What was the deal with Estes Big Daddy nose cones?

[86mustang408w]

View attachment 588880

Thats about what I'm gonna do, thank you!!

 

[gldknght]

I will repeat here what I said on Facebook 3 years ago. There are over 400 flight logs of the Estes Big Daddy on Rocketreviews.com. Not a single crash listed. And none listed since my comment 3 years ago. It just amazes me that this supposed "big problem" keeps showing up on social media, generating tons of explanations, pontifications, and solutions, yet one of the biggest launch databases available for any rocket ever sold doesn't mention a single crash.

Estes has been selling the Big Daddy to anyone who wants to buy one, no special skills required, for 25 years now. They've never felt the need to modify the nosecone or the instructions.

If you want to modify the Big Daddy nosecone, modify away. But please don't claim that it's necessary. There's just no data that that's true.

I personally saw two of these BD's lawn dart recently. We heard and saw the ejection charges go. Nose cones didn't separate.
But I guess, since these crashes were not listed on Rocketreviews, they did not happen?

Come on, Man!

 

[Donnager]

If you build your Big Daddy for use with 38 or 54mm stuff, you will have to cut the bottom off the nose for recovery. So, for me the problem solved itself.

My 29mm has a partition. The 38/54 have a hollow nose for the parachute.

 

[gldknght]

If you build your Big Daddy for use with 38 or 54mm stuff, you will have to cut the bottom off the nose for recovery. So, for me the problem solved itself.

My 29mm has a partition. The 38/54 have a hollow nose for the parachute.

Can you post a photo of that partition?

 

[Donnager]

Can you post a photo of that partition?

Yeah, give me a day or so. I can also show how I put nose weight in the 38 and 54 for HED. I'll try and give a picture of them all.

The 38 has flown an H-550, the 54 was built to fly a J250 length (852) motor and has only done an 38mm H283. It will take a pretty rare day when I want to send the 54 on a J at our launch area. I'm a little reluctant to get carried away with electronics, as it is still an Estes body (even though glassed) so potential for damage is high.

 

[gldknght]

Yeah, give me a day or so. I can also show how I put nose weight in the 38 and 54 for HED. I'll try and give a picture of them all.

The 38 has flown an H-550, the 54 was built to fly a J250 length (852) motor and has only done an 38mm H283. It will take a pretty rare day when I want to send the 54 on a J at our launch area. I'm a little reluctant to get carried away with electronics, as it is still an Estes body (even though glassed) so potential for damage is high.

I think using electronics for deployment will actually minimize the risk of damage, since you can control your deployment much more precisely.

 

[86mustang408w]

I personally saw two of these BD's lawn dart recently. We heard and saw the ejection charges go. Nose cones didn't separate.
But I guess, since these crashes were not listed on Rocketreviews, they did not happen?

Come on, Man!

First flight mine was pretty much trashed back in 2013, luckily the ground was soft, and it darted nicely with no body tube or nosecone damage. Gonna fix that today, Along with two fresh ones to build, one being 29mm and the other with upgraded fins..

 

[86mustang408w]

Solved my issue yesterday, thanks guys!! I might add a another small chute in the mix after some ground testing.

 

[86mustang408w]

I had a failed flight, first time out. The nosecone didn't separate at all. The NC is too big for that diameter rocket and size. When it shoots the ejection charge it just pops the nc out a little, or not at all. I feel this setup thats more of a "gun barrel" type situation where now it almost has to fly out. And it definitely seems to be better, I just need some tests and shakedowns first. I still might improve it, have 2 more to build with one being a 29mm. So. We shall see, these rockets need some sort of mod, or they are lawn darts even a brand new build...

 

[86mustang408w]

Got mine modified. Works well...Every flight before this was a failure...

 

[86mustang408w]

Severe diagonal cutaways on the base of nose cones are a Bad Idea (tm) from an engineering standpoint, for the reasons above - lateral force plus early venting of the pressure before the nose cone is off results in not getting the laundry out. I've also seen the molded-in loops fail way too often. They may be designed that way to allow having the molded-in loop without increasing the length of the mold tooling, which costs $$. Overall I consider those nose cones a safety hazard, and always put a replacement bulkhead on them with a metal eyebolt, much like Mike's picture.

I contacted Estes about the safety concern last week, they told me they have their "own research and development team"...lol, So I told her they need to do their jobs and that was it....