What did you do rocket wise today?

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Took delivery of my orders from One Bad Hawk and Rail-Buttons.com.

Opened up my LOC Blaster kit and discovered there was no instruction sheet enclosed. Dropped them an email to alert them to possible feedback from rocketry newbs if the issue is widespread.

Ran some sims on the Blaster and toyed with idea of giving it a 29mm tailpipe and adding a length of 1.9” tubing to the front...Vapor-like.
 
Went back to the field to see if we could locate the wife's Estes Savage in the trees. Unfortunately no. Spent a solid half hour walking around in the treeline looking for it. The trees are thin and tall, meaning I'm sure it got closer to the ground based on what I observed - but it's just too hard to find it among all the leaves right now. May have to wait for fall.

Wife is sad. Not sure she'll build another rocket :/

Meanwhile my ASP 'Way Too High' still sits in it's own tree, mocking me; the streamer is very visible.

View attachment 431523
She got a great video of the rocket so there’s that.
 
Pretty sure that’s a Semroc Hawk.

I have one still in kit.

Edit: Definitely the Semroc Hawk KV 65.

Still available from erockets.biz for $11.99 + s/h. I have been pleased with their service in past dealings.
It appears to have been derived from the Sky Slash II, an Estes plan (not a kit) from many moons ago. The plan is on JimZ's site: https://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/eirp.htm

The only difference I can see is that the Sky Slash had a one-piece airframe while the Hawk has a strut connecting the motor tube to the body.
 
First real go around with Epoxy fillets on my Arreauxbee-HI (first MPR build). Not too bad. It will fly. Almost ready for paint. Gonna fly it at my first high power rocket launch this weekend! I can't wait!

Used BSI 30 min epoxy. It's ok. Will be trying out other epoxy's for future builds like Aeropoxy and Rocketpoxy. I really have enjoyed this AeroTech build!
 

Attachments

  • 20200914_183347.jpg
    20200914_183347.jpg
    72.1 KB · Views: 35
  • 20200914_180031.jpg
    20200914_180031.jpg
    186.1 KB · Views: 35
Tidying up the workshop and I discovered two Eggtimer Proton kits. Started assembling them. It is nice to do some work that doesn't take much concentration or thinking. I can do this stuff standing on my head. They have been there since about two years ago I guess.
I have an Eggfinder and worry I'll totally muck up the assembly, your confidence is reassuring. If you can do it standing on your head, MAYBE I can do it if I'm laser focused and hopped up on Red Bull... 🤔 :rolleyes:🤪
 
I have an Eggfinder and worry I'll totally muck up the assembly, your confidence is reassuring. If you can do it standing on your head, MAYBE I can do it if I'm laser focused and hopped up on Red Bull... 🤔 :rolleyes:🤪

No no no! No caffeine before doing fine soldering work. Maybe not an issue if the one you're building is all through-hole, but if it's surface mount I would lay off the caffeine.

I wonder if there's a Ballmer Peak for soldering.
 
Last night I painted on the second red coat on the 67 popsicle stick-sized balsa boards that will be covering up the Smurf rocket. Currently drying.

Will be posting picture when back home from work. Aesthetics-wize, this was the most important step of the project. Ecstatic about this!
 
Last edited:
Back in my Stevens days we used to call it "lubricating the brain". I never graduated...

As for caffeine and soldering (or other mine motor tasks) I suspect it's one 8-12 oz cup. And depends on one's normal daily consumption.
 
Handed some kit instructions over for proof reading, then...

DSCF8617 (FILEminimizer).JPG

Assembled fin antennae for the Spacemonkey V-2.

DSCF8619 (FILEminimizer).JPG

Stuck 'em on the fins.

DSCF8624 (FILEminimizer).JPG

Added the Turbine Shrouds and Pullout Plug Covers.

Note that the exhaust vanes haven't been used. They'd be too close to the motor methinks.

Just the Airframe Fasteners to do and we're ready for paint.
 
Sanded airframes. Estes Astron Sprint and LOC Blaster.

Separated the Astron nosecone and boat tail. Relieved the molded slot in the boat tail to fit the motor retainer.

Received an email from LOC with a .pdf of the Blaster instructions so I printed them out.

Fooled around with the kevlar recovery systems from One Bad Hawk.

Bought a Bento box to carry BP motors to the launch site. Repurposing is a good thing.
 
