David's Level 3 Certification Attempt Page
Introduction
I purchased a 11.5 inch nose cone from another Syracuse Rocket Club member. The plan was to someday use it for my L3 rocket. Someday has arrived.
The Plan
The plan is to fly my L3 in 2009 at NYPower.
The Rocket - Grounds for Divorce
The rocket is going to be around 11.5 foot tall, and be 11.5 inch diameter rocket with four fins named Grounds for Divorce.
Parts
I've ordered a bunch of stuff from Red Arrow Hobbies:
- two 48 inch tubes
- one 11.5 inch coupler pack (coupler, one bulkhead, and u-bolt)
- three centering rings for 98mm motor tube in 11.5 inch tube
- one 36 inch 98mm motor tube
- one 36 inch 75mm motor tube
- three centering rings for a 75mm motor tube in a 3.9 inch tube
- one bulkhead for 98mm motor tube (which is too small by about 1/8 of an inch)
More stuff purchased at Pittsford Lumber:
- West Systems Epoxy
- Three 20x48 half inch birch plywood sheets (for the fins and electronic bay bulkheads)
Rail buttons purchased from John DeMar.
Missile Works RRC2-mini Altimeter and PerfectFlite Altimeter.
Still need to get:
- Deployment bag.
- 1/2 inch forged eye bolt to retain the motor.
Still need to decide on:
- Parachute. As I see it, I have three choices:
- Buy a "real" parachute, like the SkyAngle's Cert-3 XXLarge,
http://www.b2rocketry.com/.
Nice thing about doing this is they also sell a matching deployment bag.
Bad thing is the price ... almost $240.
- Borrow a "real" parachute.
Nice thing about doing this is it is very cheap.
Bad thing is I feel like a mooch.
- Buy a playchute and sew lines onto it,
http://www.amazon.com/20-Parachute-with-16-handles/dp/B0007PC92A/ref=pd_sxp_grid_pt_1_0.
Nice thing about doing this is it would be much cheaper ... $80.
Bad thing is I'd have to sew the lines on, and I'm not sure how well it would fit into a deployment bag.
- How I'm going to setup the electronics bay. There isn't much room between the bottom of the coupler and the top of the motor mount, so I'm thinking of moving the one end of the ebay into the coupler (using 1/2 the coupler space instead of the whole thing. I just don't like the idea of sticking my head inside the coupler to load the ejection charges and connect the recovery harnesses.
- I also need to finalize how I'm reinforcing the coupler ... it is pretty flimsy. I'm 99% sure I'm going to put a section of sonotube inside the coupler (like the LOC stiffy coupler).
Rocksim File
The graphic below is the analysis picture from Rocksim. Select the graphic to get the file. You'll need Rocksim to view the file. Updated March 28th 2009 (now includes the 54mm outboards)!
BFR Registration Form
The original plan was to fly this rocket at NYPOWER 13. The
BFR committee wants to see some basic information about the rocket and planned flight. This is my posting to the NYPOWER BFR forum. It will be updated as things get decided.
BFR Registration Form
Pictures
Updated March 27th 2009!
Construction
- Place parts in large bowl
- Mix up some epoxy
- Add epoxy to bowl
- Stir until epoxy sets
Return to David's Home Page.
Return to Cayuga's Home Page.
