My Taps for this project are Walt Stafford and Max Gray.
This rocket is a highly modified PR Competitor 5.
July 18, 2008
First thing I did was marked where the centering rings would go on the motor tube so I could go ahead and sand where they would bond. Once the areas are sanded then I'll go back and remeasure and remark the placement of the rings before epoxying them. There are 5 in total although 7 rings are used (the bottom ring that holds the Aeropack retainer and the top ring at the top of the booster that holds the harness will be doubled up with wood). The diagram above shows where the rings will be placed within the booster.
Then I sanded the 5 G10 rings with a drum sander on a Dremel and the motor tube with some 220 grit where the centering rings would go.
Ran out of sandpaper, so I grabbed a random orbital sander attachment for sanding the motor tube. I'll go back with some rougher sandpaper later.
July 19, 2008
Altimeter bulkheads were made and drilled for the threaded rod fittings.
I'm using 5/16" threaded rod for the ebay so one of the bulkheads was drilled a little over 5/16" (21/64")...
...and one was drilled at 13/32" to accept the 5/16" carriage bolts.
August 3, 2008
After going back over the motor mount tube with 120 grit sandpaper to really rough up the CR attachment points, I attached the middle 3 centering rings to the motor tube. I used JB Weld because of it's high temperature tolerance. In order to keep the centering rings level while the JB Weld was curing, I built up a wall with thick fiberglass tape. Tomorrow when it's completely cured, I'll remove the tape and fillet the other side of the centering rings (except the bottom one so it doesn't interfere with the fins).
August 4, 2008
Today I flipped the motor mount over and filleted the bottom side of 2 of the CR's. The reason the top one in the photo isn't filleted is because that is the fin area and I don't want the fillets to interfere with fin placement. It will be filleted after the fins are mounted.
August 5, 2008
These rings are for doubling up the uppermost and the aft centering rings. I can't take credit for making these rings, my dad made them. They will both be bonded to a G10 centering ring. Basically the reason I wanted to double up these two rings is because I wanted more surface area than the thin G10 rings to bond to the motor tube and the body tube, since both of these rings are loadbearing. The OD of one of the G10-wood CR pair will be sanded down to fit inside the coupler.
Then I began to get ready for the making of the fin assembly. I cut out the slots to the end of the tube and marked which piece went where. Obviously this is so I can tack the fins in place and then slide out the fin assembly to make the internal fin to motor mount fillets.
August 6, 2008
In this picture you see one of the wood-G10 CR pairs being epoxied together.
Then the outer diameter was taken to a belt sander so it would fit inside of the coupler. Here is the centering ring in the coupler after sanding.
Then I got back to work on the ebay. Here is the drilling temlate clamped to one of the bulkheads.
And then the end caps drilled for the hardware. The carriage bolts and and threaded couplers were JB Welded into place.
August 10, 2008
Got the fins tacked on. I used Loctite's version of JB Kwik. Basically JB Weld with a very quick 5 minute cure time, perfect for tacking on fins. I took the motor mount out and sanded down the areas of the fins with 120 grit. The fins were already sanded so no preparation needed there.
First fin.
Second fin.
Third fin.
The charge holders for the ebay are made out of 1/4" PVC endcaps and a PVC coupler. They are attached to the bulkheads by 1/4" carriage bolts with a washer and nut on the other side.
Then the PVC couplers are very tightly squeezed on to the endcaps.
August 13, 2008
The (2) 5/16" threaded rods are secured in their coupling nuts by Loctite thread lock.
Then I put everything together and tightened it down so the threaded rods would be straight when the Loctite cures.
August 15, 2008
I marked and cut out a 10.5"x4" piece of 1/8" plywood for the electronics sled. I used a band saw to cut it out and then took it to the belt sander to get all of the sides even and to round out the edges a little bit.
August 16, 2008
I went way overboard with stiffening the sled. I fiberglassed both sides with a layer of 6 oz. fiberglass. I felt that this was as good of a time as any to try out my "peel ply" fabric, before I use it later in the build on the tip to tip carbon fiber over the fins. Peel ply is a fabric made out of rayon that does not adhere to anything. It is applied on top of the layup as if it is part of the layup. Make sure to wet it out really good with the epoxy since it doesn't really like to get wet out. The idea is that when the epoxy is fully cured, the peel ply is peeled from the layup with all of the excess epoxy and it leaves a surface ready for secondary bonding. Here are some pictures because I'm not the best at explaining things.
Directly to the left and right of the sled is the fiberglass pieces and above that is the pieces of peel ply. Also, the Aerotech ignitor tubes have been tacked to the plywood with CA to keep them in place while the epoxy cures. Obviously these are to slide on the threaded rod in the ebay.
Mixing up the epoxy. I used West Systems for this.
I am applying the peel ply on top of the fiberglass here. You have to work the epoxy into it to get everything all wet out.
Ok in this picture the sled is sitting with the side with the tubes on it up. I put down a piece of wax paper over everything and then put these boxes on it. Earlier I had checked and saw that these boxes set snuggly between the tubes. I wanted the fabric to lay flat in this valley so I put down the boxes...
