I am trying to get my weekend schedule worked out for the Proton. What day and time are we looking at? This weekend, I would vote for a Saturday, or a later start on Sunday.

I am occupied all day Saturday with business. I can probably make it on Sunday. I would presume start time would be 10 am till whenever the door gets locked, and anybody can show up in between.

I'm going back to work on Monday and really need Sun off to prepare, so we'll be building on Sat this week .. plus that works best for several folks that have contacted me. Sorry Bear 🙁

I picked up the fillet additive for the epoxy so we can get the motor assemblies glued up. Rich, how close are we on the stage 2 assembly?

I will have a few Proton Team hats there for sale for any interested, $18/each. I expect another 30% off sale soon and when that happens I'll order shirts/hats for those interested (Bear). So let me know what you want, color, size, etc.. It'll probably be a week or two but I'll announce it on here.

btw, I've sold over $800 in shirts/hats so far, mostly to Performance Hobbies in NC, and have earned $100 towards the project.

Thanks, Steve

We're fairly close on the 2nd stage assembly. What I think is left is:
-- Trim/sand stringers and bulkheads to fit
-- Measure & cut stringers to fit chute cannon
-- Measure, cut, and trim chute cannon to fit

Well, CafePress started a 35% off sale that ends on the 26th at midnight (26/27). Let know what you needed asap and I can order it. Depending on how big an order I should be able to cover it until they arrive .. takes about a week.

Note: the Supporter shirts are cheaper since they only have an image on 1 side. I can also create anything you want .. image on front instead of back, etc .. let me know.

I have 3 Team caps and 1 Supporter cap coming today I will have there tomorrow for anyone wanting one.

Here's what I have so far:

Bear - 1 - 2XL Team shirt, 1 - Med Team shirt, 1 - Team cap. what colors on the shirts? there are a lot of options ..

Another great day today in Longmont. Thanks again to Scott for his awesome workshop .. what a great space.

Dave brought a couple of his kids .. Mira and Tyler .. and they were awesome, a great help and really smart. Most of the work was gluing up the stage 1 (booster) motor assembly, with Rich and I finishing up the 2nd and 3rd stage assemblies. Here's some pics ..

I thought I'd take a minute and go over where we are on the project. It's hard to get a good idea from the posting and pics.

We should have all 3 stages motor assemblies done next weekend .. and hopefully glued up. The body, skin, for each is pretty much done except for a faring coat.

Dave has the outboards this week and will try to get a faring coat on all of them so they're done by next weekend.

We still need to fabricate the 6 outboard nosecones and main nosecone. We also need to design the outboard attachment method but have several ideas already.

We'll need to do a little fine tuning on the recovery sections and locate the electronics.

We need to find/design the graphics and get them ordered (vinyl)

We should be painting around the end of April.

We've had over $400 in donations and made about $100 selling shirts/caps .. which is great but will need at least another $500.

I'm very encouraged by our progress in both work and fundraising. We are also coming in very close to the weights I predicted and should be around 180 lbs on the pad loaded .. though these things do tend to grow near the end ..

I'd like to again thank everyone who has donated, helped out and encouraged us in the amazing adventure.

Steve

Update on the electronics: In communications with Frank Hermes, his TiltOMeter can't provide tilt checking for more than one event, and he's not interested in making firmware updates that could let it be used for more than one. The Featherweight tilt checker I'm working on will be capable of that, but it probably won't be ready in time. Without a tilt checker, we can still keep the ignition safe by using a raven to check for altitude and time.

Adrian, you could also use that Missileworks wireless system to enable 2nd stage and 3rd stage ignition or to force recovery. That does make it a manual operation, but it is likely a viable option.

I could see using the Missleworks radio for the 2nd stage ignition and then using the TiltoMeter for the 3rd. Does anyone have one that they are willing to lend for this?

-Adrian

Hey Guys .. got the shirts ordered.

Dave, Brown 2XL
Rich, Black 2XL
Bear, Black 2XL, Black Med.

Our cost is $30 for the 2XLs and $27 for the Med.

Should have them 4/3 or 4/4

Hope I got that right .. 🙂

Also, called them about the Proton caps I received and that they we incorrect. They are sending replacements for free and I can keep the others as well. They said I'd have them this week.

Update on the electronics: In communications with Frank Hermes, his TiltOMeter can't provide tilt checking for more than one event, and he's not interested in making firmware updates that could let it be used for more than one. The Featherweight tilt checker I'm working on will be capable of that, but it probably won't be ready in time. Without a tilt checker, we can still keep the ignition safe by using a raven to check for altitude and time.

Hey Adrian .. thanks for the update on Tilt-O abilities. I'm not as concerned with stage 3 and believe the Raven option should be fine. Worst case is it goes horizontal and blows the nose at high speed .. being dual deploy it should be fairly minor as long as it doesn't blow the main prematurely.

We should have all three stages framework done this weekend and can start planning electronics location, etc. Drop by if you get a chance and we can lay it out.

Hey guys .. any preferences on build day this weekend? Sat vs Sun?

Steve
You should of taken that tile off the table and got it out of your way. It was a "mach up" (get it 😆 ) of somthing I am doing at work right now. I forgot to remove it, sorry. I was in Alamosa all weekend.

Saturday works better for me this week.