Binder Design Raptor (with a camera)

[m85476585]

I finally got around to building my Binder Design Raptor. It was originally intended to be my L2 rocket, but I didn't get a chance to built it last year, so I flew a smaller rocket instead (successfully). I'm planning on flying it this weekend at the Mudrock launch at Black Rock. It will probably fly on a J315, depending on what that sims out to.

The altimeter bay is mostly done, I'm just waiting on some parts from McMaster-carr that should be here tomorrow. I just started gluing the fins on. So far I have two done and 10 to go! I'm not worried about it taking too long, though, since once I get the first row of fins on, the second row will be easy to line and clamp up with a straight piece of material. And the little front fins are basically optional if I don't have time.

I wasn't originally planning on putting a camera in this rocket, but I kind of got it for free. I've been wanting to build a rocket with a camera for a while, and I was going to buy one of those cheap ($150) HD pocket cameras, but I can't really afford it right now. I was looking through a box of old electronics stuff, and I found our old digital camera that was damaged in a fire. I saved it to take apart, assuming it would be a total loss since it was right next to the oven when it caught on fire. I opened the bag, and it didn't even smell like smoke. It still had batteries in it, so I pushed the power button and sure enough it turns on! The LCD backlight doesn't work anymore, but other than that, it seems to work fine.

I'll get some pictures (taken with a different camera) up in a few minutes.

 

[m85476585]

Motor Retention:

"Pancake" altimeter bay. I made it flat and as small as possible so there is lots of room for the camera.

The battery is held in with a piece of G10:

Side view with the altimeter mounted. I didn't have enough small standoffs, and I couldn't find anywhere that sells them. I ordered 5 packs from Perfectflite, and hopefully they'll be here by Friday.

Altimeter and battery:

 

[m85476585]

Fin gluing setup:

I use a laser level to help get the fins straight. It isn't perfect since there are many degrees of freedom that add some error, but it is a lot easier than doing it by hand and spending 10 minutes looking at it funny to make sure the fin is straight. With this setup I line up the laser, put some epoxy and CA on a fin, stick it down, make sure it is straight with the laser and by eye, double-check it, and set the CA with some activator spray. The whole process only takes a minute or two per fin.

Parts. The short tube on the left is the e-bay, the blue tube on the right is a new slightly longer phenolic coupler fiberglassed and filled with Superfil, and the tube on the far right is the original paper coupler. The e-bay could kind of use the glass and superfil treatment, but I'll probably just use tape for this launch.

More parts. The shorter tube with the stripes will be the drogue section. It will leave only about 8 inches of drogue space once the couplers are in, but I'm planning on flying it drogueless with only a Kevlar shock cord in there. If there is any extra, it can be stuffed into the motor tube.

More parts, not all for this project.

More parts, mostly for this project.

 

[m85476585]

Camera:

Foam mounting block for the camera:

That's all for today. I'll try to get some more pictures tomorrow.
Larger resolution versions of any of these pictures can be found here:
https://micronetsoftware.com/gallery2/v/hobbies/rockets/binder_raptor_camera/

 

[blackjack2564]

Like the idea of your "pancake" altimeter mounting. A real space saver. It just never occurred to me an altimeter would work mounted like this. Nice work.

 

[m85476585]

An accelerometer-based altimeter will probably NOT work in my setup, but that's OK since I don't have one.

 

[m85476585]

double post

 

[Diosces]

Wonderful project so far. What type of foam did you use? Also how are you doing the line of sight for the camera?

 

[m85476585]

I used green florist foam coated with epoxy. The epoxy is mostly hardened now, and the surface is hard but the foam is still easy to dent. I think it will be good enough. I am also going to try to rig up something that vonnects the tripod mount (1/4" thread) to the threaded rod that goes through the e-bay.

For the camera's line of sight, I'm going to make a removable 45 degree mirror so I can have it either look out at the horizon or look down. I won't have time to get the mirror done before this weekend, so it will just look at the horizon. I'm also going to make a dummy mirror for the other side so the drag is balanced.

I just realized all the videos will be turned 90 degrees. Maybe I can fix that by rotating it in video editing software and saving it as HD so I don't lose any pixels, or maybe I could come up with a combination of angled mirrors.

 

[n5wd]

I just realized all the videos will be turned 90 degrees. Maybe I can fix that by rotating it in video editing software and saving it as HD so I don't lose any pixels, or maybe I could come up with a combination of angled mirrors.

I believe that Adobe's Premier Elements (the basic level video editing software - about $100 from various places, sometimes OEM'ed free when you buy a video camera or scan converters or such) has the ability to flip the video horizontally or vertically. If you don't already have the video editing software you're going to use, you might check Premier Elements demo version from Adobe.

 

[m85476585]

I have premiere elements, and I have access to premiere pro.

 

[m85476585]

I got some parts in the mail today. The right standoffs from Perfectflight (I couldn't find any at McMaster-carr), and a bunch of stuff from McMaster. I got closed eye bolts, several sizes of lock washers, t-nuts, some flat washers, and some plastic rivets. The only thing I really needed was the plastic rivets!

