Monster Launch Pad Picture or Plans

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MartyAMC

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Does anyone have pictures or plans for a launch pad capable of handling a 100lb plus rocket?

Thanks in advance.
 
Sorry -- couldn't resist. (Maybe I should have tried harder...)

This would do it, though...

49%20Launch%20Pad%2039B.JPG


MarkII
 
OK, to make amends, here are a few links to commercially made pads:

https://www.ronspads.com/PadOrder

https://members.cox.net/impulseaerospace/main.htm

https://members.buckeye-express.com/turbopig/concept.htm

I understand your dilemma. After spending over an hour doing various types of searches in Google, a couple of things have become apparent:

  1. Several companies used to make big pads, but almost no one does anymore.
  2. People do fabricate their own pads for big, heavy rockets, but they never discuss them or publish anything about them. I have no idea why there is so much secrecy about them. :rolleyes:
Anyway, good luck.

MarkII
 
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Mark, thanks for posting my link.

Here's just edited pics of the Fade to Black high power pads. The red pad is the Concept Ultimate, and will easily handle a 100 pound rocket.

Price for the Ultimate is $395 plus shipping. Oversize shipping applies, so prospective purchasers are asked to contact me directly to order so I can get actual shipping costs to your location.

ult4.jpg

ult1.jpg

ult2.jpg
 
This one would probably support 100lbs+. I was trying to keep it a secret tho.. It is made from off the shelf parts from the hard to find 80/20 Inc catalog. Goes together just like a giant erector set (no welding, some cutting). Soon, I will no longer be able to resist interrogation and scrawl out some plans. Until then, it's still highly classified. After you view the photos, discuss them with no one. :dark:

Regards, (Confidentially)

DJ Miller

launcher.jpg

launcher_stowed00.JPG
 
100lb launch? That's one heck of a payload! So which child annoyed you then? Or was it a small furry mammal? :D

jk
So do we get to see pictures of this bad boy then? The rocket I mean, not the payload.

Trudy
PemTech's Art Department and immoral support
 
This one would probably support 100lbs+. I was trying to keep it a secret tho.. It is made from off the shelf parts from the hard to find 80/20 Inc catalog. Goes together just like a giant erector set (no welding, some cutting). Soon, I will no longer be able to resist interrogation and scrawl out some plans. Until then, it's still highly classified. After you view the photos, discuss them with no one. :dark:

Regards, (Confidentially)

DJ Miller
Oh, the parts aren't hard to find. It seems as if anyone who wants plans, though, has to reinvent the wheel (DIY design)... Lots and lots of plans online for light-to-medium duty PVC launchers, though. But any designs for honkin' big one-ton+ steel launch pads for BFR's must be some kind of state secret.

MarkII
 
...It is made from off the shelf parts from the hard to find 80/20 Inc catalog. Goes together just like a giant erector set (no welding, some cutting)...
Well, wasn't the pad shown in the photo in post #2 above also built with stuff from the 80/20 Inc. parts department (with a little help from McMaster-Carr)? ;) Gee, it really DOES look like a giant erector set, too.... :D

You'll have to find another source for the concrete flame trenches, the noise suppression system and the crawler-transporter, though.

MarkII
 
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MarkII - I sent in my application for a pad at the Cape but it won't meet my timeline.

Thanks to all for the suggestions and photos. To late for a kids ride, there's all grown and a bit heavy. No minimum diameter here, maybe some time in the future.

Kinda like that last plate of food at the buffet (the eyes and stomach thing). My mind envisioned a Level 3 rocket that's grown into a monster. But I'm nearing the finish line. Hopefully by the end of the year it will fly.

Marty

Look Honey It is a Rocket (3).jpg
 
Kinda like that last plate of food at the buffet (the eyes and stomach thing). My mind envisioned a Level 3 rocket that's grown into a monster. But I'm nearing the finish line. Hopefully by the end of the year it will fly.

Marty
Yowsa!!! :jaw: I guess so! You might have to adjust your schedule so that you CAN use the Cape! :eyepop:

MarkII
 
Yowsa!!! :jaw: I guess so! You might have to adjust your schedule so that you CAN use the Cape! :eyepop:

MarkII

Marty - you are gonna need a really big erector set. Good luck with you level three. Maybe you could get a pad at Wallops Island.

Regards,

FlyBack
 
Just took delivery yesterday on this one. Couldn't resist so when no one was looking I stood on it. At about 280 I'm a pretty big boy. It held me just fine.

Big foot print. Each leg has it's own adjuster. Turnbuckle for wind adjustment. Drops to horizontal for loading.

Accommodates 1" and 1.5" rails. Breaks down into five pieces if necessary to ride flat.

All pinned so no tools are needed.

Still working on a blast deflector.

100_0869.jpg


100_0870.jpg


100_0871.jpg
 
Ditto that. I was wondering how long it would be before someone started cloning the FTB stuff. How much did you pay for it?
 
Joe,

Who made that pad?

Long story short.

I was a mentor for one of the TARC teams that qualified for the finals this year.

One member of the team is also in 4-H. He took rockets and welding for 4H projects. He won the state qualifier in rocketry and will be competing at the nationals at Purdue later this year.

His welding project went to the state finals and finished second to a barbecue grill on wheels made out of a 500 gallon tank. The welding project (above) was presented to me for helping them out. I even got to pick out the color.

I do think the pad was based on several different existing designs. I like the part with the T on the bottom that will accept a counter balance for those really big projects.

Not bad for a seventeen year old. :)

As far as price and availability I am in negotiations with him right now. ;)
 
Thanks Joe. That's a nice looking pad for a 4H project. You're lucky.
 
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