What did you do rocket wise today?

[GrouchoDuke]

Looked at some flight data & electronics code. Shot the s**t with AeroAggie about rocket stuff.

 

[OverTheTop]

It's Kester 245 .020" solder. Says it melts at 180C, I think I run my iron at 375F. I actually really like the solder that comes with the eggtimer kits. It's lead based, with a "no clean water based flux". It works, easy to use, pretty results.

Careful you are not running your iron a bit too cool. If the solder melts at 180C, then the iron need to be about 30 degrees above that, at around 210-215C minimum. 375F is about 190C. Melting the solder does just that, it melts but doesn't form the intermetallic layers (only a few atoms thick) with the underlying PCB pads. There is just not enough vibrational energy in the joint to work. This results in weak joints.

Funnily enough running the iron results in too thick intermetallics which can result in the joints breaking in brittle failure.

Using a temperature 30C or so above the melting point gives you good joints and minimises stress on the PCB. This can allow you to rework components without the tracks and pads falling off.

 

[DigBaddy]

I flew two rockets on Sat. 8/27 at the Bong State Park, WI. It was Woosh's two day ECOF launch. Details on the Woosh website. I flew a Go Joe rocket by LOC. It was a kit sold in honor of one of our members. It's a 2.5" dia rocket. I flew it for the spot landing contest with a Cesaroni 24mm F70WT to 860'. It landed 20' 11" from the target. I was just informed that I won that contest. I also flew a Binder Design Sentinel to 2141" on a AeroTech I280DM, dual deploy. Good flights, easy recoveries. I then volunteered to help with the launch. It was a good launch, many flyers.

Thank you for volunteering and helping make it a really fun day!! I could not believe the amount of kids and flights made. Any tally on total flights?

Also, thanks for the sanity check on Beaker's nose weight before I sent him up. With how straight he went, that definitely was right on the money. Looking forward to some bigger motors; but that H130 did the job nicely.

 

[OverTheTop]

Machining up the base plate for the antenna tracker. Apologies for using a chuck with the endmill. I didn't have a collet large enough. Almost done, just need to tap some M4 holes.


Also 3D printing some stuff. The damn printer has blocked up again. Different fan. I switched a big mounting boss to the larger printer (bigger nozzle) and it got about 1/4" into the build and the extruder blocked. . So I spat the dummy and ordered two direct-drive extruders, locally so they get here quicker.

Spent about six hours trying to configure a HC-06 bluetooth module. It was working happily with serial comms, but I could not get it to go into command mode. Tried absolutely everything, including getting the scope out. Ended up ordering some more to get me out of trouble for now.

 

[prfesser]

I have two Egg Timer kits I haven't built. The instructions say no extra flux is needed, but I'd be interested in other people's experiences. Also in what kind of solder it is, since lead free needs a higher temperature than lead bearing and those ant size SMD components would really like low temp.

I've only assembled a Quark, a couple years back and had to use a flux pen. Likely it was more of my lack of skill and incipient essential tremor than anything else.

 

[OverTheTop]

I am hearing people using flux to solder the egg thingys. If you use a liquid flux you must wash the board afterwards. Any unactivated flux will still have ionic compounds available. These, in combination with moisture, create unintended current paths in the circuitry. This especially applies to NO CLEAN FLUX. It is only no-clean of the whole assembly is taken to a high temperature (like in a commercial reflow oven) to activate the flux. After that activation it is non-ionic and alternate current paths are less likely.

You can wash with a flux remover, or if you don't have any then metho (denatured alcohol) and a toothbrush works well. Drizzle on wait a minute, scrub with brush, then rinse all that off with a good dose of clean metho. Just don't get any in the hole in any barometer chips, switches, or beepers.

 

[ThePlmbr]

Thank you for volunteering and helping make it a really fun day!! I could not believe the amount of kids and flights made. Any tally on total flights?

Also, thanks for the sanity check on Beaker's nose weight before I sent him up. With how straight he went, that definitely was right on the money. Looking forward to some bigger motors; but that H130 did the job nicely.

