Initial render from Rocksim 8
Plan view from Rocksim 8
Big rocket -- or a small person??
I love comparing the Rocksim render to the real thing.
It doesn't look like much now...
Parts. Fins are 1/8" G-10 cut on bandsaw with a metal blade. Rings were cut using a home-made circle cutting jig on the bandsaw and cored with a 4" hole saw.
Rough initial assembly to test fits.
Poor-man's vacuum bagging. Seal-a-meal continuous 11" bags just fit a 6" tube.
Phenolic body tube with one layer of 6oz S-Glass fiberglass.
Close up on the fillet on a centering ring. Red lines are for fin alignment.
Close up of the bottom centering rings showing the epoxy/milled glass fillets.
Starting to come together. the rings are on the motor mount as is the base coupler (to strengthen the base against hard landings). You can see the glassed body tubes and a long coupler section as well.
The smaller upper fins cannot be pre-attached to the motor mount so will need to be mounted using more standard through-the-wall techniques. The wooden strips will provide a larger gluing surface for these fins.
The wooden strips will receive full fillets and will be drilled with small holes to promote a stronger bond with the fins.
The main fins are attached to the motor mount. They were edge-glued to get basic alignment locked in, then S-Glass strips were used to make a strong and rigid bond. The rubber bands will be removed when the glass has cured.
Close up of the glass strip reinforcement. While this is already quite rigid, epoxy/milled glass fillets will also be added along all the edges.
The small fins being test-fit. Since these fins will have to be mounted through the wall, the wooden strips have been added to increase the gluing surface. Note the epoxy fillets around the edges of the wood. This should make the small fin attachment quite strong.
The motor mount/fin can assembly. Small fins are test fit but not fastened. Large fins are bonded and only need fillets.
I added some strips of basswood to increase the gluing area for the large fins when the tube is slid into place. These will take the place of internal fillets.
All couplers are reinforced with an interior layer of 6oz S-Glass fiberglass. The glossy even finish is the result of using a balloon to press the glass as it cured.
The coupler/bulkhead assembly for the top of the booster section. The three mounting holes are visible. Outer surface of the coupler will be grooved to promote a stonger bond with the body tube.
Having cut the fin slots -- on table saw (large ones) and by razor knife (small ones) -- I did a dry test fit of everything prior to slopping epoxy all over everything. It's bigger than I had expected -- what am I thinking?!
Managed to get the fin sets to line up pretty well. Large ones are glued solidly to the motor tube. Small ones are pressed into the guide plates just to test the fit. They still need a bit of trimming.
It actually fits together pretty well! The bottom section including the joint line will be reinforced with a layer of glass and the fins will also get glass reinforcement as well as fillets.
All fins now reinforced with a layer of glass tip to tip.
Closer shot of the tip to tip glass on the large fins. The glass was pressed with plywood and clamps and a 25lb bag of shot.
First full assembly. Major construction tasks are all done.
Adding me for scale - I'm 6'2"
Glassing the inside of the e-bay using the classic party balloon method to press out the glass.
The electronics bay coming together. The large plastic caps will hold the ejection charges. The hole visible on the side of one of them is to allow the leads to come out to the electrical connections (not yet in place).
Bulkhead for the e-bay showing the charge holders, stainless steel u-bolt, and the threaded rods that hold it all together. The yellow dots show where the electrical connections will be for one of the charges.
E-bay bulkhead showing the charge wells, recovery harness u-bolt and the two sets of terminals for the deployment charges. Bulkhead has been coated in epoxy to protect it from ejection charges.
Underside of the bulkhead showing the long washer for the u-bolt and the deployment charge terminals.
The ejection charge terminals are wired with 20 gauge solid core wire. Heat shrink tubing and staples/epoxy are used as strain relief. Each of the four charges is color coded as will be the rest of the wiring and hookups.
Close-up of the #10 brass screws used as terminals. The wires are protected by heat shrink (unshrunk) tubing and have strain relief through the use of a couple of staples and a blob of 5-minute epoxy.
The back side of the electronics sled showing the brass tubes that ride over the 1/4" threaded rod. They are epoxied in place with 30 minute epoxy.
Additional epoxy used as fillets to secure the sled tubes.
The sled before I mess it up with wires and circuit boards and batteries.
View looking down into the e-bay. The sled is retained by nuts and washers and rubber grommets to add a touch of shock absorption.
The beginnings of the sled wiring. Parts placement is roughed out with pencil. the four 2-wire terminal blocks for the deployment charge hookups are glued in place. The switch mounting plates are glued on and the switches are mounted to test alignment. Terminal blocks and switch plates will get machine screws and nuts to reinforce the mounting. Unlike my previous rockets, the switches are mounted to the sled, not to the rocket body. This alows the sled to be easily removed and minimizes potential connector problems. The Alts and batteries will be mounted more centrally than the pencil drawings indicate.
One of the two switches visibly from the outside of the bay. These are industrial voltage selctor switches and can be easily turned on and off from outside the rocket using a small screwdriver. This picture also features a lovely close-up view of the Dacron weave pattern left behind by my peel-ply.
Another view of the switch. Also visible are the #10-24 threaded inserts that allow the two payload bays to attach to the e-bay.
The completed electronics sled. The Transolve P6K is at the top and the Perfectflite MAWD is at the bottom. All wires and terminal blocks are color coded. The switches are mounted in 1" aluminum angle.
View of the sled in the e-bay showing the hook-up for the upper bulkhead.
Inside the bay with the captive nuts visible.
This is the motor retension plate for 98mm motors. I cut it from 1/8" aluminum on my bandsaw and cut the center hole with a variable circle cutter on my drill press. The retainer fastens in place using the threaded rods that project out of the bottom centering ring.
The motor retainer in place. You can also see the underside of hte u-bolt in the booster bulkhead and the double-wall construction of the bottom section -- done to protect from a hard landing.
One of the harnesses. 10' of 1/2" kevlar and 30' of 1" nylon. All loops are made with water knots. the kevlar is kept from fraying with epoxy.
Water knot reinforced with 1/8" kevlar cord. Stainless steel quick link.
Home made parachute built from a design by Team Vatsaas (http://www.vatsaas.org/rtv/systems/Parachutes/Chute.aspx)
I am not much of a tailor, but I think it came out OK.
The assembled but not sanded or painted rocket ready for deployment charge tests.
Wired up to test the charges.
Successful deployment -- on the ground at least.
The nose cone shot to the full length of the shock cord and all the laundry deployed just fine.
Ground testing the deployment charge for the main parachute. The charge used 4 grams of black powder and easily sheared the pins and kicked the nosecone and laundry out to the full extent of the shock cord.
Ground test of the drogue deployment charge. The charge was 3 grams. The charge sheared the pins and separated the rocket, but seemed a touch weak. I will up it 1/2 gram and position the charge better.
I am very protective of this rocket -- note the vicious guard cat.
Entering the home stretch. Construction is all done except for adding rail buttons (last step). Priming and painting has begun. The tube will not be as smooth as I usually do -- no time!
Paint is going well. Doing white last on the bottom since it is easier to mask the fins that way.
Close up on the fins. I got the wrong orange, but too late now.
Almost done. Waiting for the clear coat to harden up.
Big motor mount. Blue tape covers the retension plate screws to keep the threads in decent shape.
Close-up of the motor mount. Aluminum flue tape is used to keep the tube from getting burned.
It's coming right at me!
The sponsor's decals are applied. Freeverse is a game company in New York.
Everything is done including the decals. Ready to take it to the desert and fly.
Big... very big...
