D12 Blast Destroyed My Flower Pot Blast Deflector

[Daddyisabar]

Does Estes sell motors at their Penrose location?

No. The store has been closed for years. HQ building closed to public. Only very special and limited tours during national events hosted in Southern Colorado.

All motors are still made at Penrose. Super secret, high security area. DANGER! EXPLOSIVES!

 

[Daddyisabar]

The ole E9's were the best nozzle spitters. 3-2-1 Start! PING! WHOOSH! Roman candel inverted. Crowd laughs. Blast defector fried.

I actually saw one bounce off the blast defector and fly off to the side of the LPR range. Soooo cool.

Kinda like the rivet and bolt heads blowing out in the old submarine movies!

 

[rcktnut]

The wife has some of those clay pots, I swear you look at them the wrong way and they break. I refuse to handle them anymore.

 

[Daddyisabar]

Did you hear the clay pot say "oh no, not again!" before it broke? If you did you are getting close on learning how to make your rockets fly 100% of the time. Just throw them at the ground and miss! So simple. No motors needed! Just bring your towel to the launch and don't panic!

 

[brockrwood]

Did it CATO, or just burn thru it?

The rocket launched just fine, but the blast from D12-3 seemed to shatter the flower pot. I did not see it happen. My buddy who was with me found the shattered pot when we returned to the launch pad after recovering the rocket.

This one.

 

[brockrwood]

Does Estes sell motors at their Penrose location?

I do not think so. I took the tour and they had some stuff for sale, but members of the public can’t just wander around there. No retail store or gift shop.

 

[brockrwood]

I'd be surprised if a Goodwill near you doesn't have a stainless steel bowl that could have a hole drilled in the bottom.

Your suggestion is implemented!





Now to figure out if I can easily drill a 3/16” hole through this bowl.

 

[brockrwood]

The ole E9's were the best nozzle spitters. 3-2-1 Start! PING! WHOOSH! Roman candel inverted. Crowd laughs. Blast defector fried.

I actually saw one bounce off the blast defector and fly off to the side of the LPR range. Soooo cool.

Kinda like the rivet and bolt heads blowing out in the old submarine movies!

I’ve got a package of E9’s. Time to put them in a beater rocket…

 

[SolarYellow]

Your suggestion is implemented!

Now to figure out if I can easily drill a 3/16” hole through this bowl.

You may be surprised how difficult it is to get through that thin stainless. And you may dull a bit doing it. Most grades of SS work harden, so they get difficult to machine as soon as you start machining them.

 

[86mustang408w]

The rocket launched just fine, but the blast from D12-3 seemed to shatter the flower pot. I did not see it happen. My buddy who was with me found the shattered pot when we returned to the launch pad after recovering the rocket.

This one.

View attachment 600732

Yeah they are just pots in the end. Cool though!!

 

[86mustang408w]

I’ve got a package of E9’s. Time to put them in a beater rocket…

I have some old E9s. Everyone has worked perfectly. Guess it depends on what years or batch you get.

 

[bschultz32]

A .22 long rifle round contains about 2 grams of gunpowder. And .22's kill more Americans than any other firearm. Repeated experience with black powder motors and APCP motors leads to our feeling comfortable around them. But I try to not fall into the trap of complacency. Our rocket motors contain a LOT of energy, and I try hard to not forget that when I'm wrangling them.
Bob

 

[SolarYellow]

A .22 long rifle round contains about 2 grams of gunpowder. And .22's kill more Americans than any other firearm. Repeated experience with black powder motors and APCP motors leads to our feeling comfortable around them. But I try to not fall into the trap of complacency. Our rocket motors contain a LOT of energy, and I try hard to not forget that when I'm wrangling them.
Bob

It's not the powder that kills, it's the bullet. Any brass cased firearm cartridge, outside of a firearm, is pretty safe. Without being loaded in the chamber to contain the pressure and drive the bullet down the barrel, it's not all that impressive what happens if they are ignited. Put them in a gun, and it's deadly with very rigorous safety rules that must be followed at all times. And just to fend off the pedants, we treat firearms as if they are always loaded, just to be sure.

