My first Level 1 Rocket build

[kcobbva]

So I wasn't able to make my first NOVAAR event today because my son's bday was snowed out last Monday. So we had his party today and then I came home to finish painting! Beautiful weather. So I sat in the livingroom talking with all the parents, while taping the rocket for paint. Got it out and painted black where it belonged:


I carefully peeled off the tape after 30 minutes and discovered I do NOT like duplicolor. I've never had such a problem with paint peeling when using rustoleum. Pulled lots of red paint off from a few days ago. bummer!


Using a small paint brush I finished and completed the task.

 

[kcobbva]

Final Shot. Was a real fun build. Sure look forward to launch this L1 Torrent!!

 

[BDB]

Despite the paint peeling issue, it still looks great. Good luck with L1.

 

[K'Tesh]

1) I like the build

2) Am I alone in thinking that the title of this thread will jinx the rocket? "My first Level 1 Rocket build" to me implies that there will need to be a second attempt at L1, which (as in my case) could be an actual issue. IMHO a title of "My first HPR rocket build" sounds much more encouraging.

May your nosecones be free of duct tape. Don't get me wrong, I was grateful for it, but it would have looked so much cooler without it.

 

[kcobbva]

Despite the paint peeling issue, it still looks great. Good luck with L1.

Thanks!!

 

[kcobbva]

1) I like the build

2) Am I alone in thinking that the title of this thread will jinx the rocket? "My first Level 1 Rocket build" to me implies that there will need to be a second attempt at L1, which (as in my case) could be an actual issue. IMHO a title of "My first HPR rocket build" sounds much more encouraging.

May your nosecones be free of duct tape. Don't get me wrong, I was grateful for it, but it would have looked so much cooler without it.

Aww K'Tesh. You had to go there man!! Hadn't even crossed my mind....however now.....�� ill keep that in mind for my L2 title �� I'm going for my bucket list desire on this L1- electronic deployment. Can't wait. Hope its a one time attempt. ��

 

[gerbs4me]

Looks great! Good luck on your L1!

 

[K'Tesh]

Aww K'Tesh. You had to go there man!! Hadn't even crossed my mind....however now.....�� ill keep that in mind for my L2 title �� I'm going for my bucket list desire on this L1- electronic deployment. Can't wait. Hope its a one time attempt. ��

Sorry about that. Just remember the pointy side goes up.

Clear Skies, Good Chutes!
Jim

 

[Nick@JET]

Nice looking build, good luck on the L1 flight, very exciting

 

[kcobbva]

Sorry about that. Just remember the pointy side goes up.

Clear Skies, Good Chutes!
Jim

China has been good to you! You are on a roll, and a needed laugh after a long day on a client site!! �� ill put an arrow on the nosecone. ��

 

[kcobbva]

Nice looking build, good luck on the L1 flight, very exciting

Thanks!! Fingers crossed!

 

[Bat-mite]

Definitely turned out nice, despite the mishap. Have a great flight. And don't let Jim jinx you!

 

[kcobbva]

Definitely turned out nice, despite the mishap. Have a great flight. And don't let Jim jinx you!

Thanks. I'll post next month or hopefully april at the latest with a Pass/Fail scenario! Hopefully the former!!

 

[kcobbva]

My youngest and I took a long drive out to Bass Pro shops this morning and had a blast playing around. Picked up some 4F and came home. So I initially measured 1gram for the aft ejection. However (video not here) the forward tube did not fully eject. Now thinking about this, one of two things occurred. The charge was too light. It was an audible pop; but again only partial deployment, the electronics bay never left the lower tube. What I THINK happened after rigging up for another launch, I think the wires I ran up through the motor tube didn't break at the ejection and held on to the upper portion at the connection causing the forward section to slow down.

