WISH LIST- Equipment and tools!

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flying_silverad

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If money was not an issue, what tools or support equipment would you buy to support this addictive hobby!!

(A special hobby building is a given!!:D )
 
ohhh, too easy! on my list right now: lathe. paint booth & air sprayer.


just dreaming: full wharehouse workshop, with pinups and catered lunch, and 15,000' AGL permanent waiver test area just out the back, landing on grass, perfect weather year-round, and a couple mountain bikes and ATVs for retrieval duties.
 
I have a few "wishes."

As far as tools go, I'd *love* to have a drill press. That's my #1 wish. Then I'd get all the circle cutting stuff to go with it, but that seems secondary to the press itself.

Next would be an air-brush and a compressor. Since money is no object, we might as well throw in a ventilated paint booth to go with it (does that count as a "tool?")

Next would be some sort of bench saw with guides and stuff to make well measured, perfectly straight cuts (but that wouldn't get used as much as the other two.)

Finally would be more work space and more organized storage :)rolleyes: )



I'm leukwarm on a lathe - I'm perfectly satisfied with Roachwerks products and pricing for now.
 
I'm leukwarm on a lathe - I'm perfectly satisfied with Roachwerks products and pricing for now.

Gee, Thanks!

I'd like a trailer to haul my stuff and a vehicle that get 55mpg pulling it so I can go to more launches.

Hey...since we're wishing!:D

sandman
 
Since we're all dreaming, I'll have a self sharpening x-acto knife, hacksaw blades, coping saw blade, and set of drill bits, along with bottomless cans of primer and paint in all my favourite colours.
 
Originally posted by hokkyokusei
Since we're all dreaming, I'll have a self sharpening x-acto knife, hacksaw blades, coping saw blade, and set of drill bits, along with bottomless cans of primer and paint in all my favourite colours.

What he said. :cool:
 
...and I forgot to mention, an everlasting bottle of CA, inexhaustable cans of variable viscosity epoxy that cures on command, self levelling filler, etc...
 
wish list........

a 6 X 12 enclosed trailer and a real shop with a lathe, table saw and some real work benches........
 
A tip for my bottle of CyA that NEVER clogs or cruds up.

A vacuform machine that lets me input drawings in one end and produces the parts out the other end. (ideal for nosecones, 2-part fins, cockpits, misc. spaceship parts, etc.)

A decal machine that automatically makes custom decals requiring no prep work or clearcoating.

A greenhouse to grow balsa trees. :D

A guy like sandman in the workshop to make balsa parts that I can throw some peanuts at every now and again in exchange for quality balsa parts. :p

An auto body shop quality setup to paint my rockets complete with the expensive car paints and sprayers.

A "Mabel". (Let's see who gets this one. Er, sandman can't answer this one!)

A laser cutter w/ CAD PC attached capable of cutting *any* kind of fin or material.

An Aerotech-like APCP motor making shop with all the necessary tools so that I can make whatever motor I want.

Spools of endless Kevlar on a rack.

A textile shop to make all the parachutes I could ever want.

My own electronics geek with an unlimited RadioShack credit card.

And finally, a lottery ticket that could guarantee me all of the above. :D
 
A computer controlled air-brush. Do the paint job on your computer, using your fave package. Then let the robot arm do the hard part of actually spraying the model.

Oh, and a 'Mabel' would be handy too. ;)
 
there are *so* many things! for one, i'd like a separte garage just for rockets. right now i work in a 'cubicle' (4'X6'?).
so far as tools... bench press and lathe for sure, and all the tools to go along with them. a laptop with the latest version of rsim and DSL (to keep in touch with u all better!), and endless suply of all kinds of wood (balsa in all thickneses and sized blocks, bass, birch, aircraft ply, etc etc) as well as many other things, many of wich have been posted by others.
and while were dreaming... some way for 'juniors' to cert, and no more school (i.e., a small chip i just plug into and who needs school;) ) and obviously enugh $ so i wouldn't need a job.... and, welll, i g2g... back to reallity and time to get chought up on my homework :rolleyes:
thanx for the moment of pure fantasy, tho, guys!

o, one more thing: a personal jet with a relativly large cargo space so i can attend launches all over!:D
 
How about this - the facilities to manufacture model rocket motors.

If I had that, I'd go into production on 13mm motors for multi-stage rockets (ah, the late, lamented A10-0T!!!).

Might not be a profitable biz, but you DID after all say if money was no object... :cool:

Greg
 
I'm down for the ALPS printer and Corel draw setup and vaccum-forming and/or injection molding machine too!
 
Only one wish...

In a perfect world I'd own Estes, and bring back all of the kits from the past.

I'd then hire all of the regulars here whom have their own business, and leave them alone, only asking that once a year they create a new kit for the Estes line - that way they are free to live their dream, and help keep Estes fresh.

No ?...ok, so I'll make it easy - I'd simply wish for Bill Gates to place 1 weeks interest on his fortune into my Swiss Account, and then I can do all of the above. *wink*

Since that won't happen, I'll wish for humanity to stop the insanity... that way BATF leaves our hobby alone. 8)
 
How 'bout this...

A RockSim "dream machine".

Connected to your PC, a device which produces custom turned balsa nosecones, body tubes (any size - custom made), laser-cut fins and centering rings (balsa, ply, fiber, cardboard, whatevuh...), pre-cut shrouds, sewn nylon parachutes, as well as engine blocks, motor hooks, screw eyes, etc.

