What did you do rocket wise today?

[KenECoyote]

Tried out a new Dremel circle cutter to make a 54mm hole in a bulkhead for a custom fin jig I'm making.



Not bad!

 

[KenECoyote]

Yesterday and early this morning I dug up my old Fat Cat F104 Starfighter rocket to review in anticipation of building it in the next few weeks.

Initially I was quite dismayed to not find directions (and even tried replying to a 2015 email inquiring), but later located them inside a body tube.

 

[T-Rex]

Managed to get to a launch for the first time in a year and a half. Got there late due to traffic (blocked by a Christmas parade), so only 1 rocket..... BTH-70 Goblin upscale on a D15 reload.

 

[tsmith1315]

I know because I was looking for 7.5" ones to match my 7.5" nose cones and found some. I guess they figure people won't care about a 1/2" off or so on a concrete piling.

Wow, you found one to match a nose cone?

 

[KenECoyote]

Wow, you found one to match a nose cone?

I found three. It's the smallest of the set that are 7.5". It fits a LOC 7.5" nose cone (as well as my Polecat 7.5 V2 nose cone); however the tubing is thicker.

 

[KenECoyote]

Yesterday and early this morning I dug up my old Fat Cat F104 Starfighter rocket to review in anticipation of building it in the next few weeks.

Initially I was quite dismayed to not find directions (and even tried replying to a 2015 email inquiring), but later located them inside a body tube.

View attachment 550314

I also ordered some Sig canopies (used in this Fat Cat F104 kit) so I can make a copy as backup and also a larger one for a 4" HP upscale if the usual 3" kit build goes well. Apparently it's quite hard to find them and shipping costs about as much as the item. Ouch.

 

[KB4SMK]

Made some plywood centering rings

 

[hobie1dog]

Made some plywood centering rings

precision

 

[cautery]

Got my L1! Was a rocketry goal of mine for 2022, now achieved with two weeks to spare!

To that end, a big thanks to Adam who led me through the cert process, and to everyone else at NOVAAR. Very nice folks who ran a safe, efficient, and fun launch for all ages and skill levels. Will definitely be back in the new year.

Congratulations!!! Well done!

Tomorrow is someday. So is today. Just sayin'.
All I can find in current distribution is this: https://www.lowes.com/pd/3M-Patch-Plus-Primer-8-fl-oz-White-Patching-Compound/3851673

Is it the same stuff?

Yes... same stuff; different package. The large hole label is a KIT with a backing patch, et al.... spackling is the same material.... Verified with 2 sources yesterday.

Measure the diameter first since it may not be 8". For example, Lowes (and I believe Home Depot) have their 8" sonotubes arrive 3 nested inside each other...how? They vary in diameter. I know because I was looking for 7.5" ones to match my 7.5" nose cones and found some. I guess they figure people won't care about a 1/2" off or so on a concrete piling.

I would be LIVID.... But it's cool that it worked/works out for you though! Glad to know about it though....

Made some plywood centering rings

precision

I think I am losing my mind.... Because I am not stupid... really... my mother had me tested.
I'm sitting here with a garage full of speaker building tools, and only KB4SMK's picture prompted me to connect the dots on the centering rings... Circle jigs aplenty, nice plunge router, even a little router table.... I can make what I want.... just reeeeally slowly. I think I have a jig that will cut virtually any hole or circle you want by millimeter from tiny to over a foot or something... <walks away shaking head at self>

 

[BrendanH69]

Good, if somewhat hot (29degrees C) launch day at Cedar Grove, QLD. Winds were fortunately light but building to 13kph (7 knots).

Got two launches in on "The Dart", a 38mm min. dia. scratch built. This made it 13 HPR/MPR flights on this rocket since its maiden in Jan2021. While the Starstreak, Tin Tin and AGM33 Pike builds have taken more time and profile, this little baby has been a steady little entertainer!

