Video Rocketry

[Chr$]

I got a few requests from another thread (can't remember which one) for me to post one of my onboard rocket videos.

I did this on the cheap with a LOC Lil nuke. I replaced the body tube above the fincan with PML Quantum tube. The camera is an Intel Play Digital Movie Creator tht was taken out of it's case.

The mirror was from a 10-pak of mirrors from the craft store, and it is shrouded by a carved up estes BT-56 nosecone. The camera is mounted with the angle of the lens pointing upwards, which reduced the amount of angle needed on the mirror.

The camera was bought on ebay for about $50 and I have about $100 total in the entire rocket.

This is the fourth flight. The Payload section and main booster section remain intact, but the shock cord is attached to the top of the nose cone so the camera points down during both boost and recovery.

enjoy!


I'll add pictures of the rocket later.

Video

 

[Chuck Rudy]

All I got was machine language, what format is it in?

 

[Manwithbeers]

Excellent Video!
Really well done for what it cost you. I would love to repeat your success. I can't wait for your next posts.

 

[Chr$]

Its a windows .WMV file. Windows media player should play it. I clicked on it on two separate PC's on two different networks to ensure that it works. It's about 2.8 megs.

 

[jflis]

very cool, and a very good landing right in the launch area.

 

[loopy]

wow - nothing like close recovery, eh?? lol

 

[Chr$]

Yeah, the one time that it landed within 25 feet of the pad. every other time it landed amongst tumbleweeds way far away. The Skyward altimeter I have reports that I get about 1500 ft of altitude regardless if it's a G-125, G-80, G-33 (wahoo!) or G-35's. This is the only flight without the altimiter on-board.

This was also my L1 rocket. It flew on an H128 Sans Camera.

 

[WiK]

Thats cool!

So that was all recorded on the rocket, and not a downlink?

Phil

 

[Chr$]

The Intel DMC stores on flash memory. I just plug it into the USB port of the laptop and download it. Takes about a minuite.

The ones that I have seen with a downlink get too much static and they usually get LOS at Apogee.

 

[WiK]

The only problem I find with those sorts are if you loose the rocket/it gets destroyed etc then you loose the footage aswell. At least with a downlink you still get the cool footage...

 

[saxophone]

> All I got was machine language, what format is it in?

You need the Windows Media Player. If you have the player and your
browser is still showing you garbage, then your browser may not
be set up to use your player as a helper application. Try download
the file to your hard drive and playing it from there.

 

[shockwaveriderz]

nice flight and video Chr$...so that was done on an intel DMC huh? I have one of those......not bad video quality.....

I noticed your rocket didn't roll on launch....curious to see the rocket.....

 

[Chr$]

The video quality is actually much better. This is a compressed file so it wouldn' t be too big. I was truely amazed at the quality of this little camera.

As for the lack of roll during the boost, it depends whether I put the shroud in line with a fin or not, and how much. This is a 3FNC rocket, and if you watch the pic, I'm just off center of one the fins. There is also a 1/4 inch launch lug on the other side as well as three toggle switches.

The switches were a quick add, I'm surprised that they got bumped off on landing.

Photos in next post

 

[Chr$]

A closeup of the mirror

Another shot of the shroud

The Rocket (With my son and I) at a Launch in Tucson

 

[Manwithbeers]

Ok, Please explain again how it is that you keep the camera pointing down all the time. At apogee I see the booster disapear completely. The parachute seems to eject from the nose cone as well. I'm confused.

 

[Chr$]

Oops! Sorry about not being clear about that. I have flown it in several different configurations. I used dual recovery on the video I posted. That flight actually had the booster and payload come down under separate chutes. It seems to yield the best results. On that day they landed within 100 feet of each other. It's been a while and I had to think about it.

One of the times I flew it in "camera down" recovery, I left them attached.
It was a windy day, so everythng bobbed around a bit too much for my liking.
Every few frames you could see the booster. swinging by.

In one of the two "Camera Up" flights, one of the shourd lines came off and everything tossed around a bit. The other "camera up" flight was nominal, but got boring looking at the clouds.

On the booster, the Shock cord is mounted as usual. It has a small chute that goes in ON TOP of the chute that is attached to the camera payload. This way, they pull each other out on ejection. Don't ask me how they don't get tangled. Luck, I guess.