It was a great flight. Glad it went well. Greg Olson

 

[Hobie1dog]

A friend who does graphics came over today and picked up the level two rocket and two other rockets that had the new automotive paint jobs on them. He is going to get the vinyls together and make the graphics for me and install them hopefully on Thursday so that they will be ready for the freedom launch

 

[jqavins]

Machining up the base plate for the antenna tracker. Apologies for using a chuck with the endmill.

Don't apologize to us, apologize to the end mill and the base plate.

I am hearing people using flux to solder the egg thingys. If you use a liquid flux you must wash the board afterwards...

You can wash with a flux remover, or if you don't have any then metho and a toothbrush works well...

I assume "metho" is methyl alcohol?

 

[rharshberger]

Don't apologize to us, apologize to the end mill and the base plate.

I assume "metho" is methyl alcohol?

Yeah, I had to look it up too....

 

[gdjsky01]

What is the issue with the solder? I have never had any issues with the solder supplied with the Egg kits. What temperature are you using?

It does no matter. I used my own at 325 and it works and flows fine. I am using a Pencil and a fine tip. It works wonderfully. And I am using a hot air gun for all the SMT components which is even better. I just kept reading the instructions about how wonderful this solder was, so I figured, ok I'll try it again. Nope. Flow is crap. Tried all sorts of temps. Just not worth it. There might be a chance that I ruined a Proton output trying to get that solder to work.

 

[OverTheTop]

Metho=methylated spirits, aka denatured alcohol. Mostly ethanol with a denaturing agent so you don't want to drink it.

 

[torrnado1969]

working on my square red max i got from erockets...trying to get it built

 

[OverTheTop]

Finally got some prints off the 3D printers. I ended up replacing ANOTHER fan in the large printer as the extruder was clogging.

The big hub goes on the large stepper motor. That is 5.5kg of stepper and a 3/4" keyed shaft. There is also an equipment clamp for onto the boom, some cable chain, and a new bearing support with slotted holes for the stepper this time. It was interesting removing the support in the hub print that was internal and did a 90deg turn . The hub was printed on a printer with a much bigger nozzle and layer height than the other parts.

I am currently continuing to machine the baseplate that the hub and bearing supports bolt onto. Should get that assembled to tonight if I'm lucky.

Continuing sketching the interwiring diagram.

 

[Sooner Boomer]

Worked on my pin board. When I started working on this, I found that a couple of my Tripoli pins were missing. A big shout out to Deb for graciously replacing them!


Top Row: Tripoli L1, my grandfather's pin for working 10 years for a chain in West Texas, NRA Life Member pin
Second Row: Quality Control award from Texas Instruments, Manpower temp agency pin, probably another NRA pin
Third Row: Tripoli L2, Tripoli 1 year pin

I've rebuilt and repainted the Octiron. I tried Rust-oleum color-changing paint. The original used Duplicolor "Mirage" color-changing paing. The new and the (pranged) old nosecones;



It's interesting that the body and the (new) nosecone didn't end up quite the same color. They were both painted the same way - two coats of black primer followed by two coats of color. Texture probably has something to do with it. I had a couple of areas of too-heavy spray that blushed. I'll worry about that after Airfest.
The Octiron was the first high powered rocket I built, put together over 20 years ago. I *finally* did my L1 with it (and a caseing from the same vintage) May of '21.

 

[OverTheTop]

Got the holes drilled and tapped in the plate for the hub, and also the counterbores for attaching the bearing supports on the other side. Chain exits the side to control the cables.

For scale that plate is about 6" square.

Also fitted the smaller stepper to the new bearing plate and it is spot-on! Nothing obscuring any screws either. Fluked it .

Next up for this part is a clamp to hold the tube and be driven from the big pulley. Probably on the weekend for that one.

 

[OverTheTop]

Worked on my pin board.

What a great idea. I need to make one for all my skiing pins. One from each mountain I have skied. Guess I had better make a rocket one too!

 

[krislhull]

Spent a lot of time over the past 24hrs going over various simulations for my fleet in preparation for the upcoming Sod Blaster launch this weekend. I also spent some time talking with my TAPs about my L3 project that has been on hold for the past few years, and getting a game plan to move forward with it again.

