Monocopter Launch Rack

[JAL3]

The copter was put back in place and hooked up and I liked the look of the setup much better than without the spacer.

 

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When the motors were ignited, the copter took off just fine and not a wobble was seen in the arm.

 

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The center rod having performed fine with an E25, I upped the ante to an F45.

 

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This time ignition was just fine but...

 

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...the leads wrapped the rod and set the Helix up for an a potentially hazardous situation.

 

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Fortunately the copter righted itself and had a successful flight. There was not damage to either the rack or the monocopter although the leads needed some work.

 

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Having seen my rockets survive the experience of launching from the new rack, another member of the club was willing to give a try and Todd loaded his Grasshopper for its maiden flight having conveniently forgotten that our field was green for a change instead of its usual crispy golden brown. Unfortunately, I never did a shot of the liftoff but I got to see a harbinger of things to come with multiple monocopters sitting ready to launch and I knew that the occasion of a monocopter drag race could not be too far off.

 

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In any event, things worked out for the Grasshopper well enough that Todd gave a try with his Golden Weedwacker and it too performed just fine. Again, it was noticed that the launch arm displayed no swaying.

 

[JAL3]

The final test on this second outing of the pad was again from the center station with a G80 loaded. The rack handled it fine; the monocopter did not.

 

[JAL3]

My monocopter rack did get one other test outing and I have photos from it but that was so long ago that I don't remember any of the detail, just a few ideas for better performance and ease of use. I also remember making the decision that the very next thing it was going to get was wiring for our club's current setup because moving the leads from one rack to another was leading to inadvertent launches.

 

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My club's current system is based upon 110v electrical extension cords. Since the inside of the box is used for storage, I wanted to keep the wiring as organized as possible and use electrical boxes.

 

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I chose the style of box that can have a side wall removed and be ganged together to form a bigger box.

 

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For the incoming signal/current, I needed two duplexes so I bolted 2 of the boxes together. This should provide for 8 different launch stations. The rack only has 5 so 3 will be satellites.

 

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I want the finished product to look...well...finished so I made sure to include an outlet cover.

 

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When I deal with things electrical, there is a very good chance that I am going to get something wrong. Not being overly familiar with these things, I wanted to make sure I understood what hole was what so I went ahead and assembled the cover.

 

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Part of my "keep the wiring organized" campaign involved the use of barrier strips. The input box would get two.

 

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The electrical box manufacturer was very inconsiderate and did not provide holes for mounting terminal strips so I had to drill my own using the strip itself as a template for the holes on the back of the box.

 

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With the holes drilled, the strip was bolted onto the back of the box.

 

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A second strip was then mounted across the bottom of the box in the same manner.

 

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The wires still needed a way to get from the inside of the box to the terminals so I knocked one of the holes out on the side of the box.

 

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The next step was to use AutoCad to draw up a full size template of the receptacles and box along with hole guides for the screws.

 

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The template was taped to the rack.

 

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Then holes were drilled to mount the box and the receptacles.

 

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A larger hole was then drilled in the center to allow access of a saw blade and a jigsaw was used to cut out the outline for the box.

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to wear eye protection when doing something like this. I cut this back in May and still have some irritation where I got a particle in my eye.

 

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The box was then bolted into place.

 

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There was a slight problem getting the duplex receptacles to fit. A band across the top kept it from sitting flush. While all of my receptacles had this, some of them were scored so as to be removeable. Even the others were not difficult to remove with some pliers.

 

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The receptacles were then screwed into place in the box.

 

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The gasket was then fitted over the box.

 

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Of course it was AFTER the gasket and receptacles were in place that I remembered that wiring systems usually work much better when they have WIRES!

I took the receptacles out and started the wiring. The ground plugs serve as a common negative. The flat blades each serve a different circuit with positive.

Each of the positive legs got a crimped connection and was screwed into place.

 

[JAL3]

The ends of the leads were then taped together and run through the hole in the box. That allowed the receptacles to be remounted in the box.