1010 rail question

I am building my own rail based launch pad. Is a 6ft length of rail adequate? The two rockets I plan to use with it stand about 5ft. I could go with an 8ft piece if needed but I wanted to avoid that if possible.

Thank you

We cannot answer until we know what size rockets you launch. If you launch heavy rockets and big motors, use the 8 ft. Lighter rockets and smaller motors can just use a 6 foot probably. Either way, I would use the 8 foot though.

A LOC 429ss should be fine with a 6' rail.

6' is a good all-around size for personal use. If you really need something bigger, then I think flying with a club is a better approach.

8' is a bit more to ship, and harder to haul to the launch site.

I went with 6' too. I just got two 3' pieces to make it a bit easier to carry.

The 2 rockets I have are a LOC Expediter and LOC 429SS

When attaching 2 3 foot lengths, don't the lunch lugs snag at all? What would I use to connect the two rail pieces?

The best answer to the question is you need a rail long enough to achieve a safe speed off the rail. What length rail does your simualtions tell you is needed. If you don't have a simulation program (Open rocket is free https://openrocket.sourceforge.net/ ) you can use ThrustCurve.org to simulate your rockets. Thrust curve uses a default rail length of 8ft (I think, might be wrong however) but allows you to set a custom length for your simulations.
There are many thumbrules out there, the club I fly with has a minimum safe speed of 45ft/sec off the rail.

When joining 2 or more rails, lightly sand or file the opening of the upper rail at the joint so that it is slightly more open than the lower. This prevents the rail button from snagging the rail as it crosses the interface. If you are using standard 1010 rail, there are rail joiners available from many suppliers including Amazon & ebay. Just do a search for 80/20 or 1010 and you wil find them.

I look at rail length similar to MMT. You can get them shorter, but it's not easy/cheap to make them longer.

Then again, I haven't used a launcher of my own in 5 or 6 years. I only launch at club launches so YMMV

Thank you all for your input and advice