What did you do rocket wise today?

Today I built a simple stand to make building the Zephyr a little easier.

Little Rocket

Nytrunner said:

Little Rocket
View attachment 402521

Click to expand...

Cute.

Nytrunner said:

Little Rocket

Click to expand...

Nice balance, are you going for endurance?

Eh, kinda. I have the parachute kit that came with it. May work with a streamer too

I gave a talk to the club "An outsider's overview of contest rocketry" including example kits available if folks wanted to get a feel for it. Then our resident generous benefactor said "I bet ive got a handful of those example kits you mentioned" and he dumped them on me at the next meeting (overloading my already full unbuilt kit quota)

Three more down and 3 more to go. From Left to Right (or top to bottom depending):
Thunderspike scratcher 3" dia 29mm mmt, 3" Big Bertha with 29mm mmt and optional dual deploy zipperless, Estes Optima clone built from Balsa Machining BT80H, actually components for all three were from Balsa Machining Service. All vinyl was done on my wifes Cricut with only a few swear words. Still left to finish are a Fliskits Tres, Arapahoe-I, and scratch built MoonBug 2.

Sheared some all thread in this trying to tap it. Guess the next version needs slight larger hole diameter. LOL.

Andrew_ASC said:

View attachment 402541 Sheared some all thread in this trying to tap it. Guess the next version needs slight larger hole diameter. LOL.

Click to expand...

Or use the proper tool for threading, its called a tap or a die and they aren't really all that expensive.

Scratched my head over (why) glassine coating (was) on a motor tube (Madcow 38mm).
Searched here at TRF and found something about moistening it to make it easier to sand.
Cautiously moistened it with a damp paper towel as to not soak the underlying cardboard and noticed that the glassine was deteriorating and the cardboard was unaffected.
I proceeded gingerly with a little wetter paper towel and noticed that when wet, the glassine could be removed with just rubbing with my fingers and no saturation to the cardboard.
AWESOME!!....except that after all the glassine top layer was removed, the cardboard tube was now brown but just as shiny, more waxy feeling, far less permeable and almost as tough to sand as the original outer glassine layer. HMMMM
I placed a drop of CA on it to test saturation...none apparent.
I'll let that sit until tomorrow and test how well it adheres, though I'm not gonna use CA, I'm curios how well it bonds.
Tomorrow I'll do the same adhesion test with epoxy and see what happens.
STUPID-SEXY GLASSINE!!!!

rharshberger said:

Or use the proper tool for threading, its called a tap or a die and they aren't really all that expensive.

Click to expand...

Good taps and dies are expensive. Cheap ones are probably good enough for plastic parts, provided it's only cheap in the steel and adequately sharp.

Hooked On Rockets said:

Scratched my head over (why) glassine coating (was) on a motor tube (Madcow 38mm).

Click to expand...

In order to keep only one type of 38 mm tube in inventory and use it for motor mounts and airframes alike.

Anyway, I just placed a parts order from Apogee with a) an Aeropak retainer to add to the LOC Park Flyer Magnum I got from Secret Santa, b) a pack of BT-80s for the Triple Vee build (I think I only need one), c) a pack of BT-80 couplers for future projects since I'll have tubes left over, and c) parts to replace the lost clear payload tube on my Estes Solar Flare (clear tube, coupler, and coupler bulkhead).

Filled spirals and built engine mounts.

Worked on my scratch built rocket
33" tall, 4" dia. 1100grams. 38mm mount.

Hi Gang!:

Just finished my second BAR rocket, a Semroc/Centuri Excalibur. Unfortunately can't upload the pic.

Sincerely,
J.W.

Working on a 1/4 scale Viking 7 sounding rocket. 8" diameter, 143" tall, 4 fins with a fin span of 27.5".

I pulled the wax layer from the inside of the tubes and plan to sand the outside. I am going to double layer the airframe, I will cut a strip out of the 8.325" od tube and glue that to the inside of the 8" od tube.

