8" Quiktube Rocket

[jetra2]

Hi all,

Yesterday (2-14), me and my dad went to Home Depot/Rocket Depot on a scouting adventure (heck, the store is so stinking big that any time you go there it's an adventure! ) Well, I was looking at the prices on plywood for my 6" Big Daddy project(s). Well, after we did that, and found out that they carry a couple of different thicknesses and how much it was, we went over to the Concrete Form Tubes section / L2 and L3 project dreams section and starting looking. I showed my dad what I did the other day at Lowes with the big tubes (stacked one on top of the other and start drooling and mumbling, "Level Three....Level Three!" LOL), he told me that he would buy me one of the 8" nominal tubes to "inspire" me. Well, I used his tape measure and picked out on of the ones that I liked, and told him I wanted this one. So, we proceeded to buy it!! Have I told you that my dad is awesome?

Well, it did insprire me, and I'm going to build this rocket as a L2 project. I'm thinking I'll put a single 75mm mount and 4 38mm's so that I can adapt all the way down to a 38mm J350 and some I's or all the way up to a single 75mm L motor. I am thinking I'll reinforce it with two layers of 6oz glass and one layer or 1.5oz, and a layer of 6oz on the 1/4" or 3/8" plywood fins.

A coupla questions:

What would be my best choice of material for centering rings?
Would I want to reinforce the fins with more than just one layer of 6oz glass? Maybe a Carbon fiber strip on eash of them?

Anyways, here are some pictures. This is a picture of the tube cradled on some kind of support that you can buy at HD. I'm not sure what they're called, but they are mighty useful!

Jason

 

[jetra2]

Now here's a picture of a design I was playing with. I like this shape of fin, and it just looks cool! It started as an upscale Minee Magg, but then I decided that I just wanted the look of a short, stubby rocket!

Comments, opinions, and ideas welcomed!

Jason

 

[n3tjm]

Jason, hit the Print Screen button (PrtScr), usually located to the right of the F12 key. Then load your favorite paint program, start a new picture, and click on paste. Then you will have a nice screen shot . You may want to resize the screen shot though, and save it as a jpeg so it does not kill the bandwidth...

 

[rocwizard]

be sure to peel the wax coating on the inside and outside. you want your glass to stick


Now get building as soon as you can, i want to see it fly!

How does an L1200 red and 4 J250s sound?

 

[Neil]

Hmmm.... Wax on the outside.... Glass doesent stick... This is giving me evil ideas.... I wonder.... Could you put glass on it, slide the tube out, and have a glass tube? Not with an 8" (heck, my 4" rocket's sims are looking heavy...), but I have seen some 6" tubes somewhere, so it might make a nice "fater-son" project next year.... Who knows. Let me know how yours comes out! I personnaly dislike rockets that short. they just dont look right to me. If it were me building it, I would buy another tube and make a payload bay or something, but thats just me. Good luck!

 

[jetra2]

Good news!!!

I'VE BEEN HIRED!!!!

As what? As a bagger at local grocery store. Yeah, so what! I get money outta the deal! I should be able to start on this rocket soon! Hopefully I can start on it by mid-May and work on them through the summer!

YAY!

Jason

 

[Ryan S.]

the same post in 2 threads? someone is looking to up their post count

 

[Neil]

congrats!

How much do you get paid? (thinking of what I want to do as soon as I am working age.... )


So when do you start?

Do you have your own car or anything? How are you going to get to your job?

 

[jetra2]

Thanks Neil and Ryan.

To answer some of your questions...

I don't know how much I'll be paid. I think minimum wage here in FL it like $5.15 or $5.25 a hour, so I guess they would start me off at $5.50/hr. I'm thinking I'll probably start Monday, and probably work from 3pm-7pm or so. I don't want to work too many hours a week, but just enough to get some money in my pocket, ya know? I mean, look at it. If I work four hours a day, 5 days a week, that's 20 hours. Then multiply $5.50 an hour times 20, and you get $110 per week. Times two for being paid every two weeks, that's $220, minus taxes ( ) I'll probably end up with about $200 every two weeks, or $400 a month! That is amazing! Now how many months until BALLS...just about 5...that's $2000 smackers, and my trip out there would cost me, totally, about $1600...that leaves $400 for my misc. expenses, like food, movies, music, etc. YAHOOO!

