Where to begin...I suppose I could watch more Apogee videos. Or learn the same way you did. I would love to read about your "didn't end well" stories. Sounds like you were a beginner once too.
I'll take Tim's method and go with that. I'm happy with what I've got but I like doing things the right way. Thanks for the link. Much appreciated.
BTW.... In your avatar, you really need to bring that arm up so its parallel to the ground. Bring your elbow up and you'll hit more targets. Ask me how I know.
I’m amusingly concerned you’re building what looks like a mid power rocket and thinking a screwdriver was a good weight. I’ve tried similar things in smaller rockets and it never ended well. You might want to watch more Apogee videos.
Apogee video is OK, but also a bit misleading, because epoxy does not bind well to the typical blow-molded plastic nose cones.
If you do exactly what Tim is demonstrating, and put appreciable amount of weight into the nose cone, it will shift under acceleration and slam into the back of the nose cone. Depending on the exact amounts of weight and length of nose cone involved, that may make the rocket unstable under acceleration.
This is a FAR better, and safer instructional video (cutting off the base is optional) is here:
Another one here:
I like dirt or fine sand for the weight and stuffed cotton balls to hold it in. Can change the weight if you need to by pulling out the cotton balls. Now working on a 'safety nosecone' where the tip falls off at apogee and allows the weight to harmlessly fall out resulting in a lower mass object for recovery. The tip of said nose cone would be held with the rest of the nosecone by a short piece of cord.
One project will use water as the weight; if the nose cone doesn't fall out after apogee and the rocket comes in ballistic, it will splash out at impact wetting the area around it as a sort of fire retardant. I even added design and construction of this for extra points in a contest I run.
Exactly
I like dirt or fine sand for the weight and stuffed cotton balls to hold it in. Can change the weight if you need to by pulling out the cotton balls. Now working on a 'safety nosecone' where the tip falls off at apogee and allows the weight to harmlessly fall out resulting in a lower mass object for recovery. The tip of said nose cone would be held with the rest of the nosecone by a short piece of cord.
If adding water to rocket nose cones instead of metal weight helps with safety isn't it worth it?
Dirt has poor material density, and is impractical for most applications.
One would be much better off relying on Estes's clay nose weights instead.
Holding "ballast" in place with cotton balls is nether reliable, nor safe. Though it is crafty.
Remember, you are relying on ballast to stay firmly in place in the FWD end of the nose cone, for proper rocket stability. Having it shift around, dislocate, or fall out under acceleration, can lead to an unstable rocket.
NAR Safety Code:
" I will check the stability of my rocket before flight and will not fly it if it cannot be determined to be stable. "
https://www.nar.org/safety-information/high-power-rocket-safety-code/
Sorry, it doesn't, and it isn't.
Whether it will work is less relevant than that it flagrantly violates the NAR safety code.
How do you keep it place.??Has anyone mentioned putty yet? Similar weight as water (mostly is), but without the sloshing. Safe enough that Estes and PlayDoh sends it kids everywhere. Hard to beat.
I’m amusingly concerned you’re building what looks like a mid power rocket and thinking a screwdriver was a good weight. I’ve tried similar things in smaller rockets and it never ended well. You might want to watch more Apogee videos.
When I added weight I had no knowledge that clay would do the trick. How do you secure it in place.??Modeling clay works well.
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