I will have the inner tube stop 8" before the top of the booster and start 8" into the payload so the coupler will sit on the inner tube.

I also double walled the coupler, and the av bay lids will sit down inside the coupler on top of the inner tube.

I am going with a 98mm mmt and have a 98mm Slimline retainer.

I have 1/2" plywood to cut centering rings, and make the fins.

I will be making the nose cone as well, it's only a 2.45:1 so I will make a plywood x structure and hobby foam pizza slices to make up the shape. Then fiber glass over the top. I will have a spot in the nose for a tracker and room for weight, up to 50-60oz and a HD video camera of some kind.

OR and thrust curve are showing a all up weight of 55lbs with a 98mm L, it could fly on a 54mm AT K1275 est 1150' apogee. The AT L1500T or AT L2500ST will be what I am building this for, looking at 3700'.

It will be dual deploy, with a large drogue and main chute.

~John

GalantVR41062 said:

Working on a 1/4 scale Viking 7 sounding rocket. 8" diameter, 143" tall, 4 fins with a fin span of 27.5".

Click to expand...

That's a serious project, are you considering doing a build thread?

I could get a build thread going in the Scale section.

I have kicked around the idea of making this my L3, I am just not there on my rocket journey.

Worked on the MC Torrent for Liana today, getting close to flying this thing. Goal is for a 42oz build weight and go 850-900' on 38mm G motors.

Got my resume done to apply to be a TAP for Tripoli Rocketry Association.

GalantVR41062 said:

Goal is for a 42oz build weight and go 850-900' on 38mm G motors

Click to expand...

Are those holes drilled in the back of the fins? I hope they dont break on landing

Nytrunner said:

Are those holes drilled in the back of the fins? I hope they dont break on landing

Click to expand...

Looks to me like he set it up for "glue pockets", that helps hold the fins in place.
At least that's what I would drill holes in the fins inside the body tube.
That's what I'm thinking...

This was just an attempt to reduce weight. The holes are centered on the fin tab that is fully in the void from the body tube to mmt.

I will be doing small external epoxy fillets with micro balloons. I added a photo with the fins glued in place.

I am painting the rocket green with a purple candy cane stripe, I will fallow the tube spiral.

~John

Installed the fins on the Zephyr. Still need to finish up the fillets.

rharshberger said:

Three more down and 3 more to go. From Left to Right (or top to bottom depending):
Thunderspike scratcher 3" dia 29mm mmt, 3" Big Bertha with 29mm mmt and optional dual deploy zipperless, Estes Optima clone built from Balsa Machining BT80H, actually components for all three were from Balsa Machining Service. All vinyl was done on my wifes Cricut with only a few swear words. Still left to finish are a Fliskits Tres, Arapahoe-I, and scratch built MoonBug 2.View attachment 402538View attachment 402539View attachment 402540

Click to expand...

Build thread on the Arapahoe?

Tobor said:

Build thread on the Arapahoe?

Click to expand...

No build thread, there are a number of them already so I didn't do one, and about 6 months ago my phone died taking with it the build photos, so doing an after the fact build thread would be extremely uninformative. About the only thing different I did was use a built up laminated fin like the MDRM. from balsa and 1/8" baltic birch ply.

Organized my centering rings. Still room for some more as-yet-unselected parts.

Worked on some Black Friday specials from Estes!

Painted Centurion and mini-Comanche. Bought a pack of C6-5s at Michael's for 50%.

Tobor said:

Build thread on the Arapahoe?

Click to expand...

Very nicely done rockets. Really like the Optima.

hprocketeer said:

Very nicely done rockets. Really like the Optima.

Click to expand...

Recreating the Optima name decal was the hardest part of the whole thing, of course since ites a clone I left off the Estes part.

rharshberger said:

Recreating the Optima name decal was the hardest part of the whole thing, of course since ites a clone I left off the Estes part.

Click to expand...

Excellent work, that looks fantastic. Optima is one of a small number of what I would call "perfect designs".