Since the grocery store is literally right around the corner from my house, I can ride my bike there.

The big thing that I have to remember is to BUDGET everything, and make sure I'm not overspending, but still have enough. That'll be the fun part, won't it?

Man...I typed all that and essentially said nothing!

Jason

 

[Clay Kremer]

If you're building an 8" rocket I'd put in a 4" central and whatever you want for outboards. You can always adapt it down easily but you can't go back up. I regretted putting a 3" central in my upscale Executioner, it ate up an M3000. Big holes don't cost anything extra to drill and then you have a more flexible fleet. Just my personal experience. Good luck on the project, an L1120 would be an impressive L2 shot!

 

[Ryan S.]

that stinks that minimum wage is so low, in MA it is $6.75, that is alot, but I dont mind.

dude, you dont need to wait three years to get a job, you just need to find a place that will pay you under the table. I have been working since I was like 11.

Anyway, this sounds awesome.....having a steady flow of cash is good, my advice is put it in the bank, this way you wont be tempted to spend it and you get that little bit of extra interest. Since you are already getting taxed on it putting in the bank wont matter.

 

[jetra2]

Originally posted by Ryan S.
Anyway, this sounds awesome.....having a steady flow of cash is good, my advice is put it in the bank, this way you wont be tempted to spend it and you get that little bit of extra interest. Since you are already getting taxed on it putting in the bank wont matter.

Exactly my thoughts, Ryan. After the first paycheck (a spending spree, hopefully for motors @ Whitakers) I'm going be putting about half in the bank and the other half into the rockets.

I betcha all the adults are like ,"Dontcha remember when it was THAT easy?" LOL j/k old guys!

Jason

 

[jflis]

Here's a tip for you...

At standard savings account interest rates (I haven't run the actual numbers in a *long* time), and even better if you occationally move it into an IRA or some such, if you save just 10% of your net income (starting today even if you're working a part time minimum wage job) and start as a teenager, by the time you retire, you will have over $1,000,000 in the bank.

Compound interest is a wonderful thing

think about it, just 10%...

jim

 

[Missileman]

Jim is right!
Start saving now and retire early
Don't be too dissapointed if taxes are a bit more than you figured.
On the plus side, baggers do on occassion get tips here and there.(be polite and do a good job)
Congratulations and best of luck.

 

[pdooley]

Jason, that design was so cool, I had to clone it.
Downsize tho, BT-80 based.

 

[Ryan S.]

whoa! Very cool, whats it gonna fly on?

 

[jetra2]

NOW THAT IS COOOL!

Dude, Pat, that is amazing! I would have never thought that you, nor anyone else, would do something like that!!! Let's see here...if my version of the design would be 8" diameter, and yours is BT-80 or 2.6" diameter, that would make imine... 3.07 times the size of yours! What would the ratio be for the downscale? Something like 1:.307?

Ya know, I betcha that would fit inside the 8" body tube of this one!



Very cool - you've really inspired me to take on this project!

My parents aren't gonna like you for it, though!

Jason

 

[pdooley]

whoa! Very cool, whats it gonna fly on?

Ummm, I have a couple ideas

 

[pdooley]

Yea Jason, the BT-80 is 2.6 inches, so I guess the 8 inch model would be 3.07 upscale.

Glad to be motivating factor for your project.
BTW, I already high-jacked your design, I don't want to steal your thread too.

Let us know how your project advances

 

[Rocketmaniac]

So what does a 6' section of 8"Quiktube weight?

 

[havoc821]

pdooley,

That is a really cool downscale! Can you maybe post this in a different section with plans, instructions, templates, etc? I would be really interested in making one myself, or just buying one if you kitted it. BTW, did you hand make the centering rings?

 

[pdooley]

havoc, the roc is an Estes BT-80 body tube, standard length, uncut.
Nose cone is Estes PNC-80K(Phoenix, Maxi Alpha).
Centering rings are Thrustline 4x24 plywood.
The fin pattern I getto'd from Jason's previous image. Just scaled them to the body tube. Here is a fin pic with the dimensions in inches.