 

[kuririn]

Now to figure out if I can easily drill a 3/16” hole through this bowl.

Mark the point of the hole and hammer a center punch there.
Keeps the drill bit from skating on the stainless.

 

[brockrwood]

You may be surprised how difficult it is to get through that thin stainless. And you may dull a bit doing it. Most grades of SS work harden, so they get difficult to machine as soon as you start machining them.

Stainless steel hardens as you try to machine it? Jeez. So much stuff is made of stainless steel. I hope there are specialized tools, bits, cutting wheels, et cetera, designed to work with it. Or maybe part of the increased cost of stainless steel is throwing away lots of cutting edges needed to work it?

 

[brockrwood]

I have some old E9s. Everyone has worked perfectly. Guess it depends on what years or batch you get.

What was the Estes E engine that was a slightly different length from the current generation of E engines?

 

[kuririn]

What was the Estes E engine that was a slightly different length from the current generation of E engines?

I think that was the 24mm E15.
Long discontinued, it was 3.5 in. long, a 1/4 in. shorter than the current E12.

 

[kuririn]

So much stuff is made of stainless steel. I hope there are specialized tools, bits, cutting wheels, et cetera, designed to work with it

Titanium coated, tungsten carbide or cobalt drill bits will do the job.

 

[SolarYellow]

303 stainless is the easiest to machine.

https://geospacemfg.com/blog/machin...04L have,baseline machinability grade is 100.
https://www.farnell.com/datasheets/26031.pdf
https://www.pennstainless.com/resou...inless-grades/300-series/303-stainless-steel/

 

[K'Tesh]

Your suggestion is implemented!





Now to figure out if I can easily drill a 3/16” hole through this bowl.

OH... I just noticed... You've got a first Generation Estes Porta Pad E... Built prior to my complaint about the pads melting and the poor engineering of it.

My pad was used to launch 3 rockets in total, and I had a melted spot on one of the legs because the plate was sitting directly on them and the flame from an engine happened to be directly over it too... Another issue was that the swivel unit was mounted above the pad. Exposing it to the flames directly.

They ultimately reinforced the legs by adding a plate underneath them, and then they put stand-offs to keep the plate from sitting directly on the legs, and the instructions had the swivel mounted under the plate to prevent it from getting torched.

If yours isn't badly damaged yet, you might want to just add some wooden blocks to the tops of the legs, and move the swivel down below the blast plate.

Below are the instructions for the version that corrected these issues.

 

[GusGrissom]

You got a "D" in ceramics!

 

[brockrwood]

Just in case the stainless steel bowl does not work out, I also picked up this at the thrift shop. The pot seems like it is made of a thicker ceramic material.



I use a 4 foot steel rod (3/16”) from Lowe’s as my launch rod. One advantage of the longer rod is that you can move the rocket up, away from the blast deflector with a clothes pin and still have lots of launch rod left to stabilize the rocket on blast off.

 

[brockrwood]

OH... I just noticed... You've got a first Generation Estes Porta Pad E... Built prior to my complaint about the pads melting and the poor engineering of it.

My pad was used to launch 3 rockets in total, and I had a melted spot on one of the legs because the plate was sitting directly on them and the flame from an engine happened to be directly over it too... Another issue was that the swivel unit was mounted above the pad. Exposing it to the flames directly.

They ultimately reinforced the legs by adding a plate underneath them, and then they put stand-offs to keep the plate from sitting directly on the legs, and the instructions had the swivel mounted under the plate to prevent it from getting torched.

If yours isn't badly damaged yet, you might want to just add some wooden blocks to the tops of the legs, and move the swivel down below the blast plate.

Below are the instructions for the version that corrected these issues.

View attachment 600881View attachment 600882

Are there rockets so heavy or tall that the bottom of the rocket has to sit right on top of the blast deflector?

