What did you do rocket wise today?

Got my NAR L1 cert today! LOC Forte on an Aerotech H-135W. Perfect flight and recovery. Didn't even have to walk very far!

Mugs914 said:

Got my NAR L1 cert today! LOC Forte on an Aerotech H-135W. Perfect flight and recovery. Didn't even have to walk very far!

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Congratulations and welcome to high power!

The launch got scrubbed because of a missed connection. Maybe tomorrow. Despite that, I did a lot of other things. I did an errand run. I got some fasteners at the hardware store for a home brew fix to the 3D printer. I went to Hobbytown and got some CA. I went to Hobby Lobby and got some strangler red tag stuff. I get home and apply the home brew fix to the 3D printer. I make three Mini-Brute Birdie clones, '70s rocketry kitsch the '10s way. The birdies are in dollar store kitsch colors. The centering rings are 3D printed in glow-in-the-dark green. They are all CA'ed and acceleratored together. Kickin' it old school, I'm patching up my beat up old Centuri Evel Skycycle as fast as the white glue drying will let me.

kuririn said:

View attachment 389369
Clone of the Centuri model.
Semroc also had a larger "Groony" version called the Snake Jumper.
I think Eddie Braun's "Evel Spirit" that made the successful Snake River jump in 2016 is even better looking:
View attachment 389370
Designed by Scott Truax, son of the Knievel Sky Cycle designer.

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Just what I was looking for, I could have just googled this, but wanted to see what you all had on "Skycycles". Thanks

Ground testing on the Nuclear Sledgehammer.

More spray-painting adventures. Second coats definitely improve things.

Got in a hurry building an Eggfinder Quantum. Soldered the WiFi module on the wrong side of the main board.
If there's any mistake that you don't want to make, this it it.
32 solder joints to desolder, then 32 to resolder.
Just coined a new saying "Think three times, measure twice, cut once"

Finally got some rockets in the air


The QJet C12 is inarguably a cool motor. Loud and smokey -- it got the attention of the first-time fliers sending up Alphas and Crayons today.

Also launched both of the WAC Corporals. I sent up the BT50 rocket on a Qjet B4-4 then on an Estes B4-4. It was a noticeable straighter flight on the Estes motor -- I am guessing because it came off the rod moving faster.

The ST-8 WAC Corporal flew well on Estes B6-4. About an hour later, I was looking for it to send it up on a QJet, and found the nosecone on the ground under my table. That pretty matte black finish made for an efficient solar absorber and the PLA turned into Silly Putty. I'll print another, and remember to keep it in the shade. The PLA tailcones on both rockets show just a little damage from the exhaust. It'll be interesting to see how they stand up to repeated exposure.

jlabrasca said:

That pretty matte black finish made for an efficient solar absorber and the PLA turned into Silly Putty.

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Saw the photo before reading your text....I was thinking, "well....that is odd to have lens distortion like that in the middle of the frame...."

MichaelRapp said:

Saw the photo before reading your text....I was thinking, "well....that is odd to have lens distortion like that in the middle of the frame...."

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Yeah. Photoshopping it straight again might be the best solution. I like the way the rocket came out, but it is a PITA to load and unload motors through the printed tailcone (the exit of the tailcone is just 2 perimeters (vertical shells) thick, and it is a tight fit around the motor). I don't think I will get many more flights before it is too damaged to take to the field.
When I saw it in the grass, I thought It'd been stepped on
Someone suggested that I hang it tip-downwards from the side of the EZ Up, to try to straighten it out. I am pretty sure it was not a serious suggestion.



I have a spool of CF infused PETG that I want to try out, but the filament dryer is still just a box of parts under my bench and I am reluctant to un-bag the spool to make a part that I do not need.

That picture is so sad.

I assume PETG (with or without CF) or ABS would have held up better there. No doubt that black PLA + hot sunshine = trouble.

If one is coating balsa with very thin CA, and the stuff doesn't come out with a gentle squeeze, do NOT squeeze it harder. Else a large squirt of CA may drip on pants, shirt, arm of the chair, and coat thumb and two fingers.

Happily, nothing got glued to my skin but the thumb and fingers will feel funny for a while... :-D

Best -- Terry "incompetent to handle anything worse than glue sticks and library paste" McCreary

neil_w said:

That picture is so sad.

I assume PETG (with or without CF) or ABS would have held up better there. No doubt that black PLA + hot sunshine = trouble.

