Putting lots of HP Rockets in a car, arriving with lots of broken fins

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richh

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Medium version: I teach a class for students to build a rocket to take a 1 lb payload 1 mile in the air. We go to the launch on a bus on saturday... but I can't get into the school Saturdays until after the bus leaves... .So I put the rockets in a my car... I try to be careful, but I get 2+ rockets (minimum) that need fins repaired.
Does anyone have any thoughts for how I can pack the rockets in my car (bubblewrap? Star Trek Stasis field?) so that I will minimize the number of fins that need repairing onsite?

Thanks for your thoughts!
 
On the surface it would seem that the fins are not being attached with a good bond. Especially since you are careful and likely not tossing them around in the car.

What kind of car and how many rockets?
 
On the surface it would seem that the fins are not being attached with a good bond. Especially since you are careful and likely not tossing them around in the car.

What kind of car and how many rockets?
Kia Sportster, 10+ rockets..., and a little rough handling

I'm thinking it's a combination of not the best attachment (students using epoxy for almost the first time)
 
If the fins were through the wall they should take a fair amount of rough handling without damage (scratched paint being ignored). I've seen high power rockets have a failed main deployment and come down under drogue and they bounce when they hit the field. Some are damaged, but most are ready to go again. If they are being damaged in transport they may not be built to handle the stresses of a high power flight.
 
Medium version: I teach a class for students to build a rocket to take a 1 lb payload 1 mile in the air. We go to the launch on a bus on saturday... but I can't get into the school Saturdays until after the bus leaves... .So I put the rockets in a my car... I try to be careful, but I get 2+ rockets (minimum) that need fins repaired.

Yep, 80+% of the damage I incur to my rockets is during transportation.
You can analyze the failure mode all you want, but in the end if rockets and fins bounce into each other on the way to the launch, something will get nicked or broken.

Does anyone have any thoughts for how I can pack the rockets in my car (bubblewrap? Star Trek Stasis field?) so that I will minimize the number of fins that need repairing onsite?

Bubble wrap is an option, but that puts the onus of protecting the rockets on you.
You have access to a much better thing - free slave (kids) labor. Hand the rockets out to kids to babysit on the way to the launch site. This way, they get to solve this problem for you!

HTH,
a

P.S.: I launch with 20-40 Cub Scouts each year. We build rockets together, but transportation to the launch event is their responsibility. Makes life SooooooooOOOO much easier for yours truly.
 
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Yep, 80+% of the damage I incur to my rockets is during transportation.
You can analyze the failure mode all you want, but in the end if rockets and fins bounce into each other on the way to the launch, something will get nicked or broken.



Bubble wrap is an option, but that puts the onus of protecting the rockets on you.
You have access to a much better thing - free slave (kids) labor. Hand the rockets out to kids to babysit on the way to the launch site. This way, they get to solve this problem for you!

HTH,
a

P.S.: I launch with 20-40 Cub Scouts each year. We build rockets together, but transportation to the launch event is their responsibility. Makes life SooooooooOOOO much easier for yours truly.
That's a VERY interesting idea.... I'm going to put a lot more on the kids next year, so just adding the rocket transport problem will solve lots of other issues!
 
To all...
Lots of GREAT ideas here... I'll start working on them and, hopefully, next year's launch will be SPECTACULAR with all of your help!

Here is a pic from this year's launch..
 

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Have you ever seen those triangular shipping boxes the post office offers?
I used those a lot wrapping each rocket in foam according to its diameter such that it slides into the box snugly with the fins sticking out one end.
Place in the vehicle with one rocket facing forwards and the next facing rewards with the fins of one interlocked with the nosecone of the rocket next to it, assuming the nosecone actually protrudes.
Stack then atop one another in a similar manner.

I used this method in my car, with dropdown rear seats and never suffered fin breakage during transport.
 
Keep the loading off the fins.
Get it so the fins are free hanging/ not in contact with anything.

this requires a 'riser' so that the rockets are laying on their body tubes. You can get quite creative trying to solve this..
 
i use down filled blankets. lay one on the back seat first.folded up to make a thick bed for my babies.
lay a couple rockets across the seat fin to NC, then lay another blanket on top of those rockets- just enough to cover whats down then lay a couple more rockets, fold blanket up over, then a couple more. seems to work pretty good for me. no broken fins.
 
If I had to haul 10 rockets in the back of my car (a Honda Fit—smaller than a Kia Sportage), this is how I would do it:

Rocket Crate.jpg

This is basically two cardboard inserts that would sit inside of a long box. The center rocket points one way, all the others point the opposite direction.

Figure out how you would arrange five rockets according to the sizes of their fin span. Note that rockets in opposite corners can rotate 45 degrees to minimize the height and width of the insert. Measure how large the inserts would have to be. Then find the length of the longest rocket.

With that info, go to your neighborhood U-Haul dealer and find a box (or two or three) that is long enough for the longest rocket, and wide and deep enough for the inserts. Get a shorter, heavier box—double corrugated—and cut the inserts out of the walls.

Cut your holes, insert your rockets, then set the whole thing down inside the box. Two boxes (maybe three or four) should fit easily in the back of a Sportage.

I only have to haul one rocket. But it's in the back of the car with a Jawstand launch rail, folding chairs, TV trays and all the other gear I drag down to the lake bed with me. It's of utmost importance to me that NOTHING breaks a fin or collapses a body tube by falling on the rocket. So I made this out of a U-Haul lamp box:

WP_20220324_014 (2).jpg WP_20220324_017.jpg

Then again, I'm fussy. YMMV. ;)
 
Not sure what size the rockets are that you are trying to haul, but this is a Medium shipping box from Home Depot with the glasses/cups inserts added...didn't use the horizontal divider, and then filled the compartments with packing peanuts...can hold up to 15 rockets
 

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and... an ironing board... to... iron the wrinkles out of your parachutes between flights?
That's funny. No, actually it's my packing table for the parachute. The shroud lines are almost 5 feet long, and it's a bunch easier on the ironing board. It's very lightweight, and small across the top. Perfect for tossing in the back. (But not on top of the rocket. ;)
 
Not sure what size the rockets are that you are trying to haul, but this is a Medium shipping box from Home Depot with the glasses/cups inserts added...didn't use the horizontal divider, and then filled the compartments with packing peanuts...can hold up to 15 rockets
Yep. Fold the sides up and hold them with a light bungee. Perfect.
 
I threw this together to protect the Cottonwood Cruiser for the trip to R3. I grabbed a few empty shrink wrap tubes from work and improvised as I went. I had to cut slots for the fins and a channel for the rail buttons. of course the fins poked out from the slots and that wouldn’t do so that’s where the tube fin look came from. Buttons don’t stick out but I might cover the channel I cut just to keep it pretty.
As long as the glue holds nothing will break those fins!
AF3AA245-A07D-4E67-AE55-E4257CFDB618.jpeg
 
Another version of a PVC rocket caddy that will fit inside a medium size SUV.
 

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