Solutions for next gen Porta Pad E

1). Longer launch rod with doohickey to keep rocket off of the blast deflector. Build rocket kit with 1/4” launch lugs and use 1/4” launch rod. Include stakes to stake down the legs of the pad.
2). Thicker blast deflector plate and put the rod holder thing well under the plate.

3). Just direct people to the “Pro” pad for really heavy, tall models. What is that? The PS II?

 

[Daddyisabar]

Bulletproof yer pot! I want to see glassing, vacuum bagging carbon fiber or at least some aluminum welding.

 

[brockrwood]

Bulletproof yer pot! I want to see glassing, vacuum bagging carbon fiber or at least some aluminum welding.

If I could get my old, cheap camera tripod to mate to the Odd’l Rockets “Adeptor” I would just use the camera tripod as a launch pad. But the bolt in the el cheapo camera tripod is too short. Sheesh! Always something. ;-)

I keep looking for a sturdier camera tripod at thrift stores, but, when I find one, there is always something wrong with it. I guess that is why it is at the thrift store.

 

[kuririn]

But the bolt in the el cheapo camera tripod is too short.

I'm a little confused. If the bolt can screw into a camera then it should be able to screw in to the adeptor.

 

[Blast it Tom!]

I have this tank of a launch pad that my son built 30 years ago from 3/4" plywood and 2x4's. You can literally jump up and down on it. The deflector is at a 45° angle and is 3/4" ply backing up a (currently) 1/16" sheet of steel:

The rockets can stand on it (no rod bending) and you don't short your clips on the blast plate. If the motor ejects its nozzle - and yes, that has happened - it's directed away from the spectators, or parallel to the "watch from behind here" line. Various top plates accommodate different sized rockets. There are levelers at each corner. Makes a pretty launch, if I may say so myself

 

[rcktnut]

You may be surprised how difficult it is to get through that thin stainless. And you may dull a bit doing it. Most grades of SS work harden, so they get difficult to machine as soon as you start machining them.

I cut my blast deflector out of an old commercial SS sink. It is 3/32 in. thick. I used a jig saw to cut it. I "cut" the edges with a Dremel with a grinding stone. I also cut a deflector for an Estes Porta-pad out of the 1/16 in. backsplash. The key is getting the right blades/ bits to do the job and let the tool do the work, don't force it. Piece of cake to drill a hole in that bowl!!

 

[brockrwood]

I'm a little confused. If the bolt can screw into a camera then it should be able to screw in to the adeptor.

It doesn’t grab the threads in the adeptor if I put a blast deflector on top of the tripod.

 

[OzHybrid]

Your suggestion is implemented!

View attachment 600735

View attachment 600736

Now to figure out if I can easily drill a 3/16” hole through this bowl.

To cut stainless you need a sharp tool ( drill, jigsaw blade). Slow speed and a fair amount of pressure and cutting oil or coolant. If you try to cut too fast, the stainless wll heat, and both work harden and heat harden and your cutting tool will now be blunt and the stainless really hard. Once that happens only carbide drills or grinding tools will get through.
It is quicker to cut slowly and keep it cool than to. try and go full speed and. wreck your cutting tool/ job.
The cut edges will be razor sharp. Wear leather gloves.
There are drill bits specificly for SS. The are great but expensive. Cobalt drills are good but brittle. A reasonable HSS( high speed steel) drill bit should be fine with the method I've described. If you see any colourinng of the SS when you are cutting it, stop, let it cool, lubricate with more oil and start again really slowly applying more pressure. If it gets blue or sparks are flying as you drill/jigsaw, you're doomed. Preventing that happening is your key to being able to continue machining SS. And a machine spun SS bowl is already at least partially work hardened so any heat will complete the hardening process.
Stainless doesn't conduct heat well. So any heat it gets stays there. Watch out for hot bits after launch and be careful you don't burn a hole through the stainless. Those bowls are pretty thin.