Houdini - A 3" Minimum Diameter Project for LDRS 34

[EeebeeE]

Working on the Electronics configuration some more. I've made some modifications to my original layout based on comments received.

Batteries are now moved to the opposite side of the sled behind the Stratologgers. A t-shaped frame will help to secure them and they will be Zip-tied to the sled. The MT-4 sits forward of the Stratologger. It will be wired to the same battery as the altimeter below it. Purpose is to provide another reading of speed using the accelerometer onboard. The sims suggest this will hit 25 G's. The accelerometer is good to about 23. Not the most accurate reading , but combined with the altimeters I should get a pretty reasonable estimate of speed.

I am contemplating using the timer to set off a smoke charge at 99 seconds into the flight which should help with visual confirmation as it descends. Anyone know how to make an e-match fired smoke bomb?

 

[codysmith]

Working on the Electronics configuration some more. I've made some modifications to my original layout based on comments received.

Batteries are now moved to the opposite side of the sled behind the Stratologgers. A t-shaped frame will help to secure them and they will be Zip-tied to the sled. The MT-4 sits forward of the Stratologger. It will be wired to the same battery as the altimeter below it. Purpose is to provide another reading of speed using the accelerometer onboard. The sims suggest this will hit 25 G's. The accelerometer is good to about 23. Not the most accurate reading , but combined with the altimeters I should get a pretty reasonable estimate of speed.

I am contemplating using the timer to set off a smoke charge at 99 seconds into the flight which should help with visual confirmation as it descends. Anyone know how to make an e-match fired smoke bomb?

View attachment 255865 View attachment 255866

I know you can buy them but they get expensive really quick... Check out pyropetepete's L1 build thread... He used them.

 

[EeebeeE]

Here is the assembly with all electronics in place. A fiberglass "table" holds the camera in place. That table is secured by four nuts holding it in place from the threaded rods. Kind of a pain to get the whole thing together, but it works real well. The camera peeks out the AV Bay. It protrudes so that it is flush with the airframe.

 

[codysmith]

That's kinda cool!

 

[blackbrandt]

2 things.


1. It looks like your upper Stratologger may have issues with feeding wires into the power terminal block due to the camera placement.

2. Why the funny cuts? Weight reduction?

 

[EeebeeE]

I will drill holes through the sled for wires. The funny cuts are to have room to adjust the nuts holding the camera mount in place. Wires to the teminal blocks will be Zip-tied to the two small segments of airframe splitting it in two.

 

[webtech]

So where is the switch/vent band ? or did I miss something?

how are you going to keep the body tube from smashing the camera?

 

[EeebeeE]

No switch band. I usually build my rockets without them. The payload and booster sections each have a half-circle drilled into them that wraps around the lens of the camera. The vent holes are drilled into the AV Bay where the two airframe sections come together. I will not use switches. I will twist and tuck instead. More reliable and switches use up a lot more space than you might think. Plus it cuts out one extra joint and improves aerodynamics. The wires for the twist and tuck will stick out of the two vent holes. The lens hole makes the third. I am counting on the seal not being too tight and allowing additional air to vent out from there. however, the other two vent holes are 7/64, which should be well sufficient enough on their own.

 

[EeebeeE]

Just got the rocket back from a friend of mine who paints motorcycles. This is going to be the coolest lookin machbuster in the sky.

 

[Nick@JET]

Awesome! Can't wait to see it on the pad, hopefully Thursday or Friday of Ldrs, 5,4,3,2,1...where did it go??

 

[Handeman]

Looks like a great rocket. Look me up at LDRS, I'm in spot C37.

What motor are you flying it on?

 

[TOM C]

Great project. I am looking forward to seeing it fly at LDRS in June.

Tom C.

 

[EeebeeE]

I will be in Lot B66. Behind registration. Hoping to fly it on a CTI L1350. Actual day will be dependent on the weather. Pray for clear skies low wind and low humidity. If the sims are accurate, it will go from 0 to Mach 1 in 1.3 seconds, and will be approx. 800' above the ground when it happens. Could be low enough to hear the sonic boom. That would be cool. It will brush mach 2 less than 2 seconds later, and will be approx. 3,700' up when that happens.

I have 2 more machbusters besides Houdini, and they are nearing completion as well. A Mad Cow FG Arcas is being repainted after new fillets have been applied. I will fly it on either a J530 or a J600, send it up approx. 9,000' and hit about Mach 1.15. Then I have a little rocket with a big hole in the back called the Punk Rocket. It will fly on hopefully a K740 which should send it to 12,500' and break Mach 1.5. Its "test flight" it reached Mach 1.02 and 9,200' on a K360.

This is a photo of "the 3 mach amigos" and their motor casings. For grins I stuck a C6-5 out front.

 

[RKeller]

or the three machsketeers...

 

[EeebeeE]

Some follow-up on this project. Because of limitations of the MT-4 timer which I was going to use to track velocity and acceleration, I changed the configuration to using a Marsa 54 altimeter as the primary ad a Stratologger as the secondary. The challenge was to be able to fit the Marsa, which is much larger, in place and still be able to horizontally locate the video camera so I came up with a sled frame that separated the two altimeters and allowed me to place the camera between them.

 

[EeebeeE]

Well the launch day was interesting. Long lines at LDRS because of some technical difficulties and then challenges with the waiver, securing a call-ahead, and impatient people jumping ahead of those who needed the call-ahead waiver, resulting in the call-ahead window closing. Oh well. The weather was going to suck for the next two days so people were frantically getting their launches in.

Add to that challenges I faced with first my transmitter, then second, my video camera (which has to be inserted and turned on before the payload section is closed), and then finally ... right at launch ... my transmitter again.

As the countdown reached "2" I stopped getting a tracking signal. So I watched this rocket roar off the pad. It was a near perfectly clear afternoon and I could see it all the way to apogee (19K feet r so). I could see smoke from both apogee charges. And then, just as its name suggested, it disappeared. And without a tracker, it wasn't going to be found easily. I looked for a couple hours on Friday. A couple more n Sunday. and another hour or two on Monday. Reports are that it was recently found, and I hope to get it back next weekend. I'm hoping so because I am pretty sure there was enough memory on the card as well as battery juice to have gotten a great in-flight video.

It was a great flight up. Here are a couple photos taken by David McCann. Hoping I will have more info shortly.

 

[REK]

Lost tracking signal and disappeared. Damn it really lived up to its name. Congrats on a successful flight.

 

[BayouRat]

Glad to hear your going to get it back. Can't wait to see the video.

 

[CORZERO]

"Reports are that it was recently found, and I hope to get it back next weekend."

What, did it land in another state and had to be mailed back? You're really leaving us hanging here! The photos suggest quite a spectacular performance! When will you know for sure that it was found and when you will repossess?

It was a well documented build. You really did your homework with all of that software. I am learning those programs as we speak.

Looking forward to that video!