GSE replacement

[Johnnie]

Our club is in danger of loosing our borrowed HPR pads and launch system. The ones we currently fly from are borrowed equipment from SEP (A NAR affiliated Student Experimental Payload) I have taken a stab at design new pads, and I would like some input.

The materials have yet to be determined, but because of cost, light weight aluminum may not be it. Steel will be the material of choice for the money. The trade off is weight...

1.5" square tube steel for the legs making a 96" footprint, with the rocket support components being 2" square tube steel. The design will have turnbuckle angle adjustment, as the only frill, besides the fact that the (3) legs will be able to fold away.

Here is a pdf of the current design, what say ye?


...must have adobe reader to see file...

 

[Johnnie]

The concept idea of the pad is to support large birds to 50+ pounds or more. So here is concept art showing the pad supporting a 7.5" rocket that is 10' tall.

 

[HeadHunter]

It looks like a good design for a flat launch site. If you have to deal with uneven ground at your site, a tripod arrangement is easier compensate for those irregularities. Awesome drawing by the way!

 

[Johnnie]

luckily enough, we share the MC2 lauch site which is a sod farm...very flat stuff.

The pad has holes at the end of the legs for levelers, which are items that will be supplied by the club. The pads as drawn will come to the club without hardware. It will be up to a group effort to outfit the pads with the needed hardware to make them operational.

Even though our club may spring for 2 units, there is enough interest from our EX fliers that they may wish to purchase one for themselves.

Incidently, these pads are for rail use only. Our club has pretty much gone to the rail on most HPR rockets. So much so, that lines begin to form for use of the rails on hand at the launches.

 

[Omega_D]

Looks like a very nice design, and great drawings!

I just had a thought, maybe you could use steel 'C' channel (I think that's what it's called) for the legs to lighten it up a little bit. It kind of looks like this [ . Put the open end towards the ground. Don't know what the cost difference would be.

I see you have holes on the ends of the legs, are they for leveling pads? That would help with the uneven ground issue and kind of make it a tripod of sorts.

My $0.02

 

[Johnnie]

Good point Omega_D, We could use 1.625" channel for the legs. These can even be found at sLOWES or Rocket (Home) Depot.

Yes, the holes on the end are for levelers.

For myself, I have an even simpler design in the works that will be constructed from all 2" square tubular aluminum. Same basic design, but with smaller footprint (72") and only 5 degrees of adjustment. The pad will have K.I.S.S. engraved on it for Keep It Simple & Stupid I can't wait till it is done. I'll post a pic or two here of the pad.

 

[havoc821]

WHAT?!?! I thought that was ours! They can't take it! Its ours I tell you OURS! Well, my complaining won't do any good. I can't get acrobat reaber to work so I can't view the pdf files but if comes from you I'm sure it is good. Well, I will be happy to supply my Aerotech pad for mid power stuff and I have a LPR pad, and a 4ft section of blacksky rail. I just hate it, we lose our field and now our equipment. That sucks. Well, we will find a way to make things work.

 

[Johnnie]

Havoc821,

The equipment has always belonged to Greg Warren of SEP...He let us borrow it for flying. He got sick 3 years ago and has been out of pocket, but has made an excellent recovery and plans to restart the SEP program next year. What the final outcome is for the equipment is not clear, but it looks like we will need to invest in HPR pads, and a launch control system. The club has already got some mid-power pads, and I hope to construct LPR from PVC.

On a finer note, I took a suggestion from one of the other threads to get GSE enclosures for free, so I will have some enclosures for Chuck Pierce to construct launch boxes from.

 

[havoc821]

I saw those other day but I didn't know exactly what they were and if we could use them so I didn't get any. Well, I am willing to let the club use any of my equipment for local launches as long as they ask.

 

[GL-P]

Our club uses a central stem with guide wires coming off of it. Very secure, easy to store, cheap and can take uneven ground. Ours could twist and tilt in any direction. We used steel for it.