Baby Bertha build. Got all he fins on, got the launch lug on, and got the engine mount assembled and painted. Unfortunately, one fin I glued about 1/8 of an inch lower than the others so its a little lopsided sitting on the ground.
And I have to ask, are you going to cut the one fin off and fix it? I probably wouldn't in your shoes, but I'd agonize over it.Baby Bertha build. Got all he fins on, got the launch lug on, and got the engine mount assembled and painted. Unfortunately, one fin I glued about 1/8 of an inch lower than the others so its a little lopsided sitting on the ground.
Finished Twin Factor
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You may be right. Active stabilization, at least at a regional/national launch, is a bit questionable at this time. One of the important points that the national organizations make to the AHJ is that we fly UNguided rockets. The concern is the closeness of active stabilization techniques and hardware to active guidance techniques/hardware.I talked with my professor and my college design team about the possibility of making active stability canards as our capstone project. Got a word of hurt ahead of us I think...
Its small field 2 stage fun. Usually gets a laugh.Nice! I've got one of those sitting here to build too. Looks like a fun flyer.
I think this would be a fun capstone project. Challenging & a ton of work, but fun. It'd be a good mix of controls, aerodynamics, structures, sensors, electronics & more. Joe Barnard is doing thrust-related control for his rockets. Jim Jarvis is working on aerodynamic surface control. Joe's stuff is mostly on YouTube and his website. Jim has at least one good thread here detailing his progress. There are probably others.I talked with my professor and my college design team about the possibility of making active stability canards as our capstone project. Got a word of hurt ahead of us I think...
There is quite a bit of complexity in the mathematics of this sort of control. See what you can learn from other people to help you along your path. There were the people mentioned above, and I have done some work down this path also, particularly the canard flight control.I talked with my professor and my college design team about the possibility of making active stability canards as our capstone project. Got a word of hurt ahead of us I think...
We will absolutely be looking into both Jim and Joes stuff. I think I ran into a few of Joes videos on Youtube before. They have a lot of good information in them so definitely worth watching. As you alluded to there can be a lot of "gotchas" so any more information we can get and use to avoid these gotchas would be good to have and reference.I think this would be a fun capstone project. Challenging & a ton of work, but fun. It'd be a good mix of controls, aerodynamics, structures, sensors, electronics & more. Joe Barnard is doing thrust-related control for his rockets. Jim Jarvis is working on aerodynamic surface control. Joe's stuff is mostly on YouTube and his website. Jim has at least one good thread here detailing his progress. There are probably others.
Looking through their work and designs of smaller missiles should be valuable. There are lots of potential gotchas in a project like this.
As with everything, the simulations you do will only be a starting point. You'll need good flight test data & time to iterate to get a workable solution. Finding the right place to fly will be a factor too (multiple FAR trips maybe - or a university waived airspace location?).
Good luck & have fun!
I think a stabilization system is the perfect project for college teams. There are a lot of diverse issues to consider, and it is a lot of fun. Just expect it to be a multi-year project. My thread on this subject is here:We will absolutely be looking into both Jim and Joes stuff.
The holes in your boat tail are for glue rivets?Slowly turning big daddy nose cones into a BT80 2.6” V2 with 29mm motor mount. $20 build.
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The holes in your boat tail are for glue rivets?
Which cure rate epoxy are you using? 5, 15, slow cure 30 minute?Yes, the holes are for epoxy rivets. I think it would provide some additional fin support in the event of a hard landing.
Which cure rate epoxy are you using? 5, 15, slow cure 30 minute?
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