...Then weighted it down. The encyclopedias are there so the fabric will be tight over the sled tubes.
The epoxy has cured and all of the weight comes of. Here it is with the peel ply still on it.
And then the peel ply is removed. Worked like a charm. It left a slightly textured dull surface instead of the shiny smooth texture of mylar. The fabric was not difficult to remove at all. I like it!
August 17, 2008
I am using a single 1/4" U bolt on each of the altimeter bay caps for attachment of the recovery harness.
Drilled for the U bolts.
Loctite thread lock is used once again to make sure these nuts don't go anywhere.
I sawed off the ends of the U bolts so there isn't any sticking out into the altimeter bay. Once the U bolts were mounted, Loctite was used on the threads and the nuts were tightened very hard. While I was at it, I went ahead and put Loctite on all of the screws and nuts mounted on the bulkheads.
Here is the altimeter sled after trimming off the excess fiberglass with the band saw.
September 6, 2008
I went to the launch in Manchester and picked up the AMW 98-11000 case from Rodney at Hot Rod Rocketry that will be used for the cert flight. I will be using an N2020 white wolf load.
September 13, 2008
For fin to motor mount reinforcement I am using pieces of carbon fiber tape 18" long by 1.5" wide with Aeropoxy 2032 Resin and 3660 Hardener (1 hour pot life).
The fin is taped where the I.D. of the body will be.
A 350 gram batch of Aeropoxy was the perfect amount for the job.
Then the carbon fiber is wetted out. In order to keep the frays of the cloth from covering the tape, I folded the cloth over so that there is an even edge with no frays on the fin. This also provided 2 layers of reinforcement instead of 1.
The tape is removed several hours later when the epoxy is in the leathery stage.
September 14, 2008
Got the second set of fins done with the carbon fiber tape.
September 15, 2008
Last set of fins is done. It may be a couple of weeks before I can do anything else, got a busy schedule.
September 24, 2008
I was able to get the inside of the booster tube sanded at all of the centering ring locations and along the fin slots as well as the top 6" of the tube where the zipperless coupler will eventually be epoxied into place. I used 50 grit sandpaper for this.
September 29, 2008
I took it outside for the first dry fit just to see what it looks like. My dad took a couple of pictures.
I also drilled 2 holes 5/16" in the main body tube- One between the top centering ring and the middle centering ring and one between the middle centering ring and the centering ring on top of the fins. This is so I can use a syringe to inject epoxy onto the centering rings to make sure that I have a sound bond to the body tube.
September 30, 2008
I mixed up a 550g batch of Aeropoxy for the installation of the fincan into the main body tube.
I pulled out 7mL of epoxy into the syringe and squirted the epoxy through the (2) 5/16" holes in the body tube. I don't have a picture of that because I didn't have a free hand while doing it.
The epoxy that is left is evenly distributed in between the fins. This is just to provide a fillet on the backside of the centering ring on top of the fins. Internal fin fillets will be added later.
Through the body tube the pool of epoxy is visible on the backside of the centering ring. The tape is in the fin fillet area to keep it from oozing out.
While I was at it, I covered the coupler in epoxy and inserted it into the top of the booster.
Here is the entire booster resting on the coupler waiting for the epoxy to cure. The epoxy that was injected is visible through the body tube.
Also I finished up my ebay diagram. The MAWD is on the left and the HA45 is on the right. Both are PerfectFlite altimeters.
October 1, 2008
This CR is one that was doubled up earlier on. Here it is positioned in the zipperless coupler ready to be epoxied.
Mixed up a batch of JB Weld to get a good thick fillet around the motor mount joint and the coupler joint to make sure no epoxy gets through later on.
Then the holes that were drilled in the body tube are sealed. I used short segments of 1/4" dowel rod that were epoxied into place with JB Weld. I'll sand it down later of course to make it uniform with the rest of the tube.
Then laminating epoxy was poured over the CR in the zipperless coupler until it was flush with the motor mount. The epoxy is still about 1/8" below the top of the coupler, which is perfect for fitting an 1/8" G10 plate in. More on that later.
I also filled in both of the ebay caps' center holes to keep ejection gasses from leaking in.
This bulkhead will be inside of the zipperless coupler resting on the motor mount tube. I laminated it with carbon fiber and peel ply and this picture was taken after the peel ply was removed. I'll sand it tomorrow and put on an epoxy coating that will really bring out the CF weave.
October 2, 2008
The external joints are taped off so foam doesn't leak everywhere.
The foam.
The fincan after being foamed.
Closing off the fincan with the aft centering ring and JB Weld.
October 5, 2008
Here I have filled gaps between the body tube and the fins with JB Weld to get ready for external fillets. I also covered the very back of the airframe behing the fins to get a uniform look during finishing. I put tape over all of this to minimize sanding time later.
Ok, I'll admit it, I made a mistake. I failed to comply to the "measure twice, cut once" phrase. I marked the ebay sled for the battery boxes and altimeters. Once I got these drilled and dry fit the components on the sled, I noticed that the altimeters were too close to the battery boxes.
