The laser-cut bits for the piston staging mount arrived yesterday from Mike Nowak at
Galactic Manufacturing. Fit on the parts was flawless, so you should contact him immediately and buy several.
Here's a view of the parts pre-assembly:
...and a view of the mount assembled with epoxy.
A pair of 1/2" square pecanpineoakspuce blocks were glued to the interior surface of the nose cone to serve as mount points for the piston base. Small mounting screws will engage with holes drilled into the endgrain.
A PerfectFlite miniTimer4 is mounted onto the piston base, and the wiring for the switch and power (a 9v battery) is installed. The battery will be installed on an inside surface of the nose cone using velcro.
Scrap lengths of BT-5 and BT-20 tubing are nested to create the piston, which will engage with the piston base at the aft end, and an A3-4T motor in the second stage at the forward end. A Q2G2 igniter is soldered to lengths of wire wrap wire, which will connect to the timer and extend up the length of the piston tube.
The piston, base, and igniter all integrate together for use. The piston gets really funky after use and needs to be replaced after each flight, but does a great job of protecting the nose of the booster.
Here's how the piston base looks when installed in the aft end of the nose cone.
I plan on flying this at our next AARG club launch in early May, and will be sure to grab photos of the prep process at that time.
James