Another rocket from another cottonwood branch

[MadRocketer]

I have had another rocket on the drawing board for a little while now and I just might have a bit of time to start it.
Of course, this one might take a little longer than the last, and as always it will probably remain nameless till it’s finished.

 

[MadRocketer]

Here are the plans on the drawing board/vegetable nursery.
The original idea was to take three fins and a nose cone to its limits. However, four fins gave me the required stability and the boat tail finished the design very nicely. So, here we have a 4 finned nose cone followed by a boat tail.

 

[Pepe Le Pew]

How cool is that!!!! Wow!

 

[MadRocketer]

This is the branch that will become the rocket.

Chain-sawed in half

One piece squared and chucked in the lathe.

I rounded this piece and found that the diameter is only 1 or 2 millimeters larger than the final outside diameter for the central section. That means this piece will become the forward section of the nose cone.

 

[MadRocketer]

How cool is that!!!! Wow!

Thanks Pepe!

 

[lakeroadster]

Awesome design.

Where's the parachute located and how will you do the launch rod?

 

[MadRocketer]

Awesome design.

Where's the parachute located and how will you do the launch rod?

Thanks lakeroadster!
Parachute goes in the rear section of the nose cone (in red). If I am able, the wall thickness will be 3mm. The forward nose cone section will be solid except for the altimeter bay.
Deployment separation will be between the nose cone and the boat tail. Going to have to do some ground testing to make sure the parachute is pulled out properly.
A rail button will be placed at the widest point of the body and another on a standoff at the rear of the boat tail.
Those details live in OR, this drawing is just for measurement accuracy. Eventually I’ll post that for people to see.

 

[teepot]

Great looking design. And out of wood, wow.

 

[MadRocketer]

Great looking design. And out of wood, wow.

Thank you teepot!

 

[MadRocketer]

Here is the OR plan. It’s kind of hard to see my green fins, sorry. I’ll try to add a rendered image when I get home.
I am super happy that the new version allows for fins on transitions. Makes this much easier to visualize and not come up with work-arounds.

* note that if someone wants to simulate a lug or rail button stand-off like this one using a fin, the fin must have a height of at least .5mm (if I recall correctly). If not then error messages happen and simulations don’t.

 

[MadRocketer]

Here is the rendered view. Not sure why the fins look that way. I thought about deleting them and making them again. But then decided that I work with the wireframe view for the most part and can live with it. Here, you can see the rail button arrangement more clearly.

 

[lakeroadster]

Love the rocket... not diggin' the paint scheme though. This would make for an awesome "steam punk" design.

 

[MadRocketer]

Love the rocket... not diggin' the paint scheme though. This would make for an awesome "steam punk" design.

I agree! This is most definitely NOT the paint scheme!! I will probably paint at least the fins red so I can find it in the dirt and sage brush. I’ll see how the wood grain looks after the pieces are done to determine what else to paint and what to varnish.

 

[MadRocketer]

Found some time to make some wood chips!
I cut a shoulder into the end and put it in the four jaw chuck.

The pointy end is going to be on the left. The mark is the “you’ve gone too far” mark.

 

[MadRocketer]

Shape is roughed in with a skew chisel.

22mm from the left the diameter measures 20mm on the plan. I will leave about 30mm of material there for now while I work on the big end. When the time comes to work on the pointy end, that’ll be cut away slowly.

 

[MadRocketer]

I use a bowl gouge to make clean cuts and finalize the profile. Measuring many times is mandatory because it is really easy to cut too much off!

even though it looks like it is straight, it is not. I also use a sanding block while the piece is spinning to check this. Make tic marks at the high spot and shave it down. Repeat as necessary.
Both ends are even at +4mm. I may use only the sanding block to remove the remaining material. It is only a 2mm cut to achieve -4mm in diameter. Sandpaper has a tendency to make things out of round though. I’ll have to be careful!

 

[MadRocketer]

The fins were bugging me, so I had to fix them.
I copied all the coordinates for the vertices of the fins into a spreadsheet. Deleted the fins and re-entered the points and made new fins. That’s the only way I could make them visible again. If, however, the first vertex is not in the original location, all the other vertices will not be exactly in the same place. Not such a big detail though, in this situation.
now with a less obnoxious paint job!

 

[MadRocketer]

Measured the depth and marked it on my drill bit. Drilled out the altimeter bay on the froward nose cone section.
figured I would set this aside and wait until I had the next section ready so I could put them together to do the final shaping.

 

[MadRocketer]

Next piece squares off and ready to make round.
shoulder cut, piece flipped around. I hope some of that dark grain remains! I drilled out the center of the piece, but am going to have to make some kind of jig to ensure I keep the correct angle hollowing this out.

