Eric
Well-Known Member
This is a post build write up for my Mach 1 Rocketry, Black Hole EXT. Steve was great working with me on shipping. I had the kit sent to a hotel I would be at for three weeks. I will do a write up of the second kit (X-AGM-76 Piercer) in another post. The Black Hole EXT was compleated and flown at LDRS.
This was 1 of 9 rocket kits that got started during that trip. Some images may overlap with the other write-up. But I will do my best to sort everything out.
I started by unpacking the kits and organizing all the pieces. The kits were very nicely packaged and very complete. I did a dry mock-up of all the parts and was very happy how nice everything fit together. The fin slots were perfectly straight and cut to very close tolerances. The fins would stay lined up almost perfect even without the fin guides. I was happy about this because a couple other kits I had recently received from another manufacturer required a lot of fin slot adjustment to make them fit.
After sorting all the parts. Everything got a nice hot bath with some Dawn. It wasn't the easiest thing cleaning in a hotel sink. But the job got done very well.
These were early release kits and the nose cone and decals were shipped separately.
After everything was dry, all of the parts received and initial wipe down with acetone. And all parts that would see epoxy we're roughed up with 60 Grit sandpaper. Then wiped with acetone again.
I started assembly with the motor mount tube and centering rings. The top centering ring received a second notch so that the included Kevlar harness could be installed as a " Y ". BSI 30 minute was used for tacking the fiberglass parts together and attaching the recovery harness. The top 3 centering rings were tacked on before the motor mount was installed.
The fins were scuffed and the root were combed for added physical bonding area. It also allowed epoxy to flow nicely once the internals where injected. At home I would have used the bandsaw with all the fins stacked for this. But in a hotel they received a Dremel with a cut off wheel. Not as clean, but it worked.
The motor mount tube was inserted and the four forward fins were tacked in with 30 minute. Each fin received a small external fillet of System Three T-88. I wanted to seal all the fin joints prior to injecting internals.
I drilled a hole big enough for my 60ml syringe at the top side of each fin. I used about 50ml in each fin cavity. Covered each hole with a small piece of masking tape. Then began heating the fin can and rotating to evenly flow epoxy around all the parts. With an 8-hour cure time the T-88 flowed very well with a hotel hair dryer. I added black dye to the T-88 and you could see it wick under the centering rings when heat was applied to the area.
After about 15 minutes of heating and rotating. The entire internal fin area was well covered . The rocket was left nose down to cure for the night.
This was 1 of 9 rocket kits that got started during that trip. Some images may overlap with the other write-up. But I will do my best to sort everything out.
I started by unpacking the kits and organizing all the pieces. The kits were very nicely packaged and very complete. I did a dry mock-up of all the parts and was very happy how nice everything fit together. The fin slots were perfectly straight and cut to very close tolerances. The fins would stay lined up almost perfect even without the fin guides. I was happy about this because a couple other kits I had recently received from another manufacturer required a lot of fin slot adjustment to make them fit.
After sorting all the parts. Everything got a nice hot bath with some Dawn. It wasn't the easiest thing cleaning in a hotel sink. But the job got done very well.
These were early release kits and the nose cone and decals were shipped separately.
After everything was dry, all of the parts received and initial wipe down with acetone. And all parts that would see epoxy we're roughed up with 60 Grit sandpaper. Then wiped with acetone again.
I started assembly with the motor mount tube and centering rings. The top centering ring received a second notch so that the included Kevlar harness could be installed as a " Y ". BSI 30 minute was used for tacking the fiberglass parts together and attaching the recovery harness. The top 3 centering rings were tacked on before the motor mount was installed.
The fins were scuffed and the root were combed for added physical bonding area. It also allowed epoxy to flow nicely once the internals where injected. At home I would have used the bandsaw with all the fins stacked for this. But in a hotel they received a Dremel with a cut off wheel. Not as clean, but it worked.
The motor mount tube was inserted and the four forward fins were tacked in with 30 minute. Each fin received a small external fillet of System Three T-88. I wanted to seal all the fin joints prior to injecting internals.
I drilled a hole big enough for my 60ml syringe at the top side of each fin. I used about 50ml in each fin cavity. Covered each hole with a small piece of masking tape. Then began heating the fin can and rotating to evenly flow epoxy around all the parts. With an 8-hour cure time the T-88 flowed very well with a hotel hair dryer. I added black dye to the T-88 and you could see it wick under the centering rings when heat was applied to the area.
After about 15 minutes of heating and rotating. The entire internal fin area was well covered . The rocket was left nose down to cure for the night.
