bill2654
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This belongs to a guy in our club. https://i1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh571/tulsarocketry/2012 Albums/October/IMG_5818.jpg
The Energizer Bunny
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Help Support The Rocketry Forum:
Got a big order in from Stickershock, and here are the results:
Here's a closeup of the "Bunny":
"Energizer Bunny" is ready to fly, along with two other HPR dual deploy rockets with fresh stickers from Mark at "Stickershock 23". The green and orange rocket in the middle is my first HPR build "Duke Nukem" with a new avbay so I can dual deploy it on higher flights. I suffered a separation last month and I had to rebuild the fincan and avbay. Mark replaced the stickers for free, which is his policy for rockets that crash with his stickers on them. I stole a gold nuclear emblem from the DS Junior and used it to mark the vent that accesses the rotary switch.
The Darkstar Junior is my first fiberglass build, and is also ready for it's maiden flight. So I should be busy moving my Stratologger from one avbay to the next at our March 9th launch.
Wish me luck, so far I haven't had any luck at all doing dual deploy:
RIP "Coppertop" Three strikes and you're out!
Here's a closeup of the "Bunny":
"Energizer Bunny" is ready to fly, along with two other HPR dual deploy rockets with fresh stickers from Mark at "Stickershock 23". The green and orange rocket in the middle is my first HPR build "Duke Nukem" with a new avbay so I can dual deploy it on higher flights. I suffered a separation last month and I had to rebuild the fincan and avbay. Mark replaced the stickers for free, which is his policy for rockets that crash with his stickers on them. I stole a gold nuclear emblem from the DS Junior and used it to mark the vent that accesses the rotary switch.
The Darkstar Junior is my first fiberglass build, and is also ready for it's maiden flight. So I should be busy moving my Stratologger from one avbay to the next at our March 9th launch.
Wish me luck, so far I haven't had any luck at all doing dual deploy:
RIP "Coppertop" Three strikes and you're out!
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Green Jello
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Oh man. When I first skimmed this post, I thought that wreck was the Bunny.
Good luck on the flight.
Good luck on the flight.
stickershock23
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The "Tight fit" coupler is at the top of the fincan, same as in "Coppertop". I have had two seperations with my "Duke Nukem" LOC rockets where the kevlar cord pulled out of the MMT/upper centering ring anchor point, so this rocket has a forged eyebolt bolted through 1/2" plywood sandwiched between a fender washer and a G-10 fg bulkhead.
If I were really brave, I would get the J355 3 grain red lightning for my cert load, but it sims to 9175 ft. Definitely need a tracker for that! The J140 white longburn would also put it up there at 9553 ft. Either of those would give me a 3 grain CTI casing and fill the gap between the two casings I got from atxcple.
Sharon and I are currently putting together an order to Stickershock for several rockets, I wonder if I would get into trouble stealing this image:
you are not stealing it you are borrowing it.
as long as you are not using it for personal gain or to "badmouth" the energizer bunny you should not have any problems.. and if you use the logo with pride and care!
jus_rockets
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See you next Saturday!
Just moved the StratoLogger from my DS Jr. into the Bunny's avbay. Had a successful DD flight with the "Duke" last month, and a "mostly" successful flight with the Junior. It deployed the drogue at apogee, then immediately drag separated at the N/C and opened the main at 1995 ft. No damage, but not exactly how I wanted it to work. Now I'm adding 2/56 nylon shear pins to Junior's N/C and the Bunny's too. Wondering if I should shear pin the bottom of the avbay to the fin can, it's pretty loose there too. The fincan with the lower payload tube weighs 3.3 lbs. and the upper half of the rocket weighs 2 lbs. 14 oz. Never launched anything that heavy before, so if anyone has any suggestions, I would be glad to listen.
Another issue I have is that there is no escape route for the motor ejection charge. I sealed the upper end of the fincan tube with a big plug and a forged eyebolt for recovery. No place for the ejection charge to go. I took off the top cardboard seal on the CTI motor and removed 1.8 grams of bp, is that all I need to do to disable it?
Another issue I have is that there is no escape route for the motor ejection charge. I sealed the upper end of the fincan tube with a big plug and a forged eyebolt for recovery. No place for the ejection charge to go. I took off the top cardboard seal on the CTI motor and removed 1.8 grams of bp, is that all I need to do to disable it?
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I also use epoxy to fill the gap where the black powder used to be.
