Warren B. Musselman

I have sketches for a design for retractable rail buttons that would pull back into the airframe as soon as the button leaves the rail. Unfortunately, the spring tension in the current would be compressing the rail between the button…   Read more»

This was some random comment I read on the ARocket list where it was reported that several drives all failed in quick succession. There was discussion of the impact of zero-g on the bearings and/or lubricant.W

If I recall correctly, Brakleen is a halogenated solvent and as such is a major source of ozone destruction in the stratosphere and upper altitudes. They do not break down for hundreds of years. Awesome for cleaning guns too.Warren

This is completely off topic, but given the industry you work in Mike, I wonder if you could comment on this.A while back, it was reported that ALL the hard disk drives in the ISS essentially seized up within hours…   Read more»

There is a teflon spray I’ve used in the past that would likely be far better. I just mentioned WD40 because I’ve seen a lot of folks in the club use it that way and for that purpose and its…   Read more»

I’m thinking about maybe multi-piece stainless rail buttons with a teflon washer on both the inner and outer bearing surface.In general though, I spray WD40 on rails before every flight. It definitely slicks things up.W

Mike, absolutely fantastic post. Thank you much. Very thorough and I’m interested in the buttons you’ve come up with. My original thought was to machine the buttons out of teflon, but bad experiences with overtightened Delrin buttons binding up in…   Read more»

These are fully polished rail guides so I guess I don’t see an issue. Besides, I’m one of the two equipment managers and the rails are, amongst other things, my responsibility and I see the kind of damage they take….   Read more»

Whaddya mean L3’s only use 1/4-20’s?. Two 10-24 stainless screws should be able to easily hold 300# before deformation. I used to have a table around here somewhere and the individual screw needs over 300# before deformation begins for even…   Read more»

Not for the 1515 style buttons – the shaft diameter precludes it.I’m thinking of making some Unistrut buttons somewhere down the road and those would take a 1/4-20 flathead screw. I’ve also got a program written to do 1010 sized…   Read more»

Sorry to hear this Conway – hope everything works out on the health front. The business can wait, though it’s fantastic that you’ve finally got you paper and can start storing propellant. Congratulations on that.Warren

Kevlar is a total pain in the ass. I have two pairs of supposed “Kevlar shears” I bought at Hobbytown sometime back and even they hack the hell out of it. A clean cut is essentially impossible. No manual rotary…   Read more»

John, your booster and the spent casing that fell from 23K was maybe 4# or 5# if I recall correctly. My best estimate for weight for this booster is about 25# with the casing. Conways bird (whole bird or just…   Read more»

Sounds like we reached the same conclusions Conway. The way I built it up was I took the fin blanks and laid 4 layers of glass from the root out 1/8, 1/6, 1/5, 1/4 on each side and v-bagged that…   Read more»

Through the wall. This is killer bombproof, mainly because I’m building for N motors and also because if the thing comes in on an apogee streamer without the main deploying, I’d rather be able to fly it again rather than…   Read more»

Wait until you see the fin can on my L3 bird – You could drive a truck across it and it would probably be fine. I expect the booster section could fall from 10K or better and bounce with no…   Read more»

John,As I’ve told you before – I have plenty and you’re welcome to whatever you need.Warren

Please go higher a bit. The standard Adept transmitters use 433.75 as the ostensible center frequency – the frequently wander (temp induced) as far as .5 up or down which could put the high point at 434.25. Push to 435…   Read more»

I’ll have DC20 with me to test with the handhelds.Warren

449.850 is definitely a non-interfering frequency for the Adept beacon transmitters – our main concern. The Adept’s are typically 433.750 at the center though they drift as low as 433.5 and as high as 433.9.Warren