What did you do rocket wise today?

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I found some old PML 4.0 qt tube and a nose cone in my garage from a scratch project that never came together back when I was 17. I decided that I'm gonna but some fins and a motor tube a couple centering rings and build a random rocket out of it and the other spare parts I've got laying around gonna name her Dumpster Fire
 
Spent a good part of the weekend fretting over what to buy (if anything) from Estes; BF sale. I'm not a "build pile" kind of guy, so the prospect of ordering a bunch of kits to sit around does not sit comfortably with me, but I need to order at least a few to offset shipping. And how can I possibly pass up an Odyssey for $10? Right now I have the Odyssey, Twin Factor (looks like fun), Puma (I could use a fun little 13mm rocket), and Savage (would be nice to have something I can send very high without caring about losing it) in my cart. Dunno.
 
I'm not a "build pile" kind of guy,

Me neither, but I couldn't resist. I could use a couple of simple rockets to put together with my son, and like you said, low stakes rockets to send high. I ended up with Super Nova (nostalgia), Astron Explorer (only $8!), and Crossbow SST (memories of launching the original S.W.A.T. with my friends many years ago).

As for rocket related activities, I was reminded by Joe's Triple Vee thread that I have a small lathe given to me by my father in law, which didn't turn on. I found a broken brush spring and broken brush holder and managed to make replacements, so now I have a working lathe, yay! It is pretty small and cheaply made, but maybe I can make something with it. It's the right size for nose cones.

PC010053_edit.JPG
 
Opened up a Semroc Li’l Augie. This looks like a very interesting build....

I’m hoping for a snow day tomorrow to give me time tackle this thing.


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How about turning Joe's Triple Vee nose cone?

That's just what I was thinking! I didn't want to mention it to him until had some kind of useful result, as I'm no turning expert. I made a bowl in high school shop class, and a crucible on a metal lathe in college, but that's not a lot of experience. I also need to find some larger balsa blocks, but that's what I'm going to try!
 
You are in for a world of fun with that thing Marten!

As for me, I spent the afternoon finishing up the sled for a LOC 3" av bay. It's carrying an RRC3 and RRC2 for redundant dual deploy and hopefully will take it's first ride on a LOC Forte at the AARG December launch next week (Provided I can find the time to test this week. May have to wait until January... :( )

Then I took advantage of Missile Works Black Friday sale and ordered up another RRC2, RRC3 and USB dongle set.

I also started dropping the hints with the wife that I'd really like to have a LOC 4" Nike X kit (This year's "Red Rider BB gun" ;)).
 
No way, it totally works, I wasn't really expecting that. Alright, now I gotta turn things....

View attachment 399949
Hey, I had a little lathe exactly like that over 40 years ago. Turned some fine nose cones on it. Recall I got it for like ten bucks at a refurbished item sale. Still have a couple of the nc's in fact.

Not a clue what I did with mine. Where did you find it?
 
That's just what I was thinking! I didn't want to mention it to him until had some kind of useful result, as I'm no turning expert. I made a bowl in high school shop class, and a crucible on a metal lathe in college, but that's not a lot of experience. I also need to find some larger balsa blocks, but that's what I'm going to try!
Marten, you could also use some other lightweight woods for nosecones like cedar, spruce, redwood, basswood, etc. I just turned a nosecone for a Kraken out of cedar and it worked out great. Much tighter grain too so getting a good. smooth primer surface on it was easy.
 
You are in for a world of fun with that thing Marten!

Yeah! I'm looking forward to it. Is the LOC av bay for your Level 2 rocket?

Not a clue what I did with mine. Where did you find it?

My father in law picked it up from some flea market or auction. I guess he remembered that I was interested in one.

Marten, you could also use some other lightweight woods for nosecones like cedar, spruce, redwood, basswood, etc. I just turned a nosecone for a Kraken out of cedar and it worked out great. Much tighter grain too so getting a good. smooth primer surface on it was easy.

That's a good idea, the local craft stores don't carry balsa, but they have basswood, and I may have some cedar. Thanks!
 
Yesterday I progressed in my Super DX3 build.

Mounted the motor mount with mid and forward centering rings.
Mounted wings and ran interior fillets.
upload_2019-12-2_9-49-11.png

Intalled the bulkhead into the coupler too.

upload_2019-12-2_9-49-41.png

All West System Epoxy with colloidal silica thickener.
 
Yeah! I'm looking forward to it. Is the LOC av bay for your Level 2 rocket?



My father in law picked it up from some flea market or auction. I guess he remembered that I was interested in one.



That's a good idea, the local craft stores don't carry balsa, but they have basswood, and I may have some cedar. Thanks!