And here is the sled after redrilling the holes for a better layout of the altimeters.
And then the altimeters and battery boxes dry fit on the sled. In this picture you can see how close that altimeters were to the battery boxes before I redrilled the holes. I won't make that mistake again.
The fins and body tube is masked off for external fillets.
2 pumps of West Systems fast cure epoxy is mixed up.
The epoxy was then poured evenly on both sides to make uniform fillets.
October 6, 2008
I got alot done today. I'm out of school this week so I'll be working on the rocket as much as I can. I got back to work on the ebay. Here I have made a mount for the switches out of 1.5" aluminum strip.
I used a unibit to drill to 1/2" for the switches.
I placed the switch mount on the ebay sled and marked where to drill.
I drilled and mounted the switch mount. Then I put Loctite thread lock to secure the battery boxes and the switch mount.
Here's the second set of fillets after curing.
And then the last set of fillets.
I wired up the ebay today also. The drogue and main wires are connected to the terminal blocks on the bulkplates and sealed with epoxy so ejection gasses don't blow through the hole in the bulkhead.
I then soldered the wires to the battery boxes and to the switches.
The JB Weld that I applied earlier to the very back of the rocket wasn't completely flush with the body tube and motor mount, so I mixed up a little bit of West Systems and poured it in. A flush surface is necessary for the Aeropack motor retainer.
October 12, 2008
You won't see much of the booster section for a while. I have a long time to work on this rocket so I'm taking my time with the finishing process. I'll be working on the fillets for a while. I have decided not to do the tip to tip carbon fiber over the fins. The fins and fincan section is plenty strong as it is. So, back to work on the ebay. First I measured the distance from the bottom of the coupler to the 2 switches.
Then I measured from the bottom of the ebay coupler and marked the two spots
I used a unibit and drilled these holes out to 1/2"
Switches can clearly be seen.
I then marked the payload tube for the switch holes and screw holes.
This is the template I used to mark the screw holes. There will be 6 screws holding the ebay into the payload tube and the drogue bay tube. I cut a piece of paper exactly the circumpherence of the tube and folded it into six equal parts. Then I wrap the paper around the tube and mark on the tube where the creases are. This gives me 6 equally spaced marks. In the previous picture you can see the wraps of blue tape to make sure that all of the marks are level with each other. I used 3 wraps of tape from the bottom of the tube, so the screws are mounted 3" from the end of the tube.
The switch holes in the payload tube are drilled to 1/4". These will also act as barometric vent holes for the altimeters. I will have 1 more additional vent hole on the opposite side of the tube. Also visible are a couple of the marks for the screws that will hold in the ebay.
Then I drilled out a small pilot hole in the 6 locations for the screws that attach the ebay to the payload tube. They will be drilled out to their correct sizes later on when I figure out what size screws I will be using.
November 29, 2008
I've gotten back to work on this rocket after about a month and a half off. I wasn't working on it because I didn't want to have a finished rocket just sitting there waiting to fly, but I decided that it's worse to have an incomplete rocket just sitting there, so I got back to work on it. I have been sanding and filling the fillet area of the booster. These are probably the worst looking fillets I have ever made, so they will require a massive amount of work, but I still have alot of time to work on them. I promise they will look good when I'm done working with them.
Tonight I drilled the pilot holes for the ebay to drogue tube attachment points. I will be using (6) 6-32 PEM nuts and screws on both the drogue tube and payload tube to attach to the ebay. These small pilot holes will be drilled out a little bit later, this was just for alignment. I also drilled out the other baro vent hole to 1/4". There are 3 of these in total.
November 30, 2008
Here's a picture of one of the 6-32 PEM self-clinching nuts.
I had to drill out all 12 of the holes in the ebay to the 3/16" pilot hole required for the PEM nuts.
Then all 12 PEM nuts are installed. I really like these and will use them on all future ebays.
This is how they look from the outside of the coupler.
Also the 12 holes in the airframe were drilled out to accept the screws. The fit is perfect.
December 20, 2008
A length of 1/4" threaded rod runs down the center of the entire nose cone, epoxied in the top end. Here is the epoxy right after being poured in.
Then I put a nut on the threaded rod for the nose cone bulkhead to rest on. The bulkhead was placed inside the shoulder of the nose cone to center the threaded rod while the epoxy cures.
Then the bulkhead that will go on the top of the booster was drilled for a 5/16" U bolt and for a 3/8" threaded rod. The U bolt will be holding the drogue harness to the booster. There will be 3/8" threaded rod running from the top of the motor and will go through the center hole in this bulkhead, then a nut will be placed on the threaded rod, securing the motor to the bulkhead. The bulkhead will be secured to the booster with 12 screws screwed into the foremost centering ring.
The U bolt was then securely fastened to the bulkhead with Loctite threadlock.
February 2, 2009
Back to work again after another month and a half of it sitting there in the corner. I am using 6 screws as well as the epoxy to bond the zipperless booster coupler to the booster body tube. So a sheet of paper was used to make a drilling template and 3 strips of 1" wide tape was used to get the spacing correct. These screws are in line with the six that connect the drogue tube to the ebay and the six that connect the payload tube to the ebay.
