?? fiberglass BT's ??

[William]

I was reading about making your own bt out of fiberglass, useing pvc pipe, metel pipe, for the mold, now i realy like the hands on projecks about rocktrey, also wene you open a 60- 80$ kit it shore dosent look like mutch, my ?? is how do you now when a bt made out of fiberglass is strong enouph say to launch on e- f- g- and eaven h moters THANKS.

 

[r1dermon]

well, it depends on the rocket. if i have a 3oz rocket that i want to put up on an E motor, i probably wont need fiberglass, but if i want to put it up on an H motor, i definately will. however, if i have a 3 pound rocket, made from paper, cardboard, or whatever, then it wouldnt need fiberglass even for an H, most likely. it all depends on the motor and the rocket. usually it is used to reinforce a GROSSLY overpowered rocket, or a rocket that takes hard landings and busts fins off all the time. fiberglass BTs are prettymuch used for high power rockets. H and above. its usually for a rocket that is going to go on really large motors. however, it's also used to prevent BT zippering and just to strengthen the whole airframe due to the wind, pressure...etc...tolerances. it would pretty much be a waste to make a glass rocket thats only going to fly on E's. unless you're only after getting the experience of fiberglassing.

 

[edwardw]

I've come to the conclusion that most people overbuild their rockets. I've started weaning myself off overbuilding fury and have built fiberglass BT's for a 4" project. I used a full length coupler as my mandrel. I used three layers of 2 oz fiberglass sock as my airframe. While the finished airframe can be squished into an oval, once I got my coupler, MMT and centering rings, e-bay and nosecone in there the rocket is very stiff. I can also stand on a 6" section of it and it hold me fine. The next incarnation will use only 2 layers of 2 oz glass...I'm trying for even lighter.


Edward