- Joined
- Jul 25, 2012
- Messages
- 484
- Reaction score
- 364
Hello Fellow Rocketeers,
This is probably a question for those who’ve been in this hobby for a while.
I bought a 3-legged high-power launch-pad for Tripoli Quad Cities back circa 1995, back when we were first beginning. That was before Mid-West-Power and long before we became Quad Cities Rocketry Club.
The name on the pad reads “Xtreme Rockets” and I'm pretty sure that I purchased it from the manufacturer in Three Oaks, Michigan at one of the launches there off Avery Road.
Mine weighs in at 22 pounds. It has three legs each made from 1/8” thick, 1” by 2” extruded rectangular steel. Two of them, 36” long each, are hinged with what I think are ¼” x 2.250” roll pins thru a right angled U-bend bracket welded around the central leg which is about 40” long.
There’s a 1” square vertical steel tube for mounting the rod holder (this was before rails) which was another 1” square piece of tube steel with a ¾” piece of “coupler” steel tubing between them. This piece has been missing for decades. The ¼ x 20 welded nut in one corner of the vertical holder was what at one time held the rod holder. After some years we just used it for the rod holder itself till the 1/4x20 bolt froze in place and got broke off by somebody who was a bit too enthusiastic with a wrench.
The last distinguishing mark of this pad is that it has a 1" wide and about 40" long nylon carrying strap riveted into the u-bend bracket.
Does anybody remember the person who designed, built, and sold these pads? I hope to be able to give that person the credit that’s due in a build thread I hope to write.
Any help out there?
Brad, the “Rocket Rev.,” Wilson
This is probably a question for those who’ve been in this hobby for a while.
I bought a 3-legged high-power launch-pad for Tripoli Quad Cities back circa 1995, back when we were first beginning. That was before Mid-West-Power and long before we became Quad Cities Rocketry Club.
The name on the pad reads “Xtreme Rockets” and I'm pretty sure that I purchased it from the manufacturer in Three Oaks, Michigan at one of the launches there off Avery Road.
Mine weighs in at 22 pounds. It has three legs each made from 1/8” thick, 1” by 2” extruded rectangular steel. Two of them, 36” long each, are hinged with what I think are ¼” x 2.250” roll pins thru a right angled U-bend bracket welded around the central leg which is about 40” long.
There’s a 1” square vertical steel tube for mounting the rod holder (this was before rails) which was another 1” square piece of tube steel with a ¾” piece of “coupler” steel tubing between them. This piece has been missing for decades. The ¼ x 20 welded nut in one corner of the vertical holder was what at one time held the rod holder. After some years we just used it for the rod holder itself till the 1/4x20 bolt froze in place and got broke off by somebody who was a bit too enthusiastic with a wrench.
The last distinguishing mark of this pad is that it has a 1" wide and about 40" long nylon carrying strap riveted into the u-bend bracket.
Does anybody remember the person who designed, built, and sold these pads? I hope to be able to give that person the credit that’s due in a build thread I hope to write.
Any help out there?
Brad, the “Rocket Rev.,” Wilson