I blew it, Rail for Rail Button selection

[BABAR]

This seems to be the “real” store for minis

https://8020.net/20-2020.html

 

[Buckeye]

Micro rails are Makerbeam 10mm. They are a European company, but Amazon also sells their stuff.

 

[majordude]

Allen...I missed Huntsville this year. I really like going there to hang out..

So, I think I came up with a couple of good strong options for me. As a reminder I'm looking to gain a tad of altitude without using a tower or fly away things.
I want to use these on some 54 and 3" min dia rockets, that currently use 1/4 rail buttons on 1010 rails.

here are the rails..left to right. Micro, Mini, 1010 and 1515
View attachment 437220

Here are the stock rail buttons...Mini, 1010 and 1515
View attachment 437219


The buttons..
View attachment 437222View attachment 437223

#3 is a stock Mini button with a 4/40 flat head machine screw
#5 is a stock 1010 button with a #8 flat head machine screw
#2 is a #4 Nylon Flange bushing .250 long with a 4/40 Truss head machine screw.
#4 is a #4 Nylon Flange bushing .250 long with a 6/32 Truss head machine screw.
#1 is like #2 but has a nylon washer on it.

I needed to shorten the stock .250" long flanged bushings to .086" long. For that I made a tool that Micromeister had posted.. https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/micro-buttons-railbuttons-com-beta-test.64825/post-780500

View attachment 437236

Once we start to launch rockets around her again, I will be testing buttons #2 on 54mm min dia and buttons #4 on some 3" min dia rockets.


Tony

Who sells the flush screw on the micro rail?

 

[shockie]

Discovered a cool thing today..
An 80/20 20mm rail will slide right into a 1010. In theory i will not need to use a pad adapter..
Just slide it into and existing 1010 rail.

View attachment 435910

And secure in place! (?)
View attachment 435913
It's a tad...1/8 - 3/16..inch jiggly..but not to bad!

Tony

Create a 3D printed adapter?

 

[rharshberger]

Create a 3D printed adapter?

Been There Done That...made a rail joiner to place a 20mm Mini Rail and a 10mm Micro Rail "back to back", even have the STL file somewhere still.

 

[cwbullet]

I ended up buying 2 - mini rails that were 2000mm off Amazon for just under $50. They are a little long, but if you have a trailer, it is a pretty good deal.

 

[tfish]

Who sells the flush screw on the micro rail?

Are you referring to #3 in the photo?

That's a mini not a micro

If so...



Tony

 

[majordude]

I ended up buying 2 - mini rails that were 2000mm off Amazon for just under $50. They are a little long, but if you have a trailer, it is a pretty good deal.

Why did you get such a long rail? They sell a 900mm (35" or so).

 

[Lotronex]

Why did you get such a long rail? They sell a 900mm (35" or so).

I have a 1500mm rail for my Micro buttons. My thought process is that the key advantage of rails over rod is you can go longer without rod whip, you might as well go as long as you can. If I'm putting buttons on my smaller rockets, it's because I think they're going to take longer to accelerate, so might as well give them the best support I can.

 

[majordude]

I have a 1500mm rail for my Micro buttons. My thought process is that the key advantage of rails over rod is you can go longer without rod whip, you might as well go as long as you can. If I'm putting buttons on my smaller rockets, it's because I think they're going to take longer to accelerate, so might as well give them the best support I can.

You'd be surprised how fast LPR get up and go. I used to fly egglofters out of a 3' tower and never a problem.

 

[Titan II]

You'd be surprised how fast LPR get up and go. I used to fly egglofters out of a 3' tower and never a problem.

Why did you get such a long rail? They sell a 900mm (35" or so).

Not all get up and go. For example, I love the D2.3T (along with similar homebrew motors) and need it.

 

[majordude]

Not all get up and go. For example, I love the D2.3T (along with similar homebrew motors) and need it.

HAHAHA D2? Yeah, you have a point.

