8) Warren, you are Lord of the Rings! 8)

Nice lookin ring!

Some day I hope to have my own lathe/milling machine. I have just the one in mind. And several projects in mind.

Warren, those look great. Eric K made me some of those once. They survived a core sample (of course!) and they flew again on another iteration.

Are you going to be ready to attempt your cert at MHM?

JW

C'mon, Warren, you KNOW you want to go ALL metal! 😯 Nice work. 8)

It's a 5" bird with 98mm motor mount. All the rings and bulkheads are 6061-T6. Fins are going to be 0.25" G10 tip to tipped in a special pattern across both the motor mount and airframe using kevlar, carbon and glass. I'm trying to see if I can get my machinist buddy to put a better bevel on them than I got from Curtis at PR. We're also doing an aluminum avionics sled.

Rings and bulkheads should be done in a couple weeks. The sled in March.

Warren

Looks awesome Warren, which is no surprise coming from you. Keep the progress pictures coming.

This is starting to look good. Keep the pics coming.

Gonna go NAR or TRA?

Yes...Please Pics....

Some of us do not know how to make a Level 3.

Thanks Mike

Finished the Thrust Ring today and started machining the bulkheads, mainly just facing the plates and drilling the center-hole for the threaded rod that holds the e-bay together.

Here's some pics. Note the lightening holes milled in the forward side of the ring along with the drilled and tapped holes for 3/8" threaded rods. The thru-holes are drilled and tapped for the 8-32 socket head screws that hold the retainer to the thrust ring. It has both an inside lip to take the motor mount tube and an outside lip to transfer thrust directly to the airframe.

Note that the Aeropac retainer is inset into the bottom surface of the thrust ring by .1", the thickness of the flange.

Next up will be the centering rings. I'll be cutting and machining those this week as well as finishing the ebay and nose cone bulkheads.

Warren

spectacular, absolutely gorgeous.

Very nice work.

Now Warren, if you're going to that much trouble for the thrust ring, why not just machine in the male threads half of the retainer as well? Save you all the extra bolts... 😉 Maybe make the nut half a thin-walled tailcone while you're at it...

Once I get my dad's lathe (an old 6" Craftsman/Atlas), I can do some of such coolness. Alas, no room (or $) for a mill. BTW, dad just got a 13" lathe, thus the hand-me-down.

Ken

Had another fine day at the machine shop today - finished the blanks for the centering rings and bulkheads as well as turned some prototype stainless steel rail buttons for 1515 rail. Mostly spent the morning facing the rings and bulkheads on the manual lathe. This week, they'll be turned on the CNC lathe to their final dimensions and the lightening relief will be turned into the rings. The bulkheads, after finish turning will be moved to the CNC mill and lightening relief will be milled into the inside surface to reduce the weight and the final holes for U-bolts, terminal blocks, etc. will be drilled. Some holes will be tapped as well. This is all going so well, I don't think I'll ever use anything else for larger rockets. WAY easier than G10 and epoxy.

By the way, I'm buying a stick of 303 stainless this week and will be turning out a whole bunch of buttons for 1515 rail - anyone who wants them, I'll have them at the April launch and possibly even at the March launch if McMaster-Carr gets me the steel this week. I'll definitely have them at MHM as well.

Warren