Then they were drilled out and the screws are temporarily mounted. I'll take them out for the finishing process and install them after the paint has been applied.
I marked the placing of the bottom rail guide as well. I used a strip of paper that spanned the distance between the two fillets and folded it in half to get the halfway point. I will drill this out and mark and drill the spot for the top rail button later. You can see how bay my fillets look. They are going to take alot of work but I have time so I'll be slowly working on filling and sanding.
I also went ahead and drilled out these two vent holes to 5/16". This will make it easier to insert the screw driver to arm the switches also.
February 3, 2009
Here is the bulkhead that goes on top of the zipperless coupler. Here it is marked for the twelve screws that will hold it into the uppermost centering ring. I undid the Loctite that was holding on the U bolt to this bulkhead. Later I'll go back with some JB Weld and securely epoxy on every U bolt throughout the rocket.
Here is the bulkhead on top of the centering ring after drilling.
Then I picked a side to drill rail buttons. I drilled out the bottom one that I had marked earlier and test fit the button.
Then I used a string attached to that screw and sighted down until it was strait and I taped the string at the top of the body tube. Then I marked where the upper rail button would be.
Then I drilled it out and test fit the button. The upper rail button goes through both the body tube and the zipperless coupler.
Then I marked and drilled 3 shear pin holes for the booster section. The shear pins go through the body tube, through the coupler, and into the uppermost centering ring. This section will use 3 2-56 nylon screws as shear pins.
Then I also marked and drilled for shear pins for the nose cone and payload section. 3 2-56 nylon screws will be used here as well.
February 24, 2009
Got my TRA membership card. My TRA number is 12157. It is a junior membership until the end of May when I turn 18.
April 28, 2009
I decided to permanently mount the bulkhead on top of the zipperless coupler. I first coated the centering ring underneath it with epoxy, then inserted all 12 screws, then coated the top of the bulkhead with epoxy. It looks like crap, but I'm not really worried about how it looks.
Then I sawed off the threaded rod that is mounted in the tip of the nosecone.
Here's the nosecone bulkhead. I marked and drilled for a 1/4" U-bolt. The hole is the center of the plate and that's where the threaded rod passes through.
I used a hand saw to chop off the ends of the U-bolt.
Then I put a washer down on the backside of the plate and coated everything in epoxy.
And finally, here's the bulkhead assembly mounted in the nosecone. There's a nut that is secured with Loctite thread lock underneath the bulkhead which stops the plate from going farther down into the cone.
May 9, 2009
The drogue harness is 40' of 1" tubular nylon. The drogue chute is a 36" PML chute with a spill hole. A 14" by 21" nomex chute protector, which is not in the picture, will protect the harness and chute.
The main harness is 30' of 1" tubular nylon. I'm using a SkyAngle Cert 3 XL as my main chute. A 36" by 24" nomex blanket is wrapped around the chute "burrito syle" to protect the chute from the ejection gasses. A smaller 12" by 12" nomex protector which is not pictured will protect the shock cords.
And here's the main chute wrapped up in the burrito ready to go.
June 17, 2009
The rocket is finally painted.
Here is the picture exported from Rocksim with the N2020WT loaded, showing the CP and CG relationship.
June 18, 2009
Took the rocket outside for a picture.
And here is a secondary motor retainer I came up with. It kind of ties the whole booster together. There is a length of threaded rod that runs from the forward closure of the motor up through a central hole in the bulkhead at the top of the booster, and then 2 nuts are jammed together to keep anything from going anywhere. Seems pretty solid.
This rocket is now complete, except for some last minute prepping which will be done in the hotel.
June 20, 2009
I recieved my TRA L1 and L2 on 6/19/09, which cleared me to fly my L3 rocket. It flew on 6/20/09. The flight was awesome, straight as an arrow and well over Mach on the AMW N2020WW. Both events were right on cue, but it landed about a mile into the trees. My dad and I trekked through the woods for a good 2-3 hours with no signal from the tracker at all after about 30 minutes. We continued to walk in the direction we thought the rocket was in, hoping to eventually pick up the signal again. Exhausted, we headed out of the woods back to the truck empty handed. When we arrived back at our EZ-Up, it was sitting right there on the ground with the altimeters still beeping out the altitude. Apparently it had landed in someone's front yard. I also heard from someone that it nailed a chain link fence, which explains the scratches and chipped paint. After the farmer had dropped it off, people were constantly trying to call our cell phones (we had no service in the woods) and ping us over the walkie talkies (ours were off to conserve the little battery they had left). One altimeter beeped out 16,466' and the other beeped out 16,376', well over the Rocksim prediction of 14,700'. Words cannot describe how happy I was when I saw the rocket laying there when we got back. Southern Thunder 2009 was a very successful weekend for me, and I had an awesome time doing it. ROCKETS Magazine was there and they got plenty of pictures and video of the flight, which I will pass on later.