Anyway, I upped the charge to 1.2 grams and moving the wires to the hole coming out of the ebay. Here's the result of that. Not the shock cord is wrapped with a little tape in zfolds here and there. They did NOT break apart and did not have more than a single wrap around them except to secure one end to the other by 1/8".
[video]https://youtu.be/UaEjfmCGGdM[/video]

Then I rerigged and set a 1.4 gram charge in the forward section. Here's the result.
[video]https://youtu.be/rrwno5UW5H4[/video]

Open to any comments if anyone sees anything I'm missing. My first level 1 build and my first BP Charge testing. Thanks!!

 

[Handeman]

The apogee charge looked good. All you need is enough separation to get the drogue into the air stream.

You might want to try the main at 0.2g or 0.4g more. For a main chute, I usually want to see the shock cord stretched out fully but not hitting the end hard.

 

[Exactimator]

You might get better distance on your drogue test if you rest the rocket on the support aft of where it separates. It' has to overcome the friction if it's resting on it.

The main deploy looked a bit odd. How long is that shock cord?

 

[kcobbva]

The apogee charge looked good. All you need is enough separation to get the drogue into the air stream.

You might want to try the main at 0.2g or 0.4g more. For a main chute, I usually want to see the shock cord stretched out fully but not hitting the end hard.

Thanks. I'll take a look and test that

You might get better distance on your drogue test if you rest the rocket on the support aft of where it separates. It' has to overcome the friction if it's resting on it.
The main deploy looked a bit odd. How long is that shock cord?

So the cords were 15' but three of the "z-folds" did not separate (tear the masking tape) so it looks like a hard hit and the end because of a short line. From all the research i'd done, it seemed making Z-folds and running a single strip of 1/2" masking tape around the fold would keep the line from getting tangled, yet release upon deployment. I was actually expecting to see the tape tear during the test but obviously it did not.

I'm open to any suggestions whether it is to continue with z-folds and do it differently or just lay the recovery harness in there and go for it. One thing, the main deployment did cut the shear pins as hoped; so I was pleased with that portion.

Thanks!!!

 

[KenECoyote]

Try rubber bands instead of masking tape for your z-fold cords since masking tape strength can vary. I'm not sure what size cords you have, but those loom bands which were a craze last year have worked well for me and you can find them cheap now (got a box of maybe 100 with a small loom from Walmart for $2!). YMMV.

 

[rharshberger]

Thanks. I'll take a look and test that



So the cords were 15' but three of the "z-folds" did not separate (tear the masking tape) so it looks like a hard hit and the end because of a short line. From all the research i'd done, it seemed making Z-folds and running a single strip of 1/2" masking tape around the fold would keep the line from getting tangled, yet release upon deployment. I was actually expecting to see the tape tear during the test but obviously it did not.

I'm open to any suggestions whether it is to continue with z-folds and do it differently or just lay the recovery harness in there and go for it. One thing, the main deployment did cut the shear pins as hoped; so I was pleased with that portion.

Thanks!!!

If you didn't break a single wrap of 1/2" masking tape then the ejection of the nose cone was definitely not energetic enough, usually I want to see all but one of the z-fold bundles break loose. I usually use 3M 3/4" Blue masking tape for my z-folds and usually use 2 wraps. I have yet to have an issue with this technique, and it doesn't seem to hit the recovery gear with a hard shock. My :2:

 

[kcobbva]

Thanks Guys. I'll play around with that and see what I can do. I appreciate your thoughts!!

 

[McKailas Dad]

As far as shock cord bundling? I came up with this idea about 5 years ago, I set all my bigger rockets up like this, and works awesome. Very predictable, and nearly infinitely reusable. I haven't ripped one yet...

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...cord-technique&highlight=Shock+cord+technique

 

[McKailas Dad]

A sneak peek pic if you didn't check that link

 

[kcobbva]

A sneak peek pic if you didn't check that link

View attachment 283624

Jeff - that is a really novel idea! So from your thrradw, I see Roger used toilet paper rolls with his 9/16" tubular nylon. What do you use with harness that size?

 

[MadCityFlyers]

Same for me up here in Madison, WI! All the winter builds are ready for paint!