 

[lakeroadster]

Next piece squares off and ready to make round. View attachment 515516
shoulder cut, piece flipped around. I hope some of that dark grain remains! I drilled out the center of the piece, but am going to have to make some kind of jig to ensure I keep the correct angle hollowing this out.View attachment 515517

Too late now, but maybe using a faceplate, and turning the i.d. first may have worked better?

Could you counterbore with a series of wood spade bits, then chamfer the bored holes?

 

[MadRocketer]

Too late now, but maybe using a faceplate, and turning the i.d. first may have worked better?

Could you counterbore with a series of wood spade bits, then chamfer the bored holes?

That’s the plan
I left quite a lot of material (centimeter or two, didn’t bother to measure) to take off on the o.d. It is much easier to be gentle on the outside rather than the inside. My longer spade bits only go up to 5/8” so I am limited as to how much I can step drill it. My larger spade bits are about 5” long so that doesn’t give me much depth. I used a
1 3/8” to bore out as much as I could, and the 5/8” went down to where I needed it to.

A tool supported more than 4 or 6 inches away from the cutting edge can be dangerous. I figure as long as I can support a tool on the inside of the piece to cut the rest of the wood out from the inside, I will have success. I have half of the tool support/jig built and just need to decide if I want variable angles or just the 4 degrees for this project. I’m leaning toward the later and can always modify in the future if need be.

 

[lakeroadster]

That’s the plan
I left quite a lot of material (centimeter or two, didn’t bother to measure) to take off on the o.d. It is much easier to be gentle on the outside rather than the inside. My longer spade bits only go up to 5/8” so I am limited as to how much I can step drill it. My larger spade bits are about 5” long so that doesn’t give me much depth. I used a
1 3/8” to bore out as much as I could, and the 5/8” went down to where I needed it to.

A tool supported more than 4 or 6 inches away from the cutting edge can be dangerous. I figure as long as I can support a tool on the inside of the piece to cut the rest of the wood out from the inside, I will have success. I have half of the tool support/jig built and just need to decide if I want variable angles or just the 4 degrees for this project. I’m leaning toward the later and can always modify in the future if need be.

Bosch makes a 12" extension with a snap lock that works nicely with spade bits. I believe I got it at Home Depot.

The thing about using this in a wood lathe is, as you are no doubt already aware, a spade bit by its nature self-supports once it's into the bore.

Might be something to consider?

 

[MadRocketer]

Might be something to consider?

I will do that, thanks!

 

[jqavins]

The fin design makes the bottom section look like the base of a coat rack. And I mean that in a good way.

 

[lakeroadster]

The fin design makes the bottom section look like the base of a coat rack. And I mean that in a good way.
View attachment 516137

Which gives me an awesome idea for a custom coat rack....

 

[neil_w]

I think I have waited long enough to chime in here and say that this is a beautiful design.

View attachment 515315
now with a less obnoxious paint job!

I don't know if you were planning to go with this paint job, but if so, a suggestion: the red band around the front rail button looks like a waistband. In combination with the red standoff for the rear rail button, it looks kind of like a thong. I would suggest... well, just doing something a bit different back there.

Of course, this design really calls for a sci-fi paint job of some kind.....

 

[MadRocketer]

the red band around the front rail button looks like a waistband. In combination with the red standoff for the rear rail button, it looks kind of like a thong. I would suggest... well, just doing something a bit different back there.

suggestion noted! Yikes! I do thank you for pointing that out! I plan on letting the finish of the wood determine where the paint goes. If I can’t remove tool marks without sanding too deep, that’ll get paint after the marks are filled. Then I’ll step back and see how to bring it all together. Interesting wood grain ought to be seen as well.

Of course, this design really calls for a sci-fi paint job of some kind.....

Agreed, maybe something like the futuristic art made back in the 50’s and 60’s by both the Americans and Soviets. Retro sci-fi?

The fin design makes the bottom section look like the base of a coat rack. And I mean that in a good way.

Anybody out there launch a coat rack?

 

[jqavins]

I don't know if you were planning to go with this paint job, but if so, a suggestion: the red band around the front rail button looks like a waistband. In combination with the red standoff for the rear rail button, it looks kind of like a thong.

Hmmm, wide waist band, thong...

Spoiler

 

[neil_w]

Hmmm, wide waist band, thong...

Spoiler

View attachment 516145

You know what... that's exactly what I had in mind, although I couldn't place it. I'm not sure if "thank you" is the correct response here, though...

 

[boatgeek]

I don't know if you were planning to go with this paint job, but if so, a suggestion: the red band around the front rail button looks like a waistband. In combination with the red standoff for the rear rail button, it looks kind of like a thong. I would suggest... well, just doing something a bit different back there.

Well, THAT image is never leaving my brain now.