Upscale Mean Machine discussion

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qquake2k

Captain Low-N-Slow
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I'm considering building an upscale Mean Machine, and thought I'd open up a discussion. It would be 4" diameter, 190" (15.8ft) long, and have a 54mm motor mount.

Body Tubes - I have read on here that upscale MM's made from unfiberglassed cardboard tubes can be flexible and bow in flight. I have no desire to fiberglass this or any other rocket. Plus, it needs to separate into three sections for transport anyway, and there would be some flexibility in the joints. So I'm thinking about phenolic tubes from Giant Leap. I know phenolic can be brittle, but it's also stiffer, which is why I'm considering it. I thought about Blue Tube, but it's a LOT more expensive, and can be sensitive to humidity. My thought is to use phenolic airframes and phenolic couplers. Giant Leap has 48" long sections of coupler, so I can cut it into 12" lengths, adding a bit more stiffness overall.

Nose Cone - I've decided on a LOC 4" nose cone. I know it's shorter than a scale nose cone would be, but it has a rounded tip like the Estes nose cone. I thought about turning a nose cone, but it's difficult to find 5" square basswood stock. Plus it would add an awful amount of weight to the top, and the stability is already over 6 calibers.

Deployment - I haven't decided yet whether it will be single or dual deploy.


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View attachment really_mean_machine_54mm_phenolic4.ork
 
I just completed 'Twice as Mean Machine" which will see its debut flight at Beach Blast a week from tomorrow. I used 8 18" plotter paper cores (plus 3 more cut up as couplers). at 3.25" od, it's as close to 2x as you can get. I'll keep it in 4 sections that will be screw-fastened on site.
 
I just completed 'Twice as Mean Machine" which will see its debut flight at Beach Blast a week from tomorrow. I used 8 18" plotter paper cores (plus 3 more cut up as couplers). at 3.25" od, it's as close to 2x as you can get. I'll keep it in 4 sections that will be screw-fastened on site.

So it's about 13ft long? What did you do for a nose cone? Have any photos?
 
I think the blue tube would work good . But expensive . Or just doing as a minimum diameter . It would get up there
 
Maybe you should go 75mm an adapt down. Gives you more choices for motors.
 
Yes that is a good idea , when I messed up with the mega Hi Flyer it was just a 38mm should have made it 54 or 75mm it's cheaper to make a adapter than a new rocket . So I'm stuck with a rocket that can only fly on 38mm J motors
 
Maybe you should go 75mm an adapt down. Gives you more choices for motors.

75/2560 motor hardware is over $300, and a 75mm K is over $100. I think I'll stick with 54mm, since I already have the hardware. I can always adapt down to 38mm.
 
On my SIM that I have think I was 4" loc tube and cone , I SIM the lowest impulse was a G motor but need to look at it again
 
75/2560 motor hardware is over $300, and a 75mm K is over $100. I think I'll stick with 54mm, since I already have the hardware. I can always adapt down to 38mm.

54mm is the right choice.
 
I like this idea.

Make sure that you can fit a large enough chute in to support the post-boost weight. Long birds get heavy fast as I learned with my Not So Mean Machine.
 
I like this idea.

Make sure that you can fit a large enough chute in to support the post-boost weight. Long birds get heavy fast as I learned with my Not So Mean Machine.

I have a 78" LOC chute, which Open Rocket says will bring it down at 16fps. Of course, my builds usually end up heavier than OR thinks they will, so I may have to go bigger.
 
I guess I haven't take a picture of it completed. I'll knock that out shortly. I turned the nosecone out of poplar. It's not as true as I'd like, but I didn't put a whole lot of time into it. The most expensive part of the rocket is either the stickers or the 38mm AeroPack retainer. If it flies well, I may revisit the nosecone.

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0.75Done.jpg
 
I guess I haven't take a picture of it completed. I'll knock that out shortly. I turned the nosecone out of poplar. It's not as true as I'd like, but I didn't put a whole lot of time into it. The most expensive part of the rocket is either the stickers or the 38mm AeroPack retainer. If it flies well, I may revisit the nosecone.

That looks great. The vinyl turned out good. Stickershock? I'd like to see your nose cone.
 
ImageUploadedByRocketry Forum1403970890.990907.jpg

Somebody find my thread on my 5.5inch one.

Just pulled it out yesterday. Thinking of selling it so others could use the 25+ft of nice blue tube on 20 other projects.

Fun rocket.
 
Meanwhile, at Professor Upscale's fiendish lair....
(and, yes, Stickershock)

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I though I already had a pic of the nose, but apparently not.

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The other option would be to give it an internal structure. 4-6 hardwood stringers running between the 54mm tube and 4" airframe would stiffen it nicely.
 
I haven't been working on rockets at all. I still have Binary Effusion to finish, and I haven't decided whether to use cardboard or phenolic tubes on Really Mean Machine. We still haven't had any rain, and if we don't get some this fall, I doubt that we'll have a launch in November.
 
It is hard to overcome the distraction of work. Building is always second.
 
An option, if you wanted go with unglassed, is to keep it straight cardboard LOCs, with full-length couplers, with the cardboard coupler inserts to reinforce the break points where you're going to tear it down for assembly. Nice thing about the LOC stiffies: they readily accept threaded inserts.


Later!

--Coop
 
I haven't been working on rockets at all. I still have Binary Effusion to finish, and I haven't decided whether to use cardboard or phenolic tubes on Really Mean Machine. We still haven't had any rain, and if we don't get some this fall, I doubt that we'll have a launch in November.

Amen, brother. This weather situation is really starting to chafe my chaps. Seems like the only rain we get is on launch days.
 
An option, if you wanted go with unglassed, is to keep it straight cardboard LOCs, with full-length couplers, with the cardboard coupler inserts to reinforce the break points where you're going to tear it down for assembly. Nice thing about the LOC stiffies: they readily accept threaded inserts.

Later!

--Coop

I was actually thinking about LOC tubes with 12" long phenolic couplers.
 
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