What did you do rocket wise today?

[Doug Holverson]

Well, last night, I may have finally got most of the hang of the OMG laser cutter. I may have even cut out a set of Skydancer ribs. I'll have to check them against the blue prints. That project has been plagued with transcription errors and the like....

 

[beeblebrox]

Getting stuff together for a trek from PA to Utah and Nevada...Have to check a huge box on Amtrak full 'o rockets. Can't wait for Sierra Rockets launch at Black Rock...

 

[NateB]

Took delivery of a 5’ long Makerbeam

I had a pair of those saved in my Amazon cart and now it is unavailable. Guess I should have ordered them earlier. I dont need them immediately anyway, but I'll probably get it whenever it is restocked.

I have the upper fins in place and now my rocket looks like a Darkstar. I'm curious how much weight the fin pockets and extra epoxy will add. Once it cures, I'll rework the sim. I'm hoping that it will still fly without the payload on a G motor. If not, it will be a good overbuilt L1 rocket and I will save my Punisher for other flights.

Even with the weight penalty, I liked using the fin pockets better than injecting internal fillets. The lower set won't be going anywhere and everything was easy to keep aligned.

 

[o1d_dude]

And now I have an extra 5 footer...they’re sold in pairs.

I should fax it over to you like that old Budweiser beer ad.

 

[Ronz Rocketz]

Our mayor extended the stay at home lockdown here an additional two weeks BUT modified it to allow parks to re-open for solo activities. So looks like I can cure my cabin fever by launching a few, weather and winds permitting.
Got my MicroMaxx stuff boxed up and ready to go.

I’d join you but...

 

[o1d_dude]

I had a pair of those saved in my Amazon cart and now it is unavailable. Guess I should have ordered them earlier. I dont need them immediately anyway, but I'll probably get it whenever it is restocked.

I have the upper fins in place and now my rocket looks like a Darkstar. I'm curious how much weight the fin pockets and extra epoxy will add. Once it cures, I'll rework the sim. I'm hoping that it will still fly without the payload on a G motor. If not, it will be a good overbuilt L1 rocket and I will save my Punisher for other flights.

Even with the weight penalty, I liked using the fin pockets better than injecting internal fillets. The lower set won't be going anywhere and everything was easy to keep aligned.

View attachment 431168

All joking aside, you can order one directly from 8020 Inc.

They’re located in Columbia, IN.

If that’s close to you, there’s no shipping charge if you pick it up from the factory.

You can also order it in custom lengths for minimal charge...$2 or so to cut it.

The link follows...

80/20 Inc

 

[NateB]

I live about 20 minutes from 80/20, I bought my larger rails direct from them but I didn't know they were the manufacturer of the small ones too. Picking up a spare length from them will be even easier.

 

[o1d_dude]

I live about 20 minutes from 80/20, I bought my larger rails direct from them but I didn't know they were the manufacturer of the small ones too. Picking up a spare length from them will be even easier.

Excellent!

 

[rharshberger]

I had a pair of those saved in my Amazon cart and now it is unavailable. Guess I should have ordered them earlier. I dont need them immediately anyway, but I'll probably get it whenever it is restocked.

I have the upper fins in place and now my rocket looks like a Darkstar. I'm curious how much weight the fin pockets and extra epoxy will add. Once it cures, I'll rework the sim. I'm hoping that it will still fly without the payload on a G motor. If not, it will be a good overbuilt L1 rocket and I will save my Punisher for other flights.

Even with the weight penalty, I liked using the fin pockets better than injecting internal fillets. The lower set won't be going anywhere and everything was easy to keep aligned.

View attachment 431168

Depending on the method to make the fin pockets you used the "penalty" will most likely be neutral when compared to two sets of internal fillets (motor and airframe internal fillets). I use fin pockets A LOT and have found them to be similar to doing all sets of internal fillets as far as weight it concerned unless the pocket are really wide, mine are usually 1/8th wider than the fin (1/16th" or so either side) at the motor tube and widening slightly as they go toward the airframe for most rockets under 4" diameter, 4" and larger the base is a bit wider.

 

[Joekeyo]

Winding up Low Boom SST. I may add nose detail lines, I may not. The LBSST is rated as "expert" by Estes. Because of laser cutting the build was straight-forward and didn't involve any cussing session. I'd trade the hardest part of this build with the Mercury Redstone tower build in a heartbeat.

I use Chris Michielssen excellent build blog for both the SST and the MR. . Thank you Chris, you are a minor god right up there with Tim Van Milligan and G. Harry Stine.


Busy on the MR booster. If you read Chris's blog you will often read that you should take your time with a certain step. Heed his words if you want to save your self a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Both of these models had good examples of this.

