Too Cool Carbon Scratch Built Rocket

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kenstarr

kenstarr

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As a result of John Coker's inspiring message of making sweet fiberglass tubes, I decided to make a carbon fiber tube and did a little video about some minor defect repair. Well, that tube has not sat idle!
BEHOLD my latest creation from the man cave.

Too Cool Carbon. The pictures don't do justice but I think it looks pretty good. And it's currently housing my brand new Missileworks RRC3. If anyone wants, I'll take some more pictures of other details and what's in the e-bay.

Rail Buttons,
DSC03781.jpg

Motor retainer,
DSC03782.jpg

Electronics bay,
DSC03786.jpg

Nose cone,
DSC03784.jpg
Lucky!

I haven't taken it off any sweet jumps though.
-Ken
 

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Feckless, you hit on one of the most important aspects I usually don't remember to post about. The Lessons!
Yes lots of lessons learned.
#1 As you can see from Mr. Cokers video proper preparation is key. I went out and got an Olfa rotary cutter and it is SWEET for cutting glass and carbon. Make sure you have all your provisions in place before starting and mentally go through the steps before you start. It's pretty zen-like but makes for clean pleasant experience.

#2 Practice makes perfect. I have a bit of experience now with composites but am still sorely lacking. This was my first time using these techniques so my results were less than perfect, but not by a whole lot.

#3 As a result of my not quite perfect job, I came up with a way to fix the minor imperfections. Look at the above link somewhere in there I made a little video of a repair technique I came up with.

#4 The Mylar I used was too thick and left a noticeable (.005") edge on the tube. I think I used .005". In future builds where I employ these techniques, I will try the .002" or thinner and see how that does.

There are probably more but these are the main lessons.
-Ken
 
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous of those tubes!
Dayyyuumm! Looks sharp! Have a motor to fly this on? I got some 29 6g loads that look perfect for this thing. One's yours if you arn't too scared!

See you at HF!

Alex
 
Last edited:
Every time I look at this thread I love this rocket more. I think you should sell some kits, I would buy one.
 
kenstarr said:
Looks like it will be flying in an H223 sponsored by Aksrockets inc. 4000' expected.
-Ken
Click to expand...
:headbang:
That'll be awesome! I'll support anything carbon fiber. Especially if it looks as hot as this one.
Can't wait to light this thing up.
T-9 days! (I need to get workin' :D)

Alex
 
maxvelocity said:
Every time I look at this thread I love this rocket more. I think you should sell some kits, I would buy one.
Click to expand...

Only problem is the odd sizes of tube I use. Everything would have to be custom and nothing would interchange with other parts. And the painstaking effort to make this stuff! The cost would be 10% materials and 90% labor. Oh yes, the thought has crossed my mind many times. The key would be uniformity and quality control. I do know someone who makes some sweet CF fin cans here on the forum. If I had quality mandrels of the proper size to fit readily available commercial parts, I would at least try to sell some tubes though. You never know, some "limited production" kits could happen some day
-Ken
 
It`s got everything.....shocks.....pegs.....LUCKY !

Seriously, that is a great piece of work ,pretty damn slick !

I`d be plenty proud of that rocket........plenty proud :handshake:


Take care



Paul T
 
kenstarr said:
As a result of John Coker's inspiring message of making sweet fiberglass tubes,-Ken
Click to expand...

So is this project the result of one of John's you tube videos? And you just adapted using carbon instead? It really looks good.
 
kenstarr said:
Only problem is the odd sizes of tube I use. Everything would have to be custom and nothing would interchange with other parts. And the painstaking effort to make this stuff! The cost would be 10% materials and 90% labor. Oh yes, the thought has crossed my mind many times. The key would be uniformity and quality control. I do know someone who makes some sweet CF fin cans here on the forum. If I had quality mandrels of the proper size to fit readily available commercial parts, I would at least try to sell some tubes though. You never know, some "limited production" kits could happen some day
-Ken
Click to expand...

If those limited production kits ever happen sign me up. I don't mind the odd size of tube or even some little imperfections, I appreciate hand made one off parts that you can't just buy any where any day, makes the whole thing that much cooler if you ask me.
 
Davidtmp said:
So is this project the result of one of John's you tube videos? And you just adapted using carbon instead? It really looks good.
Click to expand...
Yes. Direct result of his video. Upon watching, I was so impressed I wanted to try out the techniques. I had a little cf left so away I went. I only wish I knew this when I did my cf/Kevlar Levithan as I couldn't sand it at all so I just gave it a million coats of clear and sanded in between each. I used peel ply on it...
Ken
 
How did you make the nosecone? It, and the whole rocket, look sick!
This has inspired me to do a carbon rocket, which I will do a video build on.
 
Eat said:
How did you make the nosecone? It, and the whole rocket, look sick!
This has inspired me to do a carbon rocket, which I will do a video build on.
Click to expand...
Nose cone is actually a little rough. I first took a chunk of airframe, slit it so it would fit inside the airframe, cut out the difference and glued it together. Then I measured the circumference of the new coupler, and drew up a transition on computer paper. Took that, rolled it up and taped it to the coupler THEN filled it up with expanding foam and glassed it. Problem was, the cone part moved a bit from the foam so if you were to look close, it's actually crooked! Good enough though.
-Ken
 
Just wondering, do you have any photos of how you did the nose cone?

Thanks
Matt
 
blackbrandt said:
Just wondering, do you have any photos of how you did the nose cone?

Thanks
Matt
Click to expand...
Unfortunately no pictures but maybe I can paint you a picture in less than one thousand words. To begin with, I made a coupler by taking a section of airframe tubing and slitting it down the side so I could fit it inside the airframe. Once the coupler piece was inside I marked where to cut and slit off another piece so it would sit nicely in the airframe if that makes any sense whatsoever. Using some fiberglass cloth and epoxy I laid that on the inside surface to make the coupler piece structurally sound. Next I measured the circumference of the coupler and decided what length the nose cone needed to be. Using a large piece of paper, I drew one straight line in the middleish area of the paper the length I wanted the NC. Then I used a compass to make a curve perpendicular to the line like this (-----. I measured along the curved line the same distance as the circumference of the coupler. I made sure to leave some tabs along the base of the curve and then rolled the whole thing up like a cone. That was taped to the coupler and the whole cone was tapped up nicely. I cut a piece of kevlar strap and poured in some expanding foam and added the strap for recovery. I covered the foamed cone with fiberglass sock and filled and sanded to my heart was content. Hope that helps :)
-Ken
 
OK, so it is just a fiberglassed cone with expanding foam in the middle?


Matt
 

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