- Joined
- Jan 19, 2019
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- 504
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Thanks for the helpful info. Love this forum
Nice main chute, not the stock parachute... Which one did you go with and did you up the size a little?
Nice flight with great videos. Was that at the METRA field?
Thanks for the video, great build and flight.It was at METRA! Great weekend. Virtually zero wind, about 70 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. Literally could not ask for a better launch weekend!
I took MUCH longer than two and a half hours to build my Level 2 rocket, which was used for both my L1 and L2 certifications. For me, it was more about the journey than the destination, so I took my time and had no preconceived notion about how long it should take. I took my time on each stage of the build, and I didn’t advance to the next step of the build until I was happy with the current step. It was done when I was happy with the build. So don’t view a build as a race against time. Take your time and enjoy the experience!finally started mine today and got to the rail buttons and the rail buttons are the same size on the inside diameter as the well nut posts that poke through the fiberglass, so there was no way they were going to go on so I had to drill out the plastic so that it will go over the steel post just something that I definitely had not planned on doing so I was pretty disappointed about it. I've already got an hour and a half into the process and other people have said that they built the entire rocket in two and a half hour so my estimates of 10 to 12 hours is more likely what I'm looking at.
finally started mine today and got to the rail buttons and the rail buttons are the same size on the inside diameter as the well nut posts that poke through the fiberglass, so there was no way they were going to go on so I had to drill out the plastic so that it will go over the steel post just something that I definitely had not planned on doing so I was pretty disappointed about it. I've already got an hour and a half into the process and other people have said that they built the entire rocket in two and a half hour so my estimates of 10 to 12 hours is more likely what I'm looking at.
I watch a lot of rocket launching videos and I noticed that there are lots of people that seem to have to put a cover over top of an avionics bay, and then are being seen twisting wires together which I don't understand why. it looks like a primitive, time consuming, way of doing things.
Thanks guys for all the information. Most of my frustration comes from being disabled and having very low hand strength so for an example I dropped the rail buttons probably six times(again just no gripping power in my fingers) which required trying to get them off of the floor, and I can't pick things up off of the floor because of low finger strength so I have to get a set of pliers to be able to grab them. I already know that I cannot balance a well nut on the end of a finger and then stick it inside the tube and have the post on the weld nut come up through the hole that I drilled ,,, it's just not going to happen, so I'm going to have to get my wife to probably do that part.
Once I get everything sanded and fitted then I am going to get my son to use the epoxy gun which has a two-part cartridge that has a mixing tip on the end , so he puts his 125 pound speakers together with this epoxy which the subwoofers move 5 inches of travel so this was really good stuff as Dan Aykroyd would say in The Blues Brothers movies "good stuff". The fin fillets will use the same epoxy as it is a self-leveling epoxy and makes for great joints. My son uses this epoxy everyday so he is very proficient at making beautiful looking joints.
I hope you don't mind me putting all this on the backside of your build but I figured you had plenty of experience with this. I can't really hold the screwdriver very good so that's why I'm going to go with the key switch.
Look into Eggtimer wifi switches. No fiddling with anything at the pad. Connect to the SSID, type in the code and your altimeter is on.
https://eggtimerrocketry.com/home/altimeters-av-bay/
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When I do use the weld nuts, I use some CA to tack them in place and put a round "sticker" of masking tape in the inside to protect the threads, then secure with a good covering of epoxy. I have never had a rail button fail using that method and they are still removeable. It also helps to ensure they are relatively smooth inside the tube so recovery parts don't catch on them.
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I have done these techniques many times and they take me maybe 5-10 minutes, so I may have underestimated the time it would take to get through this process.
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I got my eight year old grandson to help me today and we cut some tape to protect the threads, then used some double-sided tape so that we could stick the well nut flat portion to my grandson's finger so that it would stay on there and not fall off while he put his hand in the tube and pushed the well nut up into the hole. I did not have any CA glue like they used in the video so I used some old two-part epoxy (which I threw away after I got done using it ) but it seemed to hold it up in there so I will go check it tomorrow and likely put some of the good epoxy that I'm going to do the fillets and fins with. I'll get my son to do that part as well.
My hands and fingers are in such bad shape that I I really shouldn't be attempting to put this thing together but I want to put it together and finish something that I should have done years ago. But after getting really messed up I just put the thing away in the box and forgot about it, as we ended up moving four times in the last six years and now I just want to get the level 2 so I can mark it off the Bucket List
Great to hear! Great use of your natural labor force
You didn't mention it, but I would recommend you screw the button onto the weld nut while the epoxy cures - will ensure the whole thing cures tight and straight. With the tape on the back, it should protect the screw from getting any epoxy on it.
Where did you get your jigs or plans from? Looks like a great idea.I do, however, us my guillotine jigs all the time - pretty much every build. Often, I use them in conjunction with the various template jigs. Even so, I always make the pen marks with the center finder tool. It is just a quick and easy way to get a visual check on all the tools/templates/jigs etc. I find that no matter how good the jig is, there always seems to be a way to have the fin slightly angled or the root edge slight off center, etc. The pen marks are just another way of adding a control.
It must be so nice to live in an area where you can launch all year. In New York we just had a blizzard.
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