Bigfoot Pad/Micromax conversion

[gpoehlein]

Well, I finally solved my problem of how to adapt my micromax launcher to use a better power source - I decided to do a little customization on my Bigfoot Lauch pad. I love this pad because it has the battery pack (4 D cells) built right in - plenty of juice in a convenient package. The micromax, on the other hand, used a 9V battery that is lucky to heat up the igniter even once!

So I did a little kit-bashing - I sawed off the bottom of the micromax pad, drilled a hole in the bottom and used epoxy putty to secure a dowel rod into the base - this will be inserted into the top of the Bigfoot pad. I drilled a hole in the side and soldered an 1/8" phone jack to the pad contacts.

Greg

 

[gpoehlein]

Another view - showing the dowel in the base.

Greg

 

[gpoehlein]

Next, I cut the leads going from the Bigfoot pad to the igniter clips and to the controller, and soldered phone jacks there as well.

 

[gpoehlein]

I then made a jumper with phone plugs on each end - this is plugged between the Bigfoot pad base and the Micromax pad.

Greg

 

[gpoehlein]

Another view, showing the jack for the controller to plug into.

Greg

 

[gpoehlein]

And, finally, to fly a normal rocket from the Bigfoot pad, I simply replace the micromax pad with a standard launch rod, unplug the jumper and plug in the microclips (which I also attached to a phone plug - I wanted the whole thing to be totally modular!)

And so, now I can fly everything off my Bigfoot pad. Now, let's hope it actually works!

Greg

 

[gpoehlein]

Just a quick update - I flew using the modified Bigfoot today, and it performed flawlessly - no missfires using either the standard launch rod or the Micromaxx adapter. Plenty of juice to fire off the MMX rockets using the 4 D cells in the base of the Bigfoot.

Greg

 

[Micromeister]

Heres a couple ways we've converted the silo form 9 to 12 volts. using the same controllers. by adding the pins the launcher can be used on any launch system with standard micro clips. Can use Quest plug in iginters or bare nichrome or estes igniters. make things SO much easier.

 

[gpoehlein]

Heh - I'm an old-style kit-basher - the challenge was to do it!

Seriously, I wanted one launcher that could do double duty, and I figured the bigfoot would have the juice I needed. I considered making those mods to a MMX launcher (still could - Lord knows I have enough of the silos to do one of every type of mod known and still have a couple left!) but I thought making the bigfoot modular would be more interesting. And I can't fault success - I launched at least a dozen birds, some twice, and 4 MMX, and I didn't have a single missfire. The modified bigfoot performed like a champ!

Greg