Poles

So I am at my in-laws launching low power. I have gotten good at hanging rockets about 40 feet up trees.

Anybody have suggestions on poles for retrieval? Fiberglass would be preferred but not sure what people are using and are happy with.


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BrAdam said:

So I am at my in-laws launching low power. I have gotten good at hanging rockets about 40 feet up trees.

Anybody have suggestions on poles for retrieval? Fiberglass would be preferred but not sure what people are using and are happy with.


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Our club purchased a High Reach retrieval pole (40foot) takes two people for anything beyond 25feet(A Must) the thing Cost over 500.00 but it does the job. This beasty came from www.geodatasys.com Check out it out and the warnings.
I can tell you for a fact you must watch your finger as you retract the fiberglass sections. If you use your bare finger to push the buttons sooner or later one of them will bit you taking a chuck out of the thumb or finger it's the Yellow piece standing in the second photo.

I personal have a Paint roller extension pole that with the 3 foot hook I added will get to models up to about 27-35 feet.

BrAdam said:

So I am at my in-laws launching low power. I have gotten good at hanging rockets about 40 feet up trees.

Anybody have suggestions on poles for retrieval? Fiberglass would be preferred but not sure what people are using and are happy with.


Sent from my iPad using Rocketry Forum

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Last month, I decided to help rescue a rocket that one of our members had launched and got stuck in a hillside forest that borders our launch site. He reported it was more than 40 feet up, and gave us directions exactly how to find it.
When we arrived, We observed that the rocket had fallen a bit lower than he had described, and it was the parachute that was holding it up from falling all the way down to the ground. I had lugged an extension pole branch trimmer (cutter sissors) that we extended up and used to hook over the TOP end of the launch body tube. Exerting steady pressure, the yellow nylon parachute separated from the nose cone and the body tube, which came down.

So, without using ladders, we relied upon a telescoping branch trimmer that my wife had bought, that we borrowed for the rescue. (The $45 metal motor casing alone was worth the effort. The owner was grateful, though the cardboard tube had gotten soft over the months since he lost it.)

Recently I had a high power rocket stuck 50+ feet up in a tree. To get it down, I used a combination of two 12' aluminum poles, a lightweight 12' painters pole, a 10' section of 1" EMT steel tubing. This setup could be raised by hand and reached to about 50'.
Additionally, I added another two 10' EMT metal sections on the bottom to bring its reach to almost 70 feet. At this point it was too heavy to lift alone, and so I used a pulley attached 25' up to help get it up. Worked great and I got my very expensive rocket back!

Here I tested it at 60', less the final 10' section.

RocketHunter said:

Here I tested it at 60', less the final 10' section.
View attachment 182563

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I'd be very very careful operating this anywhere around power lines...
Nice photo! ( Even if there's been a gravity shift! LOL!)

Kirk G said:

I'd be very very careful operating this anywhere around power lines...
Nice photo! ( Even if there's been a gravity shift! LOL!)

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Vacuum skimmer pole is light, long, stiff, not safe for powerlines.

Power companies use special poles, thick rubber gloves and boots, and still: :shock:

For way-up tree extractions, call a logger or arborist. Both can climb trees safely.

At CMASS we have a 40' telescoping fiberglass hot stick. They are not inexpensive, but they are non-conducting.

https://www.macronsafety.com/telescoping-hot-stick is a similar 40' hot stick for $654. A 50' unit is $969.

Even though they are used to switch power lines on and off, we are not linemen and do not use it to retrieve anything from power lines.

Our club secretary also has a line slingshot, and a quad rotor. He has successfully use the line slingshot to recover rockets from as high as 80' trees.

Bob

I purchased a 40 ft fiberglass pole from Spiderbeam five years ago. It has paid for itself many times over. I fashioned a hook that fits in the smallest tube and is attached to a long piece of Kevlar cord. I use the pole to get the hook on the rocket and pull it down using the Kevlar cord. Past 40 ft we have a couple of guys that have wrist rocket slingshots.

https://www.spiderbeam.com/index.php?cat=c2_Fiberglass Poles.html&XTCsid=adaafaecbe00643575ad6dc2698841b1


Dave Morey

bobkrech said:

At CMASS we have a 40' telescoping fiberglass hot stick. They are not inexpensive, but they are non-conducting.

https://www.macronsafety.com/telescoping-hot-stick is a similar 40' hot stick for $654. A 50' unit is $969.

Even though they are used to switch power lines on and off, we are not linemen and do not use it to retrieve anything from power lines.

Our club secretary also has a line slingshot, and a quad rotor. He has successfully use the line slingshot to recover rockets from as high as 80' trees.

Bob

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My RC airplane club has one of these as well. We were able to get an old one from the local electrical utility for free as it was old and they were about to dispose of it. Check with power companies in your area, you might get a great tool and save some money.