jnelson
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2015
- Messages
- 101
- Reaction score
- 3
Here's how to make your high school grad project fun:
The Story
Just over two years ago, I received word from a good friend that my town's rec department was interested in offering a model rocket class for kids, and would I have interest in teaching it? I had last flown Estes rockets as a kid and had not been active for several years, but nonetheless this opportunity peaked my interest, I accepted the invitation, and preparation began. I thought the kids would be intrigued by a guest speaker who had experience with high power rocketry. My father was aware of someone from work- this person was unavailable, but recommended someone else in the area: Tony Alcocer.
Tony brought rockets, motors, electronics, and other various items and gave an excellent presentation to the kids. (As a side note, this class ended up being extremely successful and I ended up repeating it the following year.)
At the time, I was approaching completion of my junior year of high school, and was searching for an idea to fulfill my high school's senior graduation project requirement, which required that I obtain a mentor and complete at least 30 hours of work. As I was enrolled in the engineering program, it also needed to relate to engineering in some form. Other than that, it was fairly open-ended.
These two elements could not have collided so perfectly.
Tony accepted my request and we began planning. Then, he proposed a flight to 20,000 feet and mach 2. Wait, what??! :eyepop: Coming from C6 BP motors, I almost could not contain my excitement.
The rocket & a build summary
Details are as follows...
Scratch built 54mm minimum diameter
3 3/32 G10 fins + CF tip to tip
5 wraps / 5.7oz fiberglass body tube, hand layup
Fiberglass von karman nose cone, made in a 2 piece mold
50" long, 7.8lb w/motor
24.5" of Wimpy Fast propellant, ~2650ns L990
Raven3 + radio tracker
Outward facing video camera
Drogueless / cable cutter
Tower launched (+ removable rail buttons for future flights)
Target launch: XPRS 2014
After administration approved my paperwork, real construction began. I wanted to complete the majority of the progress over the summer because I did not want to juggle senior year and this project concurrently. (I realized later that if had I waited to propose this project until school was back in session, we would have to really scramble to get it done before the Black Rock launch season ended. Whew!)
Body tube layup:
Nose cone:
Tip to tip:
The camera mount was cut out of a piece of deck material he had sitting somewhere, then molded to shape with silicone (I think):
I helped mix and pack the grains for this one. 5 grains in a custom snap ring case:
It received the name Mr. Jaguar because my high school mascot was the jaguar (there's a bit more to it than that but that's another story). Some rather appropriate artwork was then added:
The flight
By this time, XPRS 2014 had rolled around and everything was ready. We flew on the 12th.
Mr Jaguar blasted out of the tower and out of sight! Tony tracked it to our northeast where we recovered it about a mile away. Apogee separation was successful, but the main did not deploy- the charge fired, but it was unable to leave the deployment bag. Either there was not enough force to pull it out or it was packed too tight. Or both. Despite this, there was thankfully no damage to the rocket whatsoever.
According to the Raven data, it pulled 41G's out of the pad, hit just over mach 2, and crested somewhere around 20,800 feet. Not bad
[video=youtube;9hGdBjwLYzI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hGdBjwLYzI&index=3&list=PL4Q2VooJR90QpFWKQw5pB0-5JQsM2T_Vu[/video]
L1
My level 1 cert successfully occurred on February 14, 2015, at Snow Ranch. Motor was the AT H148R (38/240). Obtaining certification was another goal I had for my project.
[video=youtube;EB-5dzp7rAU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB-5dzp7rAU&index=8&list=PL4Q2VooJR90QpFWKQw5pB0-5JQsM2T_Vu[/video]
Other things...
Undoubtedly, that was the best school project I have ever done- what more could I have asked for? To this day I think back on it and am still amazed I had this incredible opportunity.
Tony was a fantastic mentor. He was extremely friendly, helpful, and willing to answer any question I had, on top of having interest in this project himself. I am extremely grateful to have worked with him, and for the time and effort he spent making this possible. Also, thanks to Ryan C for the awesome GoPro footage!
Needless to say, that project was not the end of my involvement in HPR. I think I have discovered a rabbit hole! As evidenced by me posting this over a year after the original flight concluded. I have since applied the knowledge I gained and scratch built two rockets on my own. Bayes' Theorem flew at Aeronaut 2015 on an ex I143 and ex I200:
[video=youtube;oOH1NGLtmx8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOH1NGLtmx8&list=PL4Q2VooJR90QpFWKQw5pB0-5JQsM2T_Vu&index=2[/video]
[video=youtube;dEFkjWasNKk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEFkjWasNKk&list=PL4Q2VooJR90QpFWKQw5pB0-5JQsM2T_Vu&index=1[/video]
This project has also had positive effects on my family. From tagging along with me at launches, my father acquired an interest in rocketry. Over the summer he did a scratch build which flew on a couple CTI G reloads at Aeronaut 2015. My grandpa is now a BAR- he used to fly in Utah years ago, and after coming out to XPRS to see Mr Jaguar, he is hooked again! He invited a lifelong friend to Aeronaut '15, who I heard has since built a rocket of his own. I like to tease Tony about all this trouble he has caused!
Six months ago I moved to Cedar City, Utah, to attend college. I can only build at home where the supplies are located, but I plan on attending every launch I can get to. I will most likely be spotted at Snow Ranch on 1/2, Mudroc, and Aeronaut.
