What did you do rocket wise today?

[Cape Byron]

I'll be ordering one of those!

They're awesome. Money well spent.

 

[teepot]

Today I looked at my collection again. I'm trying to find rockets in good shape to donate to the club for the raffles next month. A lot of my early mid power stuff has battle damage and I can't give away those. So far I have 4 MPR and 5 HPR rockets picked out. I'll see if I can find 3 more. After the sun went down I painted one of the give aways. It had been my first attempt at a whistle rocket. It had Nerf dart whistle heads on it. Took those of and sanded it smooth and repainted. That is one of the mid powers for the raffle. I also put the first color coat on my current project. The, it didn't start out to be a Sci-Fi rocket that will be a Sci-Fi rocket. I used Rusto grey regular primer and it still felt soft today even after it sat for four days. The color coat came out just fine though. I have spent most of the day trying to come up with a new design. I'm having designers block. I'll think of something and then say to my self, already did that...twice. I've never done a tractor motor rocket before. One idea was a Loch Ness monster rocket. We'll see. Another was fins that were 3/4 circles going from small to large from top to bottom. And that's what made me think humps and then to Nessy. I'll think of something.

 

[OverTheTop]

Some more work on the relevant parameters to be set in my Vertical Trajectory System. Since the firmware upgrade there were about 50 more parameters to work thgough. Some good improvements in functionality though, in the Ardupilot firmware.

Also connected up the stepper drive PCB to my big NEMA42 stepper (all 8 pounds of it) and programmed it for an analog input. It quite happily tracks the pot position, just like a servo. I am impressed by the functionality of that little PCB (Polulu TIC 36v4). The dynamics can be programmed to be as casual or thrilling as is required .


Next up is to sketch an adapter to mount my antenna boom onto the shaft and 3D print it.

 

[jqavins]

Five fins. Wombats have five toes.

I hope that's five toes per foot, the poor little things.

I don't know if these national wildlife themes are meant to appeal to your countrymen or to foreigners. I like them, but I don't like intercontinental shipping.

Another was fins that were 3/4 circles going from small to large from top to bottom.

That sounds intriguing, if only because there are so many things it might mean. Would you sketch that, please?

 

[mjremijan]

Baby Bertha build. Fins sanded and ready to be attached to the body.

 

[mjremijan]

Venus Probe build. I've separated the alien from capsule and got the edges sanded smooth and ready for further assembly.

 

[BruceS]

Primed Antar

 

[Old School Doug]

Finished up on the Belarus 9M318 just in time for the club launch this weekend. While it's not intended to be a true scale version it's close enough in my opinion to carry the moniker.
Also completed the fun rock. I'm stumped on what to call it so I decided to throw it open to the forum.
https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/name-that-rocket.168589/

 

[NateB]

After stripping off the wrap on my Thor 54, I started to paint the top part black. I've been using Rustoleum 2X, but the shelves haven't been restocked in a while. I couldn't search from store to store this afternoon, so I bought the only gloss black they had. It is cheap paint and hard to spray and get to coat evenly. I'll probably spray a few layers and then hope to find some 2X before I call it done.

 

[kuririn]

The past 3 days have been rainy in the mornings, so it's build, build, build.
Assembled a couple of boost gliders: Estes Gryphon and Semroc Blue Jay.



And laid down some tiny fillets on a Mach 1 Exiter.


Attached lugs on the Der Big Red Max the other day and ran fillets.
Built stock, assembly is complete.
May harden the balsa fins, we'll see.


And finished assembling the Jim Flis Space Raider, which was in limbo for a few weeks.

Laters.

 

[Pappy]

Primed Antar

like... deja vu... but with beer

 

[BruceS]

I just finished that same beer.

 

[rharshberger]

I just finished that same beer.

As long as neither of you backwashed, what you share is up to you....

 

[MClark]

Loaded the truck, heading to BALLS in the morning.

 

[Wayco]

We drove back from Red River, NM. last Saturday with the toyhauler packed full. Airfest was somewhat washed out, so we had several rockets that hadn't been flown, along with all the stuff left over from our summer in northern New Mexico.
It took me until yesterday to get things back in order here in Goodyear, and I finally got back to my Big Bad Dog build. This Wildman kit was special ordered with a 75mm MMT, and started earlier this year. I finished the fincan before we left for the summer, and yesterday I started the avbay. It's been years since I did a build thread, but avbays are my favorite part, so I thought I would document how I build a 4" avbay, which is big enough that I can show details.
I started with the sled, and cut a piece of 1/8" fiberglass down to 3 3/4" x 8 7/8" to fit inside the coupler. Cut slots in the ends to accommodate the 1/4/20 lock nuts that hold the eyebolts on, and then used two sided tape to attach the components in their proper place. Drilled holes for the Perfectflite standoffs and Doghouse battery holders and a small threaded hole to attach the Featherweight magnetic switches. Here is the results:


Now that I know where everything goes, I built the forward avbay lid. Drilled out holes for the 8/32 all-thread and eyebolt, then marked where the terminal block and 3 gram Doghouse charge cups go. Drilled the small holes for the TB, and drilled and threaded the holes for the 8/32 screws that hold the charge cups:


When I mount the charge cups, I cut off the threads on the backside so they don't interfere with the sled and components:

I also provide for stress relief by hot gluing the wires as they come through the lid and retaining them out of the way with 1/4" shrink tubing.