I had a successful first flight on the Bunny at Spring Blast last weekend. Flew it on a CTI I165 C-star to 2466 ft. I think it wobbled a little off the rail because the I165 was not powerful enough, with a predicted end of rail speed of 49 fps. but it flew nicely from about 500ft. on up. Dual deploy worked perfectly with main at 700 ft. Inspection after the flight revealed the blast shield that protects the main chutes shock cord had a hole in it from the ejection charge and some black marks on the 1/2" tubular nylon. This may have been due to the payload being packed very tightly to include the AT-2B tracker in with a 44" chute and the shock cord. It was difficult to get the shear pins into the N/C for the first flight. I had planned on putting the tracker into the N/C, but it wouldn't fit with the 1/4" all-thread centered in the aft bulkhead. So I taped the tracker to the shock cord and stuffed it all in the upper payload bay. Loaded the CTI J360 and went over my checklist.
I was really trying to get my second flight off before noon, when they shut the range down for lunch, but it just didn't happen. Temp's were nearing 100* when I took it out and put it up on Juan's new 10 ft. rail, and the wind was picking up as it usually does in the afternoon. The FAA denied us a high altitude waiver until after 2 pm so I had to take it back down or have it bake out in the sun for an hour. That was really hard to do knowing that the weather would only get worse as the heat built up, but my mentor convinced me it was the right thing to do.....
When we got the waiver back, it was hot and gusting winds to 15 mph. It was probably "launch fever" that made me take it back out and load it on the rail again, even though my logical brain was back there telling me to wait for it to cool down. This flight was much more stable off the rail, maybe because the J360 was kicking it big time from the get go, or the longer rail and better launch pad kept it straight. I watched it with binoculars for the apogee event and followed it down for the main deployment, where the shock cord broke and the fincan fell to earth with no chute. I am encouraged by two flights where the DD system worked perfectly, but I will have to make another attempt for my L-2 cert. Inspection after the flight revealed several spots on the nylon shock cord that had significant melting and the battery broke out of the holder and tore the contacts off the rotary switch when the fincan impacted. When I downloaded the data from the Stratologger, it had a power failure at apogee but still functioned for both ejection charges. It did not record an apogee altitude but the graph indicates somewhere near the projected 6700 ft.
Yesterday I replaced the 1/2" tubular nylon and built a nomex pouch with double thickness to protect it in. I also filed the hole in the aft bulkhead of my N/C to offset the allthread enough to fit the tracker in it.
Since our next launch is in two weeks and is not supported by "What's up Hobbies", I won't have the use of Jacks CSI R300 receiver, so the next flight will have to be tracked visually. :eyepop: Jack had no problem selling me another J360 for my next attempt, but this HPR stuff has really turned into an expensive hobby!
I ordered another Stratologger and plan to use the current one in my Nuke Pro Max to find out if it's the battery terminal block on the circuit board that is causing the power loss. It passes the self test, but the graph showing voltage for the last flight is confusing. Normal voltage for the entire flight with no spikes at either ejection event, then upon impact it goes to 0 volts for a second and pops up to 26 volts. I can't trust it to fly for a cert. flight, although it has worked for the last four flights.
All in all, the bunny has been a great learning experience. Hopefully, my next flight will get me to L-2 with no more issues. Wish me luck, and as usual, any and all comments would be greatly appreciated.
I was really trying to get my second flight off before noon, when they shut the range down for lunch, but it just didn't happen. Temp's were nearing 100* when I took it out and put it up on Juan's new 10 ft. rail, and the wind was picking up as it usually does in the afternoon. The FAA denied us a high altitude waiver until after 2 pm so I had to take it back down or have it bake out in the sun for an hour. That was really hard to do knowing that the weather would only get worse as the heat built up, but my mentor convinced me it was the right thing to do.....
When we got the waiver back, it was hot and gusting winds to 15 mph. It was probably "launch fever" that made me take it back out and load it on the rail again, even though my logical brain was back there telling me to wait for it to cool down. This flight was much more stable off the rail, maybe because the J360 was kicking it big time from the get go, or the longer rail and better launch pad kept it straight. I watched it with binoculars for the apogee event and followed it down for the main deployment, where the shock cord broke and the fincan fell to earth with no chute. I am encouraged by two flights where the DD system worked perfectly, but I will have to make another attempt for my L-2 cert. Inspection after the flight revealed several spots on the nylon shock cord that had significant melting and the battery broke out of the holder and tore the contacts off the rotary switch when the fincan impacted. When I downloaded the data from the Stratologger, it had a power failure at apogee but still functioned for both ejection charges. It did not record an apogee altitude but the graph indicates somewhere near the projected 6700 ft.
