Rube Goldberg Lander

[JAL3]

I arrived home today to find the first two of several boxes, mostly dedicated to my newest project, the project of a fevered mind, the project of a person who works regulary within a psychiatric ward, the project of a a complete fool with an abundance of faith!

One box was from Semroc. I expected it to be MUCH bigger but everybody knows that Semroc is good at warping Spacetime. The other box was from Rocketarium.com. It was about as expected since part of that order is for other things.

 

[JAL3]

The first to be opened was the box from Rocketarium.com. It had a model of a Korean rocket I wanted along with a few streamers but those are not important here. I was waiting to see my 4 chutes and 5 motor retainers.

 

[JAL3]

Next up was the Semroc box. I had forgotten about my "freebie" which was sitting on top. It was relegated to the same heap as the Korean sounding rocket from Rocketarium. Even with the better view, though, it was hard to make out the contents, what with the peanuts, packing tubes inside of each other and whatnot.

 

[JAL3]

I had to see the stuff spread out so I took it out of the box and consolidated the parts for the Rube Goldberg Lander into one spread on the floor.

 

[JAL3]

It has lots of tubes, lots of nosecones, lots of centering rings.

Much more is on the way.

Bwa-ha-ha-ha.

I'm going to go take my Thorazine now.

 

[sodmeister]

OH my..look at all those parts ! You just gotta love that ,I sure do :wink:

I look forward to seeing this project unfold.


Paul t

 

[JAL3]

I look forward to seeing this project unfold.


Paul t

Making this project UNFOLD is critical to its success!

 

[hornet driver]

Your MAD--MAD I SAY, YOU'VE STEPPED OVER THE EDGE AND TAKEN THE LAST BIT OF HUMANITY LEFT IN YOU!!! On a calmer note , I seem to be missing my last batch of marshmellons--hmm. Use them wisely, I have my eye--eyes--eye--whatever---on you----H

 

[krusty]

I'm in

Krusty

 

[JAL3]

SEMROC does it again!

About an hour and a half ago, I realized that I had only ordered 4 balsa BT50 couplers when I need 12. I went to the Semroc site to order the 8 I'm missing. I was almost all of the way through the order process. All I needed was to submit payment information.

That is when SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED demanded my undivided attention for a matter of grave importance (to her!).

We just finished up a few minutes ago and I already have an email from Semroc that the order has been submitted.

I guess I need to go back to the Semroc site and pay. THen I can walk to the front door to see if it has arrived yet.

 

[JPVegh]

It looks like Christmas in May.

 

[JAL3]

Even though everything had not come in yet, I HAD TO GET STARTED!

The first thing I located was the BNC-60K cones. These will be for the Main Recovery Pods.

 

[JAL3]

Next up were the BNC-60RLs. These are for the Drogue Recovery Pods.

 

[JAL3]

The original intent was for the 2 Main Recovery Pods to have the same total length as the 2 Drogue Recovery Pods but, looking through the Semroc offerings, a selection was already available that was "close enough". Besides, Sheryl cuts tubes much more cleanly than I do!

 

[JAL3]

Next up, the 4 identical Pod Shoulders were located.

 

[JAL3]

These were test fitted onto the pods and I deemed the result to be "what I was looking for".

 

[JAL3]

The problem with the shoulders is that they were solid. I wanted to pass the recovery harnesses through them so I took a 1/16" drill bit and hand twisted it through the shoulder to act as a pilot hole.

 

[DAllen]

op:

 

[JAL3]

An 1/8" bit was then used to enlarge the hole.

 

[JAL3]

That hole wasn't big enough so I enlarged it with a 1/4" bit.

 

[JAL3]

I tried doubling the bit diameter again but the point started to wander too much and I used a 3/8" bit for another pass.

 

[JAL3]

With that done, I made the final penetration with the 1/2" bit.

 

[JAL3]

The process was repeated with the other 3 shoulders to give a total of four.

 

[boomtube]

So is this rocket intended to land Rube Goldberg at some designated landing site or land something on poor Mr. Goldberg?
How about an image of what this, contraption?. . .abomination?. . .malicious use of otherwise innocent rocketry parts? will look like.

“I know the voices aren’t real, but they have some great ideas”

 

[Daddyisabar]

The Sith are watching this build with much interest.

 

[rocketgeek101]

How about an image of what this, contraption?. . .abomination?. . .malicious use of otherwise innocent rocketry parts? will look like.

+1

 

[JAL3]

So is this rocket intended to land Rube Goldberg at some designated landing site or land something on poor Mr. Goldberg?
How about an image of what this, contraption?. . .abomination?. . .malicious use of otherwise innocent rocketry parts? will look like.

“I know the voices aren’t real, but they have some great ideas”

It is meant to restore poor Rube Goldberg's reputation, even if only by comparison.

I'd like to post a pic but I can't. Rocsim has no way to handle many of the situations on this rocket. Let's say it combines the worst aspects of the Mars Lander, the Flying Why, the LTV Scout, the Cosmostrator and a few design rejected by the Farside cartoon as too improbably.

 

[JAL3]

Those holes were put in the shoulders for a reason. They didn't have to be pretty, only functional. With a Kevlar cord passing through them, however, I wanted to give the balsa a bit of protection. For that reason I poured out a glob of Titebond III and used an epoxy brush to "paint" the glue along the inside of the holes. The hope is that this will lessen the effect of "sawing" and provide some char protection.

 

[JAL3]

The original application of glue on the reducers got a day to dry and I took a look at the results.

 

[JAL3]

I decided to give the reducers another coating of Titebond III.