Here are some pictures taken by Ray Cole.
This rocket is a highly modified PR Competitor 5.
July 18, 2008
First thing I did was marked where the centering rings would go on the motor tube so I could go ahead and sand where they would bond. Once the areas are sanded then I'll go back and remeasure and remark the placement of the rings before epoxying them. There are 5 in total although 7 rings are used (the bottom ring that holds the Aeropack retainer and the top ring at the top of the booster that holds the harness will be doubled up with wood). The diagram above shows where the rings will be placed within the booster.
Then I sanded the 5 G10 rings with a drum sander on a Dremel and the motor tube with some 220 grit where the centering rings would go.
Ran out of sandpaper, so I grabbed a random orbital sander attachment for sanding the motor tube. I'll go back with some rougher sandpaper later.
July 19, 2008
Altimeter bulkheads were made and drilled for the threaded rod fittings.
I'm using 5/16" threaded rod for the ebay so one of the bulkheads was drilled a little over 5/16" (21/64")...
...and one was drilled at 13/32" to accept the 5/16" carriage bolts.
August 3, 2008
After going back over the motor mount tube with 120 grit sandpaper to really rough up the CR attachment points, I attached the middle 3 centering rings to the motor tube. I used JB Weld because of it's high temperature tolerance. In order to keep the centering rings level while the JB Weld was curing, I built up a wall with thick fiberglass tape. Tomorrow when it's completely cured, I'll remove the tape and fillet the other side of the centering rings (except the bottom one so it doesn't interfere with the fins).
August 4, 2008
Today I flipped the motor mount over and filleted the bottom side of 2 of the CR's. The reason the top one in the photo isn't filleted is because that is the fin area and I don't want the fillets to interfere with fin placement. It will be filleted after the fins are mounted.
August 5, 2008
These rings are for doubling up the uppermost and the aft centering rings. I can't take credit for making these rings, my dad made them. They will both be bonded to a G10 centering ring. Basically the reason I wanted to double up these two rings is because I wanted more surface area than the thin G10 rings to bond to the motor tube and the body tube, since both of these rings are loadbearing. The OD of one of the G10-wood CR pair will be sanded down to fit inside the coupler.
Then I began to get ready for the making of the fin assembly. I cut out the slots to the end of the tube and marked which piece went where. Obviously this is so I can tack the fins in place and then slide out the fin assembly to make the internal fin to motor mount fillets.
August 6, 2008
In this picture you see one of the wood-G10 CR pairs being epoxied together.
Then the outer diameter was taken to a belt sander so it would fit inside of the coupler. Here is the centering ring in the coupler after sanding.
Then I got back to work on the ebay. Here is the drilling temlate clamped to one of the bulkheads.
And then the end caps drilled for the hardware. The carriage bolts and and threaded couplers were JB Welded into place.
August 10, 2008
Got the fins tacked on. I used Loctite's version of JB Kwik. Basically JB Weld with a very quick 5 minute cure time, perfect for tacking on fins. I took the motor mount out and sanded down the areas of the fins with 120 grit. The fins were already sanded so no preparation needed there.
First fin.
Second fin.
Third fin.
The charge holders for the ebay are made out of 1/4" PVC endcaps and a PVC coupler. They are attached to the bulkheads by 1/4" carriage bolts with a washer and nut on the other side.
Then the PVC couplers are very tightly squeezed on to the endcaps.
August 13, 2008
The (2) 5/16" threaded rods are secured in their coupling nuts by Loctite thread lock.
Then I put everything together and tightened it down so the threaded rods would be straight when the Loctite cures.
August 15, 2008
I marked and cut out a 10.5"x4" piece of 1/8" plywood for the electronics sled. I used a band saw to cut it out and then took it to the belt sander to get all of the sides even and to round out the edges a little bit.
August 16, 2008
I went way overboard with stiffening the sled. I fiberglassed both sides with a layer of 6 oz. fiberglass. I felt that this was as good of a time as any to try out my "peel ply" fabric, before I use it later in the build on the tip to tip carbon fiber over the fins. Peel ply is a fabric made out of rayon that does not adhere to anything. It is applied on top of the layup as if it is part of the layup. Make sure to wet it out really good with the epoxy since it doesn't really like to get wet out. The idea is that when the epoxy is fully cured, the peel ply is peeled from the layup with all of the excess epoxy and it leaves a surface ready for secondary bonding. Here are some pictures because I'm not the best at explaining things.
Directly to the left and right of the sled is the fiberglass pieces and above that is the pieces of peel ply. Also, the Aerotech ignitor tubes have been tacked to the plywood with CA to keep them in place while the epoxy cures. Obviously these are to slide on the threaded rod in the ebay.
Mixing up the epoxy. I used West Systems for this.
I am applying the peel ply on top of the fiberglass here. You have to work the epoxy into it to get everything all wet out.
Ok in this picture the sled is sitting with the side with the tubes on it up. I put down a piece of wax paper over everything and then put these boxes on it. Earlier I had checked and saw that these boxes set snuggly between the tubes. I wanted the fabric to lay flat in this valley so I put down the boxes...