 

[prfesser]

Metho=methylated spirits. Mostly ethanol with a denaturing agent so you don't want to drink it.

FWIW: In the US that's usually labeled as "denatured alcohol".

 

[Tobor]

Soldered up an Eggtimer Ion. Works fine! (IMO the solder supplied is trash, but that is just me! Nothing but issues with it - just used my own). Manually, aka used an artist brush, to touched up some areas of missed paint coverage (masking tape errors near the fin roots) on the Redtop. Created some leads to run out of my altitude test chamber (aka a vacuum bagger plastic jar) so I can test e-matches with all my electronics. I drilled two holes through the top and will seal the leads in those holes. Then I can make sure the e-matches I have don't blow on continuity checks/power up, but do blow when I 'suck' (yes I know I blow and suck ).

It's Kester 245 .020" solder. Says it melts at 180C, I think I run my iron at 375F. I actually really like the solder that comes with the eggtimer kits. It's lead based, with a "no clean water based flux". It works, easy to use, pretty results.

I have never used the solder supplied with my EggTimer stuff only because I have a 1 pound spool of Kester 63/37 .031 Dia. solder. With everything I solder, electronics or not, I use Amtech NC-559-V2-TF no-clean tacky flux. When applied, it stays put. It really makes soldering a whole lot easier.

 

[John Kemker]

Yesterday, I applied two more fillets on the Cherokee-H and sanded glazing putty off the Estes Interceptor. Spray painted the pods for the Interceptor red and applied another coat of yellow to the Estes Goblin. Applied sanding sealer to the plywood on the LOC Nuke Pro Max.

Today, sanding. Also applying another layer of epoxy to the Cherokee-H to fill in some gaps.

 

[jqavins]

Metho=methylated spirits. Mostly ethanol with a denaturing agent so you don't want to drink it.

FWIW: In the US that's usually labeled as "denatured alcohol".

Though for us there's no guarantee that the denaturant is methanol. It usually is, but I've encountered some that left a solid residue. To be certain of avoiding that, I generally use isopropyl.

 

[Cape Byron]

Metho=methylated spirits. Mostly ethanol with a denaturing agent so you don't want to drink it.

Unless you add orange juice. Unfortunately still something that people do.

 

[Cape Byron]

Checked tracking on some orders. Carson, CA must be an interesting place. My packaged stayed 10 days, presumably sightseeing.

 

[OverTheTop]

I was in Carson back in 2019. Unremarkable.

 

[Cape Byron]

I was in Carson back in 2019. Unremarkable.

Did you take the package tour?

 

[OverTheTop]

No, self-guided walking. Good exercise though. As for what I saw think run-down light industrial.

 

[teepot]

Today I started a new project. It's a 2.6" BT. 29mmt. Two stage. Haven't done too many 2 stage rockets. I'm going to do small rockets for a while to fill in gaps on the ceiling. Yesterday I finished my upscale Big Bertha. I'm calling it Long Tall Bertha. I had considered Bertha Butt for awhile. Didn't think many people would get the reference. LTB is 80" tall and has a 38mm mmt, It weighs 5 lbs and is dual deploy. It is built with BMS 3" tubes and the plastic nose cone is also from BMS. Paint is Rusto. The fins are 1/4" 5 ply plywood. All the spiral filling and grain filing was with GoodFila wood filler. I love that stuff. The nose cone is painted with red chrome. The other paints are apple red, navy blue and regular gloss white. An I 175 gets it to 2100'.

 

[Tech 68]

Filled what I considered to be weak spots in the fin tips of the "short kit" sidewinder I'm building. I don't do 3D printing, and don't profess to understand what's involved, but it looks like the process can leave some hollow spots that could invite trouble when landing.
Opened up the "rolleron" tips, stuffed some ShadowAero kevlar pulp inside, wetted it with West System 105/207, then topped it off with milled glass mixed into the epoxy.
Hope this is good enough for the wind or any calculation mistakes I make...

 

[gdjsky01]

None of the soldering matters. I finished the proton build and I tested all six channels and they are working fine! Whatever works. Happy happy joy joy!