 

[watermelonman]

Fair enough. Single altimeter....dual ematches! I like that.

So here's my concept of the rocket. Interested in all thoughts. Not as good as I used to be in photoshop.

Make sure to ground test, as running the ignitors in parallel changes the resistance and current.

 

[jqavins]

All I've got, other than compliments on a very nice build, is one comment on the color scheme.

There's a lot of unbroken red. I find myself in the same situation sometimes, thinking of colors for sections like nose cone, main tube, payload tube, and fins, then having this great big expanse of a single main tube color. One solution I've use is to add a band of something contrasting. I've got a very similar LP that I threw together in a hurry out of spare parts: red nose cone, black body tube, red fin can. Too much black. All I did was add a 1/4"-ish wide band of gold about 2/3 of the way up, and it looks 100% better. Something similar could work here, if you want it. Make it more like an inch wide for this rocket, gold, yellow, white, purple, or anything you like that contrasts well against both the red and the black.

I had a few other comments, but others have beat me to them all, so I'll just end by repeating: very nice build. Well done.

 

[Bat-mite]

A question for all who insist that you want the Z-folds apart during ground testing....

If the main chute is ejected cleanly during the test, then doesn't it stand to reason that when it is in the air, the chute will open, the booster will drop below the chute, and the weight of the booster will stretch out the harness? Why is it necessary to stretch the harness during ejection?

 

[kcobbva]

All I've got, other than compliments on a very nice build, is one comment on the color scheme.

There's a lot of unbroken red. I find myself in the same situation sometimes, thinking of colors for sections like nose cone, main tube, payload tube, and fins, then having this great big expanse of a single main tube color. One solution I've use is to add a band of something contrasting. I've got a very similar LP that I threw together in a hurry out of spare parts: red nose cone, black body tube, red fin can. Too much black. All I did was add a 1/4"-ish wide band of gold about 2/3 of the way up, and it looks 100% better. Something similar could work here, if you want it. Make it more like an inch wide for this rocket, gold, yellow, white, purple, or anything you like that contrasts well against both the red and the black.

I had a few other comments, but others have beat me to them all, so I'll just end by repeating: very nice build. Well done.

Interesting perspective. Making me wonder about the E-bay extension in gold. I bet that really would look good!! I may play in Photoshop to see what it'd look like. Not sure if I'm up for bringing out more paint; however, it might really enhance the look, so definitely worth getting a feel for in Photoshop and then stepping back to take a look! Thanks very much.

 

[kcobbva]

A question for all who insist that you want the Z-folds apart during ground testing....

If the main chute is ejected cleanly during the test, then doesn't it stand to reason that when it is in the air, the chute will open, the booster will drop below the chute, and the weight of the booster will stretch out the harness? Why is it necessary to stretch the harness during ejection?

That's an excellent question. I know that the chute absolutely deployed during the nose test and during the aft drogue test. No question about it. Also in the quest for knowledge last night I ran across good advice from Rharshberger where he stated if testing and not all the z-folds get torn, then it's not a bad thing as they are there to slow down the deployment and ensure it doesn't come to a tight "snap" (my words not his). That obviously took place on the aft; however may not the nose looking back. I guess my concern was the distance between the e-bay and aft and e-bay and upper body after being deployed since planning for 15' in the aft and 12' in the forward in respect to the lines and anything getting tangled in the recovery. Ahh - the joys of being new and green. What you say sounds valid to me. Now looking back the nose cone did seem to stop pretty hard during the test, and three z-folds did not tear. My curiosity is if I used something a little less tacky - would it support that deployment better making the nose snap a little less. I think that is the real crutch here. The masking tape seemed to hold tighter than what I had hoped for.

 

[Bat-mite]

To me, the advantage of Z-folding and banding is to keep the harness from getting all tangled up during deployment. Before I started doing that, I had a dirty Kevlar harness get all tangled up such that only about 1/3 of the length was in play. It jerked the eye bolt and bulkhead off of the nose cone. Not good.