...Then weighted it down. The encyclopedias are there so the fabric will be tight over the sled tubes.
The epoxy has cured and all of the weight comes of. Here it is with the peel ply still on it.
And then the peel ply is removed. Worked like a charm. It left a slightly textured dull surface instead of the shiny smooth texture of mylar. The fabric was not difficult to remove at all. I like it!
August 17, 2008
I am using a single 1/4" U bolt on each of the altimeter bay caps for attachment of the recovery harness.
Drilled for the U bolts.
Loctite thread lock is used once again to make sure these nuts don't go anywhere.
I sawed off the ends of the U bolts so there isn't any sticking out into the altimeter bay. Once the U bolts were mounted, Loctite was used on the threads and the nuts were tightened very hard. While I was at it, I went ahead and put Loctite on all of the screws and nuts mounted on the bulkheads.
Here is the altimeter sled after trimming off the excess fiberglass with the band saw.
September 6, 2008
I went to the launch in Manchester and picked up the AMW 98-11000 case from Rodney at Hot Rod Rocketry that will be used for the cert flight. I will be using an N2020 white wolf load.
September 13, 2008
For fin to motor mount reinforcement I am using pieces of carbon fiber tape 18" long by 1.5" wide with Aeropoxy 2032 Resin and 3660 Hardener (1 hour pot life).
The fin is taped where the I.D. of the body will be.
A 350 gram batch of Aeropoxy was the perfect amount for the job.
Then the carbon fiber is wetted out. In order to keep the frays of the cloth from covering the tape, I folded the cloth over so that there is an even edge with no frays on the fin. This also provided 2 layers of reinforcement instead of 1.
The tape is removed several hours later when the epoxy is in the leathery stage.
September 14, 2008
Got the second set of fins done with the carbon fiber tape.
September 15, 2008
Last set of fins is done. It may be a couple of weeks before I can do anything else, got a busy schedule.
September 24, 2008
I was able to get the inside of the booster tube sanded at all of the centering ring locations and along the fin slots as well as the top 6" of the tube where the zipperless coupler will eventually be epoxied into place. I used 50 grit sandpaper for this.
September 29, 2008
I took it outside for the first dry fit just to see what it looks like. My dad took a couple of pictures.
I also drilled 2 holes 5/16" in the main body tube- One between the top centering ring and the middle centering ring and one between the middle centering ring and the centering ring on top of the fins. This is so I can use a syringe to inject epoxy onto the centering rings to make sure that I have a sound bond to the body tube.
September 30, 2008
I mixed up a 550g batch of Aeropoxy for the installation of the fincan into the main body tube.
I pulled out 7mL of epoxy into the syringe and squirted the epoxy through the (2) 5/16" holes in the body tube. I don't have a picture of that because I didn't have a free hand while doing it.
The epoxy that is left is evenly distributed in between the fins. This is just to provide a fillet on the backside of the centering ring on top of the fins. Internal fin fillets will be added later.
Through the body tube the pool of epoxy is visible on the backside of the centering ring. The tape is in the fin fillet area to keep it from oozing out.
While I was at it, I covered the coupler in epoxy and inserted it into the top of the booster.
Here is the entire booster resting on the coupler waiting for the epoxy to cure. The epoxy that was injected is visible through the body tube.
Also I finished up my ebay diagram. The MAWD is on the left and the HA45 is on the right. Both are PerfectFlite altimeters.
October 1, 2008
This CR is one that was doubled up earlier on. Here it is positioned in the zipperless coupler ready to be epoxied.
Mixed up a batch of JB Weld to get a good thick fillet around the motor mount joint and the coupler joint to make sure no epoxy gets through later on.
Then the holes that were drilled in the body tube are sealed. I used short segments of 1/4" dowel rod that were epoxied into place with JB Weld. I'll sand it down later of course to make it uniform with the rest of the tube.
Then laminating epoxy was poured over the CR in the zipperless coupler until it was flush with the motor mount. The epoxy is still about 1/8" below the top of the coupler, which is perfect for fitting an 1/8" G10 plate in. More on that later.
I also filled in both of the ebay caps' center holes to keep ejection gasses from leaking in.
This bulkhead will be inside of the zipperless coupler resting on the motor mount tube. I laminated it with carbon fiber and peel ply and this picture was taken after the peel ply was removed. I'll sand it tomorrow and put on an epoxy coating that will really bring out the CF weave.
October 2, 2008
The external joints are taped off so foam doesn't leak everywhere.
The foam.
The fincan after being foamed.
Closing off the fincan with the aft centering ring and JB Weld.
October 5, 2008
Here I have filled gaps between the body tube and the fins with JB Weld to get ready for external fillets. I also covered the very back of the airframe behing the fins to get a uniform look during finishing. I put tape over all of this to minimize sanding time later.
Ok, I'll admit it, I made a mistake. I failed to comply to the "measure twice, cut once" phrase. I marked the ebay sled for the battery boxes and altimeters. Once I got these drilled and dry fit the components on the sled, I noticed that the altimeters were too close to the battery boxes.
