Activity

That sounds like fun. If my daughter is still interested we may go down there. My wife is from Ruidoso and we would stay there. Only a 30 min drive from there. I need another excuse to go to the…   Read more»

[from James W. Basler] Note: Joe Hinton, Tim Thomas and Bruce Schaefer had a proxy flight flown for them as needed to make it a regional event. The rocket allocated for Bruce’s flight on Sunday was not needed, so his…   Read more»

8) CONGRATS! Looks like a nice launch site, did someone say ROAD TRIP ???

We don’t know the results yet of this meet at the White Sands fall Regional, but it was obvious that NCR member Reed Coker won the A division (13 and under) and, waiting on verification, may have set three new…   Read more»

Somehow I missed this earlier.I have been using exclusively Estes ignitors for my deployment charges, and they have been 100% reliable with the Parrot and tiny Li-poly battery cells. I haven’t tried using the Parrot to ignite Estes motors, but…   Read more»

If you get up into the AP motors, Blue Thunder propellant lights the easiest, and clusters very well. Other than my 6x 24mm airstart attempt where the timer didn’t arm right, I’m 100% for clusters 7 airstart ignitions. (Now jinxed)…   Read more»

To sort of answer #2 and then #1, the Flash in the Pan Ignition methods works great on just about every Estes motor combination or cluster I have ever tried, from 1/2 A to C’s and I have had a…   Read more»

I look forward to Mike’s calculations. But in the mean time I’ve made some more progress on this questions and scoured just about everything available on the internet.So as El Presidente points out, the main reason for a launch rod…   Read more»

Slipstick,Anytime is just fine. Any help is appreciated. I’ll do my best to process data together with rules of thumb and produce some sort of graph.

Is the force you are referring to here the torque precipitated by launch lug friction? Or is it just a random deviation that once established imparts a force on the rod? In both cases, as you indicate the diameter of…   Read more»

Example, a two inch diameter rocket with 10 pounds of thrust would have a moment of 10 inch-lbs applied to the rod, that is trying to move the rod sideways, and will be at its worst at the top of…   Read more»

All these relationships seem sensitive to rod length. Somewhere there is a way to compare rod strength of different dimensions- say a 3′ 1/8″ rod is proportionally as strong as a 4′ 3/16″ rod… or something like that. So any…   Read more»

I wouldn’t build any altitude attempt rocket with launch lugs, rail buttons or guides. A launch tower is an absolute necessity to my way of thinking. You lose to much to drag.As for towers, the club of course has the…   Read more»

A lot depends on the lenght of the rod/rail needed for stable flight, not necessarily the width. UROC’s guidelines are probably a great start for rules of thumb. And yes, weight to thrust ratio is critical in determining what is…   Read more»

Warren, if you didn’t have access to a tower, would you build a G altitude attempt rocket with a 1/4 lug? I imagine a 3/16 would suffice. There must be some science underlying what we “feel” is right to launch…   Read more»

I’m in full agreement – if you’re flying something bigger than a G (1/4″ rod), you ought to be flying off a rail with either rail buttons (1010 or 1515) or Acme Rail Guides… just my opinion.Warren

Most people use a rail when you get to the HP but really buttons are so much easier to use and less like to break off when installing rocket on rail or road. I think the chart you found was…   Read more»

What I’d really love is one of these to throw in my AMRAAM//www.megaupload.com/?d=WRELY1P0I may even have to get my L3 just for this motor 😀

Tim, If you get some 6XL dual thrust motors I’d be glad to try one (there is an understatement) 8) I have a rocket that I have flown on the Ellis L330, a Loki K350, and an Aerotech K250. I’d…   Read more»

And when Tim says they’re not certed yet, that means they can fly on Research days. Am I right?