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Here's a hint... wrap some tape or use heat shrink tubing on the exposed switch terminals, especially the backlight switch. They're awfully close to some parts on the PC board.
Previous experience soldering consisted mostly of tinning wires and easy splices. Did not want to be the beginner with expensive tools so I found a solder station that was commensurate with my skill level. Later regretted not springing for the lighted magnifier. The LCD receiver came together nicely after 40 minutes of cursing and reading the troubleshooting steps more carefully.
I’ve done very similar to you. I ordered some stuff for Black Friday and got them built over Christmas break. My eggfinder and LCD kit went together well. Cris is great with product support and the build documentation/instructions are very well done.
Anyway, I enjoyed the builds so much I went and bought 4 or 5 more different kits to start working on. Have yet to flight test anything—weather has not cooperated with launch schedules this year. But I have a good backlog of things to build from Quasars to upgrading existing stuff with Openlog modules.
Anyway, I enjoyed the builds so much I went and bought 4 or 5 more different kits to start working on. Have yet to flight test anything—weather has not cooperated with launch schedules this year. But I have a good backlog of things to build from Quasars to upgrading existing stuff with Openlog modules.
Yes, combination of holiday sale and a bit of available free time are what set the hook in me. I am a level 2+ on the Eggfinder difficulty scale so in a bit of project risk management I had fellow TRFer @Raythain assemble my Quasars for me. He did a really professional job. Failure due to my sloppy work on the receiver would not be as catastrophic as failure of onboard electronics. I imagined retrieving small surface mounted components from the bottom of my avbay post flight and decided to work up to Protons and Quasars. Here's a look at the 2 Quasars Raythan assembled along with the printed sled for my near MD 2 stage project.
Do you have the STL file for the case? I just ordered the voice and GPS modules and the case I'm using now for the LCD receiver isn't big enough to fit everything now.
It's a Black Aero Pro Case available for sale on their website. It is well worth it for all the hardware/switches/connectors.
Looks tidy. What kind of Lipo are you using?
A Nanotech/Turnigy 300 mah. The one in this pic has power and balance leads. It’s tough to fit all that in there. A second one I just bought only has the balance leads with some Eflite connector. So I’m going to chop that off and power just from the balance leads. Should work fine and saves some space.
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Realizing I could be credibly accused of project managing this 2 stager instead of building it, impulse bought some ripstop nylon while shopping with my daughter at Jo Anns and decided to take a shot at recovery for first time. Thanks to Black Aero, (receiver case) Raythain, (Quasars assembly) and the guy or gal that posted the .stl file for the fin alignment tool. Also most likely my daughter for when I need help with the sewing machine to get these shroud lines on. Promise to be back on electronics topic next post.
I'm assuming these are your first attempt at making chutes. With the scissors in the pic, I also assume you cut the ripstop with the scissors.
My recommendation, after building a number of chutes, is to always cut the nylon with a hot knife so the edges melt together. Also, make sure you roll and sew the seams along the edges very well because the ripstop nylon will fray and do so easily. You need to make sure the seam is closed and fraying can't start.
I once threw a chute I had made by cutting the edges of the ripstop with a scissors into the wash machine after a cow had chewed and slobbered all over it. It came out as shroud lines with a huge tangle of threads attached. There was nothing left of the ripstop.
When you attach the shroud lines, use a narrow zigzag and make sure one side of the zigzag goes through the shroud line. Then repeat on the other side with the other side of the zigzag going through the shroud. If you just zigzag over the shroud line, it will pull out from under the threads.
Good luck, learn lots, and have fun. That's what it's all about.
Thanks Handeman, would have used a hot knife if I had one in stock. The perimeter stitch should take care of fraying concerns and added a nice cup shape. Ive lost some chutes but never to cow slobber! Next post will be super heavy on electronics and software.
Any cheap 35W soldering iron will work. I pounded the tip of mine flatter, but any hot tip will work.
As everyone has already guessed from the goal and design, I am using DMS super long burning motor and drag separation in order to get the desired altitude. The challenge is going to be programming the Quasar to fire sustainer only under the right conditions to avoid super long recovery. I am dialing in the weights and finishes on my Rocksim design more than usual in order to get airstart details correct. Since drag separation is always a little dicey to predict, will try to find a combo that will work for sep and non sep scenarios. I'm also building 2 nearly identical vehicles in order to have a faster "2nd chance" if sustainer does not light for whatever reason on 1st attempt. Any recommendations for 2nd stage low current igniters for the H13?
bobby_hamill
Well-Known Member
I like the fin alignment guide . Who wakes them or is it 3D printed ?
Printed. It is a nice design that allows for slightly different fin thickness and body tube diameters.
bobby_hamill
Well-Known Member
do you have any other designs ? I would love to see them
Recommend SteelyEyed and Shrox for cool rocket designs.
Quasar was payload in my single deploy motor eject with christmas light in "drogue" setting test. Thoughts after my first GPS flight:
loved arming over the Wifi connection. this is a great feature and worth the battery drain IMO.
satellites fix was not a problem. Locked on to 9+ in a minute or so.
the rocket locator app tracking is nice, but the compass bearing plus distance feature took me right to landing spot. highly recommend the receiver GPS.
human error prevented me from getting the additional enjoyment of the voice module - did not press "Aux" button on my bluetooth speaker!
loved arming over the Wifi connection. this is a great feature and worth the battery drain IMO.
satellites fix was not a problem. Locked on to 9+ in a minute or so.
the rocket locator app tracking is nice, but the compass bearing plus distance feature took me right to landing spot. highly recommend the receiver GPS.
human error prevented me from getting the additional enjoyment of the voice module - did not press "Aux" button on my bluetooth speaker!
jhornsby3
Active Member
Drag separation can be made easier. After having motors come up to pressure with the booster still attached, had caused some very scorched interstage couplers and scorched aft ends of sustainers. No matter how loose the fit was. It wasn't until the coupler was vented that separation became more reliable.
I want to say, it was about 1 second after booster burnout, then fire the sustainer motor igniter. And I always CA'd the sustainer igniter to a bamboo skewer with the tip bent so positive contact with the grain. Then used masking tape over the nozzle to hold the skewer in place.
My old Interstage Coupler can be seen in the photo, upside down, with the blue paint. Sorry about the quality of the photo but it's a photo of a photo on a computer from back in 2005 or so.
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jhornsby3
Active Member
After a few crispy tubes, this was 6061 aluminum turned down to fit the ID of the sustainer. The vent holes were drilled all the way around. The bulkhead in the ISC was a fiberglass bulkhead that was attached using JB Weld slow. Incase it ever got flame in it again, I wanted it to hold up.
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