And here is the sled after redrilling the holes for a better layout of the altimeters.
And then the altimeters and battery boxes dry fit on the sled. In this picture you can see how close that altimeters were to the battery boxes before I redrilled the holes. I won't make that mistake again.
The fins and body tube is masked off for external fillets.
2 pumps of West Systems fast cure epoxy is mixed up.
The epoxy was then poured evenly on both sides to make uniform fillets.
October 6, 2008
I got alot done today. I'm out of school this week so I'll be working on the rocket as much as I can. I got back to work on the ebay. Here I have made a mount for the switches out of 1.5" aluminum strip.
I used a unibit to drill to 1/2" for the switches.
I placed the switch mount on the ebay sled and marked where to drill.
I drilled and mounted the switch mount. Then I put Loctite thread lock to secure the battery boxes and the switch mount.
Here's the second set of fillets after curing.
And then the last set of fillets.
I wired up the ebay today also. The drogue and main wires are connected to the terminal blocks on the bulkplates and sealed with epoxy so ejection gasses don't blow through the hole in the bulkhead.
I then soldered the wires to the battery boxes and to the switches.
The JB Weld that I applied earlier to the very back of the rocket wasn't completely flush with the body tube and motor mount, so I mixed up a little bit of West Systems and poured it in. A flush surface is necessary for the Aeropack motor retainer.
October 12, 2008
You won't see much of the booster section for a while. I have a long time to work on this rocket so I'm taking my time with the finishing process. I'll be working on the fillets for a while. I have decided not to do the tip to tip carbon fiber over the fins. The fins and fincan section is plenty strong as it is. So, back to work on the ebay. First I measured the distance from the bottom of the coupler to the 2 switches.
Then I measured from the bottom of the ebay coupler and marked the two spots
I used a unibit and drilled these holes out to 1/2"
Switches can clearly be seen.
I then marked the payload tube for the switch holes and screw holes.
This is the template I used to mark the screw holes. There will be 6 screws holding the ebay into the payload tube and the drogue bay tube. I cut a piece of paper exactly the circumpherence of the tube and folded it into six equal parts. Then I wrap the paper around the tube and mark on the tube where the creases are. This gives me 6 equally spaced marks. In the previous picture you can see the wraps of blue tape to make sure that all of the marks are level with each other. I used 3 wraps of tape from the bottom of the tube, so the screws are mounted 3" from the end of the tube.
The switch holes in the payload tube are drilled to 1/4". These will also act as barometric vent holes for the altimeters. I will have 1 more additional vent hole on the opposite side of the tube. Also visible are a couple of the marks for the screws that will hold in the ebay.
Then I drilled out a small pilot hole in the 6 locations for the screws that attach the ebay to the payload tube. They will be drilled out to their correct sizes later on when I figure out what size screws I will be using.
November 29, 2008
I've gotten back to work on this rocket after about a month and a half off. I wasn't working on it because I didn't want to have a finished rocket just sitting there waiting to fly, but I decided that it's worse to have an incomplete rocket just sitting there, so I got back to work on it. I have been sanding and filling the fillet area of the booster. These are probably the worst looking fillets I have ever made, so they will require a massive amount of work, but I still have alot of time to work on them. I promise they will look good when I'm done working with them.
Tonight I drilled the pilot holes for the ebay to drogue tube attachment points. I will be using (6) 6-32 PEM nuts and screws on both the drogue tube and payload tube to attach to the ebay. These small pilot holes will be drilled out a little bit later, this was just for alignment. I also drilled out the other baro vent hole to 1/4". There are 3 of these in total.
November 30, 2008
Here's a picture of one of the 6-32 PEM self-clinching nuts.
I had to drill out all 12 of the holes in the ebay to the 3/16" pilot hole required for the PEM nuts.
Then all 12 PEM nuts are installed. I really like these and will use them on all future ebays.
This is how they look from the outside of the coupler.
Also the 12 holes in the airframe were drilled out to accept the screws. The fit is perfect.
December 20, 2008
A length of 1/4" threaded rod runs down the center of the entire nose cone, epoxied in the top end. Here is the epoxy right after being poured in.
Then I put a nut on the threaded rod for the nose cone bulkhead to rest on. The bulkhead was placed inside the shoulder of the nose cone to center the threaded rod while the epoxy cures.
Then the bulkhead that will go on the top of the booster was drilled for a 5/16" U bolt and for a 3/8" threaded rod. The U bolt will be holding the drogue harness to the booster. There will be 3/8" threaded rod running from the top of the motor and will go through the center hole in this bulkhead, then a nut will be placed on the threaded rod, securing the motor to the bulkhead. The bulkhead will be secured to the booster with 12 screws screwed into the foremost centering ring.
The U bolt was then securely fastened to the bulkhead with Loctite threadlock.
February 2, 2009
Back to work again after another month and a half of it sitting there in the corner. I am using 6 screws as well as the epoxy to bond the zipperless booster coupler to the booster body tube. So a sheet of paper was used to make a drilling template and 3 strips of 1" wide tape was used to get the spacing correct. These screws are in line with the six that connect the drogue tube to the ebay and the six that connect the payload tube to the ebay.