Best of the two flights today was to 2944ft on a CTI Pro24 6G 131G84 with a heart stopping chute opening at about 40ft despite the JLCR set to 400ft!
Second flight was a Pro38 117G69 Skidmark (Sparky) which resulted in a 1km plus walk as the chute inflated at apogee (approx 2300ft). Got it back though. Phew!

 

[GrouchoDuke]

Used my new VNA to test some antennas. That's seriously good nerd-fun stuff.

 

[hobie1dog]

Used my new VNA

where did you buy it?

 

[TSMILLER]

what gives

Several things all at once.
Mrs, after 7 years in our new home has finally purchased furniture for the dining room and formal living room. My “rocket room” was the dining room.
Father in Law will be moving in with us next week until the war in Ukraine is over and he can return home.
The osteoarthritis in my left thumb and the extreme associated pain has now necessitated ligament reconstruction of the CMC joint. This will happen week or so after new year. Surgeon say count on being in a cast up to 12 weeks. Shortly after that has healed I will get the right hand worked on. That surgery will be hematoma and distraction of the trapezium bone of the wrist. It is all but obliterated. It hurts too, but not nearly as bad as the left thumb! Again a few weeks in a cast.
All of his boils down to…..no rockets in m future. As Arnold says though, ”I”ll be back!”

 

[hobie1dog]

Several things all at once.
Mrs, after 7 years in our new home has finally purchased furniture for the dining room and formal living room. My “rocket room” was the dining room.
Father in Law will be moving in with us next week until the war in Ukraine is over and he can return home.
The osteoarthritis in my left thumb and the extreme associated pain has now necessitated ligament reconstruction of the CMC joint. This will happen week or so after new year. Surgeon say count on being in a cast up to 12 weeks. Shortly after that has healed I will get the right hand worked on. That surgery will be hematoma and distraction of the trapezium bone of the wrist. It is all but obliterated. It hurts too, but not nearly as bad as the left thumb! Again a few weeks in a cast.
All of his boils down to…..no rockets in m future. As Arnold says though, ”I”ll be back!”

wow, that's a lot to disrupt rocketry for sure. hope your surgery is a success.

 

[TSMILLER]

wow, that's a lot to disrupt rocketry for sure. hope your surgery is a success.

Thanks, I hope so as well! That left thumb pain shoots all the way up past the elbow!

 

[GrouchoDuke]

where did you buy it?

R&L Electronics. Their shop got thumbs up from several YouTubers as place to get a good one. Well, good for the price. This is the one I bought: https://store2.rlham.com/shop/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=75669

It came with an SMA calibration set. I don't have a mega-dollar one to compare it against, but it should be way plenty to do what I need.

I tested a cheap ($8!) ADS-B antenna first. The VNA showed its peak off by about 23MHz, but still showed a pretty good results. (You know, for an $8 antenna.) I swapped to this antenna yesterday for my Raspberry Pi ADS-B receiver and the aircraft position reports over the last 24 hours were more than double the last few Saturday's. Cool to see big improvements just off of an rx antenna swap.

I'll start testing 433 & 915MHz antennas for my rocketry projects soon.

 

[hobie1dog]

R&L Electronics. Their shop got thumbs up from several YouTubers as place to get a good one. Well, good for the price. This is the one I bought: https://store2.rlham.com/shop/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=75669

It came with an SMA calibration set. I don't have a mega-dollar one to compare it against, but it should be way plenty to do what I need.

I tested a cheap ($8!) ADS-B antenna first. The VNA showed its peak off by about 23MHz, but still showed a pretty good results. (You know, for an $8 antenna.) I swapped to this antenna yesterday for my Raspberry Pi ADS-B receiver and the aircraft position reports over the last 24 hours were more than double the last few Saturday's. Cool to see big improvements just off of an rx antenna swap.

I'll start testing 433 & 915MHz antennas for my rocketry projects soon.
View attachment 550336

nice model, I thought they were all in the $50 range

 

[GrouchoDuke]

nice model, I thought they were all in the $50 range

There are definitely some in that range. This one (and the seller) seemed to be popular among people smarter than me, so that's what I went with.

