The Flying Disc Golf Basket of Death and Distruction

It was a cool flight to watch. I like me a good odd roc.

Congrats on a VERY unique rocket and a successful flight!

Gawd I hate to have to say it, however that was cool Dave!

Glad the kinks worked out! Anyone tried to hit it with a disc yet?

Nytrunner said:

Glad the kinks worked out! Anyone tried to hit it with a disc yet?

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THAT will be for the next iteration which has already begun...

Sooooo the rebuild has begun and it is going to be a complete rebuild with completely different materials. First, as previously mentioned I got a 5' section of 38mm G12 fiberglass tubing for the center pole. This will serve as the main structural part to the whole thing so I didn't mind spending $70+ on that. This tube will not only serve as the motor mount but will also house the electronics. I am going to depart with the external hill-billy designed electronics bay and this will look much better. Today Amazon delivered a pair of 39.5" extruded carbon fiber rods. They're bigger diameter than the 1/2" oak dowels I was using as the spokes for the basket but they sure seem MUCH stronger. I also noticed my supply of dowels are starting to warp. CF will definitely NOT do that. And as an added bonus they are hollow and weigh about 55% less per foot than the dowels which is a huge plus. The oak dowels come in around 1.28 oz/ft and the CF rods are 0.7 oz/ft.

The big challenge now is the new design directive I've given myself...It needs to come apart (somehow) so that it is easier to transport. Having the bottom basket and the upper portion that holds the chains removable in some way that does not compromise the overall strength is key. I have a few ideas rolling around in my head so once I settle on how I am going to do that I can start buying the remaining materials...I would really like to see this fly at our clubs November launch.

Pins and brackets?

Should fall under the same rules that allow bolt on fins

Huh...Now that I have this CF tube how does one cut this stuff safely?

DAllen said:

Huh...Now that I have this CF tube how does one cut this stuff safely?

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Definitely use a respirator if you use power tools. You can probably cut with a hacksaw without one, but vacuum up your dust quickly.

For the bottom ring, could you have a small bolting flange glued to the motor mount and then bolt the basket bottom to it?

DAllen said:

Huh...Now that I have this CF tube how does one cut this stuff safely?

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Great flight at LDRS...happy to see the chute this time!!!

Hacksaw cuts c/f well. Agree on the respirator if you're cutting much.

Hey Dave, I have the portable Innova basket that breaks down into several pieces....that's probably mostly repeatable for your flying model. Want me to snap a few photos to give a conceptual idea????

ECayemberg said:

Great flight at LDRS...happy to see the chute this time!!!

Hacksaw cuts c/f well. Agree on the respirator if you're cutting much.

Hey Dave, I have the portable Innova basket that breaks down into several pieces....that's probably mostly repeatable for your flying model. Want me to snap a few photos to give a conceptual idea????

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Hah! I have the same thing in my garage. I think I’m just going to go with a coupler arrangement in the main tube. So for the upper portion think nose cone. The lower portion I have some ideas that are really hard to describe - or even draw a picture of. I might try to sketch something up....

Update time!

Progress is SLOW but progressing. So first I have been wrestling with how to make a 135 connection horizontally and then a 90 degree connection vertically and make it work with the materials on hand namely the super expensive 16mm OD carbon tubing I bought and have been cutting to length. The solution is 1/2" CPVC bends. But then how to do the vertical section for the supports? Well in this first photo you can see the carnage from trying to use an 11/16" paddle bit and a 11/16" regular bit in my drill press. Those were a tad scary as my bits would usually jam on the pieces. No bueno.



So instead of that mess I went with the interior diameter which is 12mm and found that a 7/16 dowel is pretty danged close to that ID. So I started drilling out 7/16" holes in the center of the elbows. In the second photo yeah I know it isn't quite centered but hey, these elbows are super cheap and I bought extras. I will of course dry fit everything together before committing to glue. The third photo is my super janky set up to hold the elbows in place as I drill. This size bit is MUCH easier to deal with on these parts. With a cordless drill it didn't take long to switch out elbows.



Why I am going through all that trouble? These next three photos will make a lot more sense then. I'm going to cut up 7/16" dowels to about 1 3/4" and stick them into the drilled hole then the CF tubing can slide right over the top. There is a tiny bit of slop between the ID of the tube and the OD of the dowels and that's ok. I may need that tiny bit to get everything to line up. It's not like I am breaking mach with this thingy. I'll be lucky to break 500' haha.



So in case any of you are wondering, this is for the lower octagon shaped basket section. Now, onto wet sanding the CF for gluing. Oh yay.

And by the way I did figure out a good method for cutting the CF tubing. Basically I use a tubing cutter to score a healthy line all the way around. It became very obvious to me very quickly there is no way on this Earth that tubing cutter was going to go all they way through. So I use a coping saw with a fresh blade to cut all the way around following the score. Coping saw blades usually last about 2 or 3 cuts and then they become rather worthless on this material. I do the cuts outside with cut-proof gloves on and frequently wipe off the CF residue with a wet shop wipe. It does take some time but it's better than having CF dust flying everywhere from using a rotary tool with a cutting blade on it.

