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We had a customer contact us through a vendor we do some wholesale work for. He had a drawing for some rings he wanted. So we made him a couple:

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Actually.. we made him 10 of each! These are 7.52 rings, 4" inner hole, and some features. The other holes are 3/4" inch. 1/2" birch plywood.... if I can get out of the house tomorrow with this snow storm, they'll be shipped outta here!

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Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC
 
Today we cut a bunch of 1/8" G10 material into some bulkplates. These are 4" coupler plates and airframe plates. This project is a good example of a use of a custom cutting service. These are pretty stock items, they could be purchased... except off the shelf the hole is in the middle, take it or leave it. UpscaleCNC can produce semi-custom items like this that match the customers needs (in this case, 2 1/4" holes on 3" centers, and two holes at 1.25 turned 90 degrees) for the SAME price as the stock item. We made some plates earlier this week to fit standard 3" paper coupler but with no center hole, just a small mark to indicate center- same price as the off the shelf item that had a center hole the customer didn't want.

Custom means having what you want!

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Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC
 
I ordered a few 54mm thin wall fin guides from Nat earlier this week, received today!

I would post a picture, but I don't have permission...
 
Nat,

You had done 5.38" rings for me in the past with (3) 38mm mounts, I was pleased with the result and the price was VERY reasonable. :)

What is the maximum thickness G-10 you stock and/or able to machine?

Thank you,
 
rfjustin said:
What is the maximum thickness G-10 you stock and/or able to machine?
Click to expand...

I have in stock 1/8" material, there is some 3/16 in the shop but that mostly belongs to Ken Allen/Performance Hobbies although I'm sure we could work something out. As for how thick I could cut... I could go as heavy as 5/8" and maybe even 3/4, though that would be quite expensive in time and material!

Nat
 
Is upscalecnc a wholesale only operation? The custom work looks awesome but there is never any indication of how to contact it for info or quotes and searches on the internet just lead to offers to register a domain. If I should need such work in future how would you be contacted?
 
Just received my first order from Nat. What great product. Will differently recommend him and do business with him again. Also thank you to W F Cook for allowing his design to be shared with all of us who like it!

Dennis
 
Dwatkins said:
Just received my first order from Nat. What great product. Will differently recommend him and do business with him again. Also thank you to W F Cook for allowing his design to be shared with all of us who like it!

Dennis
Click to expand...

Building a Drei Max? Awesome! Be sure to send me some pics!

PM me if you have questions.
 
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We ran a small project today for a club member/friend/fellow vendor-- MARSA designer, JD. These are a pair of 5" bulkheads he'll use in a nosecone that will mount a CO2 ejection system as well as the new MARSANet remote pyro unit. Perhaps he can chime in here with a picture.

The small holes are for mounting things, the .75 hole is for the CO2 system, and the pair of medium holes, a ubolt.

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Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC
 
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When you cut a lot of stuff, you get a lot of scrap! I cleaned up a bunch of cut sheets that had been accumulating in the shop by cutting/breaking them up into woodstove sized pieces. Some would call this kindling, but it's a 30 gallon trash barrel full, and this is the 4th one since the summer... so we just burn it in quantities when we have the chance. Here's the scrap on the floor from today and the newly full can. I do keep quite a bit of material in useable chunks but the vast majority of it is scrap.

G10 is starting to accumulate too, I haven't cut much of that up yet. Can't burn that, though... I'll probably keep more of it too in smaller sizes because of the cost difference.

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Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC
 
Wingarcher said:
When you cut a lot of stuff, you get a lot of scrap! I cleaned up a bunch of cut sheets that had been accumulating in the shop by cutting/breaking them up into woodstove sized pieces. Some would call this kindling, but it's a 30 gallon trash barrel full, and this is the 4th one since the summer... so we just burn it in quantities when we have the chance. Here's the scrap on the floor from today and the newly full can. I do keep quite a bit of material in useable chunks but the vast majority of it is scrap.

G10 is starting to accumulate too, I haven't cut much of that up yet. Can't burn that, though... I'll probably keep more of it too in smaller sizes because of the cost difference.

View attachment 254526

View attachment 254527

Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC
Click to expand...

My son picked up a homemade furnace and installed it in my unheated shop/garage. We call it "The Iron Pig" and it goes through plywood scrap and collapsed barn lumber like crap through a goose! But it keeps the building warm enough to work on all but the coldest days. And yes, it is properly vented through the roof.

I could not be more pleased with the fine work and great service that Nat Kinsey provides to me and I recommend him highly. If you contact him via the Private Message function here on TRF, he will respond.

Nat, photo number two looks like some sort of modern art display. I like it! :wink:
 
It's been a month since an update...... oops! Time flies like chips from a router burr! We've been pretty busy over the past month, doing a few custom projects as well as a large quantity of wholesale parts for a new customer. A couple interesting projects came through in the last week so here they are!

First up is a set of Arcas fins from 1/8 G10, sized to the customers spec for 5" glass tube. He also requested rings, one with aeropack drilling, one with relief slots for harness straps and one.... plain one. AND a fin jig- this is sized for the 4" motor tube and the slots are large enough for subsequent 4" projects. Smart thinking...


image(2).jpeg

Second project was from today and is a bit of a rush job. The customer supplied a DXF file and we supplied the cutting. Interesting fins, these are 23" long and 1/2" plywood... I suspect there will be some foaming and glassing going on. If not, I bet these fins will whistle! FIle was sent Tuesday, cut Wednesday, ship Thursday!

image(3).jpeg

Spring is on the way, finally got the driveway back to gravel. Plenty of snow everywhere else still though. Flying season will be here in the NorthEast before ya know it!

Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC
 
Hey, my fins!!! These plywood beauties are a work of art; I may just hang them on the wall in my office. Right.......:wink:
 
Looks great!! What the heck is all that green stuff!? Jealous... Spring has a ways to go here.

I have quite a few updates to post, but been busy and haven't gotten around to it. A few interesting projects have run through the shop, including a huge set of parts for a L3 project. But first, the RIT Spring Juggle-in is this weekend!

Nat
 
I'm looking forward to hearing back about a L2 project a buddy and I want to do.
 
PM sent! Been a busy boy here, helping the MARS club with a 3 day launch (NYPOWER) this weekend. Getting back into the saddle now.

I think it's time to post some pictures... everyone likes pictures, no?!

Tonimus said:
I'm looking forward to hearing back about a L2 project a buddy and I want to do.
Click to expand...
 
First up- A set of 3 fins for a customer who sent us a RockSim file for a project based on 6" PML tubing. He was interested in some rings and fins as well as a fin jig to use. The fin jig would have been quite large due to the 6" tube and the span of the fins in his design. We discussed and he decided to try a jig that fits between two fins and sits against the body tube. Interesting idea!

Here's the fins and jig parts. We tarted the jigs up a little to make them look better. :smile: Note the fin has a slot in it to fully straddle a full height ring, position per supplied Rocksim file.


IMG_1721.jpg

Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC
 
Up next... a local flier came up with a grand plan for a complex rocket, this sort of thing usually only seen as a group project. He's going it alone and did all the design work for these parts. He supplied us with dimensioned pencil sketches that we transferred to the computer and turned them into plywood. The caliper in the pictures is 12", these parts are around 8 and 9 inches in diameter. Basically a center core plus boosters that will drop mid-flight and recover on their own. Many altimeters. :y:

The foam deserves mention- that was 3 2'x8' sheets of 2" foam. The large rings on the right are 14" in diameter and there's 14 of them! The whole shop was pink-ish-purple for a while.

The last pic shows all the parts he designed as part of the drop away mechanism and frangible bolt mounts and so-on.

All this- one rocket. There's some part over-lap in the first two pictures.

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Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC
 
But wait, there's more- another fun project! This customer is going to wrap the glass portion of the fin with phenolic. We did the design so that the phenolic strips are the right width to make the finished fin the right size, allowing for a slot to be cut in the edge of the phenolic. The UpscaleCNC shop doesn't have a milling machine so that operation will be done by the customer. A composite layup will complete the fin. Two different sizes here.

Also made some of the most massive fin-jigs ever... these are 3 each alike, and made from 3/4" MDF. 1/8" slots in the smaller one, 0.1875 in the larger. The small holes are 1/2".


IMG_1780.jpg

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IMG_1746.jpg

Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC
 
Ya'll like pictures, right? Here's some more... we made some altimeter bay parts and some nose-cone tracker bay (and altimeter, too) parts for another customer. These are pretty simple parts to manufacture as they're mostly hole drilling and then a quick cut out. Simple enough, once you figure out where to put all the holes!! Frequently we don't use the CNC router to cut small holes like this. We spot the holes with a smaller endmill and then do some secondary operations on the cut out part with the drill press to get the holes to final size. Easier and the holes sizes are more accurate.

The dogbone shapes slip over the altimeter boards and then over 1/4" threaded rods in the bay. Nifty way to center up the board and slide it over all-thread.

The small blank stepped bulkheads will be used to plug the ends of airframe in conjunction with the tip-to-tip fin jig and a vac bag setup. No (fewer) vacuum leaks!

IMG_1738.jpg

IMG_1788.jpg

IMG_1789.jpg

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One more and then my laptop battery is going to be dead...

We made some rings like this before for the same customer. I believe the design changed a bit so a new set of rings were required. I think these will be used in an amateur rocket hosting a liquid fueled motor.... cool. Anyway- 10 of one, 6 of another, 4 of a third. All roughly 7.5" and made from 1/2" baltic birch plywood to the customers supplied paper drawing.

View attachment 264136

Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC
 
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Wingarcher said:
But wait, there's more- another fun project! This customer is going to wrap the glass portion of the fin with phenolic. We did the design so that the phenolic strips are the right width to make the finished fin the right size, allowing for a slot to be cut in the edge of the phenolic. The UpscaleCNC shop doesn't have a milling machine so that operation will be done by the customer. A composite layup will complete the fin. Two different sizes here.

Also made some of the most massive fin-jigs ever... these are 3 each alike, and made from 3/4" MDF. 1/8" slots in the smaller one, 0.1875 in the larger. The small holes are 1/2".


View attachment 264131

View attachment 264130

View attachment 264129

Nat Kinsey
UpscaleCNC
Click to expand...


ಠ_ಠ
 
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butalane said:
ಠ_ಠ
Click to expand...

Looks like someone liked your work. This customer supplied dimensions, desired widths, planned slot depth, the material, etc etc. The designs I produced were based entirely on that information and supplied drawings. Until now, I didn't know about your rocket.

As for duplicating things, or not- I will not copy something that I know to be available commercially. Radically modified versions of a commercial product (the Tres-Max) are taken on a case by case basis.

N
 

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