When connected to your PC, a "Make Kit" menu button appears in RockSim. Simply click, and within 5 minutes, all parts are fabricated and dispensed into a plastic bag, and sealed with a header tag with your design name prominently displayed.

I can dream, right?:D
 
Originally posted by vjp
How 'bout this...

A RockSim "dream machine".

Connected to your PC, a device which produces custom turned balsa nosecones, body tubes (any size - custom made), laser-cut fins and centering rings (balsa, ply, fiber, cardboard, whatevuh...), pre-cut shrouds, sewn nylon parachutes, as well as engine blocks, motor hooks, screw eyes, etc.

I can dream, right?:D

Closer than you might think:
https://www.zcorp.com/products/printersdetail.asp?ID=1
;)
 
I'd like a bigger house, with a new yankee workshop in the backyard, a Cad/Cam metal cutting lathe, and a 6x18' covered trailler shop/mobile building room, for demos and " built n fly's".
Oh yeah; Through in 1000 acres of dry lake bed somewhere, Anywhere on the EAST coast;)
 
I would get a Kestrel 4000 Pocket Weather Tracker so I can get on the spot information for RockSim like barometric pressure, altitude, temperature, humidity, and wind speed.

https://www.kestrelmeters.com/kestrel-4000.htm

Of course I would also need a decent laptop to go with the computer interface that you can buy for it!

Bruce S. Levison, NAR #69055
 
Hey Bruce:
My Weather Station isn't hand held but it didn't cost over 160 bucks either;) Even in today's dollars I'm fairly sure you could put the same package together for under 200.00, Very accurate even for roc-sim ;)
 
A laser cutter ( with a decent laser) so all those fins and centrering rings could be cut out in no time.....

Really good ventilation and a heater for the garage would be nice



and of course a spray booth!!
 
Originally posted by Micromister
Hey Bruce:
My Weather Station isn't hand held but it didn't cost over 160 bucks either;) Even in today's dollars I'm fairly sure you could put the same package together for under 200.00, Very accurate even for roc-sim ;)

Micromister,

That is a great idea to put a weather station on the flag pole. Where did you get the wind speed meter with the spin cups? I have been looking around for a good one. I have a home brew weather station but no where near as nice as yours! Do you have more details or plans for the one you built?

The reason I want the Kestrel 4000 is the computer interface. Does your weather station set-up have graphing and data logging capabilities? I want to plot out the wind speed over the launch and simulate the conditions as close as possible with the new feratures of RockSim.

Bruce S. Levison, NAR #69055
 
Wish list:

In order of any possibility of attaining it...

A Dremel Jigsaw and drill press

A spray booth

A copy of a functional CFD software package

A Gerber signmaker https://www.gspinc.com/products/plotters/gsx.html

A wind tunnel

Getting my wife to buy an SUV for launches (She tells me to trade in my Corvette)

a six axis CNC lathe

a 3d Photolithogtaphy system
https://www.devco-design.com/modeling.htm


If I had that, I'd go into production on 13mm motors for multi-stage rockets (ah, the late, lamented A10-0T!!!).

I think Kevin @ Countdown Hobbies still has some of these in stock...
 
Well, for starters, there's the most essential item:

TIME!

Then I'd like a garage. An actual garage where I can have an actual workbench and have actual tools. This business of doing my indoor work at my computer desk and my outdoor work on my apartment porch is killing me!

After that I'd like a lathe, complete with tools, a router table, a band saw, a table saw, and a disk sander.

Throw in a minivan/SUV for hauling things out to the desert, and I'll be well on my way.

Except for one last thing:

A local hobby shop that carries rocket stuff and not just r/c car stuff!!!
 
Originally posted by teflonrocketry1
Micromister,

That is a great idea to put a weather station on the flag pole. Where did you get the wind speed meter with the spin cups? I have been looking around for a good one. I have a home brew weather station but no where near as nice as yours! Do you have more details or plans for the one you built?

Bruce S. Levison, NAR #69055

Bruce:
the Station is very low tech, no interface or graphing capabilities. I or the wife, do set time samplings over the launch day recording results with paper and pencil :)

Found the instrument companys: Davis Instruments Mfg.Co. Inc. 4701 Mt. Hope Drive, Baltimore, Md 21215. sorry no phone or other info on the pamphlet. They provided a Maxium, Inc. instrument from Samuel Barnett Boulevard, New Bedford, MA 02745 phone 508-999-2226, my Barometer is from Huger Weather instruments in West Germany, this use possibly provided by Davis as well. Temp and humidity are both Radio shack instruments.
Hope the addresses help:D

I never imagined anyone would be interested in the building of this piece of range equipment.. you'd get a kick out of seeing the what we used at the first weather station through the 60's into the late 80's. a desk set temp/humidity/barometer set, with a homemade set of spin cups, directional indicator was this huge plastic rocket with on of the OLD "floating ball" style wind speed meters attached to the tail. very funny looking but it worked:) somewere I know I have a photo of that beasty also. If I can lay my hand on it I'll start another thread on Mod-Roc range weather staions, in the recovery and support forum.
 
I would only wish for the ability to start a project and not be side tracted by less important things. Like work:mad: ,cleaning:( and fixing up the house:rolleyes: .

I know that I'm not asking for much but that one wish would be so helpful.
 
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