That is really a hoot. I actually feel embarrassed. I have loved rockets over 50 years and discing for 30. I never thought of that. .... And well failures are always painful .... And funny. Your comment on the 2nd launch had me laughing before I watched.

Anywho... You inspired me.

Lynn McCall said:

That is really a hoot. I actually feel embarrassed. I have loved rockets over 50 years and discing for 30. I never thought of that. .... And well failures are always painful .... And funny. Your comment on the 2nd launch had me laughing before I watched.

Anywho... You inspired me.

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Dude - comments like that make this insanity all worthwhile! Thanks!!!

Dry fit time! Crucial step prior to even dreaming of putting any glue on the project. Things seem to fit together even though its a little off here and there but I think I can get it all snugged up ok. Next is to wet sand all those CF ends to make them more glue-able.

DAllen said:

Dry fit time! Crucial step prior to even dreaming of putting any glue on the project. Things seem to fit together even though its a little off here and there but I think I can get it all snugged up ok. Next is to wet sand all those CF ends to make them more glue-able.

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Man, you were holding out on us. Asking how to cut the carbon rods when you had a new chainsaw in the garage. Sheesh.

boatgeek said:

Man, you were holding out on us. Asking how to cut the carbon rods when you had a new chainsaw in the garage. Sheesh.

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ROFLOL!

Oh man I cannot even begin to fathom the carnage that would be caused by cutting those things with a chainsaw...Carbon shards EVERYWHERE

Lower basket glued together! Big step today.

Nice, it looks like it ought to be stronger and lighter than your previous iterations, how do the strength and weight feel?

mbeels said:

Nice, it looks like it ought to be stronger and lighter than your previous iterations, how do the strength and weight feel?

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So far it feels stronger but the epoxy is still curing. Not really sure if it will necessarily be lighter. This portion is 1 lb 14oz. The weight of the previous basket was 5lb 14oz over all with motor. However, if someone were to hit this with a disc I am far more confident it could stand up to the impact. The previous basket probably wouldn't stand up to anything other than a close range putt.

Lol....
I can see racing to throw discs in the basket as it is coming down under chute.

More progress - finally. This is the upper spoke assembly. One photo is pre epoxy the other is post epoxy. Holy crap am I a slob haha...

Dry-fit time!

Also time to weigh everything up. As it sits its at 5lb 4oz. Still have chute cannon to build, electronics to install and some other minor things so I predict a final weight around 8-9 lbs. The original was almost 6lb with an I-140. Ordered a 70" thin mill chute from Chris' Rocket Supplies this morning. It'll be interesting to see how much room I need for that.

Why's this one so much heavier? Fiberglass tube? I would have (perhaps mistakenly) thought the carbon tubes would be comparable to.the dowels for weight.

Nytrunner said:

Why's this one so much heavier? Fiberglass tube? I would have (perhaps mistakenly) thought the carbon tubes would be comparable to.the dowels for weight.

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There are a number of reasons for that. First, remember that the dowels on the previous version are 1/2" dia and these CF tubes are about .84" outer diameter. Even so, these CF tubes weigh slightly less per linear foot. Also, I am framing out (for lack of a better term) the lower basket assembly and it is going to be about 3" taller. The previous version had for the lower basket just vertical dowels and 1/8" ply between them. And as you've already mentioned I think the fiberglass center tube is significantly heavier than the 38mm paper tubing I used previously. Glue also makes a difference as well. Wood glue is super duper light compared to the RocketPoxy I am slathering on there. I am building this thing to be able to take a hit from a disc.

DAllen said:

I am building this thing to be able to take a hit from a disc.

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That looks super strong. If I were closer, I'd add my discs to my rocket range box

Tbh, I remembered incorrectly. I thought the CF rods were similar diameter to the dowels.

Nytrunner said:

Tbh, I remembered incorrectly. I thought the CF rods were similar diameter to the dowels.

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Well I am too lazy to look back through my posts but there is a strong possibility I may have mistakenly stated that they were the same diameter lol.

So in case anyone was wondering, I think I am going to go with a Loki I377 for the next motor. It's cocktail propellant, ships w/o hazmat and has about half again (or something like that) as much thrust as the I140 I was using previously.

My current goal is to make it to Indiana Rocketry's first launch of the season on 11/10 near Tab, IN. So if you are anywhere near there and want to come watch keep an eye on this thread. That place is literally in the middle of NOWHERE.

More RocketPoxy tonight. The lower basket is glued together completely now. The main 38mm now has the stopper plate that the lower basket rests on glued in place...Also, got the 70" thin mil chute from TopFlight. Holy crap is that ever light. Only 3.1 oz! Looks like it'll pack fairly small so I can make a small-ish chute cannon.