What did you do rocket wise today?

[Flyfalcons]

Got the color on Angry Daddy.

 

[rharshberger]

Nice Qualmann Fin Alignment Guide!

Assembling a US Rockets Weightlofter. Those Aerotech boxes sure come in handy.

View attachment 390891

 

[kuririn]

Nice Qualmann Fin Alignment Guide!

Yeah, those are becoming invaluable to me.

Got a Darth Vader's Tie Fighter in the mail this afternoon. Put it together this evening. Box had lots of wear and tear from years of storage, but contents were complete and undamaged, sealed in original plastic packages. Wing panels are dry fitted pending painting and masking. Then they will be permanently glued on. Had a small problem with the twist lock coupler on the stabilizer tubes but nothing that an emery board and some sanding couldn't fix. An EBay steal at $7.99.





Build build build. Laters.

 

[jqavins]

After quite a bit of troubleshooting I realized that I had a battery pack with the black on negative and red on positive. After correcting the polarity both Quantum's powered up. I emailed Cris and confessed.

Huh???! Positive to red and negative to black is supposed to be correct. If this device requires the opposite then you should have emailed Cris to complain, not to confess.

 

[Mugs914]

Got a care package from Giant Leap!

A new RRC3, various recovery items, a 4" coupler tube, 2 4" coupler bulkheads and one 4" airframe bulkhead. Oh, and a little bag of jelly beans!

The coupler tube and bulkheads are going to become a new av bay for my 20 year old (And as yet unflown ) level 2 rocket. Going to start a thread about that project over in High Power.

 

[jqavins]

my 20 year old (And as yet unflown ) level 2 rocket.

I feel for you. My Level 2 rocket is a LOC EZI-65, seven (about) years old, and as yet unfinished let alone unflown. It's sitting in the corner half painted with no electronics only one of its parachutes with a shock cord mount that needs to be done over.

Here's hoping we both get them done soon.

 

[dwightr]

Built my second eggtimer Quantum. Just like my first attempt it didn't power up. After quite a bit of troubleshooting I realized that I had a battery pack with the black on negative and red on positive. After correcting the polarity both Quantum's powered up. I emailed Cris and confessed. Really shouldn't work on stuff like this after working 12 hours.

Maybe I shouldn't type late at night either. Black was on Positive and Red was on Negative on the battery pack. Once I corrected it the quantums worked great. First time I had run into that but after reading several other posts it's apparently a fairly common problem on cheap Chinese LiPos.
I'll do my initial testing from now on with a bench power supply, then switch to battery to get into "test like you fly" mode.

 

[dwightr]

Joe, I like your signature, "Measure twice, cut once, curse lots, do it over".
I think I should try "Think three times, measure twice, cut once", but the rocket industry might go into a recession if I didn't have to order so many parts for redo's

 

[jqavins]

Joe, I like your signature, "Measure twice, cut once, curse lots, do it over".

Thanks. It simply reflects my own experience; there are things I just stink at, mostly hand operations, no matter how I try to prepare.

For example, for my rocket made from office supplies, I had to make couplers by cutting strips out of extra body tube material. I carefully computed the width to remove, marked the tube, checked the marks, and the couplers came out loose*. In this case, not so loose that I need to do them over, fortunately.

I rely extensively on jigs and other aids whenever I can. And if I have to make the jig by hand it's only a marginal improvement. When I can, for custom parts and jigs, I have a huge preference for designing on a computer then either 3D printing or laser cutting. I'm capable of getting the designs right without much trouble, and then the fabricating is nearly goof proof. I recently discovered that there's a nearby public library with a maker space attached, so with luck I'll stop having to pay much for these services. I plan to try them out this week to cut the fins, rings, and bulkheads for the office supply rocket.

I suspect that I failed to position the saw with the curf in the right place, sawing right down the line instead of inside it.

 

[JCRL]

Finished up my homemade edition of the SLS. I think it looks pretty good and now working on installing a screw on fin module for flight.
Took the online photo of it and made my own copy. 27 inches tall and 2 inch dia. body tube.

Looks like you'll finish yours before Boeing does

 

[Doug Holverson]

I thought about Fun Rockets today.

Otherwise, I'm playing with the CR-10 s5 printing out pad parts and trying to cure a minor case of elephant foot. So far I've bumped the inital layer height up .1mm and dropped the bed temperature 5°C for printing PLA.

 

[jqavins]

Anyone have a 4D printer? More Ds is better, right?

 

[Doug Holverson]

I had one! But she blowed up real good! Talk about a tesser-wreck! :3

 

[Doug Holverson]

Well, I did all that and cleaned all the old glue stick residue off the bed and I'm still getting elephant foot. Cura doesn't want me to bump initial print height up any more. I turned the bed temp down another 5°C.

 

[c0c0m0ke]

About a year ago I scratch built a modified version of US Rockets Sentra SRB. The modification allows the booster pods to fall off via streamer recovery while the sustainer continues on. Oh, and it will accommodate 24mm motors, not 18mm.