I got the 4 lower fins and one upper fin on, and 3 of the lower ones filleted to the motor mount with a mix of thick Aeropoxy, chopped glass, and Kevlar pulp. The outer fillets will get a less stringy mix so they look nice.

 

[m85476585]

All the fins are filleted to the motor mount, except for one side of one where I ran out of mixed epoxy. I still need to slot the tube, then I'll fillet all the fins to it at once. Also left to do is finishing the e-bay, digging up the recovery harness from another rocket, putting it all together, ground testing, and packing the car. I might add a quick coat of paint on the upper parts (I want to fiberglass the fins tip-to-tip, so I'll leave them unpainted) to make it more visible on the dry lakebed.

 

[m85476585]

I'm going to work on some of it inside for tonight since the garage is suddenly infested with really aggressive mosquitos. There was only one an hour ago, and I caught it with the vacuum.

 

[m85476585]

Slots are done, I'll test fit them tomorrow.

update: It looks like it will go 3000-4000 feet on a J315 depending on the final weight.

 

[m85476585]

I got it done (I think), and I got the car packed for tomorrow. Even with the rocket box (ski box) on top, it was tight to fit everything in. A trailer would be really nice.

I forgot to get a final weight, and there's probably a lot of other stuff I forgot. The camera is staying at home because it just adds too much complexity, and I didn't have time to make a good mounting setup for it. The fin slots between the upper and lower fins are just covered with tape since I didn't have time to think of a good way to fill them. I can probably cut up the pieces of tubing I sliced out. The altimeter bay was really easy to set up now that I have some plastic rivets. My last one used #4 T-nuts in the e-bay with screws screwed in from the outside. I don't have a switch, so I will just use the twist and tuck method. For recovery, I will use the included chute and recycle the shock cords and stuff from another rocket. Motor retention is t-nuts in the centering ring as pictured above with bent strips of metal to hold onto the motor. I also used T-nuts for the rail buttons. I like to do that since it provides a somewhat secure attachment point and separates the rail from the body tube a bit more so it is less likely to get scratched.

 

[m85476585]

The flight was successful, and it reached 2830 feet on a J315R. The final weight was 6.7lbs. Recovery was drogueless and the included main, and it went perfectly. I used 1 gram of BP for the drogue and 3.5 grams for the main (the main compartment is 30" long). This rocket really needs a K motor!

I'll see if we got any good pictures and post them later.

 

[Pantherjon]

Congrats on a successful flight!

But, 3.5 grams? Part of the 'blow it up or blow it out' club? I have a couple DD rockets(3" and 4" in diameter) with 30"+ long main compartments and I get good deployment using only 2 grams..If it works, so what..I just think 3.5grams is a bit much..

Looking forward to seeing the flight pics.

 

[m85476585]

I kind of didn't have time to ground test.

 

[m85476585]

I flew it again today on a K550 (my first time flying a K). The altitude was 5460 feet. The only problem was that the main deployed at apogee. I think I used too much BP in the drogue section since I couldn't remember what I used last time. I did have two .063" shear pins, but I guess they still failed. This time I used 1.6g for the drogue and 3g for the main.

I really wanted to fly it on a CTI J or K skidmark, but one of the dealers didn't show up and the other two dealers had very little CTI stuff (I was planning on buying/borrowing a case at the launch). Instead, I had to buy an AT 1706 case at the launch.

 

[Chrisn]

I did have two .063" shear pins, but I guess they still failed.

What material do you use for shear pins?

 

[m85476585]

Styrene rod with one end mushroomed by a hot soldering iron so they don't fall in.

 

[C.O.B.H.C.]

I flew it again today on a K550 (my first time flying a K). The altitude was 5460 feet. The only problem was that the main deployed at apogee. I think I used too much BP in the drogue section since I couldn't remember what I used last time. I did have two .063" shear pins, but I guess they still failed. This time I used 1.6g for the drogue and 3g for the main.

I really wanted to fly it on a CTI J or K skidmark, but one of the dealers didn't show up and the other two dealers had very little CTI stuff (I was planning on buying/borrowing a case at the launch). Instead, I had to buy an AT 1706 case at the launch.

I just want to say nice flight.

But question why do you sound all bummed about buying a 54/1706?

 

[m85476585]

I just want to say nice flight.

But question why do you sound all bummed about buying a 54/1706?

I'm not really bummed about it, I just wanted to get a CTI case instead. My next chance to fly this rocket won't be until next summer, so I won't be able to fly a skidmark until then. I already have way too much money invested in motor cases (I have most of the AT 29mm and 38mm ones, all the hobbyline cases, and now I have two 54mm cases. I'm getting close to having spent $1000 on cases.), so I am trying not to buy more new ones than I need to. I guess I could get the next size up CTI case (5-grain?) next year since skidmarks are lower ISP, then fly one of the other loads for it if I want to go higher.

 

[Diosces]

Can you post a picture or two of the finished rocket?