Yesterday I replaced the 1/2" tubular nylon and built a nomex pouch with double thickness to protect it in. I also filed the hole in the aft bulkhead of my N/C to offset the allthread enough to fit the tracker in it.
Since our next launch is in two weeks and is not supported by "What's up Hobbies", I won't have the use of Jacks CSI R300 receiver, so the next flight will have to be tracked visually. :eyepop: Jack had no problem selling me another J360 for my next attempt, but this HPR stuff has really turned into an expensive hobby!
I ordered another Stratologger and plan to use the current one in my Nuke Pro Max to find out if it's the battery terminal block on the circuit board that is causing the power loss. It passes the self test, but the graph showing voltage for the last flight is confusing. Normal voltage for the entire flight with no spikes at either ejection event, then upon impact it goes to 0 volts for a second and pops up to 26 volts. I can't trust it to fly for a cert. flight, although it has worked for the last four flights.
All in all, the bunny has been a great learning experience. Hopefully, my next flight will get me to L-2 with no more issues. Wish me luck, and as usual, any and all comments would be greatly appreciated.
jus_rockets
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Good luck on the next flight. I wont be at the May launch since I will have to work, but if you need anything you know where to reach me.
KenRico
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Ditto, good luck on the next go around - still taming the DD beast here also.
Will definetely give my nylon harness' a more thorough inspection - last time noticed near the attachment points it is looking a little cooked.
Still haven't redone my 1.0 avbay - have switches and everything now, was shopping the right bit for ext mount hole, but now will mount as an 'innie' and maybe try to share sled and caps with my new gforce for dd . Will finish and weigh and try to fly one or both next Sat
Kenny
Will definetely give my nylon harness' a more thorough inspection - last time noticed near the attachment points it is looking a little cooked.
Still haven't redone my 1.0 avbay - have switches and everything now, was shopping the right bit for ext mount hole, but now will mount as an 'innie' and maybe try to share sled and caps with my new gforce for dd . Will finish and weigh and try to fly one or both next Sat
Kenny
Just got back from the SSS May launch. I got there early and started prepping the Bunny for my second attempt. Shortly after I started both Guy Smith and Ken Sparks showed up to check out the changes I made to my rocket and witness my second flight. Check list complete, I took it to the RSO, who happened to be another good friend, Brad Evans. No problems getting past the inspection, so on to my launch rail. Loaded it up and turned on the Stratologger for all the right beeps so I start installing the e-match.First problem, the e-match pyrogen is flaking off and partially missing, so back to the truck for a replacement. Install that and get my three beeps for continuity and we are ready to launch. The Bunny really likes J360 Skidmarks and I got another great flight to 6445 ft. Drogue separation right on schedule and a quick descent to what I thought was 700 ft. but the binoculars fooled me. Thought I was not gonna get the main, but it came out right on time for a successful L-2 flight.
I can't describe the feeling of this accomplishment, but it took me several hours to settle down enough to fly another rocket. Many thanks to all who helped me to get my HPR level 2 certification. Now I need to get a big long burning K160 Classic and find someplace that will let me fly to over 10,000 ft.
I can't describe the feeling of this accomplishment, but it took me several hours to settle down enough to fly another rocket. Many thanks to all who helped me to get my HPR level 2 certification. Now I need to get a big long burning K160 Classic and find someplace that will let me fly to over 10,000 ft.
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Congrats to you sir!! Well done! :w:
jus_rockets
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Congratulations Wayne! I wish I could of been there but had to work 
Had to add these shots Sharon took of the Energizer Bunny flying on a CTI J360 Skidmark for my L-2 cert. flight:
Another shot on it's way to 6445 ft.:
Another shot on it's way to 6445 ft.:
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Brad Evans sent me a couple of pictures and this video of the bunnys flight:
[URL=https://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y126/allands/2013/2013-05-11%20SSS%20launch/WaynesSuccessfulL2LaunchMay112013.mp4]
[/URL]
The launch doesn't occur until about half way through, we had a light plane fly through the area.
Sharon looks all official with the clipboard:
[URL=https://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y126/allands/2013/2013-05-11%20SSS%20launch/WaynesSuccessfulL2LaunchMay112013.mp4]
[/URL]The launch doesn't occur until about half way through, we had a light plane fly through the area.