I have been lurking here for quite a white before finally getting around to making an account and posting all of this nonsense.
The Story
Just over two years ago, I received word from a good friend that my town's rec department was interested in offering a model rocket class for kids, and would I have interest in teaching it? I had last flown Estes rockets as a kid and had not been active for several years, but nonetheless this opportunity peaked my interest, I accepted the invitation, and preparation began. I thought the kids would be intrigued by a guest speaker who had experience with high power rocketry. My father was aware of someone from work- this person was unavailable, but recommended someone else in the area: Tony Alcocer.
Tony brought rockets, motors, electronics, and other various items and gave an excellent presentation to the kids. (As a side note, this class ended up being extremely successful and I ended up repeating it the following year.)
At the time, I was approaching completion of my junior year of high school, and was searching for an idea to fulfill my high school's senior graduation project requirement, which required that I obtain a mentor and complete at least 30 hours of work. As I was enrolled in the engineering program, it also needed to relate to engineering in some form. Other than that, it was fairly open-ended.
These two elements could not have collided so perfectly.
Tony accepted my request and we began planning. Then, he proposed a flight to 20,000 feet and mach 2. Wait, what??! :eyepop: Coming from C6 BP motors, I almost could not contain my excitement.
The rocket & a build summary
Details are as follows...
Scratch built 54mm minimum diameter
3 3/32 G10 fins + CF tip to tip
5 wraps / 5.7oz fiberglass body tube, hand layup
Fiberglass von karman nose cone, made in a 2 piece mold
50" long, 7.8lb w/motor
24.5" of Wimpy Fast propellant, ~2650ns L990
Raven3 + radio tracker
Outward facing video camera
Drogueless / cable cutter
Tower launched (+ removable rail buttons for future flights)
Target launch: XPRS 2014
After administration approved my paperwork, real construction began. I wanted to complete the majority of the progress over the summer because I did not want to juggle senior year and this project concurrently. (I realized later that if had I waited to propose this project until school was back in session, we would have to really scramble to get it done before the Black Rock launch season ended. Whew!)
Body tube layup:
Nose cone:
Tip to tip:
I helped mix and pack the grains for this one. 5 grains in a custom snap ring case:
The flight
By this time, XPRS 2014 had rolled around and everything was ready. We flew on the 12th.
Mr Jaguar blasted out of the tower and out of sight! Tony tracked it to our northeast where we recovered it about a mile away. Apogee separation was successful, but the main did not deploy- the charge fired, but it was unable to leave the deployment bag. Either there was not enough force to pull it out or it was packed too tight. Or both. Despite this, there was thankfully no damage to the rocket whatsoever.
According to the Raven data, it pulled 41G's out of the pad, hit just over mach 2, and crested somewhere around 20,800 feet. Not bad
[video=youtube;9hGdBjwLYzI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hGdBjwLYzI&index=3&list=PL4Q2VooJR90QpFWKQw5pB0-5JQsM2T_Vu[/video]
L1
My level 1 cert successfully occurred on February 14, 2015, at Snow Ranch. Motor was the AT H148R (38/240). Obtaining certification was another goal I had for my project.
[video=youtube;EB-5dzp7rAU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB-5dzp7rAU&index=8&list=PL4Q2VooJR90QpFWKQw5pB0-5JQsM2T_Vu[/video]
Other things...
Undoubtedly, that was the best school project I have ever done- what more could I have asked for? To this day I think back on it and am still amazed I had this incredible opportunity.
Tony was a fantastic mentor. He was extremely friendly, helpful, and willing to answer any question I had, on top of having interest in this project himself. I am extremely grateful to have worked with him, and for the time and effort he spent making this possible. Also, thanks to Ryan C for the awesome GoPro footage!
Needless to say, that project was not the end of my involvement in HPR. I think I have discovered a rabbit hole! As evidenced by me posting this over a year after the original flight concluded. I have since applied the knowledge I gained and scratch built two rockets on my own. Bayes' Theorem flew at Aeronaut 2015 on an ex I143 and ex I200:
[video=youtube;oOH1NGLtmx8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOH1NGLtmx8&list=PL4Q2VooJR90QpFWKQw5pB0-5JQsM2T_Vu&index=2[/video]
[video=youtube;dEFkjWasNKk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEFkjWasNKk&list=PL4Q2VooJR90QpFWKQw5pB0-5JQsM2T_Vu&index=1[/video]
This project has also had positive effects on my family. From tagging along with me at launches, my father acquired an interest in rocketry. Over the summer he did a scratch build which flew on a couple CTI G reloads at Aeronaut 2015. My grandpa is now a BAR- he used to fly in Utah years ago, and after coming out to XPRS to see Mr Jaguar, he is hooked again! He invited a lifelong friend to Aeronaut '15, who I heard has since built a rocket of his own. I like to tease Tony about all this trouble he has caused!
Six months ago I moved to Cedar City, Utah, to attend college. I can only build at home where the supplies are located, but I plan on attending every launch I can get to. I will most likely be spotted at Snow Ranch on 1/2, Mudroc, and Aeronaut.
I have been lurking here for quite a white before finally getting around to making an account and posting all of this nonsense.
Last edited:
