What did you do rocket wise today?

[John Kemker]

Am I older than you? I lust after O.S. Engines.

For me, Enya made engines before she sang Orinoco Flow.

 

[SolarYellow]

The Estes catalog I remember most from my youth is the 1985 with the SR-71 on the cover, so you can carbon-date me from that.

I had good luck with the K&B Sportster series. Ran awesome, started super-easy, made my flying buddies with other engines jealous. Of course, they were big, dumb and heavy low-performance motors, too. Mostly, they were what I could afford at the time. Would definitely get other stuff instead.

I just can't care about electric flight, even if the performance is the same or better. The fire makes it good!

 

[OverTheTop]

For me, Enya made engines before she sang Orinoco Flow.

I had an Enya 15 MkIII. 2.5cc. Still got the scar from the prop.

 

[OverTheTop]

Wrote up a bio and blurb for a talk I will be doing at the AIAA Melbourne Section. Went to our rocketry club meeting.

 

[Pickles McRocketPants]

Getting closer on le Phoenix

 

[Cape Byron]

Am I older than you? I lust after O.S. Engines.

Nice engines. I had a few and they were easy to tune. The Wankels in particular bring big money these days. Lots of TouTube videos on building two rotor units out of them.

Yes please! Rotaries in any size are fascinating.

You can't be older than me. When I was born the Dead Sea was just sick.

 

[SolarYellow]

Yes please! Rotaries in any size are fascinating.

And that's how we know you're really Australian.

 

[Cape Byron]

For me, Enya made engines before she sang Orinoco Flow.

I had an Enya 15 MkIII. 2.5cc. Still got the scar from the prop.

The Enya 15D (diesel, really compression ignition - shedloads of ether in the fuel) was a lovely motor. Flew one (badly) in a state Combat championship.

 

[lakeroadster]

Installed some fishing line leaders that will secure the recovery shock chords and take the heat of the BP ejection charges for the 1st and 2nd stages of my Saturn V.

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[Pickles McRocketPants]

Rob dahm just set the new 1/2 mile in his 4 rotor

Dorito spinners are a lot of fun, but replacing apex seals every 40k is the big turn off for me

 

[mh9162013]

Made me some 18mm thrust rings (or BT-5/BT-20 MMT centering rings).

 

[Hobie1dog]

Got a phone call from the elderly Gentleman who gave me eight of his rockets last August, and he said he found three more in attic. So he wanted to know if I could come down this weekend and get them.

 

[bad_idea]

Installed some fishing line leaders that will secure the recovery shock chords and take the heat of the BP ejection charges for the 1st and 2nd stages of my Saturn V.

View attachment 572766​

If you find yourself using leaders a lot, you might invest in a wire rope crimping tool, so you can make leaders any size/length.

 

[TheTank]

Added the graphics to finish my latest project. It flew once in primer on a full L… next will be an M1419W at URRF or NyPower. 6” diameter by 131”.

 

[lakeroadster]

If you find yourself using leaders a lot, you might invest in a wire rope crimping tool, so you can make leaders any size/length.

Thanks. I've actually got a barn full of tools, including the crimping tools and ferrules for larger cabling.

But for my lil hobby... I'm good with just buying the pre made stuff.

 

[boatgeek]

Thanks. I've actually got a barn full of tools, including the crimping tools and ferrules for larger cabling.

But for my lil hobby... I'm good with just buying the pre made stuff.

One thing I like about our local Ace is that they have the cable, ferrules, and crimping tool all on the floor. You just make up your own leaders at the end of Aisle 2, write down the number and prices of the pieces, and bring it up to the register.

They also have an especially good selection of fasteners, from #0 screws for terminal blocks to 3/4"x12" bronze lag bolts and everything in between.

 

[smstachwick]

During a LONG-overdue cleaning and reorganization of my range boxes, I appropriated a container to store and transport my micro and mini-sized rockets that would otherwise be (and have been) crushed.



I’m still torn on whether or not I want to put that Hi-Flier in there, that nose is packed with an awful lot of clay

 

[SolarYellow]

Chop those fins down to a more typical clipped delta and you get both better stability and better performance. Use tape or friction fit the motor and ditch the clip and loop for even more performance.

Hi-Fliers are a good source of nose cones and white BT-20 to build something else out of, but the Viking bulk pack on Amazon is even better.

 

[smstachwick]

Chop those fins down to a more typical clipped delta and you get both better stability and better performance. Use tape or friction fit the motor and ditch the clip and loop for even more performance.

Hi-Fliers are a good source of nose cones and white BT-20 to build something else out of, but the Viking bulk pack on Amazon is even better.

I built this one to replace a the sustainer for a two-stage conversion that destroyed itself on an unstable flight. Double weight in the nose for this, I’m taking no chances.

 

[Lt72884]

Today for my own personal rockets and self, i wanted to follow the project management cycle and design cycle from start to finish, so i could gain more understanding of how that works. I followed my books from this semester on design and management but for a level 1 rocket with dual deploy (maybe) that will eventually use a J270 motor. This rocket is based on the LOC-IV, but im laser cutting all my own fins, centering rings and getting the tube from the post office haha

so today i started the work breakout schedule, met with local field officers, designed my requirements list for the rocket including factor of safety, etc etc, and then started sims. I figured i could do a "mini capstone" project on my own and learn some valuable things along the way.

