Wow Greg, I'd be tempted to just varnish that and call it good. Beautiful!
Triple Vee
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Wow Greg, I'd be tempted to just varnish that and call it good. Beautiful!
Mike, I thought about it.
Next one will get varnished. I hope I can find more of this cedar in my cut offs pile.
Do you know how much the nose cone weighs?
Marten, now that my snowblower is running again and I made a path out to my shop yesterday I can get to my scale. I'll weigh it & let you know.
Marten, I just checked my OpenRocket design & used spruce as the material which is pretty close to red cedar as far as density goes. 2.1 oz. I'll get you an actual weight with paint later.
Mike, now you got me thinking about wood veneering a body tube. Now how cool would that be with pretty wood & a good finish.
Thanks, I was curious, I've had some cedar that seemed to be really light. That's a pretty decent weight for nose cone that size. And yeah, the grain looks very nice.
Thanks! I'm going to see if I can find some nice looking cedar.
boatgeek
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Mike, now you got me thinking about wood veneering a body tube. Now how cool would that be with pretty wood & a good finish.
I've been noodling a design for a Spruce Goose--built entirely out of wood except possibly the motor mount. More thought needed.
Boatgeek, it is interesting that a few days ago I read an article on Wired that mentioned the Spruce Goose. So I had to find out where it went to. It's in the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, OR. I'd love to see it.
Joe, it looks like AC Supply has the best prices on blocks of balsa. I have two coming my direction, and I'm going to find some cedar to practice with.
Wonderful. I'll get you those dimensions tomorrow.
Marten,
I have a couple of 3x3x6" balsa blocks I'm not doing anything with. You can have 'em, no charge.
PM me if interested.
I have a couple of 3x3x6" balsa blocks I'm not doing anything with. You can have 'em, no charge.
PM me if interested.
Marten, Joe. The Kraken with the Balsa nosecone (the one sold by Pemberton) required some weight attached to it in the form of a washer. I fudged things to get the stability factor higher by making the main BT 20" instead of the original 18" and making the nosecone out of a denser wood. The stability is 1.77 cal.
Hey kuirin, sending you a message. I have a feeling postage from Hawaii to the east coast isn't cheap, and I think Joe's nosecone may come out to be longer then 6", but that's a kind offer.
Mike, now you got me thinking about wood veneering a body tube. Now how cool would that be with pretty wood & a good finish.
That's funny, I had the same thought! I started picturing alternating maple and walnut strips, inlayed designs on the fins...
Yeah, got a bit carried away, but like the idea!
Nytrunner
Pop lugs, not drugs
That's funny, I had the same thought! I started picturing alternating maple and walnut strips, inlayed designs on the fins...
Yeah, got a bit carried away, but like the idea!
A guy did similar! It was a Steampunk Orion starfighter upscale, and he layed thin wooden trim strips around a section to make it look like an old "watertank" or barrel staves like to feed a boiler. Capped the section with riveted strips
Sounds like it would look like ship construction, or a cedar strip canoe.
Anyway, I got the measurements for my nose cone last night, and I"ll do up a dimensioned Visio sketch come lunch time.
It seems like a real shame to paint over that wood veneer. Stain and polyurethane, or better yet shellac for appropriate steam punk materials, would be my first choice.
OK, here are the nose cone dimensions:
The overall diameter and shoulder diameter are per BT-80. The core hole, if you're set up to do it, is for the OD of a BT-5, which I want to add in order to reinforce the waist. Or maybe just make it a half inch and I'll use a dowel. Or leave it to me to figure out how to drill. (Getting my drill press ready to go will be a lot easier than my lathe.)
OK, here are the nose cone dimensions:
The overall diameter and shoulder diameter are per BT-80. The core hole, if you're set up to do it, is for the OD of a BT-5, which I want to add in order to reinforce the waist. Or maybe just make it a half inch and I'll use a dowel. Or leave it to me to figure out how to drill. (Getting my drill press ready to go will be a lot easier than my lathe.)
Great, got it. I'll see how the turning part goes, and make a call on the core hole. Good timing, I think my ACsupply box will arrive today, in time for the weekend.
Maybe it's just me but I'd be scared to drill that after it's turned, if it's balsa. I think it might be nice to have a dowel in there *before* cutting out the V, for extra support.
DISCLAIMER: I have no idea what I'm talking about
DISCLAIMER: I have no idea what I'm talking about
Yeah, drilling that after it has been turned seems risky.
Joe, were you thinking of inserting a solid dowel, or an actual piece of BT-5 body tube?
Edit: I see you're considering either option. I'd be inclined towards just a 1/4" dowel. I think that would be stronger, and leave more balsa meat at the neck of the V. It would also give you something solid to attach an eye bolt to.
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My original concern was that even slightly hardish landings could break it at the narrow spot. For that I thought a piece of BT-5 would be sufficient, which I still think is right.
The next thought was that drilling or boring the right diameter would be difficult, so I could go with 1/2 inch, i.e. about the same size, and use a dowel.
Drilling and dowling before turning sounds like a really good idea.
I'd like the 1/2 inch dowel rather that 1/4 inch, exactly because it leaves less balsa; that way there's less balsa that it needs to count on. On the other hand, if it'll be drilled then turned while hollow then the 1/4 hole is probably a good idea. Marten, how would you rather handle it?
Screw eye attachment is a nice side benefit to using a dowel, of either size. If it comes to me hollow and is a falf inch I'll use use a cheap pine dowel. If it's quarter I'd use oak.
The next thought was that drilling or boring the right diameter would be difficult, so I could go with 1/2 inch, i.e. about the same size, and use a dowel.
Drilling and dowling before turning sounds like a really good idea.
I'd like the 1/2 inch dowel rather that 1/4 inch, exactly because it leaves less balsa; that way there's less balsa that it needs to count on. On the other hand, if it'll be drilled then turned while hollow then the 1/4 hole is probably a good idea. Marten, how would you rather handle it?
Screw eye attachment is a nice side benefit to using a dowel, of either size. If it comes to me hollow and is a falf inch I'll use use a cheap pine dowel. If it's quarter I'd use oak.
I like the idea of inserting the 1/2" dowel before turning. I'll try that with my first block of balsa. If for some reason that doesn't work, I'll do my usual problem solving method which consists of sitting on a stool and staring at the second block of balsa.
Actually I've found drilling center holes in things much easier on my lathe since I have a drill chuck with a Morse taper shank than goes into my tailstock. One just needs to plan ahead as when to drill it as it is usually not the last thing you do on something not cylindrical.
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I was thinking not about the drilling per se, but drilling just the right size for a BT-5. Has anyone got a bit for that? Of course, one could start smaller and finish with a boring bar, but that could be a real bugger with the softness and weakness of balsa.
As for doing it my drill press, I simply didn't want to assume that Marten would want to take it on, and I could do it in the drill press, where at the moment I couldn't in my lathe.
As for doing it my drill press, I simply didn't want to assume that Marten would want to take it on, and I could do it in the drill press, where at the moment I couldn't in my lathe.
I certainly don't mind drilling the hole, and it would be nice to have hardwood at one end for the purposes of turning on a lathe.
Looks like the O.D. of the BT-5 is 0.544" or 13.8 mm. A 35/64" bit would probably be the right size, but I haven't got one of those.
Looks like the O.D. of the BT-5 is 0.544" or 13.8 mm. A 35/64" bit would probably be the right size, but I haven't got one of those.