 

[BigMacDaddy]

FWIW -- if you have a access to a 3D printer it is pretty convenient to 3D print rail buttons and longer lugs (I do buttons for 20mm rail and 1010 rail and longer lugs for 10mm Makerbeam rail).

Micro rails are Makerbeam 10mm. They are a European company, but Amazon also sells their stuff.

1.5m makerbeam is a great, rigid rail for LPR.

I bought a pack of 2x 1.5m Makerbeam rails from Amazon and they sent me a box w/ 20 or 30 packs of 2x rails. I am looking for projects for Makerbeam.

 

[kjhambrick]

Discovered a cool thing today..
An 80/20 20mm rail will slide right into a 1010. In theory i will not need to use a pad adapter..
Just slide it into and existing 1010 rail.

View attachment 435910

And secure in place! (?)
View attachment 435913
It's a tad...1/8 - 3/16..inch jiggly..but not to bad!

Tony

Note: sorry about the necro-post but ...

Thank you Tony !

I've been looking for a solution for flying mini-buttons on an 80/20 2020 rail and I found your post.

I've got an old well-used BSR ProPad with a 66-inch 1010-sized rail slot where the extruded rail lies flat on a 1.5-inch Aluminum I-Beam.

My new 5-foot 2020 rail slides right in at a 90 degree angle with just a tiny bit of slop ( way less than 1/8 inch ).

All I had to do was add a C-Clamp at the bottom which also serves as a rocket stand-off and I am in business !

As a bonus, there is a 1/2 inch bow in the 5-foot 2020 rail and that is now all straightened out and ithe bow also serves to tighten up the 2020 in the 1010 slot ( i.e. the 2020 rail does not tend to slide out the bottom before I can tighten up the C-Clamp ).

Thanks again @tfish -- you always seem to have the As to my Qs, even before I ask them

-- kjh

 

[tfish]

Note: sorry about the necro-post but ...

Thank you Tony !

I've been looking for a solution for flying mini-buttons on an 80/20 2020 rail and I found your post.

I've got an old well-used BSR ProPad with a 66-inch 1010-sized rail slot where the extruded rail lies flat on a 1.5-inch Aluminum I-Beam.

My new 5-foot 2020 rail slides right in at a 90 degree angle with just a tiny bit of slop ( way less than 1/8 inch ).

All I had to do was add a C-Clamp at the bottom which also serves as a rocket stand-off and I am in business !

As a bonus, there is a 1/2 inch bow in the 5-foot 2020 rail and that is now all straightened out and ithe bow also serves to tighten up the 2020 in the 1010 slot ( i.e. the 2020 rail does not tend to slide out the bottom before I can tighten up the C-Clamp ).

Thanks again @tfish -- you always seem to have the As to my Qs, even before I ask them

-- kjh

Haha..
Photos or it didn't happen..
( photos for the next guy..trying to figure out 20mm rail stuff)

Tony

 

[kjhambrick]

Haha..
Photos or it didn't happen..
( photos for the next guy..trying to figure out 20mm rail stuff)

Tony

Dang it Tony !

Now the entire world will see my dirty, ugly ProPad !

Oh well, at least I cleaned out the mud-dauber nest and the spider webs this week.

1. This is the lower end of the 80/20 2020 rail slid into the ProPad 1010 Rail and secured by a C-Clamp which will serve as a stand-off for the rockets:



This is the 60-inch 2020 rail installed in the slot of the 66-inch BSR ProPad Rail:



This is a close up of the lower end end. You can see my messy hack-saw job where I wacked 5-feet off the original 13-foot stick in the Grainger's Parking Lot so I could being it all home in my pickup:



Finally, this is my 25+year old BSR ProPad with the 80/20 2020 rail inserted in the BSR 1010 Rail -- Solid as a rock and sliding the 2020 into the BSR 1010 removed a 1/2 inch bow from the 2020.



I promise to hose it off before anyone else besides you and I see it, Tony

-- kjh