NEW 7075 Aluminum U-Bolts - beta testers wanted

[Landru]

Now, though they will be on sale starting Friday.

https://www.additiveaerospace.com/c...s/products/aluminum-u-bolt-machined-7075-t651

 

[troj]

Thanks! I'll check on them tomorrow.

-Kevin

 

[manixFan]

Got my order in, looking forward to using them.

Tony

 

[rfjustin]

I received the (10) I ordered, they look great, and looking forward to trying them!

 

[troj]

Shiny new metal bits arrived today - thanks!

 

[manixFan]

I received the (10) I ordered, they look great, and looking forward to trying them!

Unfortunately I only got part of my order, and no packing list to know if the rest if on backorder or if it was a shipping error. Hopefully I'll hear back from Andrew soon. That aside, the u-bolts look great and are very lightweight as promised. I ordered 10 with hardware and 10 without (only got 5 with hardware, so wondering if he ran out one of the components). I plan on using some with aluminum hardware throughout for the weight savings.


Tony

 

[manixFan]

Oh man, these are just what I have been looking for!! I have been using a variety of improvised methods to hold my fingertrap loops without having to use a quick link, but none have been very satisfactory. These are a perfect fit for the way I setup my recovery for the majority of my rockets. I thought I over did it when I ordered 20 of them, but that's likely not going to be enough.

Below are photos of a 54mm and 75mm nosecone. For a lot of my nosecones I run all thread from the metal tip all the way down past the bulkhead, which is what you see in the 75mm shot. I'll eventually trim the length of the all thread to better match the u-bolt. With a little modification I'm pretty sure I can get it to work with a 38mm nosecone as well. I am very pleased with my purchase of the u-bolts.


Tony

54mm nose cone with 1200 lb Kevlar:

75mm nose cone with 2000lb Kevlar:

 

[David_Stack]

Unfortunately I only got part of my order, and no packing list to know if the rest if on backorder or if it was a shipping error. Hopefully I'll hear back from Andrew soon. That aside, the u-bolts look great and are very lightweight as promised. I ordered 10 with hardware and 10 without (only got 5 with hardware, so wondering if he ran out one of the components). I plan on using some with aluminum hardware throughout for the weight savings.


Tony

Good evening Tony;

Likely you’ve already got a source for aluminum hardware, but on the off chance you don’t, I purchased aluminum cap head bolts and aluminum aircraft lock nuts from Pro Bolt. Wide selection and fast shipping. Alas no button head bolts with the head diameters I was looking for to work with Andrew’s U-bolts.

PS. Love your handiwork!

 

[manixFan]

Good evening Tony;

Likely you’ve already got a source for aluminum hardware, but on the off chance you don’t, I purchased aluminum cap head bolts and aluminum aircraft lock nuts from Pro Bolt. Wide selection and fast shipping. Alas no button head bolts with the head diameters I was looking for to work with Andrew’s U-bolts.

PS. Love your handiwork!

Thanks for the kind words and advice. As you guessed, I do have a significant number of fasteners already on hand. Your source looks like very high quality hardware - I'll keep it for future reference, especially since the parts are anodized - my current stuff is just plain.

To get the u-bolt to work with a 38mm nose cone (where the all-thread goes from tip to bulkplate), I am planning on just threading the G10 cap for the smaller bolt and not using a nut at all. There's so little weight to a 38mm nosecone relative to the strength of the u-bolt that I'm not worried about it pulling out of the G10 and releasing the recovery line (the G10 is 2 layers thick). I'll have to file just a hair off the end of the u-bolt for clearance inside the 38mm body tube. Of course if I use a different retention method for the bulkplate, I can just move the u-bolt off-center and it will fit fine.


Tony