Washers. And 3 in One oil.
Easy DIY Launch Pad That Will Hold a 1/4” Rod?
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Hardest part of the job: Finding a 1/2 inch diameter, 20 threads per inch bolt 2 inches long. Apparently it is a “specialty item”. Plenty of coarse thread 1/2 bolts at Home Depot. Fine thread? No. Got the bolt at a local hardware store here in town.
goose_in_co
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McGuckin?
They have everything there, even 3 foot long 3/16" stainless steel rods.
They have everything there, even 3 foot long 3/16" stainless steel rods.
Heck even put a small one above it, blast plate to protect the chuck? Or ceramic flower pot over it, etc...
Try Coles Hardware or Ace/Renco if you have them by you...
That's pretty woodworking!
MCMC has rubber grommets or sleeves that fit over the drill chuck to protect it from exhaust. I don't know where they came from nor what they may have been originally intended for.
Yep.
Sooner Boomer
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Since the tip of the rod will be so low when it's in use, please think of using an old tennis ball with a hole in it (or something similar) to cover the tip of the rod.
The stepper drill bit only works well if you are drilling through kind of thin material. Sigh. Live and learn.
MCMC?
Neighbor let be borrow a 9/32” drill bit
Music City Missile Club.
We'd seen several home made launchers for rockets with lugs over the last year. Couldn't figure out how to NOT take another table to the launch site, so....we figured out we could use a folding saw horse. Stable enough and you can drive long stakes through the foot plates on each leg to further lock it to the ground. Had trouble mounting the various different sized launch rods 1/8" through 1/2" until we saw one with keyless chucks holding the rods. What a great idea! So...here it is. Sawhorse, brackets, discs, keyless chucks, rods, drill stops with set screws, interchangeable rod diameters. Going to launch with it next week.
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I had a PVC tripod-based rail pad in the May/June 2022 issue of Sport Rocketry. If you're an NAR member you either should have it or can get it on the web site. The key part is a 2-inch side outlet elbow. When I wrote the article, Amazon didn't have them. They do right now (though you have to buy four): https://www.amazon.com/FORMUFIT-F0023WE-WH-4-3-Way-Fitting-Furniture/dp/B00MNIZE0S/
Replace the 1/2 inch bolt and hose clamps that are used to hold the rail and use a drill chuck instead and it would easily handle a 1/4 inch rod. With two adjustable-length legs, it has some flexibility in setting the launch angle.
But since you're headed in a different direction, this is too late.
I absolutely agree with you on the advantage of a tripod over a 4-legged pad design.
I have two-eyebolt pivots on several of my personal pads including a 3-pad rack, and on both of the 5-pad club racks. It works reasonably well, though I've replaced the pivot thumbscrew/wing nut combo with a regular bolt with a plastic-insert anti-vibration lock nut on the other end, tightened enough to make it possible, but not easy, to tilt the rod. Much less fussy.
If that tripod head works well on the single pad, I will likely retrofit them to my 3-pad rack which I often use for small club launches.
Replace the 1/2 inch bolt and hose clamps that are used to hold the rail and use a drill chuck instead and it would easily handle a 1/4 inch rod. With two adjustable-length legs, it has some flexibility in setting the launch angle.
But since you're headed in a different direction, this is too late.
I just bought one of those and put it on my 3/4-inch-pipe-based tripod (which is a direct descendant of the "el cheapo" one on RocketReviews that is linked to above - but with screw-on legs, two of which act as a launch rod holder). I'm looking forward to seeing how much better that tripod head works than the two-eyebolt pivot described in that writeup. But it's not strong enough to handle much of a 1/4 inch rod, which is what the OP asked for.
I absolutely agree with you on the advantage of a tripod over a 4-legged pad design.
I have two-eyebolt pivots on several of my personal pads including a 3-pad rack, and on both of the 5-pad club racks. It works reasonably well, though I've replaced the pivot thumbscrew/wing nut combo with a regular bolt with a plastic-insert anti-vibration lock nut on the other end, tightened enough to make it possible, but not easy, to tilt the rod. Much less fussy.
If that tripod head works well on the single pad, I will likely retrofit them to my 3-pad rack which I often use for small club launches.
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I bought one of those ball heads, too. Being used to full-size gear for DSLRs, it was surprisingly tiny. I agree, I'd only be comfortable with it for LPR and lower-range MPR stuff. But I might do something to adapt it to an Estes launch pad.
I'd love to see that, actually. If I had a 3D printer and knew how to use it, one of the first things I want to make is an adapter to put the top of a Porta Pad on to my PVC tripod pads, preferably similarly to how it is done on the current Estes "Lifetime Launch System" pad. While the modified coupler nut on the top of the two-eyebolt pivot works, I've never been able to make one where the rod — especially an 1/8 inch rod — sits in it straight. And I've enough PortaPads around that harvesting a few tops to put on pads I actually use would be no great loss....
![0930230840[1].jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/rocketryforum/data/attachments/524/524049-554eb402939167def38597d19055031f.jpg "0930230840[1].jpg")
Hmm. The stakes work if the ground is soft. I think I will try little wooden extender feet instead of stakes.
Using the cobalt drill bits for the first time!
Wow. That’s hard to drill through!
Easier to just punch a hole through it with a hammer and deck screw.
You can widen the hole once you have it started by punching.
That’s it. 3/16 inch hole created.
Leaving the thrift store price tag on to be blackened by engine exhaust. Badge of honor.
There it is! Now to try it out.
Maybe add a fourth leg? It’s pretty stable with 3.
Maybe add a fourth leg? It’s pretty stable with 3.
With 3 legs it folds for easy storage.
My buddy who is better at geometry than I am explained this to me. It makes sense when you stop and think about it. Three points will always define a flat plane that passes through all 3 of them. A three legged stool will always “lean on” the lowest leg. A 4 legged stool will only rest perfectly flatly on a flat surface if all four legs are exactly in the same plane with each other. It is really easy for the foot of one leg to be above or below the plane that passes through the other three.
A three legged stool or launch pad that is resting on an uneven surface will just have one leg lean down so it touches the lowest part of the surface. It has to, or it will fall over.
Here is a design belonging to one of our club members using a piece just like that. The gray tubes just slip in loosely, they aren't fastened in. He runs a bungee cord around all 3 sides to keep the legs from splaying out, connected to the eye-bolts. The aluminum fixture on top was custom made, I don't know who made it. It can adjust for angle and there is a second screw that allows it to be tightened on any size launch rod.
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