Hello,
First of all, this is my first post on this forum and English is not my primary language... So their's might be some spelling errors.
For this build, I want to start experimenting with a dual deployment technique that the France Tripoli prefet teach me. Here is how it works.
When the apogee is reached, the parachute is ejected but still hold close by a nylon string. At 100m, the E-Match is ignited which melt the nylon string and deploy the parachute. Seem pretty simple..
I will also use this rocket to test the GPS that I'm working on with a friend. It will use LoRa to communicate to a ground station and track the rocket.
Here is a screenshot of the OpenRocket design.
This rocket will be made out of Carbon fiber and the nosecone will be made with fiberglass and a custom made nosecone mold.
Boat-Tail:
The boat tail will simply be made of 2 parts: one 24mm int.dia cf tube and one 26mm tube.
I had to sand down the boat tail by hand. To prevent delamination, I applied a thin coat of JbWeld on the inside. The boat-tail part will also act as motor retention. The motor ejection charge will not be used so friction fit might be enough but this is what I did.
I added some JbWeld on the inside to add materials for the screw to bite on. A simple screw is used to hold the motor in place. This work with Cesaroni and Aerotech hardware.
Fins:
The fins are made out of 2mm thick carbon fiber plate. A Jig Saw with a small teeth metal blade do a perfect job at cutting carbon fiber plate without delamination. It's a bit hard to get a perfectly straight line but once you get your hands on it, it becomes pretty easy.
Now time for the airfoil. I first marked a line at 7mm from the fins edges. This will be my reference line for the sanding. Simply by using 120 grid sandpaper and a sanding block, you can get the rough shape.
and here is the final fin!
Now 2 left to do...
Fins Slots :
Fins slots were pretty tricky to do because I don't have the right tools to works with carbon.
Here is the setup
Just a simple drill press...
After drilling pre-holes, I used a Dremel diamond sanding bit to finish the slot. And here is the result without sanding.
As you can see, it is not perfectly smooth but it will help when I will be gluing the fins in place.
I was able to get a near perfect alignment without even holding the fins in place!
Here is the final picture of the progress for today, I will keep this thread updated on my progress as soon as I have time to continue this rocket!
Stay Tuned!
PS: I still haven't found a name for this rocket, so if you have any ideas, let me know!
First of all, this is my first post on this forum and English is not my primary language... So their's might be some spelling errors.
For this build, I want to start experimenting with a dual deployment technique that the France Tripoli prefet teach me. Here is how it works.
When the apogee is reached, the parachute is ejected but still hold close by a nylon string. At 100m, the E-Match is ignited which melt the nylon string and deploy the parachute. Seem pretty simple..
I will also use this rocket to test the GPS that I'm working on with a friend. It will use LoRa to communicate to a ground station and track the rocket.
Here is a screenshot of the OpenRocket design.
This rocket will be made out of Carbon fiber and the nosecone will be made with fiberglass and a custom made nosecone mold.
Boat-Tail:
The boat tail will simply be made of 2 parts: one 24mm int.dia cf tube and one 26mm tube.
I had to sand down the boat tail by hand. To prevent delamination, I applied a thin coat of JbWeld on the inside. The boat-tail part will also act as motor retention. The motor ejection charge will not be used so friction fit might be enough but this is what I did.
I added some JbWeld on the inside to add materials for the screw to bite on. A simple screw is used to hold the motor in place. This work with Cesaroni and Aerotech hardware.
Fins:
The fins are made out of 2mm thick carbon fiber plate. A Jig Saw with a small teeth metal blade do a perfect job at cutting carbon fiber plate without delamination. It's a bit hard to get a perfectly straight line but once you get your hands on it, it becomes pretty easy.
Now time for the airfoil. I first marked a line at 7mm from the fins edges. This will be my reference line for the sanding. Simply by using 120 grid sandpaper and a sanding block, you can get the rough shape.
and here is the final fin!
Now 2 left to do...
Fins Slots :
Fins slots were pretty tricky to do because I don't have the right tools to works with carbon.
Here is the setup
Just a simple drill press...
After drilling pre-holes, I used a Dremel diamond sanding bit to finish the slot. And here is the result without sanding.
As you can see, it is not perfectly smooth but it will help when I will be gluing the fins in place.
I was able to get a near perfect alignment without even holding the fins in place!
Here is the final picture of the progress for today, I will keep this thread updated on my progress as soon as I have time to continue this rocket!
Stay Tuned!
PS: I still haven't found a name for this rocket, so if you have any ideas, let me know!