I have an Eggfinder and worry I'll totally muck up the assembly, your confidence is reassuring. If you can do it standing on your head, MAYBE I can do it if I'm laser focused and hopped up on Red Bull... 🤔 :rolleyes:🤪
Follow the instructions and you should be fine. Just read them well and take your time.

If you are worried you can get at practice kit and solder on that before you get to the ET kit. I would recommend this IMHO.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SMT-SMD-Co...960076&hash=item217349cf6b:g:pwkAAOSwZ4dZI94h
Go easy on the caffeine or you will end up too jittery and skittery...
 
It looks like that one is all pads and no traces. This one rewards your success with blinkenlights. I might have to get one of these myself.
Hey that's nifty. I see it has some 0402s on there to torture yourself with, fun.

In case $3 is too rich, there's this smaller one for a cool $1.65, no 0402s.

I did not know these things existed, seems like a worthwhile "investment" for anyone starting out with SMT soldering before tackling an Eggtimer.
 
That's the same one Over suggested. I'm getting the flashy one. I've been soldering stuff for 45 years. I can solder to wires in a lap joint in mid air, one wire and the solder in one hand, the iron and the other wire in the other, but starting on SMT still makes me nervous. (And I really ought to get one of those third hand gizmos so I don't have to do shtuff like holding four things in two hands anymore. What kind of cheap bastard won't buy himself such a simple tool? Oh yeah, my kind.)
 
Finished the last piece of the motor mount; aft centering ring and 29mm motor retainer nicely epoxied in with JB Weld. Not too bad. Now it's ready for primer.
 

Attachments

  • 20200915_200145.jpg
    20200915_200145.jpg
    62.4 KB · Views: 10
Sanded airframes. Estes Astron Sprint and LOC Blaster.

Separated the Astron nosecone and boat tail. Relieved the molded slot in the boat tail to fit the motor retainer.

Received an email from LOC with a .pdf of the Blaster instructions so I printed them out.

Fooled around with the kevlar recovery systems from One Bad Hawk.

Bought a Bento box to carry BP motors to the launch site. Repurposing is a good thing.

Cool your battle with gravity! :headspinning:

Today, I checked and was happy to discover:
rocket https://www.yourdictionary.com/rocket
1. The definition of a rocket is a long circular device that is launched into the air.

So game on for calling my gravity powered things, Gravity Powered Rockets or GPRs. :blowingbubbles:
 
That's the same one Over suggested. I'm getting the flashy one. I've been soldering stuff for 45 years. I can solder to wires in a lap joint in mid air, one wire and the solder in one hand, the iron and the other wire in the other, but starting on SMT still makes me nervous. (And I really ought to get one of those third hand gizmos so I don't have to do shtuff like holding four things in two hands anymore. What kind of cheap bastard won't buy himself such a simple tool? Oh yeah, my kind.)
Whoops, I didn't realize what OverTheTop's link was. The cheaper one does have some sort of blinkenlights but can't tell from the description. Certainly nothing wrong with the larger one, but don't touch those 0402s for a while (or ever :)).

SMT really isn't bad for the most part, just need a little practice, the right tools (soldering iron, good tweezers, magnifying lamp) and to learn the technique. And don't use too much solder.
 
Whoops, I didn't realize what OverTheTop's link was. The cheaper one does have some sort of blinkenlights but can't tell from the description. Certainly nothing wrong with the larger one, but don't touch those 0402s for a while (or ever :)).

SMT really isn't bad for the most part, just need a little practice, the right tools (soldering iron, good tweezers, magnifying lamp) and to learn the technique. And don't use too much solder.
I definitely need to pick up some tweezers, and could stand an upgrade of my soldering iron. Anyone have advice on those..?
 
I definitely need to pick up some tweezers, and could stand an upgrade of my soldering iron. Anyone have advice on those..?
I typically use a set something like this, but can't vouch for that particular set. Soldering irons have been discussed extensively in other threads, including quite recently. Suggest searching the forums to find.
 
Thanks! Those look very nice...
Normally I would look for a set that has at least one set of cross-locks, but I can't seem to find any on Amazon. You can get the cross-locks separately I guess. I don't use them as much but they are sometimes quite useful.

Micro-Mark has a lot of good tweezers, but you'll pay more than the Amazon cheapies.
 
Definitely agree with those who have suggested a practice SMT soldering kit. Also you may want to get some no-clean soldering flux, such as Kester 951. I know the solder provided with the kits is flux-core, but a little 951 really helps the solder flow even better. I got a solder "pen" but it's a bit awkward to use. A squeeze bottle with needle tip may be easier.

Best -- Terry
 
Back
Top