Demon & Dopey 2.0... REVAMPED!

OK, so dixontj90360 (I think that is right) mailed me the following:
2 3" body tubes
a crayon nose cone
7 fins (3 and 4)

Also, I just got some Kevlar from stealth6 and some fiberglass cloth from Connor McGrath... So...





What better thing to do than to use all of them combined?


So, what I have now is a 2 stage rocket that sorta looks like a crayon.

Here are the basic stats...

Length: 86 inches
Dry Weight: a hair under 4 pounds
Hole Size: 38 in both booster and sustainer.



Motors loaded in this sim are Loki H100SP in booster and Aerotech H180 in the sustainer.


My plan for this one is to have sole altimeter ejection charge (no motor eject). Because of this, my altimeter bay will be in a permanently mounted, hatch accessed bay. The bay is the grey thing in between the fins on the sustainer. My booster will have an Adept22 controlling charges for that stage, while the sustainer will have ALL events controlled by my trusty RRC3. I potentially will also mount an Eggfinder in there, if I feel the need. (I am writing an Apogee newsletter article to be able to afford it... )



I will try and build this relatively light, but I will build it strong at the same time. Tip-to-tip fiberglass, Kevlar cloth on centering rings, etc. Let's get this build started!

Matt I got your payment today and will send it out Monday.


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Kewl. Thanks!

Normally, one has more fin area on the booster than the sustainer, so make sure stability is good with your chosen motors when flying together.

You can make the sustainer look like a Crayon with the paint scheme if you want it to. Paint the nose and aft end a gloss color and the majority of the body a similar but matte color. If you add decals, the effect will be quite good. (I finished a pack of 8 Crayons this way.)

Well, I am an NC State fan... So... My paint job reflects it...

Matt, you should do a pencil crayon 2stager!
Ken

Ahh! I see! Let me consider my design a little bit...

I have been playing with the idea of a Crayon two stage too!! I am going to work with some RalphCo Crayon banks from Toys R Us.

Normally, one has more fin area on the booster than the sustainer, so make sure stability is good with your chosen motors when flying together.

Click to expand...

Sage words! You can also do this with slightly larger fins on the booster, or having the booster airframe of a larger diameter than the sustainer.

Keep us updated with this !

Any Progress????? Looking forward to seeing this get built.

Haven't had any time. I have been cutting some FG cloth here and there for FG'ing the fins... Will most likely get some progress this weekend.

Glassed some fins, will get some pics in the morning.

Alrighty, got some more done. I glassed the fins, and 6 of them came out well. 1 of them did not. The peel ply peeled up the fiberglass... Oh well, I will throw another layer of glass on it this weekend and hope it works... This weekend, the avionics bay!!Can't upload pics right now, for some reason... I will upload them as soon as I get on the other computer...

Alrighty, I glued on some centering rings as well... They have a layer of Kevlar on them because as I like to say...







This is the motor mount for the sustainer... You can see the t-nuts for the motor retention. They are 6-32 size. I will use a 4 inch piece of all thread in place of a bolt.

Epoxy is standard US composites 635 Medium 3:1 resin, with enough fumed silica for a peanut butter consistency, and a little bit of black dye.







Another picture...







Top centering ring not glued on yet.

























My plan for this build is to do injected fillets on the sustainer, and a slide in fin can on the booster. I will cut some bulkheads for the booster avionics bay tomorrow (will use my Adept22 to control DD in the booster, and my RRC3 and Eggfinder in the sustainer).

Nice work. It's all about the scratchness! I don't know about you but for me there is a very high degree of satisfaction from making something come alive from found, "recycled", or raw materials.
-Ken

Got my fin slots cut:

Matt gotten anything else done? looking forward to seeing this thing get built

About to go out and glue some stuff up.

Kidding on the gluing. I searched for 1 of the fins for a half hour. Then I cut out a bulkhead for a centering ring.

Full stack:










And the 4th fin:

Finally! Got some more progress:

I did build the avionics bay for the booster, you can see it in my other thread. Please remember to vote for it!


The altimeter bay has been taking up every bit of spare time, hence me not getting anything done on this.








I will be working on the hatch accessed bay for the sustainer over the next few days.




Thanks for watching!!

Udates?????????

When do you plan on flying??

Sorry, I have been gone all week. I am planning on flying this at Freedom Launch.

I have finally gotten some progress on this build. I talked to Dave morey yesterday for a while, and discussed some things. I am planning on flying the upper stage of this for a shakedown flight this weekend. Planned flight is a G104 (I think that's it).

I will upload some pictures when I can get them downloaded.

Any progress since the flight of the sustainer?


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Progress!!!
For those who didn't know, the sustainer crashed at a recent launch, due to user error on the cable cutter. The drogueless descent was fine, until it hit the ground. That didn't work. The av-bay speared up into the body tube, causing some boo-boos.

Some pics of the damage:









Also, the motor adapter was pushed WAY up into the motor tube. I tried to get it out, but no luck. Out came the 1.5 inch drill bit. I drill it out of the tube, and the rest falls out. Problem #1 solved.









Problem #2. Ripped tubes:
I take the chop saw, and chop the tubes where they are ripped. Then I couple the tubes together. I screw in the coupler in case I need access to the motor tube area. Also, screws look cool on a rocket. Don't worry, there are 3 screws.





Fixed!! I am adding some length to the sustainer.

blackbrandt said:

The drogueless descent was fine, until it hit the ground.

Click to expand...

Matt, that's gotta be one of the best quotes ever.

As they say, it's not the fall that kills you, it's the landing!

Tom

anxious to see pics of the 2 stage flight!

Ya know....

I just realized I never updated you guys on how the flight went at Freedom Launch. I better though, because Demon and Dopey 2.01 is being rebuilt and will fly at LDRS!! I recently accumulated a stash of LOC compatible 3 inch mailing tubes and full length couplers. What better to do than to rebuild the #$%^ thing?

The booster is being built with a 54mm motor mount, instead of the wimpy 38 that I had in there. It will get a nice little EX motor that I have been talking with one Manny Ballastero about.

It will also get some upgrades, including glassed body tubes.

But first, the coroner's report:

Perfect liftoff






Flawless staging....




Whoopsies....





This isn't good.





Motor flying around, payload bay coming down on parachute bundle bound by cable cutter.




Yup. THis isn't supposed to happen.










Basically, the thrust ring on the LOC 38/29 adapter failed, causing the H123 in the sustainer to shoot through the rocket.

The booster did not go high enough to arm, and therefore came in ballistic, destroying the altimeters.

I'm assuming you will be designing this in such a way that you will apply what you learned from the previous massive failure?