degreaser
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
- Messages
- 1,119
- Reaction score
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Introduction.
The TAPs:
After having received my L1/L2 at Mudroc 2011, I approached Tony Alcocer
(TFish) at Aeronaut and requested that he serve as one of my L3 TAPs. He
graciously accepted and suggested Richard Hagen as the second. However,
securing Richard's assistance was slightly more challenging. Circa
January 2012, I made the comment on Aeropac's email list that it would be
nice if Aeropac had the ability to accept PayPal payments for membership
dues. Unbeknownst to me at the time was that a request made on this list
was taken by Richard as to one having volunteered to implement said request.
One thing lead to another and I accepted this task in exchange for Richard
being TAP #2. Conclusion: Tony's easy, Richard must be bribed. Note for
future reference.
All kidding aside, I would like to offer my most sincere thanks to these
gentlemen for any and all assistance and mentoring they may provide, past,
present and future.
The Design:
Over the intervening year since Aeronaut 2011, I contemplated several
different designs for an L3 rocket. Tony favors relatively small, minimum
diameter, high performance rockets. While that design philosophy is of
interest, I have little to no experience to date with minimum diameter
construction techniques. I also considered fabricating a 1/3 scale model of an
Honest John for use as a certification rocket. Construction of a 1/3 scale
model would be preceded by a 1/4 scale model to gain the necessary experience
in nose cone fabrication. A great deal of time was spent vacillating between
big, fat and slow vs. small and fast.
While preparing to depart XPRS 2012, I spoke briefly with Tony regarding
my L3 plans. I was discussing my tendencies to build heavy and my
frustration with building booster sections which have limited the rockets
to 4 grain cases. What I got out of the conversation was that an L3 build
was no place to begin to optimize building techniques for weight reduction
purposes. To put it simply, I would go with the same sort of techniques
which had proved successful in both my L1 and L2 builds. At this point,
the overall design of my L3 build became apparent. While the 1/3 scale
model HoJo likely won't be constructed, the 1/4 scale model is in the
works, albeit on the back burner at the moment.
I decided on a 5" airframe, 4FNC. This choice would allow the use of
proven TTW construction techniques with 98mm motor casings. I chose
to design for a 6XL grain case which would allow for the use of N and
baby O3400 motors post-certification and avoid the 4 grain case frustration
experienced with several of my earlier builds. Performance Rocketry 5"
components were chosen as they are readily available.
Two design considerations are paramount; safety and survivability.
These criteria must be kept at the forefront throughout the design
and build process. A related goal of this build is to begin to
experiment with T2T techniques and to utilize carbon fiber reinforcement
during the fin can construction. Another is to experiment with cleaner,
more modular avbay designs.
Onwards.
The TAPs:
After having received my L1/L2 at Mudroc 2011, I approached Tony Alcocer
(TFish) at Aeronaut and requested that he serve as one of my L3 TAPs. He
graciously accepted and suggested Richard Hagen as the second. However,
securing Richard's assistance was slightly more challenging. Circa
January 2012, I made the comment on Aeropac's email list that it would be
nice if Aeropac had the ability to accept PayPal payments for membership
dues. Unbeknownst to me at the time was that a request made on this list
was taken by Richard as to one having volunteered to implement said request.
One thing lead to another and I accepted this task in exchange for Richard
being TAP #2. Conclusion: Tony's easy, Richard must be bribed. Note for
future reference.
All kidding aside, I would like to offer my most sincere thanks to these
gentlemen for any and all assistance and mentoring they may provide, past,
present and future.
The Design:
Over the intervening year since Aeronaut 2011, I contemplated several
different designs for an L3 rocket. Tony favors relatively small, minimum
diameter, high performance rockets. While that design philosophy is of
interest, I have little to no experience to date with minimum diameter
construction techniques. I also considered fabricating a 1/3 scale model of an
Honest John for use as a certification rocket. Construction of a 1/3 scale
model would be preceded by a 1/4 scale model to gain the necessary experience
in nose cone fabrication. A great deal of time was spent vacillating between
big, fat and slow vs. small and fast.
While preparing to depart XPRS 2012, I spoke briefly with Tony regarding
my L3 plans. I was discussing my tendencies to build heavy and my
frustration with building booster sections which have limited the rockets
to 4 grain cases. What I got out of the conversation was that an L3 build
was no place to begin to optimize building techniques for weight reduction
purposes. To put it simply, I would go with the same sort of techniques
which had proved successful in both my L1 and L2 builds. At this point,
the overall design of my L3 build became apparent. While the 1/3 scale
model HoJo likely won't be constructed, the 1/4 scale model is in the
works, albeit on the back burner at the moment.
I decided on a 5" airframe, 4FNC. This choice would allow the use of
proven TTW construction techniques with 98mm motor casings. I chose
to design for a 6XL grain case which would allow for the use of N and
baby O3400 motors post-certification and avoid the 4 grain case frustration
experienced with several of my earlier builds. Performance Rocketry 5"
components were chosen as they are readily available.
Two design considerations are paramount; safety and survivability.
These criteria must be kept at the forefront throughout the design
and build process. A related goal of this build is to begin to
experiment with T2T techniques and to utilize carbon fiber reinforcement
during the fin can construction. Another is to experiment with cleaner,
more modular avbay designs.
Onwards.
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