I hilariously tried to make some Yagi antennas without any kind of tuning measurement tools a handful of years ago to try to DF some rocket record flights. They never worked. After HOURS & MILES hunting for one of my rockets, I decided to buy an Arrow Yagi. (Thankfully body shielding worked with a ham HT to DF to my rockets -- also, Hartsel has some really strange reflections going on.) It'd be fun to get back into making my own now that I at least have some of the gear really needed for that kind of tinkering.

First things first though, I want to do some quick looks at a few antennas for a rocketry telemetry project of mine. A new set of assembled prototypes for that should ship tomorrow.

 

[cautery]

I pulled mine out today and checked it out! First time in 2 years and it was still dead on...

VNWA... Use it with a laptop, et al... I love radio stuff... I bought a nice "vintage" HP frequency counter (calibrated to traceable NIST), too.

You really can't design or build antennas without one in my opinion. Especially, if you are not a super math wizard and have tons of money and time to waste on research.... unnecessary research.

 

[GrouchoDuke]

I pulled mine out today and checked it out! First time in 2 years and it was still dead on...

Nice! Totally agree about building antennas without one. Nothing but pain down that road.

 

[teepot]

I cut the fin can off the Port-O-Potty. Then cut the fins off the tube. I now have a hoard of 1/4" 5 ply. I found a 4" coupler and cut a 2' section off a 4" BT. Built a 54mm mmt and installed it. Then I epoxied the roof on and put the nose cone on. The nose cone is a piece of 4" coupler with a piece of 4" BT, a bulkhead and a clear plastic dome. It is a sky light. So can see the inside better. Tomorrow I'll attach the new section of BT. For the base of the spool I think I'll laminate some foam board and then cut out a circle somewhere between 3' and 4'.
I'm still waiting on parts for the next rocket. I drew a layout of the rocket. It will be a space plane. I found a canopy I forgot I had. That was my inspiration. I have the wings and fins drawn. Next, draw the fins and wings full size. Then stick them to some 1/4" ply and cut them out. And so on.

 

[hobie1dog]

I spent hours looking at paint sites looking for rocket colors

 

[BigMacDaddy]

Continuing to evolve the design for the F-104 Starfighter... Almost done -- finally got the jet engine pods structured the way I want them for easy printing and easy / high-quality assembly... Hope to launch before Christmas!



Also printing a bunch of English Electric Thunderbird Kits as well as BT-60 based V-2 A4's that I am giving away for free with $100 orders through the end of the year.

View attachment 1670772161046.jpeg

 

[DRAGON64]

I pre-ordered a new 3D printer for my rocketry use, it is the Creality Ender 5 S1:

 

[hobie1dog]

I pre-ordered a new 3D printer for my rocketry use, it is the Creality Ender 5 S1:

WOW, nice, you da man.

 

[bunkermonkey9]

Got the fin can assembly glued in my LOC Goblin

 

[SolarYellow]

Pulled the trigger on an Elegoo Saturn S and Mercury curing machine. Guess I'll need to work on my CAD skills soon.

 

[Cape Byron]

Tried out a new Dremel circle cutter to make a 54mm hole in a bulkhead for a custom fin jig I'm making.



Not bad!

Cool! Always good to see a happy centering ring. I have an unopened Dremel circle cutter sitting in a cupboard in the workshop. You've inspired me to unpack it and give it a try.

 

[Tech 68]

Continuing to familiarize myself with the cameras I'll be flying on my Level 3 attempt.
The downward looking camera is a Mobius Maxi in an Additive Aerospace shroud. While running it, I became concerned with battery life so was going to buy a spare battery for it until I found there are none available, anywhere.
So for anyone facing the same problem, I found an identical "form & function" LiPo on eBay that just requires splicing into the existing connector. It's eBay Item #174625892857. Take a look at it... pretty sure it will work.

 

[Antares JS]

Spent a big chunk of the weekend mutilating Additive Aerospace parts and drilling holes in tiny 38mm bulkheads to cram a dual deploy package into an Airstrike 3829.