The payload section has the cord tied to a washer inside the nose. It is fed from the washer (which is a stopper) up thru tip of the nose, down the airframe into a slot in the top of the booster's airframe. At ejection, everything comes out together. All extra take-up cord is stored in the nose and pulls out until the washer hits the top of the nose and stops. The rocket has a LOC plastic nose.

During boost I use a small piece of masking tape to keep the cord from pulling out premeturley.

The next and probably last flight I am playing with having some sort of tripod landing legs pop out at apogee sort of like on one of those Estes kits (can't remember the name) so I get an "Eagle has landed " sort of effect instead of the thing crashing down on it' side like it does now.

 

[Manwithbeers]

Originally posted by Chr$

The next and probably last flight I am playing with having some sort of tripod landing legs pop out at apogee sort of like on one of those Estes kits (can't remember the name) so I get an "Eagle has landed " sort of effect instead of the thing crashing down on it' side like it does now.

That would be as cool as the Gates brothers 2nd Jayhawk flight. Good Luck and thank you. I'm going to find one of those cameras.

 

[Chr$]

I saw that Jayhawk land in person. DONK! right on it's tail. Phht...Phht... (chutes touching down) Coooooool. They designed it to do that.

 

[Peter]

Chr$, Thanks for the post of your project. I have been looking for just such a system and am excited about building one. I'm amazed at the quality of video from such an inexpensive camera.
I would appreciate it if you could answer a few questions for me:
1. Was it diificult to open up the camera, did it snap open or did you break it open.
2. What about the toggle switches, easy enough to solder on?
3. Did your quantum tubing go flat after you cut it or did it keep it's shape?
4. Does the lens protrude out of the tubing / screw on to the outside? How did you line up the mirror? Trial & error?
Thanks again, amazing video, please post some others if you get
a chance. - Peter

 

[Chr$]

Answers:


1. Was it diificult to open up the camera, did it snap open or did you break it open.

Screws. I also soldered a 9V battery clip to the AA battery holder contacts for more reliability. No voltage regulator needed. I made little guides to slip it in to with that plastistruct square tubing.

2. What about the toggle switches, easy enough to solder on?

I removed the trigger pushbutton and soldered small leads to the solder pads. I then gloped hot glue to "harden" them. Did this with all added and existing wiring to keep things intact during flight. I also CA'd the little rubber buttons to their respective contact pads, but never need to use them. Just powering up the camera and turning on the toggle switch for the trigger is all it needs. At landing, turn off the trigger switch and plug in the USB cable. Software and camera do the rest. This thing was made for this!

3. Did your quantum tubing go flat after you cut it or did it keep it's shape?

No, it kept it's shape.

4. Does the lens protrude out of the tubing / screw on to the outside? How did you line up the mirror? Trial & error?

The lens is attached to the main board with a connector. I didn't change that. I hot glued it to heep it intact. The camera is actually mounted upside down with the odd angle of the lens causing it to point up. I then took some clay and stuck it on the airframe. I then stuck the mirror to it and powered up the camera. In "live" mode, you can see what the camera sees on the computer screen. after I got the angle that looked good, I built up a tape dam behind the mirror, removed the clay, and filled the dam with epoxy. This created chunk of epoxy holding the mirror at just the right angle from the back. I then carved up an estes NC55 and epoxied it to the airframe, trimming the trailing edge along the mirror's surface.

The mirror did pop out after flight three's landing, but the epoxy chunk stayed put. I just CA'd it back in.

I glued the microphone to the PCB so it is shielded from wind. The Camera bay is lined with aluminum tape with a bond wire to the ground plane of the PCB. I couldn't get the thing to operate properly with it's own shielding installed so I removed it. I don't think the shielding is needed, however.

I'll try to take more pics of the camera and camera bay and upload them. I just bought our plane tickets for NSL2004 and I plan to fly it there for some new scenery.

Here they are:

 

[cls]

CHR$ - very cool!! I loooove watching the motors light and the ground pull away ...

I agree, flash recording is definitely better than xmitted.

if you are interested in video rocketry, consider signing up for yahoo groups "vidroc" group.

 

[Chr$]

I'm already on it. I just don't have the bandwith to post in too many forums. Maybe I'll send some stuff that way.

 

[Mike]

Peter, fantastic videos, I'm feeling pretty inspired to try something with a Pencam or such.

How high was this flight?