Square Tube Rocket

[Q-Aero]

What will be the advantage and disadvantage of a rocket made from a square tube ? I will guess smaller fins can be use

 

[boatgeek]

What will be the advantage and disadvantage of a rocket made from a square tube ? I will guess smaller fins can be use



View attachment 309058

Advantages: maybe smaller fins (although that didn't pan out for me), maybe easier to pack chutes in the tube, different from everyone else's rockets.

Disadvantages: Nearly everything else. You have to lay up your own tube, figure out couplers, figure out a nose cone, etc. etc. There's so much stuff that's built around standard sizes of round rockets that you don't realize how much you'll have to re-do.

See my build thread here: https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...don-A-square-rocket-that-doesn-t-quite-fit-in

 

[BABAR]

Advantages: maybe smaller fins (although that didn't pan out for me), maybe easier to pack chutes in the tube, different from everyone else's rockets.

Disadvantages: Nearly everything else. You have to lay up your own tube, figure out couplers, figure out a nose cone, etc. etc. There's so much stuff that's built around standard sizes of round rockets that you don't realize how much you'll have to re-do.

See my build thread here: https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...don-A-square-rocket-that-doesn-t-quite-fit-in

I disagree. At least for low power and mid power. Can't speak for high power

Nose cones? Easy and CHEAP! Can readily be folded out of card stock origami style to fit any size you want the make.

Body tubes? Can be folded out of poster board, may have to double it up.

Centering rings? Well, they would be squares. Again at least for low power can be cut out of foam board easily. I have an 18 mm drill mounted hole saw which, with a touch of sanding will easily and securely fit BT-20 for an 18 mm engine motor mount. A 24 mm works to fit a BT-50 for 24 mm mounts. Drill your hole first, then center your square cut around the hole and cut out with an exact knife and a metal ruler.

Fins? Don't understand how you think you can use smaller fins, if anything due to increased drag from the origami geometrically angled cone will move CP a bit forward and you will need more fin area. But attachment? Think literally outside the box. Stick the fins flat along the side sticking out parallel to the sides of the rocket. They won't look symmetrical but your alignment will be automatically perfect and they will work fine, and look cool.

Performance? Okay, definitely will take a hit, but you aren't building for altitude, you are building for the cool factor (and its cheap, for simple LPR rockets I have read that the most expensive part of the kit is usually the nose cone.) As I said, for card stock costs you next to nothing. Can't say that for a standard o give 1, 2, 3, or 4 inch cone.

By the way, why stop at square? Think triangle, pentagon, hexagon.
Think outside the circle!

 

[Zeus-cat]

There is a rocket company that makes square rockets; I have a few of them. The company is called NewWay. Here is a link to their kits at eRockets: https://www.erockets.biz/newway-model-rocket-kits/

 

[blackbrandt]

And while you're building this, you might as well enter it in the contest going on right now
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...t-challenge-quarterly-challenge-first-quarter

 

[BABAR]

And while you're building this, you might as well enter it in the contest going on right now
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...t-challenge-quarterly-challenge-first-quarter

Thanks for showing me this Matt!

 

[Nytrunner]

There's a good square build thread in the Hi-power forum.
Search for "Dimetrodon"(fixed spelling) by Boatgeek.

 

[Woody's Workshop]

For centering rings, get some 13mm, 18mm, or 24mm to BT-80's and square them up, or hex em or what ever.

 

[Bat-mite]

If you are using an altimeter, especially for dual deployment, then the calculation of volume for the AV bay is very different. Talk to someone who has done this to get a good idea of the number and location of sampling ports.

 

[Andy Greene]

There is a rocket company that makes square rockets; I have a few of them. The company is called NewWay. Here is a link to their kits at eRockets: https://www.erockets.biz/newway-model-rocket-kits/

That Exocet is pretty cool-
https://www.erockets.biz/newway-flying-model-rocket-kit-exocet-nwy-24/

 

[BEC]

The pic in the original post is a NewWay Lune R-4, which is a square interpretation of the Semroc Lune R-1. The fins on the original Semroc design are just as small......

I'll try to post a pic of the two of them side by side later tonight.

 

[Dave A]

Built one out of a FedEx tube. I made the nose cone out of 1/4" birch ply and paneling for the centerings and fins.
Flew just fine.

 

[TOM C]

If you are using an altimeter, especially for dual deployment, then the calculation of volume for the AV bay is very different. Talk to someone who has done this to get a good idea of the number and location of sampling ports.

This square tube rocket has its avbay located in a corner of a body tube and had avbay problems as John mentions.
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...ARGE-12-quot-x-12-quot-RECTANGULAR-BODY-TUBES

 

[BEC]

Here are the Lune R-4 and Lune R-1, finished similarly (and on the same day). The square tubing is much thicker and so the Lune R-4 is half again heavier (2.4 vs. 1.6 ounces). The Lune R-1 is 1 inch in diameter, the Lune R-4's body tube is 1 inch square and the lengths of the body and payload tubes are the same. The fins on the Lune R-4 are slightly larger in both chord and span. Both fly well.

 

[Bat-mite]

It's like Superman and Bizarro Superman.