Back to the nosecone bay construction.
Here is a revised picture of all the parts that went into the bay
The plan is to run the U-bolt through the aft bulk plate, secure it with the coupler nuts, extend the U-bolt up to the forward bulk plate with the 3/8" all-thread and then secure it there. I've cut out a little cover for the 3" opening that will be secured with 10-24 screws - that's the little oval piece in the center of the photo. I've opened up a few windows in the sides of the 3" tube to reduce weight a little and it will also allow me to empty out the shear pins after flight (rattling nosecones are annoying)
Attaching the 10-24 couples to the 3" tube with JB Weld.
These couplers and the screws extending out the end were later encased in a nice cocoon of RocketPoxy mixed with chopped fiberglass. Sorry - forgot to get a picture of that step. My nosecone bay cover will secure itself into these coupler nuts.
A partially finished bay. I've attached the 3/8" couplers and all-thread and secured the aft bulk plate with epoxy.
I thought I snapped a photo of this step before inserting it into the 6" nosecone coupler. All the connections on the U-bolt and coupler nuts were secured with red Loctite - not that they can twist anyways, but hey.
Flipped over, this is what the aft end looks like.
The two screw heads you see opposite the U-bolt are 1/4" x 2" screws and I added those be a counterpoint to the U-bolt. These are secured inside with a few strips of fiberglass. You can sort of see them in the previous photo.
Here it is with the cover secured in place.
I'll be adding a L-bracket to that cover to attach my tracker sled with a Missile Works RTx tracker. I really like the RTx system. I was able to get a lot of flights on it last year. Never failed me and easy to use. I've tracked down my rockets using both the handheld LCD display and having the signal broadcast to my phone via BT link. I use the software in this thread for rocket tracking:
Rocket Track, see post #4 in that thread.
Forward end of the bay.
This will get epoxied on after the rest of it sets, and I'll trim down the all-thread a little more.
This is a heavy-ish nosecone coupler now - weighs in a little over 2.5 pounds. It will be easy to use and access and I like that I can extend an antenna up as far into the nosecone as I want.
-brant