Lakeroadster's Lifting Rocket

[lakeroadster]

I revised the fin design a bit where the cargo strut rods attach to the fins. Basically added an internal piece (that's not wood) that is sandwiched between the plies of balsa. This should spread the forces out and prevent any shearing / tearing through of the balsa.

I may use plastic for the insert since the code says using metal fins is verbotten... kind of a gray area, since it is a metal piece, but it isn't the fin itself.

All the bolts and bolting plates add to the "Steam Punk Look". I'm thinking Spar Urethane for the fins, and then faux rusty-crusty paint for the rest of the rocket.... except for the sacred Mercury capsule... which needs to look historically correct.

 

[Nytrunner]

.... except for the sacred Mercury capsule... which needs to look historically correct.

In my unsolicited viewpoint, painting the capsule traditionally would make it look really out of place on this rocket.

Maybe weathered a bit, as if it was somehow recovered and repurposed?

 

[lakeroadster]

In my unsolicited viewpoint, painting the capsule traditionally would make it look really out of place on this rocket.

Maybe weathered a bit, as if it was somehow recovered and repurposed?

And that's the plan.. Are you familiar with Steam Punk? Kind of repurposing of old antique stuff.

 

[Nytrunner]

And that's the plan.. Are you familiar with Steam Punk? Kind of repurposing of old antique stuff.

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I am. I may have misinterpreted your previous post and was imagining a shiny black and red capsule conspicuously atop an otherwise hodgepodge vehicle.

Oh hey, where on earth have I seen that rocket car before....

 

[lakeroadster]

All the bolts and bolting plates add to the "Steam Punk Look". I'm thinking Spar Urethane for the fins, and then faux rusty-crusty paint for the rest of the rocket.... except for the sacred Mercury capsule... which needs to look historically correct.

I am. I may have misinterpreted your previous post and was imagining a shiny black and red capsule conspicuously atop an otherwise hodgepodge vehicle.

Historically.. meaning like it's been to orbit and back to earth previously. Maybe "toasted" is a more accurate description.

 

[Nytrunner]

Ah! We were thinking along the same lines the whole time, just different directions lol

 

[lakeroadster]

Made a couple changes to the design today.

A) Changed the center ply of the fins to a "Through The Wall" design,
B) Extended the outer plies of the fins to fully capture the tie rods,
C) Added an exterior 0.04" thick BT stiffener to the body tube at very back of body to help keep it round,
C) Updated the standard center motor mounts to allow for E9 and E12 motors, along with D12,
D) Added templates for the BT-60 to BT-80 conical transitions.

Also tried to update the Open Rocket file by making the Cargo Bay a 2nd stage. For some reason it's throwing up error messages of "An error occurred during the simulation Simulation Value Exceeds Limits. Try Selecting a shorter time step." I changed the time step from 5 seconds to one second, then the error message is the same but also states "Discontinuity in rocket body diameter. Large angle of attack encountered". Weird...

 

[Jonathan 7]

Spent some time today on CAD working on a scratch build.... I'm calling it a "Lifting Rocket".

It can be flown with a single 24 mm motor.. or a canted cluster of (3) 18 mm motors.

I'm still working on this... I want to add a payload section at the bottom that locks to the body tube in place of the 24 mm motor.

It would be neat to have multiple motor options and payload configurations.. all retrofitted onto the Lift Rocket

I've added stiffener rings and struts to make it as "durable" as possible.

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LR, question... where did you get the Inventor Parts for this? Did you sketch them from scratch?

 

[lakeroadster]

LR, question... where did you get the Inventor Parts for this? Did you sketch them from scratch?

Yes, every component of the rocket was created as an individual part, then assembled. The only parts I used that I didn't create myself are the fasteners.

Scratch Build

 

[Jonathan 7]

Yes, every component of the rocket was created as an individual part, then assembled. The only parts I used that I didn't create myself are the fasteners.

Very impressive! And materials too?

 

[lakeroadster]

Very impressive! And materials too?

Most of the materials I buy from Balsa Machining Service (BMS). Good folks. Their website outlines the raw materials they stock, it's simply a matter of designing the rocket components based on available materials.

