Hey guys,
This build thread is long overdue, I built my first rocket this last spring with the intention of getting my NAR L1 and L2 certifications at NXRS in Brothers, OR. I did extensive research and planning to pick out my which kit I wanted to build, and decided on the 54mm Tomach.
(here is the requisite bathtub shot
)
However I love to modify things and I don't really like directions, so once I got my kit those were the first thing in the garbage
. Now I knew I wanted this rocket to fly high and fast so I started with some aeropoxy ES6209 and glued my fins in place. Then did some carbon fiber and 2 layers of fiberglass tip to tip.
Since this is a minimum diameter build I got some of the rail buttons from apogeerockets.com and bent the flat nut to fit the outer diameter of the rocket and the glued them on and glassed over the lower one.
after that was done I glued a coupler into the top of my fin can.
and I used an aeropack screw on motor retainer to complete the fin section. However when I build my next minimum diameter rocket (L3) I will go with one of aeropack's minimum diameter retainers.
Now since I don't do anything half assed, and I wanted to use this rocket for my L1 and L2 I decided to go with a fully electronic dual deploy setup with a PerfectFlite StratoLogger. Since space is tight in a 54mm coupler I decided to design my own mounting sled and laser cut it.
since this picture was taken I mounted a 1 cell LiPo battery and a modified lever switch (will need to take a picture later) so I could use a pin to arm and disarm my rocket.
I used a drogue/ main layout very similar to how AlnessW did his L3: Nosecone > Main chute bay > Altimeter > Drogue bay > Fin section
and actually I took alot of inspiration from his L3 rocket, for instance I copied his nosecone bulkhead attachment method
once I finished assembling everything it was time to test the ejection charges. My first test was to make sure that my altimeter and battery had enough juice to fire the ematches I was using, which was a success. The next test was to make sure that I could separate the parachute bays. Using a black powder calculator I found online I determined that .5g for the drogue bay and .7g for the main bay would be enough. well I was wrong:
I ended up settling on 1.3g in the drogue bay and 1.5g in the main bay, which certainly gave it some gusto getting those chutes out.
after all the time I spent (about 3 months) putting this rocket together I finished just a few days before NXRS, so I didn't have any time to paint so this is what my rocket looked like on launch day.
I flew twice that day, the first launch was on an I245G
and the second was on a J350W
SUCCESS!!!
I was in fact able to get my L1 and L2 certifications at NXRS with apogees of 1657ft and 3836ft respectively. So thanks to Wilson for his support and signing the paperwork for my certifications.
But that is not all... I launched my rocket again with a fancy new paint job on July 27th at the PSAS pickup launch in Brothers on a K250W with an apogee of 15,372ft AGL!
I am so happy with how my launches have turned out and I have one more (so far) planned for September on a K375NW projected to be about 13000 ft apogee.
This build thread is long overdue, I built my first rocket this last spring with the intention of getting my NAR L1 and L2 certifications at NXRS in Brothers, OR. I did extensive research and planning to pick out my which kit I wanted to build, and decided on the 54mm Tomach.
(here is the requisite bathtub shot
) 
However I love to modify things and I don't really like directions, so once I got my kit those were the first thing in the garbage
. Now I knew I wanted this rocket to fly high and fast so I started with some aeropoxy ES6209 and glued my fins in place. Then did some carbon fiber and 2 layers of fiberglass tip to tip.
Since this is a minimum diameter build I got some of the rail buttons from apogeerockets.com and bent the flat nut to fit the outer diameter of the rocket and the glued them on and glassed over the lower one.
after that was done I glued a coupler into the top of my fin can.
and I used an aeropack screw on motor retainer to complete the fin section. However when I build my next minimum diameter rocket (L3) I will go with one of aeropack's minimum diameter retainers.
Now since I don't do anything half assed, and I wanted to use this rocket for my L1 and L2 I decided to go with a fully electronic dual deploy setup with a PerfectFlite StratoLogger. Since space is tight in a 54mm coupler I decided to design my own mounting sled and laser cut it.
since this picture was taken I mounted a 1 cell LiPo battery and a modified lever switch (will need to take a picture later) so I could use a pin to arm and disarm my rocket.
I used a drogue/ main layout very similar to how AlnessW did his L3: Nosecone > Main chute bay > Altimeter > Drogue bay > Fin section
and actually I took alot of inspiration from his L3 rocket, for instance I copied his nosecone bulkhead attachment method
once I finished assembling everything it was time to test the ejection charges. My first test was to make sure that my altimeter and battery had enough juice to fire the ematches I was using, which was a success. The next test was to make sure that I could separate the parachute bays. Using a black powder calculator I found online I determined that .5g for the drogue bay and .7g for the main bay would be enough. well I was wrong:
I ended up settling on 1.3g in the drogue bay and 1.5g in the main bay, which certainly gave it some gusto getting those chutes out.
after all the time I spent (about 3 months) putting this rocket together I finished just a few days before NXRS, so I didn't have any time to paint so this is what my rocket looked like on launch day.
I flew twice that day, the first launch was on an I245G
and the second was on a J350W
SUCCESS!!!
I was in fact able to get my L1 and L2 certifications at NXRS with apogees of 1657ft and 3836ft respectively. So thanks to Wilson for his support and signing the paperwork for my certifications.
But that is not all... I launched my rocket again with a fancy new paint job on July 27th at the PSAS pickup launch in Brothers on a K250W with an apogee of 15,372ft AGL!
I am so happy with how my launches have turned out and I have one more (so far) planned for September on a K375NW projected to be about 13000 ft apogee.
