Best way to add removable mass to nosecone?

[SolarYellow]

Another safety thing I would joke about is if the descent is ballistic, it wets down vegetation surrounding the impact area.

Or closes the lakebed so you can't get there to retrieve it.

 

[Back_at_it]

Old thread but I figured I'd post my solution for a Big Daddy build that has been planned for a while.

Parts list.
- Scrap piece of BT20 tube.
- Scrap center piece of a BT20 centering ring cut down to fit inside the BT20 tube.
- 3" Plywood bulkhead. Found these at Michaels. 10 in a pack for $3. Drilled a hole in the center for the tube.
- Backer for the bulkhead to reinforce where the screw eye attaches.
- Screw eye.
- Estes 18mm motor retainer.
- 18mm motor block (not shown).

Inserted the scrap center piece into the tube to keep the weights from falling out the nose. Inserted an 18mm thrust ring to keep it in place.

Screw eye and backer attached to bulkhead.

Inserted the bulkhead into the nose cone just above the shoulder then slid the BT20 tube into the hole until it bottomed out against the tip of the cone.

Attached the threaded section of the motor retainer.

Screwed on the motor retainer cap

Filled two removable tubes with BB's for nose weight.

 

[Rschub]

Many, many years ago (1990s?) at a launch, someone was bragging about having 44 pounds of lead in their nosecone for stability.

I watched a video over the weekend where the students were launching 1-200 golf balls, probably be more vehicle damage from those than lead shot in case of a cato...

I used gorilla glue in my nose cone to hold the lead in, add a little water and it foams up just like the expandable foams do.

I like the above solution which is similar to the LOC method used in their bigger nose cones.

 

[atestani]

I'm building a 3" rocket for AIRFest this year and have designed it to fly on a G all the way to a K. For the K motor, in order to get decent stability I need to add 3oz of mass to the top of the nose cone. The nosecone is a standard issue LOC 3" plastic nosecone and houses my electronics. I don't have any issue mounting mass since my ebay is in there and i can 3dprint whatever structures I need. My question is what material is typically used to add mass? I don't want to make like a kinetic warhead so something that can absorb energy in a crash would be ideal IMO. I was thinking of something like a water balloon but i have my doubts.

what material have you guys used to add mass to a nose cone?

PS i built a really neat removable/reusable motor mount where i can swap out a 29mm mount used for the G and then swap in a 38mm motor mount for everything else (H, I, J, and K). Once i get at least a checkout flight in i'll do a thread about the build in general.

Check out this 11/2023 post on how I do it:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/how-to-add-nosecone-weight.183401/post-2517592

 

[jqavins]

Parts list.
...
- Scrap center piece of a BT20 centering ring cut down to fit inside the BT20 tube.
- 3" Plywood bulkhead. Found these at Michaels. 10 in a pack for $3. Drilled a 1" hole in the center.
...
Inserted the bulkhead into the nose cone just above the shoulder then slid the BT20 tube into the hole until it bottomed out against the tip of the cone.

Shouldn't that be either a ¾" hole or a scrap piece of BT-50?

 

[Back_at_it]

Shouldn't that be either a ¾" hole or a scrap piece of BT-50?

You are absolutely correct. That hole is 3/4" not 1 inch as I did use a BT20 tube. I have corrected my post.