To build a good widget... ya gotta have a good widget raw materials supplier... https://www.balsamachining.com/

I ordered all the parts for The Lifting Rocket from BMS last Friday. They all arrived yesterday, Tuesday.

Bill and Mary at BMS are awesome.

 

[Jonathan 7]

Most of the materials I buy from Balsa Machining Service (BMS). Good folks. Their website outlines the raw materials they stock, it's simply a matter of designing the rocket components based on available materials.

To build a good widget... ya gotta have a good widget raw materials supplier... https://www.balsamachining.com/

I ordered all the parts for The Lifting Rocket from BMS last Friday. They all arrived yesterday, Tuesday.

Bill and Mary at BMS are awesome.

Lol, materials in Autodesk

 

[lakeroadster]

Lol, materials in Autodesk

Lol?? I must admit that I truly hate the use of that acronym except in response to comedy... it's way overused and lacks civility.

I use property values for "Phenolic" for wood, cardboard body tubes, etc. It really doesn't matter unless your doing FEA or cg calc's.

 

[Crawf56]

"Space: 1899"

Great stuff in this build.

 

[BABAR]

"Space: 1899"

Very clever!

 

[lakeroadster]

The Lifting Rocket in kit form.... some assembly required

 

[Jonathan 7]

Lol?? I must admit that I truly hate the use of that acronym except in response to comedy... it's way overused and lacks civility.

I use property values for "Phenolic" for wood, cardboard body tubes, etc. It really doesn't matter unless your doing FEA or cg calc's.

I would like to give it a try, yes.

 

[lakeroadster]

I would like to give it a try, yes.

Give what a try?

 

[Jonathan 7]

Give what a try?

Doing that in Inventor and CFD

 

[lakeroadster]

Cut and stack sanded the balsa fin ply's for The Lifting Rocket.

Since it's a 3 layer construction I wanted the grain of the wood different to add strength.

Once I make the insert I'll lay it on the center ply, trace around it, and then cut out that section.... at least that's the plan. Any suggestions for an alternate to aluminum? Some sort of plastic would probably work just as well.

 

[lakeroadster]

Cut the Canted Motor Tubes and the Body Tube in the Canted Section. Pretty pleased with the results thus far.

Trying to hold the cluster for gluing wasn't realistic so I made a fixture to hold the pieces in place.

 

[Jonathan 7]

Thank you so much for this thread. I’ve learned an incredible amount about design and construction from almost every post.

 

[lakeroadster]

Revised the cluster design to have a BT-50 stiffening tube up the center below the cluster, and a heavy wall short tube at the top, centering rings on both ends. This helps transfer the thrust load into the couplers, instead of the thin wall BT-60 body tube.

Just needs to add a bit more Quick and Thick Titebond and do some internal glue fillets.


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The tube on the end shown below is from a "Reynolds Wrap Heavy Duty Foil" tube. I'll coat the inside with CA once I'm done attaching it to the BT and Centering Ring with wood glue.

 

[neil_w]

Looks great so far!

 

[BABAR]

Cut the Canted Motor Tubes and the Body Tube in the Canted Section. Pretty pleased with the results thus far.

Trying to hold the cluster for gluing wasn't realistic so I made a fixture to hold the pieces in place.

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I love the “note to self: put wax paper on so I don’t glue the temporary alignment piece to the model”!

 

[lakeroadster]

More progress on the canted cluster sub-assy. fabrication.

I revised the design again to make the bottom coupler longer and scallop it to fit around the cluster. This will allow the BT-60 split body tube to have be glued to the coupler.

I've been building up the glue joints over the past few days. Today I cut the centering rings out of 1/8" balsa, glued them on, internally glued all the seams on the cluster and then glued / installed the couplers.

The wooden dowels are merely fixturing to help to ensure the upper coupler is aligned with the bottom coupler.

 

[kuririn]

That seems quite robust. Looks like the difficult part is over.

 

[lakeroadster]

How about some FEA? I plugged in the loading of (4) D12's to see what the stresses and deformation looks like.



And here is the lawn dart look..



And a lawn dart video..

 

[lakeroadster]

Installed the BT-60 over the canted cluster. In order to install it I had to cut it near the bottom of the scallops. Now.... more glue fillets.

 

[neil_w]

Very nice indeed. To echo what kuririn said... that looks really robust.