Glassing a nose cone...

[pr_rocket04]

Can anyone give me suggestions on laying fiberglass or carbon fiber on a 6" nose cone? Is it possible to vacuum bag? I'm just not sure which is the best way to do it while trying to avoid those nasty overlaps everywhere.

 

[Ryan S.]

https://www.geocities.com/rdh82000/LDRS/Construction.htm#GlassNC

 

[DPatell]

Internally glass it.

 

[pr_rocket04]

How? Wouldn't external carbon provide the best nose tip protection?

 

[DPatell]

fill the tip with epoxy

That's your best bet

 

[Ryan S.]

is this a balsa NC? or a plastic one?

you could just buy one from www.publicmissiles.com they are sweet

 

[pr_rocket04]

Performancerocketry.com has a 6" diameter fiberglass nosecone for a little cheaper. That's what I would use. What I wanted to do was have a nice carbon laydown with clearcoat on the front of the cone so you can see the carbon. The hard part is getting the tip to look good.

 

[Ryan S.]

you should make a mold if you want to do that. I have never done it though, there is lots of information out there.

PML cones are super high quality, I have heard, to be nice, they are better than the performance cones.

if you want a nice carbon finish, get a PML Carbon cone, they are already finished and just happen to come in 6" diameter.

 

[pr_rocket04]

Wow. I never knew they had a whole line of carbon! I have already contacted them and I plan on the whole sustainer end of my project being carbon fiber.

I'm actually thinking of making the upper part of the sustainer a minimun diameter 75mm, as I could acheive amazing altitudes. Just to be on the safe side, I would say final motor ignition would occur at 70,000 feet or more. Think of what a 75mm minimum diameter long burn could do being lit up in the thin air of 70,000 feet! I don't know if I'll do it though as I don't know if I could find a dv cam that was small enough to fit in there, and the way this project is going I already need to sell my twin turbo 300zx to finish it (hehe kidding).