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Hi everyone,
I built and flew the rocket I called "Basket Case" at Mini-Midwest Power last year. It was the furthest up the power ladder I've gotten into 3D printing, a dual-deploy 3" that flew on a J450DM (pics below). The thread for that one was here: https://www.rocketryforum.com/threa...-and-glass-practice-prior-to-l3.155453/page-4
The original goal there was to build a dual-deploy rocket to check that box going into L3 (had done dual deploy over a decade ago, needed a refresher). My L3 rocket is about 2/3 done, but given I have a kid on the way in June, I'm paring down big + expensive rocketry activities for this year...if I get to it in 2021, great, if not, I have more experience going into it in 2022. I already have everything I need for this launch (motor, printer filament, flight computers, etc) so this build is basically "more dual deploy experience flying on money already spent"...fits well with my current life situation.
There were a few things about that design and launch that I want to improve on. In no particular order:
1) The fins in the original configuration were way too big and the rocket weathercocked HARD on a not particularly windy day. Fins are going to be chopped down. I overdid it on stability (something like 4.5 calibers), going to cut down on that some.
2) The nosecone was stubby due to limited height on the 3D printer. Since then, I've learned how to attach two prints together and will be doing so here so I can print the nosecone in 2 or 3 pieces to make it longer.
3) Changing filaments to PETG (using recycled PETG from GreenGate3D.com - the owner is a friend of mine and all around great guy, want to show him what is possible with his filament).
4) There were no video cameras on board, which I've since discovered is great fun. Current plan is to have 2 on board, one looking sideways and one down.
5) Use an actual drogue chute and have it deploy properly instead of the crap streamer that got tangled on the first try.
6) Bonus points - push it to a mile up (going to take a lot of lightening to make it happen)
7) I procrastinated pretty hard last time, ran out of blue filament, and ended up needing to add grey and white to it. This time I'm getting a couple of 3kg spools a few months ahead of schedule.
Basket Case 1 (everything blue is 3D printed):
I built and flew the rocket I called "Basket Case" at Mini-Midwest Power last year. It was the furthest up the power ladder I've gotten into 3D printing, a dual-deploy 3" that flew on a J450DM (pics below). The thread for that one was here: https://www.rocketryforum.com/threa...-and-glass-practice-prior-to-l3.155453/page-4
The original goal there was to build a dual-deploy rocket to check that box going into L3 (had done dual deploy over a decade ago, needed a refresher). My L3 rocket is about 2/3 done, but given I have a kid on the way in June, I'm paring down big + expensive rocketry activities for this year...if I get to it in 2021, great, if not, I have more experience going into it in 2022. I already have everything I need for this launch (motor, printer filament, flight computers, etc) so this build is basically "more dual deploy experience flying on money already spent"...fits well with my current life situation.
There were a few things about that design and launch that I want to improve on. In no particular order:
1) The fins in the original configuration were way too big and the rocket weathercocked HARD on a not particularly windy day. Fins are going to be chopped down. I overdid it on stability (something like 4.5 calibers), going to cut down on that some.
2) The nosecone was stubby due to limited height on the 3D printer. Since then, I've learned how to attach two prints together and will be doing so here so I can print the nosecone in 2 or 3 pieces to make it longer.
3) Changing filaments to PETG (using recycled PETG from GreenGate3D.com - the owner is a friend of mine and all around great guy, want to show him what is possible with his filament).
4) There were no video cameras on board, which I've since discovered is great fun. Current plan is to have 2 on board, one looking sideways and one down.
5) Use an actual drogue chute and have it deploy properly instead of the crap streamer that got tangled on the first try.
6) Bonus points - push it to a mile up (going to take a lot of lightening to make it happen)
7) I procrastinated pretty hard last time, ran out of blue filament, and ended up needing to add grey and white to it. This time I'm getting a couple of 3kg spools a few months ahead of schedule.
Basket Case 1 (everything blue is 3D printed):