My daughter and I went out to the local soccer field this evening and sent the Mini Honest John by Estes skyward three times. Three good launches (two of which she did completely by herself) with three good recoveries. Just a little wind this evening. Got a chance to try out my new camera tripod launcher. Man do my old knees love that thing! Slight singed parachute on the last launch but still very usable. The debris you see was an experiment by my daughter to put some small wildflowers petals on the blast plate. Floral destruction!
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Once you launch from a tripod, jack, you ain't ever goin' back. :wink:
No more crawling around face down in the dirt. :headbang:
Quick note from your launch pics: You probably want to thread or loop your ignition system wires through some kind of hole on the tripod, or even attach them to a leg by masking tape. (Leave enough 'slack' in the ignition wires so they are not 'tight,' but don't let several feet of wiring hang loose under the igniter.)
I have actually seen rockets get the igniters torn out of them by somebody walking by, getting their feet tangled in the ignition wires, and ending up giving the wiring system a big yank.
Taping or otherwise securing the ignition wiring to the tripod launcher means the actual ignition leads attached directly to the micro-clips and the igniter will not bear the pulling motion if somehow the wires get inadvertently yanked.
Plus, igniter and plugs sometimes can work their way loose out of nozzles if the weight of the wiring is tugging down on them. Harry Stine in the HBOMR recommended the use of 'umbilical towers' (a dowel attached to one leg of the launcher) but even taping the wiring leads so the weight of 'loose wire' tugging down on the micro-clips is only a foot or so rather than 10+ feet.
Of course the best way to avoid this situation is to make sure you don't have Cletus Clodhopper stumbling around your launch pads dragging his feet in the dirt to the point he can get his boots tangled in your ignition wiring, but Murphy's Law usually remains in full effect at all model rocket launch sites and if any kind of crazy launch pad mishap possibly CAN happen, sooner or later it will, so it's usually a good idea to try to avoid those situations in the first place.