Then they were drilled out and the screws are temporarily mounted. I'll take them out for the finishing process and install them after the paint has been applied.
I marked the placing of the bottom rail guide as well. I used a strip of paper that spanned the distance between the two fillets and folded it in half to get the halfway point. I will drill this out and mark and drill the spot for the top rail button later. You can see how bay my fillets look. They are going to take alot of work but I have time so I'll be slowly working on filling and sanding.
I also went ahead and drilled out these two vent holes to 5/16". This will make it easier to insert the screw driver to arm the switches also.
February 3, 2009
Here is the bulkhead that goes on top of the zipperless coupler. Here it is marked for the twelve screws that will hold it into the uppermost centering ring. I undid the Loctite that was holding on the U bolt to this bulkhead. Later I'll go back with some JB Weld and securely epoxy on every U bolt throughout the rocket.
Here is the bulkhead on top of the centering ring after drilling.
Then I picked a side to drill rail buttons. I drilled out the bottom one that I had marked earlier and test fit the button.
Then I used a string attached to that screw and sighted down until it was strait and I taped the string at the top of the body tube. Then I marked where the upper rail button would be.
Then I drilled it out and test fit the button. The upper rail button goes through both the body tube and the zipperless coupler.
Then I marked and drilled 3 shear pin holes for the booster section. The shear pins go through the body tube, through the coupler, and into the uppermost centering ring. This section will use 3 2-56 nylon screws as shear pins.
Then I also marked and drilled for shear pins for the nose cone and payload section. 3 2-56 nylon screws will be used here as well.
February 24, 2009
Got my TRA membership card. My TRA number is 12157. It is a junior membership until the end of May when I turn 18.
April 28, 2009
I decided to permanently mount the bulkhead on top of the zipperless coupler. I first coated the centering ring underneath it with epoxy, then inserted all 12 screws, then coated the top of the bulkhead with epoxy. It looks like crap, but I'm not really worried about how it looks.
Then I sawed off the threaded rod that is mounted in the tip of the nosecone.
Here's the nosecone bulkhead. I marked and drilled for a 1/4" U-bolt. The hole is the center of the plate and that's where the threaded rod passes through.
I used a hand saw to chop off the ends of the U-bolt.
Then I put a washer down on the backside of the plate and coated everything in epoxy.
And finally, here's the bulkhead assembly mounted in the nosecone. There's a nut that is secured with Loctite thread lock underneath the bulkhead which stops the plate from going farther down into the cone.
May 9, 2009
The drogue harness is 40' of 1" tubular nylon. The drogue chute is a 36" PML chute with a spill hole. A 14" by 21" nomex chute protector, which is not in the picture, will protect the harness and chute.
The main harness is 30' of 1" tubular nylon. I'm using a SkyAngle Cert 3 XL as my main chute. A 36" by 24" nomex blanket is wrapped around the chute "burrito syle" to protect the chute from the ejection gasses. A smaller 12" by 12" nomex protector which is not pictured will protect the shock cords.
And here's the main chute wrapped up in the burrito ready to go.
June 17, 2009
The rocket is finally painted.
Here is the picture exported from Rocksim with the N2020WT loaded, showing the CP and CG relationship.
June 18, 2009
Took the rocket outside for a picture.
And here is a secondary motor retainer I came up with. It kind of ties the whole booster together. There is a length of threaded rod that runs from the forward closure of the motor up through a central hole in the bulkhead at the top of the booster, and then 2 nuts are jammed together to keep anything from going anywhere. Seems pretty solid.
This rocket is now complete, except for some last minute prepping which will be done in the hotel.
June 20, 2009
I recieved my TRA L1 and L2 on 6/19/09, which cleared me to fly my L3 rocket. It flew on 6/20/09. The flight was awesome, straight as an arrow and well over Mach on the AMW N2020WW. Both events were right on cue, but it landed about a mile into the trees. My dad and I trekked through the woods for a good 2-3 hours with no signal from the tracker at all after about 30 minutes. We continued to walk in the direction we thought the rocket was in, hoping to eventually pick up the signal again. Exhausted, we headed out of the woods back to the truck empty handed. When we arrived back at our EZ-Up, it was sitting right there on the ground with the altimeters still beeping out the altitude. Apparently it had landed in someone's front yard. I also heard from someone that it nailed a chain link fence, which explains the scratches and chipped paint. After the farmer had dropped it off, people were constantly trying to call our cell phones (we had no service in the woods) and ping us over the walkie talkies (ours were off to conserve the little battery they had left). One altimeter beeped out 16,466' and the other beeped out 16,376', well over the Rocksim prediction of 14,700'. Words cannot describe how happy I was when I saw the rocket laying there when we got back. Southern Thunder 2009 was a very successful weekend for me, and I had an awesome time doing it. ROCKETS Magazine was there and they got plenty of pictures and video of the flight, which I will pass on later.
Here are some pictures taken by Ray Cole.