I’ve started giving some design thought to my home-made launch rig.
The cyan colored outer rings are to be 1/8” thickness steel plate bent into 12 segments with 150 degree bends. This allows me to tack bolts to each of the flat faces so that a threaded rod will always be centered on the assembly whether using 3 or 4 fin rockets. Plus the segmented surfaces will be easier for me to make than a round will be. The internal diameter will be 16”. The 1/8” plate will provide good rigidity and is easier to weld to, for me. The upper ring will have eyelets for guy-wire attachment.
The yellow support rods are ¾” square aluminum tube stock and will be bolted to the steel rings with thumb screws. At this point I’m thinking a 60” height.
The green “rocket bars” are ½” square aluminum tube stock and will be mounted via a threaded rod assembly to the outer ring. This should allow for leveling and diameter adjustment. Would round stock be better here, the contact area of the square to the rocket is higher, but not significantly?
The things not shown are;
1. Steel base plate / blast shield, I want to use a ¼” aluminum plate for rigidity and hold-down with a thin steel blast shield for the area of direct heating.
2. A sliding standoff for the rocket to set elevation on each of the “rocket bars”.
The whole thing should be easy to assemble and disassemble for transport. I believe the 16” diameter would be suitable up to 6” diameter rockets, or should I up the size on that for future expansion. I probably need to have spike holes in the base plate to prevent sliding, do I need more ballast at the bottom end.?
Edit- I just noticed an error in my drawing, the bottom ring will be several inches up off the base plate.
The cyan colored outer rings are to be 1/8” thickness steel plate bent into 12 segments with 150 degree bends. This allows me to tack bolts to each of the flat faces so that a threaded rod will always be centered on the assembly whether using 3 or 4 fin rockets. Plus the segmented surfaces will be easier for me to make than a round will be. The internal diameter will be 16”. The 1/8” plate will provide good rigidity and is easier to weld to, for me. The upper ring will have eyelets for guy-wire attachment.
The yellow support rods are ¾” square aluminum tube stock and will be bolted to the steel rings with thumb screws. At this point I’m thinking a 60” height.
The green “rocket bars” are ½” square aluminum tube stock and will be mounted via a threaded rod assembly to the outer ring. This should allow for leveling and diameter adjustment. Would round stock be better here, the contact area of the square to the rocket is higher, but not significantly?
The things not shown are;
1. Steel base plate / blast shield, I want to use a ¼” aluminum plate for rigidity and hold-down with a thin steel blast shield for the area of direct heating.
2. A sliding standoff for the rocket to set elevation on each of the “rocket bars”.
The whole thing should be easy to assemble and disassemble for transport. I believe the 16” diameter would be suitable up to 6” diameter rockets, or should I up the size on that for future expansion. I probably need to have spike holes in the base plate to prevent sliding, do I need more ballast at the bottom end.?
Edit- I just noticed an error in my drawing, the bottom ring will be several inches up off the base plate.
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