airframe took some damage, I'm guessing from banging against itself after apogee deployment. I'm going to go with a longer drogue harness (from 15 ft to 25 ft) next time and will have to do a little repair to the airframe with some coupler tube. Otherwise it was just an awesome flight:



Here is a video from my wife's cell-phone. I cut a good chunk of time out of the middle where we were all staring up at the clouds wondering when it would come back down:

[video=youtube;4BQGycUSBFo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BQGycUSBFo[/video]

Hey! I was wondering what became of you and your rocket just the other day!

Congratulations!

(I'm heading out to NARAM in Pueblo CO this year. Think you'll get a chance to drive down?)

[VIMEO][/VIMEO]

CarVac said:

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Lol. The eyes, man. The eyes. That snarl and aw.

Nytrunner said:

Hey! I was wondering what became of you and your rocket just the other day!

Congratulations!

(I'm heading out to NARAM in Pueblo CO this year. Think you'll get a chance to drive down?)

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Thanks! And a big thanks to HARA and the support and guidance I got from you guys while I was there. I'm just sorry that I never flew with you while living down there. Ironic that I spent 8 years in Rocket City with nary a high power launch.

I won't be going to NARAM this year. It's the same timeframe as Hellfire, the local club's big annual launch on the Salt Flats, and I don't think I'll be up for any big trips anywhere this year as we just bought a house and are a little tight on the budget. I do need to make an effort to get out to a national launch every few years, though. Never been before.

No worries, it's good to hear you arrived and have settled in well.


Fly as you're able

Congrats! And thanks for the update! Awesome build

Congrats!! Beautiful bird!!!