Nose Cone Eye Bolts

Hi, I looking for different ideas on attaching say 1/4 inch eye bolts to nose cones. I have a few ways I do it. I'm looking for other suggestions of what other people have done.

try a threaded insert, the kind you would use for wood. The one's I use are brass and have a very very course thread. This combined with some epoxy will defently do the trick.

Here is the info and link to the Du-Bro website and a pic of the item I mentioned above. Hope this helps.. smaller versions of these are avaible and work great for motor retainers mounts.. and and great for retro work as well.

#395 1/4-20 Threaded Inserts (4/pkg)

These brass threaded inserts are the perfect way to put threads into wood and mount engines to wood mounting rails. Threaded inserts make a simple and effective way to make wing hold downs. Can be used where blind nuts are hard to fit.
Price: $ 2.65
https://www.dubro.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/scstore/p-395.html?L+scstore+ymem9848+998431276

Yes, I have used these screws for motor retainment as well. I think I forgot to mention, I'm looking to attach eye bolts to 4-inch plastic none cones. Has anyone say... cut off the shoulder and used a tube coupler or done something similar?

The last two rockets I've built.. 1) a 3" version of the estes HeatSeeker.. and 2) a 4" verion of the V-2 Blossom #47. Are both space limmited rockets... so in order to have room for a the main chute in the payload/nose cone.. I cut the end off the bottome of the Nose Cone, then I cut a slit in the shoulder big enuff for the shock cord to go through, and then beveled the out side edge of it. I also made about 5 or 6 smaller holes throught the sholder both under and along side where the shock cord wil lay. then on the outside of the sholder I counter sunk the holes.. then covered with masking tape. I insert the shock cord through the slot and tape it up very very well with about 1/4" sticking out. Back inside the nose cone, I built a dam around the shock cord and to the out sides of the all the holes, and rough up the shoulder area with 60 grit paper. next comes west bond system epoxy. let it dry ... clean up the outside sholder and your done.. it works great.. bevleing and counter sinking the holes on the outside of the sholder make the epoxy dry in a rivit form to help hold it in place.
My HeatSeeker weighs in around 7 lbs loaded. flown 4 times.. no problems yet.. and hopefully the V-2 will fly this coming sunday, weigh'n in around 4 or 5 lbs.

Originally posted by bikeboy
Hi, I looking for different ideas on attaching say 1/4 inch eye bolts to nose cones. I have a few ways I do it. I'm looking for other suggestions of what other people have done.

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Instead of using the nose cones as they are, you can also make them more useful by taking advantage of the space inside them. Especially for small rockets, this space is useful for a tracking transmitter, nose weight or even electronics (as I did on my G-FORCE).

Bond a centering ring into the nose cone just forward of the shoulder where it widens out inside. This will give you a mechanical lock as well as the epoxy bond since epoxy doesn't stick to plastic very well. Then, you can make a bulkhead which bolts to the C.R. and provides access to the inside of the nose and an attachment point for the recovery system.

The threaded inserts from DuBro that Electrode mentions in one of the posts above are also available at most home improvement stores, like Lowes, Home Depot, etc. A lot of local hardware stores have them as well. They are available in a variety of sizes from very small (I know you can get them as small as a #6 screw size, and maybe even a #4 screw size) to at least a 1/4-20 thread - larger may even be available. You'll pay less for them at the hardware store than you will from DuBro.

A little CYA (cyanoacralate) glue on the threads will ensure that they stay secure.