Large High Power Launch Pads

Got to ask the stupid question. How to you raise a 20 foot tower hinged at the base with a 400 pound rocket on it without a winch or hydraulics?
it only 5 or 6 guys to lift because once you slide rocket down to bottom of rail that's where all the weight is so it pivots fairly easily up ,I been asked to modify it to have a hoist but then you have all this extra weight and stuff to go wrong. my pads done some heavy duty flying and needs little maintenance after flying is done and also other people borrow it to take to Balls and they can easily assemble it themselves https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSHwr_KecT0 and also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MMygM5zdRE these are just a couple of the projects that have flown off my pad

I'll have to get out tomorrow and set mine up so I can take photos(which means I'll have to get up off my a**). 15' steel rail attached to a radio tower section and it pivots about 4 feet up the tower. It also has about a 50 pound counter weight for a blastplate. It has a very large footprint with 5 points on the ground, all very adjustable. The only things launched off it so far was loaded with 500 pound thrust Kosdon M2240. I used feet made for the equeptment used in making computer components. About 4" in diameter they are cup-shaped and the Kosdon drove them into the Black Rock playa about 2". I welded on some 4" x 4" 3/16th inch plate for more surface area to prevent that. The whole stand was beefed up for a projected flight of a 120 pound rocket that hasn't happened, yet. The next thing for sure will be my 3rd level project on a CTI M2250, the rocket will weigh around 60 pounds or so, I think

Our club has a very nice pad that could launch rockets of several hundred pounds. It's a heavy pad, but one key to it is the clamshell design that lets you pull the rocket up as well as pushing up on the rail.

Jim

Say where do you get a 8-12 ft length of 10-10 rail?
I'm upgrading my old launch lug system.

Tom

McMastercarr.com

We get all of ours from https://www.tslots.com/

RE: rails- MARS just bought some new 1010 rails, went with an extrusion that isn't 8020, but is essentially identical-- I think the slot opening is .005 larger than it is on the 8020 spec? Anyway- point is this stuff is stocked in 20' sticks, so we got 10' rails. Last time we used 8020, the local source had stock sticks that were 12' long, so we have 8' rails and 4' pieces sitting around doing nothing.

Nat

I just took delivery on a new high-power pad today. The pad was made by Royce Frankum (Dallas). I made a few changes to his prototype design and then he executed our concept. I really like how it turned out.

The legs on the pad just slide in. It takes about 15 seconds to assemble. Although the legs are identical, the one inserted under the rail (when the rail is laid over) is longer than the other two. Our club has some pretty long rails, so I'm hoping this will keep the pad from tipping when the rail is down.

The whole pad is very light - about 40 pounds without a rail, but it's quite strong. He had one of his co-workers (who tips the scales at about 350) stand on the blast plate. No problem. We haven't flown a rocket off of this yet, but I'm pretty sure a 100 lb rocket would be doable.

Royce is setting up to manufacture these commercially.

Jim

JimJarvis50 said:

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Royce is setting up to manufacture these commercially.

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And Royce is a great guy! Glad to see him in this new endeavor.


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Very nice pad. I like the design.

Here is where I am with Orangeburg's new Away cell.
Upscale of John Coker's design.

Beautiful pad, and nice shop too. Might be a little too clean....
You could add the plastic rebar protectors to the screw posts.

qquake2k said:

That's a great looking pad, Eric. But I've got to say, I don't like those threaded studs sticking straight up from the ends of the legs. I can see someone tripping and getting impaled.

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I'm with y'all. I have to make some safety heads for them. Consider it a work in progress!
Thanks for the input!!

Wayco said:

Beautiful pad, and nice shop too. Might be a little too clean....
You could add the plastic rebar protectors to the screw posts.

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Wayco , It's a mess right now!! LOL Not up to Aviation standards, I'll get it back in shape when I finish this project!!
Good idea, save me some cut time!!

Eric1 said:

Here is where I am with Orangeburg's new Away cell.
Upscale of John Coker's design.

Click to expand...

Now that pad is BADDAZZ!!!!!

Almost complete!!!

Hmm.....fantastic.

JimJarvis50 said:

I just took delivery on a new high-power pad today. The pad was made by Royce Frankum (Dallas). I made a few changes to his prototype design and then he executed our concept. I really like how it turned out.

The legs on the pad just slide in. It takes about 15 seconds to assemble. Although the legs are identical, the one inserted under the rail (when the rail is laid over) is longer than the other two. Our club has some pretty long rails, so I'm hoping this will keep the pad from tipping when the rail is down.

