Is there a DYI solution for 1010 rail buttons?

[JonathanOtt]

Ian, I explored some options, played with stuff off the rack at Lowe's, and ultimately ended up asking Jack Hydrazine to design a stand-off rail guide (for my Nike Smoke) when he introduced his 3D printed airfoiled rail guides, then I bought a spool of filament, had it sent to a friend and he printed my guides in exchange for the rest of the spool, with the agreement that I could always order more prints off my spool if/when needed.

I also found (someplace) an article about homemade buttons (probably an Apogee Newsletter article) where the author used nylon screws and nylon bolts and tinkered with spacing the gap to get 'em to fit the 1010 rail.

So, can DIY rail buttons be done? Sure. Will the RSO/LSO let 'em fly? I don't see why not (I mean, there are distributors selling 3-piece buttons (4 piece if you count the screw)... also there are a lot of 3D printed designs on Thingiverse now.

Necessity is the mother of invention, and there ain't nothing wrong with a little ingenuity sprinkled in there either.

 

[rharshberger]

The trick with using a 1/4-20 is that it IS the width of the 1010 slot, so it would be steel thread on aluminum slot even with nylon nuts or washers, iirc, 1010 rail buttons use #8 screws and you can use #8 standoffs (don't remember what they are called at the moment, its tube shaped and SOME may fit the slot) and two nylon washers. That being said, its not usually worth the time AND gas to chase down standoffs that will fit around the screw and in the slot.

 

[Philip Tiberius D.]

How about this...

 

[JonathanOtt]

View attachment 392421 How about this...

Is that a home made 1010 rail?

 

[Philip Tiberius D.]

Well... no. I bought the rail (locally) for $15 - it’s 8ft long. I’m using a “C-clamp” as my stop and “donated” one of my old baking sheets (I do all the cooking) as a “pad”. My launcher is a bicycle stand.

 

[Ez2cDave]

I also found (someplace) an article about homemade buttons (probably an Apogee Newsletter article) where the author used nylon screws and nylon bolts and tinkered with spacing the gap to get 'em to fit the 1010 rail.

Jonathan,

I believe this may be the Apogee Newsletter article that you referred to . . .

https://www.apogeerockets.com/education/downloads/Newsletter334.pdf

Dave F.