The Angry Launch Lug

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I'll just put you aside for a minute while I work on these spirals......
 
I've done plenty of silly things*, but I've never forgotten the lug. That's always been the last step of a build (not counting finishing). So, in my mind, putting the lug on is equated with finishing the build.


* - Last silly thing was I forgot to put the parachute on, so when it was time to launch the cool new rocket, there was nothing but disappointment. Not having a spare 'chute in the range box was another silly thing.
 
When I recently wrote up about switching to Rail Buttons, I apparently started something that pushed more than a few people's buttons... Fortunately, the Mods pruned the thread to remove the inflammatory posts. Nowadays, I'm forgetting LL's on the larger stuff, but that's on purpose.
 
When I recently wrote up about switching to Rail Buttons, I apparently started something that pushed more than a few people's buttons... Fortunately, the Mods pruned the thread to remove the inflammatory posts.

"Inflammatory posts"???? About launch lugs/rail buttons? Seriously? People actually got that worked up about it that posts had to be removed?

FC
 
"Inflammatory posts"???? About launch lugs/rail buttons? Seriously? People actually got that worked up about it that posts had to be removed?

FC
I saw that thread before it got Modhammered. After about three posts it wasn't about the systems anymore, but two users flaming each other. Best to move on.
 
Angry Launch Lug sez: "Dood! would you please stop slopping that FnF up my bottom side!!" :mad:

I confess, I have never left a launch lug off, but I have slopped or dripped a little yellow wood glue down them and had it poll at the bottom opening... causing a little friction and resistance to sliding up or down the launch rod. I hand spun a drill bit to clear the semi-plug out. Worked pretty well for me, but I learned my lesson. I'll keep a drill bit in the jump kit from now on.
 
Never hurts to roll up a strip of wax paper and stick it in the lugs before priming/painting, ESPECIALLY if you cut the ends of the lug to a 45 degree-ish angle as I do (which, incidentally, reduces the drag of the rocket SUBSTANTIALLY... plus it just makes the things look SO much cooler and "like they BELONG on the rocket!). This will keep the paint and primer out of the lug and leave it as a much smoother surface on the rod...

Later and best of luck! OL JR :)
 
Wow! Great tip on trimming the lead edge of a lug to 45 degrees. Does it REALLY make that much of an impact, or is it a case of "every little bit helps" to reduce air resistance and drag?
 
Wow! Great tip on trimming the lead edge of a lug to 45 degrees. Does it REALLY make that much of an impact, or is it a case of "every little bit helps" to reduce air resistance and drag?

I think IIRC remember reading in G. Harry Stine's "Handbook of Model Rocketry" that tapering the leading and trailing edges of the launch lug reduces the drag like 90%... Putting the lug into a fillet of one of the fins also drastically cuts drag as well...

I do both whenever I can. Typically I will cut the lug in two, with a 45 degree cut in the middle, and an angled cut on both ends... I like shorter lugs and dual lugs spaced about half the body length apart... try to put one near the rear end, usually in a fin fillet, and the other at about halfway up or a little more, thereabouts... lug doesn't have to be but about half an inch long or so. I REALLY hate those lugs that are about two inches long stuck in the middle of the rocket like an eyesore sticking off the side of the rocket...

later! OL JR :)
 
I've got paint inside my launch lug before and ended up rolling up a piece of sand paper to sand out the inside of the lug.
 
I'll keep a drill bit in the jump kit from now on.

"jump kit"? Never heard that term before. Is that a small "tool" kit you carry with you out to the pad? I use a "hidden wallet" pouch attached to my belt with a carabiner. It contains things like an emery board, a few igniters, a non-scratch pot scrubber (for cruddy rods), standoff, etc. It saves me from having to make that long walk back down the flight line to find the tool I need to correct a pad-related issue.
 
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I leave LPR lugs off all the time...gotta couple of nice tower launchers :cool: If I do need them I usually substitute short bits of brass tube. So my angry paper lugs just lie in the drawer, drifting from angry toward psychotic.
 
I must REALLY get on the angry launch lugs nerves...I'm working on eliminating his job!
It's not really his fault though, rod whip is caused by the ROD, not the LUG.

View attachment 183216 buttons3.jpg
 
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I approve of this elimination. Put down an order for probably 100 various-sized buttons earlier today.

Also this thread is excellent and I am guilty of most of Little Lug's annoyances.
 
I approve of this elimination. Put down an order for probably 100 various-sized buttons earlier today.

Also this thread is excellent and I am guilty of most of Little Lug's annoyances.

Thanks for the order. It's packaged and will be dropped in the mail first thing this morning!
 
"jump kit"? Never heard that term before. Is that a small "tool" kit you carry with you out to the pad? I use a "hidden wallet" pouch attached to my belt with a carabiner. It contains things like an emery board, a few igniters, a non-scratch pot scrubber (for cruddy rods), standoff, etc. It saves me from having to make that long walk back down the flight line to find the tool I need to correct a pad-related issue.

Not sure where I got the term "jump kit" from... perhaps from an Ambulance Tech I knew in 1980 who described shooting accident wreck footage on a home VHS and selling it to the local station. He referred to his tackle box with all sorts of first responder gear as a jump kit, as I recall...that which you take with you when you jump into action. But I could be wrong. My intent was to re-purpose my old fishing tackle box, but I've outgrown it so fast... How could you ever keep all your stuff in just one case?
 

Sorry Angry Launch Lug! but I realized last night I'd done it again on my Micro Conestoga-1620 Build. It's really Not that big a deal. even after having completed the paint job.
A bit inconvenient, Sure; but not unfixable.
Shoot we could always just leave you off permanently and fly from a Tower or Piston;) As with just about everything...Launch Lugs or Buttons are NOT the most important item on the build.
 
Sorry Angry Launch Lug! but I realized last night I'd done it again on my Micro Conestoga-1620 Build. It's really Not that big a deal. even after having completed the paint job.
A bit inconvenient, Sure; but not unfixable.
Shoot we could always just leave you off permanently and fly from a Tower or Piston;) As with just about everything...Launch Lugs or Buttons are NOT the most important item on the build.

But that is one of the nice features of buttons...it's actually better to install them AFTER you paint it!
 
When I recently wrote up about switching to Rail Buttons, I apparently started something that pushed more than a few people's buttons... Fortunately, the Mods pruned the thread to remove the inflammatory posts. Nowadays, I'm forgetting LL's on the larger stuff, but that's on purpose.

Can't we all just get along? Like they do in the City of Brotherly Lugs?
 
Here's what happens to lugs here. Sometimes they get beveled, sometimes not. Sometimes they are painted then installed, sometimes installed then painted. Sometimes the black bands are paint, sometimes decal.
 
The angry launch lug... The official mascot of rocketeers everwhere... :rofl:
 
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