Soldering the wires to the TB requires me to use the "helping hands" and tinning the wires and posts on the TB:


Then I can hold the wire with one hand and soldering iron with the other:


After soldering the wires, I squeeze a bit of hot glue where the backside of the TB fits, and pull the wires down to seal.

The first part of the build was done yesterday evening, today I finished up the aft lid and sled.

The aft lid is done in similar fashion, with the addition of an external speaker for the Stratologger:


After securing the components on the aft lid, I wired up and soldered the sled components. Here is the completed avbay:


And some detail on the sled:


I had a member PM me about the Featherweight magnetic switches,
Timbucktoo asked me if they work with carbon fiber avbays and said " I seem to recall I once read that you dabbled with magnetic switches" So I replied that I had two CF rockets with those switches, and they worked fine for all the flights that I did with them. I also data mined my logs, and found that I have 25 dual deploy rockets with magnetic switches in them, most of them are redundant, just like the one above, and each one has all the components intact in all my rockets. I don't move things around, once it's built, it stays with that rocket.
It was really fun to get back into the rocket room with all my tools and toys, I'm looking forward to finishing a few projects before the first launch of the season with TRA/PHX next month.

 

[DigBaddy]

Had been picking away at this Labor Day sale purchase. Just put the decals on. Clearcoat next. Made the motor mount 24mm because that's how it should be, right?

 

[OverTheTop]

When I mount the charge cups, I cut off the threads on the backside so they don't interfere with the sled and components:

Careful with wires being shrunk next to allthread. Threads have been known to short through insulation. Personally I would heatshrink the allthread first. YMMV.

 

[Cape Byron]

I don't know if these national wildlife themes are meant to appeal to your countrymen or to foreigners. I like them, but I don't like intercontinental shipping.

All of the above.

And no-one likes international post costs.

 

[arconhi]

The I229T is a one-grain 54mm motor similar to the ones I'm planning to fly the rockets you gave me on. It's on the lower end of "I" impulse, but not low enough for me to call it a baby I, though that's subjective.

I'm guessing Mega Max hit over 1000 feet judging by how small it looked and how long it took to fall back to the ground, but I'm not completely sure. Like I said, I forgot to put my AltimeterThree in it to get actual data.

I never did weigh the two twin rockets I gave you. Have you weighed them? They look like they should be pretty stable for 54mm.

 

[Lugnut56]

Built a FlisKits "S.P.A.D." in RockSim before getting ready for work tonight. Have most of the parts primed, but still need some more "messaging" before assemble.

 

[Pappy]

I just finished that same beer.

good stuff, right? really tasty for something so strong... 8.2. we have a local beer here in tampa called jai alai , 9.0 i think, and it tastes like shoe polish and chewing tobacco. horrible. lol

 

[GrouchoDuke]

Dug through photos & video from this weekend at Hartsel. I sooo love getting good flights there.

 

[Cape Byron]

Didn't buy this... $151.18 AUD is a bit steep for a $9.95 US kit.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/363337855039?

 

[teepot]

Watched paint dry. Yesterday I painted 2 rockets. One was the current project and I repainted one of the rockets I'm donating. Today I also went over to see Bill at BMS. He was teaching me to solder. I think I got it. Then I came home and ordered a soldering station. I'm still drawing a blank on a new design. Back to watching the paint.

 

[BrendanH69]

Received my Tripoli membership handbook and membership card! Woo hoo!!!
Preparing now for next launch day on 03Oct.

 

[OverTheTop]

Picked up my Falcon 9 rocket at work that fell off the shelf when a 5.9 earthquake hit this morning. No damage.

 

[Wayco]

Careful with wires being shrunk next to allthread. Threads have been known to short through insulation. Personally I would heatshrink the allthread first. YMMV.

Thanks for the tip. A lot of the methods I use are the result of comments like this on TRF.
My method does vary in that I use marine heat shrink that has a heat sensitive glue, which bonds the wires to the allthread. I will add an inspection and resistance/short testing to my normal setup process with all my avbays and note the results in my logs. This problem has not occurred previously.

 

[OverTheTop]

My method does vary in that I use marine heat shrink that has a heat sensitive glue, which bonds the wires to the allthread.

Sounds like you use my favourite type of heatshrink too . Works a treat. I rarely use the un-glued tubing.

 

[jqavins]

As long as neither of you backwashed, what you share is up to you....

Even if they do, it's still their own business.

Didn't buy this... $151.18 AUD is a bit steep for a $9.95 US kit.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/363337855039?

Well, it is a nice looking kit after all.

 

[JackC]

Provided information on the Spaceport America Cup competition to my freshman college student and spent time foraging for the components for my M to L two stage rocket project.