MR tower - Confounding tower. You get the tower build all nice then it is time to attach it to the capsule. Chris is nice enough to point out that you have to bend the legs in slightly in to seat them properly. He also recommend that the seats be clean of paint for better glue adhesion. I have yet to figure out how to pull that off. If you manage to get one leg glued in and then try to glue another one in...you guessed it...the first one pops out. Here is the simple solution. Let the glue on each leg dry completely before gluing another. This is not how I did it, but it would work better than my glue-overs.

LBSST - Decals. I pretty much messed up the decals on the Mercury capsule. The lessons learned were 1)that you should cut the decal out as close to the edge of the decal as possible. I find this to be one of the more relaxing parts of the hobby. When I cut with scissors, I challenge myself to get as close to the edge as I am comfortable with, typically there is about a 1/16" margin left on the decal. 2) Do not apply another decal, unless you are absolutely sure that you are not going touch the currently wet decal. That decal on the other side of the rocket, you think your not going to touch it, we'll see. Look now you have screwed up 2 decals. 3) Decals love water. Keep you decal environment wet, real wet, dripping wet; the spray bottom is your friend. If you keep everything real wet and the decal goes haywire, and it will happen, the water may allow you a second chance.

So I applied these principles on the LBSST and had a great time. It is not perfect, but now I am confident with decals.

 

[Ronz Rocketz]

Winding up Low Boom SST. I may add nose detail lines, I may not. The LBSST is rated as "expert" by Estes. Because of laser cutting the build was straight-forward and didn't involve any cussing session. I'd trade the hardest part of this build with the Mercury Redstone tower build in a heartbeat.

I use Chris Michielssen excellent build blog for both the SST and the MR. . Thank you Chris, you are a minor god right up there with Tim Van Milligan and G. Harry Stine.


Busy on the MR booster. If you read Chris's blog you will often read that you should take your time with a certain step. Heed his words if you want to save your self a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Both of these models had good examples of this.

MR tower - Confounding tower. You get the tower build all nice then it is time to attach it to the capsule. Chris is nice enough to point out that you have to bend the legs in slightly in to seat them properly. He also recommend that the seats be clean of paint for better glue adhesion. I have yet to figure out how to pull that off. If you manage to get one leg glued in and then try to glue another one in...you guessed it...the first one pops out. Here is the simple solution. Let the glue on each leg dry completely before gluing another. This is not how I did it, but it would work better than my glue-overs.

LBSST - Decals. I pretty much messed up the decals on the Mercury capsule. The lessons learned were 1)that you should cut the decal out as close to the edge of the decal as possible. I find this to be one of the more relaxing parts of the hobby. When I cut with scissors, I challenge myself to get as close to the edge as I am comfortable with, typically there is about a 1/16" margin left on the decal. 2) Do not apply another decal, unless you are absolutely sure that you are not going touch the currently wet decal. That decal on the other side of the rocket, you think your not going to touch it, we'll see. Look now you have screwed up 2 decals. 3) Decals love water. Keep you decal environment wet, real wet, dripping wet; the spray bottom is your friend. If you keep everything real wet and the decal goes haywire, and it will happen, the water may allow you a second chance.

So I applied these principles on the LBSST and had a great time. It is not perfect, but now I am confident with decals.
View attachment 431183View attachment 431182

I don't know why but the MR has problems with the clear coat. It tends to wrinkle. Again, don't ask me why. Do yourself a favor and use Pledge Floor Gloss instead.



Good job with the SST. I messed up the long decals and mismatched. Still looks awesome. Do yourself another favor and get yourself some C5-3 motors for both.

 

[Joekeyo]

Got the wax. I was think about flying them with D16-4s

 

[OverTheTop]

My new Vector Network Analyser arrived yesterday. After a little bit of work fitting a LiPo battery, and building the case around it, it performed measurements immediately.



The touchscreen looks a bit scratched because it still has the protective layer of plastic on it. I will peel that when I fit a decent SLA 3D printed case for it.

I fitted one of my telemetry antennas to the unit and it immediately measured the frequency to be resonating (dip in yellow trace) around 428MHz. The scan above is from 100MHz to 900MHz. The next step would be to define a shorter measurement range around the peak for more accurate determination, including insertion loss and SWR.

If you buy one of these make sure you purchase the cable and calibration kit that is available. You will need it.
https://www.tindie.com/products/hcxqsgroup/nanovna-v2/

 

[OverTheTop]

[duplicate deleted]

 

[Wally Ferrer]

Finally cut the hole for the CAM 1 mount on the SBR SCUD, needs some cleanup... Also got some paint on the 329...

 

[neil_w]

I did two fillets today, totaling 26 inches. Yay me.

 

[o1d_dude]

Took delivery of an 8’ 1010 launch rail and cut the heavy duty cardboard box down to fit my 8’4” garage ceiling.

Swapped emails with OneBadHawk Ted about a recovery harness for my Cherokee-H.