I am also documenting all of this so i can pass on the knowledge to first time level 1's

 

[OverTheTop]

Today for my own personal rockets and self, i wanted to follow the project management cycle and design cycle from start to finish, so i could gain more understanding of how that works. I followed my books from this semester on design and management but for a level 1 rocket with dual deploy (maybe) that will eventually use a J270 motor. This rocket is based on the LOC-IV, but im laser cutting all my own fins, centering rings and getting the tube from the post office haha

so today i started the work breakout schedule, met with local field officers, designed my requirements list for the rocket including factor of safety, etc etc, and then started sims. I figured i could do a "mini capstone" project on my own and learn some valuable things along the way.

I am also documenting all of this so i can pass on the knowledge to first time level 1's

Since you are getting into project management, just for fun, why not add a Gantt chart for keeping track of it too? Here is a free one we actually use at work and seems to work reasonably well.
https://www.ganttproject.biz/
Good on you for applying project management skills to your own project. It is a good learning exercise.

 

[Lt72884]

Since you are getting into project management, just for fun, why not add a Gantt chart for keeping track of it too? Here is a free one we actually use at work and seems to work reasonably well.
https://www.ganttproject.biz/
Good on you for applying project management skills to your own project. It is a good learning exercise.

Thanks i am doing this because i feel like somethings got missed in my Aerospace engineer degree. Im in my senior year and even though i have had a project management course, design course... i feel like i need more practice haha.

Gannt charts and i have not really got along. But thats because some i have used were way to complicated. I will look at the link you posted and try using one again. Its probably because i dont fully understand them.

Thanks for helping

Edit: just looked at the link.. that looks like awesome software thats not confusing or jumbled up. I tried using a template in excel for a gantt chart and it didnt work. I had access to ms project, but not anymore. Ill install this on the train ride to school tomorrow morning

 

[teepot]

I took 20 rockets down from the ceiling. I had rockets hanging from rockets in places. Moved the stacked rockets to the empty spaces. I have some room left over for some new builds. Some of the rockets going into storage are seasonal rockets. Like the Christmas tree rocket. Some early builds that once flew a lot but now just gather dust. A few of these have 3 years of dust on them. Some are just too big and take up too much space.

 

[berlinetta]

Finally filled in the small gaps in front of the fins on my Magnum. I'm waiting for the winds to die down before finishing that project off.

 

[DerRedMax]

Prepped 5 rockets for launching.

 

[boatgeek]

Thanks i am doing this because i feel like somethings got missed in my Aerospace engineer degree. Im in my senior year and even though i have had a project management course, design course... i feel like i need more practice haha.

Engineering programs often don’t really teach project management well. That can led to trouble in 5-10 years when senior management decides that a good engineer will be a good project manager.

Gannt charts and i have not really got along. But thats because some i have used were way to complicated. I will look at the link you posted and try using one again. Its probably because i dont fully understand them.

One thing we did at my old job that was really helpful was to write each task in a sticky note, then arrange them on a whiteboard with dependencies drawn in. For example, designing in OR comes before drawing centering rings in CAD, which comes before cutting centering rings, etc. Using sticky notes makes it easier to add tasks and dependencies that you missed on the first go-round.

Thanks for helping

Edit: just looked at the link.. that looks like awesome software thats not confusing or jumbled up. I tried using a template in excel for a gantt chart and it didnt work. I had access to ms project, but not anymore. Ill install this on the train ride to school tomorrow morning

 

[jeffjblack]

Southern Arizona Rocketry Association conducts an annual multi-day launch, "Desert Heat". Two of my flights: Estes Partizon on an Aerotech G74-6 to 900 feet. Minimum Diameter GoPro Rocket on an Aerotech E30-7 to 1000 feet.
#desertheat2023 @sararocketry

 

[jqavins]

Thanks i am doing this because i feel like somethings got missed in my Aerospace engineer degree. Im in my senior year and even though i have had a project management course, design course... i feel like i need more practice haha.

Gannt charts and i have not really got along. But thats because some i have used were way to complicated. I will look at the link you posted and try using one again. Its probably because i dont fully understand them.

Thanks for helping

Edit: just looked at the link.. that looks like awesome software thats not confusing or jumbled up. I tried using a template in excel for a gantt chart and it didnt work. I had access to ms project, but not anymore. Ill install this on the train ride to school tomorrow morning

As an engineer who 1) has some exposure to project management and has had some limited participation therein, but 2) runs screaming from the suggestion of becoming a manager, I have observed that when a Gantt chart is too complicated (I don't mean the software, but the chart) it means the plan is too complicated. That's one of the best, if not the best use of a Gantt chart or any other process map; if the process is hard to grasp on a chart then it's going to fail in reality.

 

[Lt72884]

As an engineer who 1) has some exposure to project management and has had some limited participation therein, but 2) runs screaming from the suggestion of becoming a manager, I have observed that when a Gantt chart is too complicated (I don't mean the software, but the chart) it means the plan is too complicated. That's one of the best, if not the best use of a Gantt chart or any other process map; if the process is hard to grasp on a chart then it's going to fail in reality.

the gantt chart i used was a complicated template for excel. It was super bloated and just messy. I have not had the opportunity to use a real gantt chart, but the link posted above looks very promising and looks like it flows well. I used MS project once about 3 or 4 years ago for a simple project and the UI was not my favorite.
I use a WBS and other types of process mapping, just have not gotten into gantt charts as much as i should haha

 

[Astronaut Cheeseball]

Ordered the McNamee X-15A-2 builder's kit.