Oh, the cedar I used was a cut off 4x4
 
That's just what I was thinking! I didn't want to mention it to him until had some kind of useful result
So you just went and said it in public instead. :) Thank you for thinking of me.
I also need to find some larger balsa blocks, but that's what I'm going to try!
I strongly suggest trying out some small stuff with small, less expensive blocks first. I don't have a lot of experience either, but I very quickly found that what little I have was not directly transferable to balsa turning. What little I have is really not with the right tools but worked anyway for pine where balsa proved too soft ans weak.
 
So you just went and said it in public instead. :) Thank you for thinking of me.

Yeah, well, the idea seemed obvious, but I do have major reservations in my ability to actually make a nosecone. For now I'm going to just find some blocks of wood and practice. It would be a nice skill to learn.
 
AC Supply has balsa blocks at reasonable prices. A 2x4x12" block is 4.86 and can be cut to make four BT-60/38mm NC. I just bought a couple. Or glue two together to get a 4" square block. Basswood is available online but shipping is often freaking ridiculous.

Balsa cuts really fast, it's easy to cut too deep even with 220 sandpaper -- I am expert at doing that:oops:. I usually glue in an aluminum rod instead of a wooden dowel, it's much stiffer. After the NC is done, a sharpened piece of thinwall brass tubing held in the hand cuts around the rod. It twists out pretty easily. A piece of the airframe that's as long as the shoulder you want goes between chuck and rod/dowel.

If you don't have a drill press, clamp your drill to the bench. Once you start, don't remove the thing from the chuck till you're done. It NEVER goes back into the exact same position...

Back the sandpaper with a strip of 1x2 or similar. Sometimes I use a coarse file for the initial work, for its rigidity. Don't press hard, especially at first, or you end up with an odd not-round shape. Instead, hold the sandpaper just so it hits the high spots, and slowly work them down.

Get the whole thing round first, then begin to work on the shoulder. Long NCs may wobble a fair bit at the tip, especially at high speed. If so, cut the block roughly to shape---not too deep! -- so there's less mass at the tip, and less wobble.

Careful to keep the sandpaper parallel to the axis, it's easy to get a tapered shoulder. I am expert at that, too.:rolleyes: As you get close to the shoulder diameter, switch to finer sandpaper and check often with the bit of airframe that's in place. Once the shoulder is the right diameter, slide the airframe onto the shoulder and leave it. That shows you when you get down to the needed o.d.

Finish with 600 grit, which at high speed still cuts faster than you might think.

HTH, YMMV -- Terry
 
AC Supply has balsa blocks at reasonable prices. A 2x4x12" block is 4.86 and can be cut to make four BT-60/38mm NC. I just bought a couple.

Good suggestion, and they have 3x3" x12" blocks which could do BT-80 nose cones. Plus those prices are good.

Balsa cuts really fast, it's easy to cut too deep even with 220 sandpaper -- I am expert at doing that:oops:.

I noticed, I tried 150 grit and it was like a hot knife on butter!
 
I dug up/out some of my old rockets and am planning on cleaning up and refreshing as needed over the winter. I haven't seen some of these in many years, it was like a adventure. I also bought a few Estes Cherokee E kits from Hobby lobby online and received them Saturday. My plan is to build one and put the rest away. Next on the wish list is a couple of Blue Bird Zero kits.
 
Yesterday I progressed in my Super DX3 build.

Mounted the motor mount with mid and forward centering rings.
Mounted wings and ran interior fillets.
View attachment 399962

Intalled the bulkhead into the coupler too.

View attachment 399963

All West System Epoxy with colloidal silica thickener.

HEY SEAN!
Where did you get the nylon with the loop already sewed? Thanks for your insight.
 
Closed the browser tab that had my proposed Estes BF order, which took quite a lot of willpower. Realized I was buying kits I didn't really want, just to take advantage of the sale, and to hit the $50 free shipping threshold.

$10 Odyssey would have been nice, but I've got a fairly healthy queue of scratchers that need building. There will be other sales.
 
Closed the browser tab that had my proposed Estes BF order, which took quite a lot of willpower.

Good for you.

I, meanwhile, now have to figure out how to get a too-good-to-pass-up 120lb drill press down my basement steps. It was hair-raising, glancing out the window to see the delivery driver on the 16th or 17th of the the 19 steps up to our front door with the box cradled in his arms. Only when he took his phone out for my signature did he see the instruction "deliver to garage".

New camera comes today. Pre-owned plus BF discount, and it is still way more than I ought to be spending for a toy.
 
You have wisdom and self-control well beyond me....
You would laugh if you saw how long I sat there staring at it, with my finger on the mouse button, before I finally mustered up the gumption* to click. :)






*That is not really correct use of the word "gumption", but "mustered up the gumption" was too good a phrase to pass up. Apparently, all my self-control was expended closing that browser tab.
 
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