Looked/drooled over the Knight MFG launch pad offerings...must...not...buy...

 

[Cape Byron]

Looked at the Mini 'A' Heli on the Estes website. $15US seems very cheap when you get a tube cutting guide as well.

Anyone know who has them cheaper? Might import a few for local resale...

 

[NateB]

Depending on the method to make the fin pockets you used the "penalty" will most likely be neutral when compared to two sets of internal fillets (motor and airframe internal fillets). I use fin pockets A LOT and have found them to be similar to doing all sets of internal fillets as far as weight it concerned unless the pocket are really wide, mine are usually 1/8th wider than the fin (1/16th" or so either side) at the motor tube and widening slightly as they go toward the airframe for most rockets under 4" diameter, 4" and larger the base is a bit wider.

My fin pockets were a little wider, probably 1/8" on each side. I could definitely bring them closer together and use thinner stock next time. I was just trying the technique out using scraps I had at hand and eyeballed placement based on the fin slots. I wanted to be sure the 6 pockets would line up even if it took more epoxy to fill it up. I think next time I will use thinner balsa or basswood strips and measure everything for a more precise placement.

Right now, for short mode, Open Rocket gives me 1180' on a Loki G-80 with 45.9 mph off an 8' rail and 3177' on an H-135.

 

[prfesser]

Getting ready for my next build, a 3" WAC Corporal from scratch:


The tubes and coupler are from an assortment I bought about ten years ago. Fins are rough-cut from 1/4" plywood stock; I always have some. Centering rings and bulkheads (not shown) are from the same 1/4" ply; I made some extras while working on another 3" project. Got Kevlar shock cord, hardware, parachute etc. in my parts box. Aft transition will be several layers of cardstock transitions, coated with epoxy. Need to check if I have 38 mm stock for the MMT; if not I'll roll the tube from gummed paper tape. The side conduit will be from another piece of tubing from that assortment. The only thing I bought specifically for this project was the balsa block, for the nose cone. That will take some careful work as the block is just 3 1/4" square. If I mess it up it'll still be ok, I have Plan B....

Best -- Terry

 

[jqavins]

Build thread, please.

 

[Doug Holverson]

I finally burned the firmware for the iRangeX IRX4 module for my Taranis Qx7 Tx. Running the software on a five (?) year old install of Windows 7 on a ten year old Mac Pro. :3 Then I got an Orange Micro Rx to bind up and edited the channels.

 

[Adam3836]

Got the Estes Doorknob motor mount in and through the wall fins attached and fin fillets done
Next up launch lug and shock cord/parachute and retainer

 

[XrayLizard]

Liking the VNA, OTP.
Have an older one uses pc display.
more frequency limited.

working on a 3 D/E cluster bird in BT70
And.... welll going to see how cludgy and useless this tower launcher I’m working on turns out. Here’s an pic of one section,
I’ll move the outside extrusion in a few inches once I get things figured out.
I’m not too good at these things lol

 

[XrayLizard]

Later this week I’m going do surgery on a boost glider and remove the wing... the glider is turning out awful lol
Ordered some good old Spruce for fuselages, pay more attention to details etc

 

[arconhi]

Wrecking the airframe and fins, but the jagged fin stubs will be firmly attached to the shredded body!

Getting ready for my next build, a 3" WAC Corporal from scratch:
View attachment 431242

The tubes and coupler are from an assortment I bought about ten years ago. Fins are rough-cut from 1/4" plywood stock; I always have some. Centering rings and bulkheads (not shown) are from the same 1/4" ply; I made some extras while working on another 3" project. Got Kevlar shock cord, hardware, parachute etc. in my parts box. Aft transition will be several layers of cardstock transitions, coated with epoxy. Need to check if I have 38 mm stock for the MMT; if not I'll roll the tube from gummed paper tape. The side conduit will be from another piece of tubing from that assortment. The only thing I bought specifically for this project was the balsa block, for the nose cone. That will take some careful work as the block is just 3 1/4" square. If I mess it up it'll still be ok, I have Plan B....

Best -- Terry

Fantastic Project. Looking forward to seeing the finished WAC.

 

[arconhi]

View attachment 431272

Got the Estes Doorknob motor mount in and through the wall fins attached and fin fillets done
Next up launch lug and shock cord/parachute and retainer

Awesome, gonna be nice.

 

[XrayLizard]

I finally burned the firmware for the iRangeX IRX4 module for my Taranis Qx7 Tx. Running the software on a five (?) year old install of Windows 7 on a ten year old Mac Pro. :3 Then I got an Orange Micro Rx to bind up and edited the channels.

What are you planning to do,

may I so nosely ask ?

 

[Doug Holverson]

What are you planning to do,

may I so nosely ask ?

Radio controlled BGs and RGs.

 

[XrayLizard]

Ok kinda thought so, but you guys are always coming up with something out of the normal