 

[havoc821]

Cool! Thanks! I might make me one of those someday. Thanks!

 

[jetra2]

Alrighty everyone...been a LONG time since I've updated this thread...work is a killer!

I've realized that an $85 paycheck doesn't go very far in our society...heck, it seems that it's gone by Sunday (I get paid on Wednesdays). So, I'm trying to balance my budget a bit, and it is hard, but I think I have a handle on it.

Anyways, it's just about time that I am going to start collecting the supplies for building this biggun'. Here's a price list of the items I'm going to be buying from US Composites:

1 - One gallon 3:1 MEDIUM Epoxy system: $44.50
6 - yards of 60" width 6oz E glass: $32.70
1 - set of pumps for epoxy system: $4.95
1 - pound of 1/4" chopped fiberglass: $3.50

Total: $85.65
S&H: $10.50
Grand Total: $96.15

Not bad at all! I'm going to factor in about $40 for wood and hardware.

I am kinda scared about making the cone, but I think that it'll be easy once I actually start doing it.

More later...

Jason

 

[Ryan S.]

you might want to consider getting the Half Gallon. It goes a Long way. I glassed a 4" rocket that was 6 feet, a 6" rocket that was 7 feet, a 5.5" rocket that was 8 feet of tube, and I have used it to glue a bunch of centering rings on rockets and bulkheads etc. I still have about 1/3 a container left, consider it, save you some money

 

[belfert]

Originally posted by jetra2
amazing! Now how many months until BALLS...just about 5...that's $2000 smackers, and my trip out there would cost me, totally, about $1600...that leaves $400 for my misc. expenses, like food, movies, music, etc. YAHOOO!

A bit off topic, but how the heck are you going to spend $1600 to go to BALLS?

There are six of us going in two vehicles to BALLS from Minnesota (4000 miles), and we probably won't spend more than $1600 between the six of us. And, one of the vehicles is towing a travel trailer and gets 10MPG.

The BALLS organizers really, really don't want anyone under 18 years old at the launch, although I have seen some 15, 16, and 17 year olds at BALLS over the years.

Brian Elfert

 

[rocwizard]

Originally posted by belfert
The BALLS organizers really, really don't want anyone under 18 years old at the launch, although I have seen some 15, 16, and 17 year olds at BALLS over the years.

Brian Elfert

I'm sure I was one of the ones you have seen out there before.
I don't know where you are getting that they don't want us out there. Heck, Mark Clark encouraged me to come out there and fly knowing full well my age. They just don't want irresponsible kids out there that will cause problems.

 

[belfert]

Originally posted by rocwizard
I'm sure I was one of the ones you have seen out there before.
I don't know where you are getting that they don't want us out there. Heck, Mark Clark encouraged me to come out there and fly knowing full well my age. They just don't want irresponsible kids out there that will cause problems.

Until recently, the BALLS web site said no kids allowed literally every other sentence. They made it very clear that kids are not allowed.

I looked at the web site last night and all the no kids allowed stuff is gone. It was there two weeks ago.

I have talked to folks at LDRS who grumbled about kids being at BALLS. The issue is safety. There have been spectacular shreds with huge motor casings coming into the crowd and such.

If Mark Clark invites you, great, but the general rule is no kids.

Brian Elfert

 

[jetra2]

Well, by next year when I go to BALLS, I'll be 18 and L2 certified (hopefully) and they can't say a word!

I have put together a couple more pictures and decided where I am getting my parts and supplies.

I am going to get the half-gallon medium cure thin epoxy from US Composites and about 4 yards of 6oz glass to cover the fins with.

I am going to get the MMT tubes and recovery straps and harnesses from Giant Leap Rocketry.

I'm going to get the fiberglass for glassing the tube with from Fibersock.com.

The Centering Rings are coming from a group of TARC members - see their advertisement HERE.

I'll likely be getting a couple of altimeters to control airstarts and/or dual deployment, if I decide to do it. Not sure which kind or brand though.

Here is the picture of the 2D side view of the design I like.

Jason

 

[jetra2]

Here is the 3D picture...

OH...I forgot to mention I'll likely be getting a heavy-duty chute from STL Rocketry or possibly Rocketman.

Jason