The whole pad is very light - about 40 pounds without a rail, but it's quite strong. He had one of his co-workers (who tips the scales at about 350) stand on the blast plate. No problem. We haven't flown a rocket off of this yet, but I'm pretty sure a 100 lb rocket would be doable.

Royce is setting up to manufacture these commercially.

Jim

Click to expand...

Is this the same pad for sale on thEbay? I'm curious if anyone has experience using this pad.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/221521781053?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

That's a nice looking pad.

Worsaer said:

Is this the same pad for sale on thEbay? I'm curious if anyone has experience using this pad.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/221521781053?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

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It's the same builder as the one I have, but without my customized changes. We've only had one flight off of the one we have, but the flying season starts for us in September.

Jim

JimJarvis50 said:

It's the same builder as the one I have, but without my customized changes. We've only had one flight off of the one we have, but the flying season starts for us in September.

Jim

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I'm thinking about purchasing one. Would you be willing to share some details on your customizations? (Here, or in a PM.)

Worsaer said:

I'm thinking about purchasing one. Would you be willing to share some details on your customizations? (Here, or in a PM.)

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Our club rails are pretty heavy (pipe supported). So, the main thing I did was make the rail support structure stronger. The pics below show the structure of the tubing. The central tube (that holds the pivot piece and the rail) is a single piece instead of 2 pieces, and it is thicker (1/8"). I also made the pivot piece more symmetrical and increased the strength of the piece supporting the rail when its tipped over. I also wanted the rail to lay down over one of the legs instead of between them. I also made the blast plate thicker and added some covers to protect the hardware. Royce did a great job turning concepts into reality and I couldn't be happier with the product.

Jim

I built my copy of the Prorail base many years ago... not many people liked it because the CG was so low etc... but it has served me well, and I love low CG pads:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/album.php?albumid=22

Mine will not service a 60 pounder, but I down-scaled the Prorail base to fit my needs.

Worsaer said:

I'm thinking about purchasing one. Would you be willing to share some details on your customizations? (Here, or in a PM.)

Click to expand...

Royce now sells these pads and more through his new website.

www.frankumperformance.com

TomVil said:

Say where do you get a 8-12 ft length of 10-10 rail?
I'm upgrading my old launch lug system.

Tom

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Find your local 80/20 distributor and pick it up. The shipping charges are steep for a single 12' length as it must be shipped by a trucking company.

Grainger carries 80/20 rail or equivalent and tractor supply may also have it. If so, they do not charge shipping if you pick it up at their store.

Bob

bobkrech said:

Find your local 80/20 distributor and pick it up. The shipping charges are steep for a single 12' length as it must be shipped by a trucking company.

Grainger carries 80/20 rail or equivalent and tractor supply may also have it. If so, they do not charge shipping if you pick it up at their store.

Bob

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Dont forget about Amazon they have cheap shipping ( comparatively ) on the 8' lengths and one of the best prices.

eldelay said:

Royce now sells these pads and more through his new website.

www.frankumperformance.com

Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with resurrecting threads, though you should warn us. ("Hey bringing back this old thread I.... blah blah blah" etc.)

Otherwise I too will accidentally start answering people's questions from 2 years ago.

I am planning on building a launch pad shortly. I have several requirements but am having trouble settling on a design.

Requirements are:

1) Can launch up to 80lb rockets
2) Minimal rail whip as it will be used for 115k two stage flights
3) 12-15ft 15/15 rail
4) Will breakdown and fit within/on the roof rack of my Subaru leaving space for gear etc.

So far I favor the "prorail base/cocker" launch pad design because it is so compact. But my biggest issue with the design is stiffness in the plane perpendicular to one that the rail pivots. The plane in which the rail pivots can be easily stiffened with a diagonal member as shown in some examples in this thread. However I'm at a bit of a loss figuring out how to add stability in the other direction - except maybe staking down some wires.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!

Kip, AeroPac has added some guy lines to our high power pads. Without adding tons of 'steel' this was about the best thing we could come up with. The aluminum piece slides into the top of the rails backbone. It has SS cable that then connects to Kevlar. The adjustments are simple tent like 'things'. They only need to be snugged up.

Now that I think about it..I switched out those line tightners and made ones like these. https://www.rei.com/product/829842/...D=120217890000834814&lsft=cm_mmc:cse_PLA_GOOG

They hold the line taut better then those in the photo.

Tony