I am a member of the Central Illinois Aerospace and every year we hold GARLO. Stands for Great American Rocket Launch. Every year we pick a topic to build around and since this was the thirtieth anniversary the theme was just "30". Now I started playing with black powder clusters awhile back and at first I thought No Way. Could I cluster 30 C6-5s in one airframe? Turns out you can in a 5.5 inch airframe. Started playing in Openrocket and this is what came out.
First thing I did was build the motor mount. Took 4 pieces of 1/4 inch plywood about 6" x 6" and glued the OR template on top.
Then drilled out the holes with a 19mm forstner bit.
Used 4 bolts to hold the 2 pieces in alignment and then glued in 30 18mm motor mounts with hooks and glued it all together. Used a saw to cut off the excess plywood and a belt sander to round it to size.
It turned out to be just a smidge too big to go into the tube so I glued it to the end of the airframe then used cardstock and 2 layers of carbon fiber around it. It has a slight bulge at the end but not enough to be a problem.
Used Rocket Poxy to mount the 4 fins and then put fillets in place.
I glued a bulkhead in about 12 inches above the motor mount. I dont want to use motor ejection because frankly, its a heavy beast and I dont know how many motors will light.
I have a 5.5 inch goblin that I took the altimeter sled from and put together a quick AV bay. I am using an Altus Metrum Easy Mini for the altimeter rigged to set the primary charge at apogee and the backup charge 2 seconds later.
Thought I took more pictures of this but just imagine 2 charge wells holding 2.5 and 3 gram charges.
Now you may wonder what happens when 30 ejection charges all go off at once? I drilled 3 holes on 2 sides of the airframe to vent those charges.
Couple coats of black paint and some clear coat. You can see the holes on this side. Still looked a little plain so I contacted Mark at Stickershock23 and had a set of modified Big Daddy stickers made up.
First thing I did was build the motor mount. Took 4 pieces of 1/4 inch plywood about 6" x 6" and glued the OR template on top.
Then drilled out the holes with a 19mm forstner bit.
Used 4 bolts to hold the 2 pieces in alignment and then glued in 30 18mm motor mounts with hooks and glued it all together. Used a saw to cut off the excess plywood and a belt sander to round it to size.
It turned out to be just a smidge too big to go into the tube so I glued it to the end of the airframe then used cardstock and 2 layers of carbon fiber around it. It has a slight bulge at the end but not enough to be a problem.
Used Rocket Poxy to mount the 4 fins and then put fillets in place.
I glued a bulkhead in about 12 inches above the motor mount. I dont want to use motor ejection because frankly, its a heavy beast and I dont know how many motors will light.
I have a 5.5 inch goblin that I took the altimeter sled from and put together a quick AV bay. I am using an Altus Metrum Easy Mini for the altimeter rigged to set the primary charge at apogee and the backup charge 2 seconds later.
Thought I took more pictures of this but just imagine 2 charge wells holding 2.5 and 3 gram charges.
Now you may wonder what happens when 30 ejection charges all go off at once? I drilled 3 holes on 2 sides of the airframe to vent those charges.
Couple coats of black paint and some clear coat. You can see the holes on this side. Still looked a little plain so I contacted Mark at Stickershock23 and had a set of modified Big Daddy stickers made up.
