Hey everyone! I am brand new to rocketry, never flown a rocket in my life, and I am trying to build a 30-foot tall rocket that will fly at Mach 1.7 to an altitude of 30,000 feet powered by my custom built N-motor that I am also trying to make........
Just kidding
A bit more seriously though, I am relatively new to the sport and want to go for my L1 soon (will likely do one or two MPRs first). Below is the design that I think I'm ready to settle on:
Designed in OpenRocket, 3" diam main tube, and the shown wider 4" nose cone section. The wider section at the front serves the purpose of reducing the rocket's apogee, but the main reason why I included it is of course because it looks awesome. To allow for the rail buttons to reach the launch rail, I plan on putting half-inch 3D-printed blocks that would sit on the body tube. The rail buttons would be bolted directly onto the blocks. My main question is really simply if this is a good idea and if there are any ways this could go super wrong. My initial thoughts were that there may potentially be large bending moments over the body tube due to having high drag in both the front and the rear of the rocket, but this should only really be an issue if the rocket is flying sideways, in which case I would likely have larger issues on my hands. I also want to know if it would be better to lean towards a larger stability value due to the wider section. What are your thoughts?
While I am here, I may as well also ask about my "chute block." It's just a ring of plywood to stop the parachute from stuffing all the way down the body tube towards the motor during launch. This seems to me like a good idea but I have never seen anyone else do it. Is it just not necessary?
Last question is regarding the fins. I have been told both to use 1/8 in plywood and that 1/8 in plywood would totally not work and that I must go with at least 1/4 in. Is 1/8 in plywood strong enough for a build like this?
Thanks for all the help!
Just kidding
A bit more seriously though, I am relatively new to the sport and want to go for my L1 soon (will likely do one or two MPRs first). Below is the design that I think I'm ready to settle on:
Designed in OpenRocket, 3" diam main tube, and the shown wider 4" nose cone section. The wider section at the front serves the purpose of reducing the rocket's apogee, but the main reason why I included it is of course because it looks awesome. To allow for the rail buttons to reach the launch rail, I plan on putting half-inch 3D-printed blocks that would sit on the body tube. The rail buttons would be bolted directly onto the blocks. My main question is really simply if this is a good idea and if there are any ways this could go super wrong. My initial thoughts were that there may potentially be large bending moments over the body tube due to having high drag in both the front and the rear of the rocket, but this should only really be an issue if the rocket is flying sideways, in which case I would likely have larger issues on my hands. I also want to know if it would be better to lean towards a larger stability value due to the wider section. What are your thoughts?
While I am here, I may as well also ask about my "chute block." It's just a ring of plywood to stop the parachute from stuffing all the way down the body tube towards the motor during launch. This seems to me like a good idea but I have never seen anyone else do it. Is it just not necessary?
Last question is regarding the fins. I have been told both to use 1/8 in plywood and that 1/8 in plywood would totally not work and that I must go with at least 1/4 in. Is 1/8 in plywood strong enough for a build like this?
Thanks for all the help!