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Thx for the sympathy. When we noticed it, I was surrounded by a bunch of kids at their first launch. Their comments upon seeing and handling the melted cone ranged from aww-cute amusing to why-are-the-grown-ups-all-snickering funny. But it was the best possible place to have learned why I should have used a different material.

I went to an informal launch. A Birdie clone, a Centuri Bandito clone, and a little spool rocket got their maiden flights. An Estes Javelin and Super Flea clones had their first successful flights after shock cord separations on previous days. Original Centuri Evel is back in the air and as wobbly as ever after getting a replacement rudder and shock cord. I picked up an oversized corner table at Thrift America on the way home. It's for the Creality Cr-10 s5.

BTW, is there a thread here about the best clips for Estes type ignitors?

More spray painting in the hideous heat. The rocket is now red, at least. I now have a shiny silver nosecone, red body with (hopefully) one white fin and a black lower nozzle. Tested the engine block with the nozzle and everything lined up.

That respirator was money very well spent, by the way. Not that I probably needed to tell anyone here that.

Finishing up my Apogee 1/70th Saturn V and working on my Boyce 1/17th scale Mercury Redstone.
Mike

Mike

Did some more work on my all steel launch pad. Almost done. I decided to use one of these https://www.amazon.com/Actron-CP785...QI/?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid={creative}&hvpos={adposition}&hvnetw=o&hvrand={random}&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl={devicemodel}&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584276296547754&psc=1#customerReviews It has a light, does not need a safety switch because the final connection to the battery will be made about 50' from the rocket, after making sure everything is ok. Then I need to fix my Jeep so I can get to my launch site.

Finally finished my first scratch built rocket.

It's not perfect, but the rocket is now red and the "delicate surface" paint tape I applied to one of the fins appears to have worked just fine. It needs the chute and engine mount attached and it should be ready to go.

dwightr said:

Just coined a new saying "Think three times, measure twice, cut once"

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See sig (below).

ewomack said:

More spray painting in the hideous heat.

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That spray shelter is just cool. If I had had that, there are a few light blue patches on my driveway that wouldn't be there. I may get it, not necessarily for the overspray protection, but to minimize the no-see-um variants than land on rockets while painting.

Last night, I dreamed that I was in Moorhead with Barry Fishman. He has recently hired a crew to put up a comics website. The site didn't work right and wouldn't let me log in. Not that I have a Pauli effect with passwords in real life. Talking about real life, does anybody know what happened to Fishman? Is he even still alive?

MichaelRapp said:

That spray shelter is just cool. If I had had that, there are a few light blue patches on my driveway that wouldn't be there. I may get it, not necessarily for the overspray protection, but to minimize the no-see-um variants than land on rockets while painting.

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Wouldn't a shelter like that tend to contain all the overspray, and have it hanging about and settling on the rocket? I have a hard time imagining painting in an enclosed area without having ventilation pulling the overspray out the back.

Last night, I did my first 3D print using supports. I was creating a part for a Fun Rockets launch pad that was never produced. I wanted to see how it would look like in real life. Creality and Cura passed with flying colors and didn't let me down. But I was tripped up by a quirk in the original rendering.

Painted another coat of flat white on my PML AAMRAM4. Hopefully this is it, and I can move on to the color coats in a few days.

Got my name attached to a Miss Riley kit. This will be a flyer, not an investment piece.

Spent the entire weekend building my "Home Made" model of the Mercury Atlas. 36 inches tall and weighs in at just over 16 oz.
Estes used to make this kit but it was discontinued so I just bought 3 inch body tube and went for it. I will be flying it this Saturday at my club launch, with an Estes F15-4 engine. (yes, I always fly with Estes since I have hundreds of them already)

On Saturday, my Son and I went to a small launch. We flew a couple dozen times on small stuff. Small field in the park made us limit size to D engines. Some drag races were fun, but more than 2 at a time starts to get challenging.

Gerald said:

Spent the entire weekend building my "Home Made" model of the Mercury Atlas. 36 inches tall and weighs in at just over 16 oz.
Estes used to make this kit but it was discontinued so I just bought 3 inch body tube and went for it. I will be flying it this Saturday at my club launch, with an Estes F15-4 engine. (yes, I always fly with Estes since I have hundreds of them already)

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Nice reproduction!

That 3.4" tube is sure a pain to reproduce these days. What are you using for fins?

Did a full brain transplant on my Ender 3 Pro to get better quality parts. SKR v1.3 32 bit board with TMC-2208 Stepper drivers in Uart Mode. Now need to test out PETG and make some rocket stuff!