Sharon looks all official with the clipboard:
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Just an update on my latest flights with the bunny. I took it to ROCstock last weekend so I could take advantage of their higher waiver. Not that I planned to come close to their 19,000 ft. AGL waiver, but I wanted to fly a couple of long burn motors that might exceed the 10,900 ft. waiver we have in Rainbow valley. This would be my first chance to buy L-2 motors from my buddy Jack with What's up Hobbies since I got my L-2 cert. last month. So I loaded up on some bigger motors including the I100, K160, and the K261. Also got the two AT Dark matter loads, the I327 and K456. Since Jack only comes to two of our SSS launches, I also bought the CSI R-300 tracking receiver. Pretty much blew my entire budget in one fell swoop.
Friday I flew some smaller rockets as I got comfortable with the ROC system and launch area. Saturday I flew the Darkstar Jr. on an I211, and then the bunny on it's first long burn, the I100 Red lightning. Good flight and close recovery, landing about 50 ft. from the pad.
I had requested pad 47 because it has an 8 ft rod, giving the bunny a little more time to get going.
Thrustcurve had predicted 3354 ft. and the Stratologger recorded 2762 ft.
Sunday was the big day, and I got an early start so I could take advantage of the calm conditions. I enlisted the help of my neighbor Skippy (Gerald Meux Jr.) to keep track of the checklist and my new CSI tracking receiver. We prepped the rocket and walked it over to the RSO around 7:30 am. After passing inspection, I requested pad 47 and got it since no one was flying yet. Loaded it up on the rod and finished my checklist:
Although the K160 is the largest motor I have flown, it's not very impressive at liftoff:
But with a 9.6 second burn time, the bunny just kept going and going and going, until I lost sight of it in the binoculars. The tracker indicated a successful drogueless deployment with a jump in the signal strength when the AT-2B transmitter was ejected on the shock cord, but that was the only indication that things were going according to plan. Never saw the descent or main chute deploy. The signal got weaker when it landed, so we jumped in Skippys minivan and headed NW into the playa. About a mile out, we came to a ditch that the minivan couldn't cross, so the pursuit went on foot for about a half mile more before we found the rocket. The Stratologger was beeping so much, it took me a while to decipher it. 10,314 ft. well over the Open rocket sim that predicted 9,372 or Thrustcurve at 10,097 ft.
The bunny has done well with it's first two long burn motors, and I plan to continue up the scale when I return to ROCstock in November. Meanwhile I had to head back to Jack's trailer and find another K160 to fly at the GHS launch in October. Couldn't resist giving Jack a big hug for all the help and advise he has given me to make this flight possible.
Also much thanks to Skippy for supervising me and sacrificing the air dam on his minivan in pursuit of the bunny.
Friday I flew some smaller rockets as I got comfortable with the ROC system and launch area. Saturday I flew the Darkstar Jr. on an I211, and then the bunny on it's first long burn, the I100 Red lightning. Good flight and close recovery, landing about 50 ft. from the pad.
I had requested pad 47 because it has an 8 ft rod, giving the bunny a little more time to get going.
Thrustcurve had predicted 3354 ft. and the Stratologger recorded 2762 ft.
Sunday was the big day, and I got an early start so I could take advantage of the calm conditions. I enlisted the help of my neighbor Skippy (Gerald Meux Jr.) to keep track of the checklist and my new CSI tracking receiver. We prepped the rocket and walked it over to the RSO around 7:30 am. After passing inspection, I requested pad 47 and got it since no one was flying yet. Loaded it up on the rod and finished my checklist:
Although the K160 is the largest motor I have flown, it's not very impressive at liftoff:
But with a 9.6 second burn time, the bunny just kept going and going and going, until I lost sight of it in the binoculars. The tracker indicated a successful drogueless deployment with a jump in the signal strength when the AT-2B transmitter was ejected on the shock cord, but that was the only indication that things were going according to plan. Never saw the descent or main chute deploy. The signal got weaker when it landed, so we jumped in Skippys minivan and headed NW into the playa. About a mile out, we came to a ditch that the minivan couldn't cross, so the pursuit went on foot for about a half mile more before we found the rocket. The Stratologger was beeping so much, it took me a while to decipher it. 10,314 ft. well over the Open rocket sim that predicted 9,372 or Thrustcurve at 10,097 ft.
The bunny has done well with it's first two long burn motors, and I plan to continue up the scale when I return to ROCstock in November. Meanwhile I had to head back to Jack's trailer and find another K160 to fly at the GHS launch in October. Couldn't resist giving Jack a big hug for all the help and advise he has given me to make this flight possible.
Also much thanks to Skippy for supervising me and sacrificing the air dam on his minivan in pursuit of the bunny.
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