What did you do rocket wise today?

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More work on the Automatic Antenna Tracker. Mounted the opto sensors for homing and rotation limit on the pan stepper motor. Started programming the dynamics for that motor controller. Homing is working OK but for some reason the limit opto on the forward direction isn't working. That's a job for tomorrow.

Next up for the AAT will be getting the cable chain to wrangle the cables between the base and upper section. I have a couple of ideas to try.

Also charged the battery in the nosecone for my Velociraptor. I noticed a slight flicker on the charging LED at one point, I think. Now I'm going to have to pull it out of the NC to check for intermittent connections :( .
 
Gave Long Wrong Silver a clearcoat. Looks fairly decent, especially considering my finishing skill(less). You can't see the ripples in the clearcoat, nor the "stripe" where I didn't get quite enough coverage of silver. It's actually Rustoleum bright aluminum, which covers really well ordinarily.

Still needs mini railbuttons, and I'll probably add a launch lug for versatility. It's a good bit heavier (56 grams) than the sims (36 grams), though the liberal use of epoxy and paint probably have something to do with that.

With a 20-gram mass object at the CG, OR says only 370 feet on a B6 motor, but 880 feet on a C6-5 and 1600 on a D21. We'll see what happens at the launch.

Long Wrong Silver01.jpg
 
Careful with the D21 on a windy day, or you'll be changing the name to Long Gone Silver.

Have you tried a sim with a D10W? It has barely less impulse than the D21 with a longer burn, and (of course) much higher average and initial thrust than the C6. And who doesn't like a long burn?
(Thrust curves)
 
Finished installing the Eggtimer Apogee Easy Mount in the bulkhead for the AMW Fiber Max, then did a mildly botched installation of a flange-mount 54mm Aero-Pack retainer. It will work, but requires an extra hand to get adapters out. Hope it doesn't do that with a motor.
 
i have. not my favorite. slow dry time, lots of run (admittedly, in relatively poor painting conditions). also, my local Ace, which i favor over HD for personal reasons, seems to have their products on the shelf a longer time. i've purchased caulk and sealant there which was too old to use. not to rattle an empty can (*rimshot) but that rusto auto filling primer (6 bucks on amazon) is the bomb diggity. do they still say 'bomb diggity?'
I used my Ace Hardware primer for the first time today and initial thoughts were that it is a low solids/high solvent type of paint and I was not impressed. So I was putting the primer on an old Delta 2 air frame and small nose cone, and it took me about eight coats to cover the airframe properly. But it was very fast drying so I'm assuming it's just a straight lacquer. This is a typical case of you get what you pay for.
 
Started a new build in Mid-Power forum. A DynaStar AeroDactyl.
Designed a LOC tubing 2.6 inch rocket for use with some 3D Rocketry fins I bought years ago. Gonna start that as well as I built the AeroDactyl. It is nice to have two going at once. You can work on one while something is drying on the other... etc.

Something like this:
But it'll have more 'scale'ish' details
For 29mm motors.

1664510752948.png
 
Heard a rumour that Bill Stine has retired from Estes. Anyone confirm?

Okay, confirmed on Estes Rockets Facebook page:

"The Estes family would like to honor Bill Stine, Estes's Vice President and General Manager. We wish him the best in his retirement from Estes. Bill has been fundamental in the transformation of Estes and is monumental in our growth, development, and success. The Estes family would like to thank Bill for his leadership and expertise and remind him that he will always be a part of the Estes Family!

"I have been involved in model rocketry all of my life since my father G. Harry Stine was one of the industry founders. I started working for Estes's sister company Centuri in 1978 and designed my first Estes product in 1979. Back in those days, R&D was located in Vern & Gleda’s old farmhouse in the grove of trees north of the woodshop (the house is gone now). I worked in Phoenix but traveled to Penrose every time a new product went into production. When I arrived at Estes in May of 2018, there were 28 employees.

My immediate job was to begin rebuilding the company so it could be a stand-alone business again. The previous owners HOBBICO had been doing all the sales, marketing, and HR/payroll/benefits functions from their home office in Illinois. Another big task was to re-establish our factory relationship in China since they got hurt pretty badly financially in the HOBBICO bankruptcy. I traveled several times to China to regain their trust and get manufacturing running again. I was focused on the people, products, and the process, and now almost five years later, Estes is once again a successful business. I’ve enjoyed building and leading this team of people, so I would say my favorite moments have been about interactions with the people here.

I am very pleased with our safety record and the process improvements we have made to engine manufacturing and achieving our ISO Certification. One of my absolute favorite products is the ANTAR" "
 
I started getting ready for the launch that ended up being cancelled for today. After putting the rockets and motors away, I decided to work on my 3" Magnum. I built the baffle for it. Just gotta fillet the back side of it before installing it into the booster section.
 
Got the first cut of an OR file for my next build. It's a silly cluster oddroc, will make ~35 feet on a D12 and ~150 feet on a D12 + 2x F79. On the D12 alone, the rail exit velocity is the maximum velocity.

3-D printed body, actuating carbon fiber rods, ripstop nylon sails. Should be fun!

Takeoff position:
1664661677373.png

After the D12-0 burns out:
1664661718151.png
 
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