Senior Space Cadet
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 23, 2020
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I went to my first club launch.
I launched one of my scratch builds, a couple times, and brought it home unscathed.
Some other rockets, at this event, weren't so lucky.
It would appear that failure of recovery systems is fairly common.
The most common result is a crumpling of the first several inches of body tube.
If you have a really long rocket, cutting off a few inches, and then adding some weight to the nose, will fix the problem.
I would suggest considering a replaceable front section on the rocket as an insurance policy.
I saw one rocket become unstable and lawn dart severely, yet it received no damage, because it was fiberglass.
I looked into fiberglass parts and they are really expensive, but the cost might be justified, in the long run.
I've bought baffles for a couple of my builds. I'll probably glue half into the bottom section of body tube and leave the other half unglued. Hopefully, the upper tube won't come off when the ejection charge goes off.
I launched one of my scratch builds, a couple times, and brought it home unscathed.
Some other rockets, at this event, weren't so lucky.
It would appear that failure of recovery systems is fairly common.
The most common result is a crumpling of the first several inches of body tube.
If you have a really long rocket, cutting off a few inches, and then adding some weight to the nose, will fix the problem.
I would suggest considering a replaceable front section on the rocket as an insurance policy.
I saw one rocket become unstable and lawn dart severely, yet it received no damage, because it was fiberglass.
I looked into fiberglass parts and they are really expensive, but the cost might be justified, in the long run.
I've bought baffles for a couple of my builds. I'll probably glue half into the bottom section of body tube and leave the other half unglued. Hopefully, the upper tube won't come off when the ejection charge goes off.