At our most recent club launch, I had it prepped with the outboards 2xD12-0 and center with E9-6. The rocket motor vendor asked why would I put an E9 in that rocket? It would ruin it for sure, he added. So I wound up buying two CTI 24mm reloadables.

I know it flies well with or without pods, powered or not. What I don’t know what these two new motors will do. So I started an Openrocket file on it. Doing the sustainer is no problem. But how does one add parallel boosters to the sustainer. I have no knowledge of programming. I imagine there is a customized expression for that.

As long as we’re on the topic of customized expressions - - I have several rockets that feature “coke bottle figure” like transitions, or “hour glass” figures with fins or wings that penetrate the transition and fasten to an inner tube. Openrocket does not allow for all that going on simultaneously. Does anybody know a work around?

 

[tOD]

Your suggestion gave me some hope, however heating it actually made it worse.
As I heated it it moved, but I grabbed it with channel locks and couldn't move it!
Got it hot enough to scorch the rings but no go.
I appreciate the advice, just didn't work in this case. At least I know my retainer was bonded on securely.

Well, new motor mount tube centering rings and retainer body arrived from Wildman. Dry fitting the parts. New 1/2" Kevlar on order, should arrive tomorrow. Also received a CTI Pro 54 starter set to power it with. Forward!

 

[ewomack]

The Shenzou kit came in the mail today, very well packed, but after taking it out the main tube had a pretty bad dent in it, unfortunately. From the looks of the dent it likely won't pop back into place neatly. I contacted the shipper and we'll see what they say. It looks like a really awesome kit, though, now that I can see it up close. But now I'm going to keep it sealed until I hear back. Oh well.

 

[kuririn]

The Shenzou kit came in the mail today, very well packed, but after taking it out the main tube had a pretty bad dent in it, unfortunately. From the looks of the dent it likely won't pop back into place neatly. I contacted the shipper and we'll see what they say. It looks like a really awesome kit, though, now that I can see it up close. But now I'm going to keep it sealed until I hear back. Oh well.

Did you order that from Apogee? Contact their customer service with those pics, they give excellent service.

 

[Cape Byron]

The Shenzou kit came in the mail today, very well packed, but after taking it out the main tube had a pretty bad dent in it, unfortunately. <snip>

Kuririn is right, Apogee will look after you. Nice little kit, BTW. Great Flier. There's one on the desk here awaiting repair on the booster retainers.

 

[jqavins]

If you can't get satisfaction (the others are right if it came from Apogee; that's part of the reason I'm willing to pay their not-so-low prices) then there is a way to fix this. Not worth going into until you know if it'll be replaced.

 

[Tobor]

Got the color on Angry Daddy.View attachment 391092 View attachment 391093

Love the name you gave to your modded Big Daddy and the 54mm MMT you stuffed into it. Also the paint color, is that Rust-oleum Gloss Apple Red? I ask because that is the color I used on my modded Big Daddy.

 

[Flyfalcons]

That is Duplicolor Flame Red. I like Rustoleum but am getting close to deadline (today is my last full day at home before going to the event), and needed to use something fast-drying.

 

[Doug Holverson]

Still sorting through 500+ CAD files from the '80s,'90s, and early 2000s. Got to love those truncated to almost cryptic 8.3 names.... Around 2000, Fishman thought that he wanted a launch pad. Here's a preliminary that I had to get out of my system: a folding launch pad that was pure form minimalist to a point of parody since it only had two legs. Well, it did sit on three points.

 

[Gerald]

Took my Dynastar Snarky and copied it to make "Snarky-Jr.) Reduced all measurements to 1/3 scale. Will be powered by a 18mm C engines.

 

[jqavins]

Took my Dynastar Snarky and copied it to make "Snarky-Jr.) Reduced all measurements to 1/3 scale.

Did you mean reduced by 1/3, i.e. reduced to 2/3?

 

[ewomack]

Replacement parts for the Shenzou will go out tomorrow, so I'm told. And yes, I'm not worried about getting the issue resolved, just a little bummed that I have to wait a little more. Could be worse. Much worse.

 

[Gerald]

Did you mean reduced by 1/3, i.e. reduced to 2/3?

Made so that the finished rocket is only a third of the originals size.

 

[kevindcornwell]

I painted the fins on my Ariel: Prometheus Class spaceship. A sorta standard 4FNC 4" body with 75mm mmt which is scheduled for balls. Working feverishly... I'm pretty sure I did an awesome job on the paint considering all the bugs who, with great delight committed suicide in the wet paint. Sadly, I then ran out of paint. I am so bummed, but take solice in the knowledge that there are no points awarded for paint perfection at Balls. There aren't... right?

 

[dwightr]

I built a 29mm motor adapter to go in a 38mm MD build that I'm working on.
I'm planning on a first flight on an Economax G74 before eventually working up a Cessoroni J150

 

[Flyfalcons]

Got color on the Madcow Big Fizz.