YAOLD (Yet Another October Launch Day)

It was another fine day for flying, with clear skies and mild temperatures. I sent FLying Colors flying on it's 10th voyage, powered by a CTI 538I303-16A, to an altitude of 6374'. Everyone lost track of it, so I was forced to rely entirely on my Walston Tracker to locate the rocket. This was the first time I had to rely entirely on the tracker. It led me on a bit of a circuitous route since my rocket had landed beyond a ridge, but I did locate it.

When I returned from recovering Flying Colors we loaded a motor in my wife's Wildman Wildchild that she has named Wild Flamingo on a CTI 108G68-13A motor. My AltimeterOne altimeter was attached to the shock cord using the vendors included wire clip. When we recovered the rocket there was no sign of my altimeter and it appears to be lost for good. It was a first generation AltimeterOne which differed in a couple ways from the current product, so I'm not happy about having lost it.

Photo Album: 2011-10-22, TIR Launch

Video: "Flying Colors", Flight #10

Flying Season Returns

After getting several days of rain last week, the BLM cleared the launch site for use. The weather forecast looked good for Saturday, so yesterday was our first launch of the fall season.

My daughter got to launch her new Dark Star Mini on a Cesaroni 84-G88-1A to 1754'. The expected altitude was 2287', but the wind was blowing pretty good when she flew and that likely had a significant effect.

After recovering the DS Mini I flew Flying Colors on its ninth flight. I loaded an 819J354-16A, the highest impulse motor I expect to be able to load in this rocket and sent it to 8091' AGL, a new personal best. In addition to my AltimeterOne, I had my new AltimeterTwo mounted and was looking forward to getting data from it, but due to some delays after I armed it, it apparently timed out and turned itself off before launch. This flight was projected to be supersonic and I really wanted to see if I made it. I'll have to wait for spring now to see if I'm actually exceeding Mach 1 as predicted and to test if I exceed the single-axis G limit of the AltimeterTwo, as none of my remaining reloads for this season will do either of those jobs. In addition to my altimeters I was once again flying one of Vern's prototype "Kate" nose cones. She performed up to her usual high standards and did an excellent job reporting the events of my flight. Thanks to the landing coordinates she provided I was able to once again walk right to Flying Colors, which was recovered in excellent condition.

Unfortunately, due to other commitments, we were unable to stay for the entire day. The winds were calming as we left and it looked like a number of big rockets and motors were being prepped for flight.


Photo Album: 2011-10-08, Tripoli Idaho Rocketry 

Video: 2011-10-08, Tripoli Idaho Rocketry Launch Montage

I'm an author!

Issue #293 of Apogee Components' Peak of Flight newsletter was published today with the feature article I wrote about mounting the AltimeterTwo for use in high-G rockets. This is the first time I ever wrote an article for anything, so I'm quite pleased. I should have included thanks in the article to my friend, Jamie, who provided substantial feedback when I asked her to review the article for me. I should also have thanked John at Jolly Logic for confirming details about the construction of the AltimeterTwo which were necessary to correctly design the mount. Now I just have to wait a couple more months before I can fly the altimeter in Flying Colors. Presently Tripoli Idaho is in its summer launch hiatus due to the annual fire risk here. Come on Autumn!

Supplemental and higher resolution photos of the build are available in this photo album:


Photo Album: AltimeterTwo Mount

Flying Colors, Flight #8, "A Date with Kate"

Yesterday was our final launch opportunity of the spring season. We had a very good turn out with many launches. I shot quite a lot of video, capturing 15 launches in 13 segments. There were many more launches than that, but I wasn't always in position to take video. I was there to fly my own rocket after all.

We got to the site early so we could set up our own equipment and help with the launch equipment. I was still working on setting up the weather station when other people, including the person towing the club trailer, showed up. With a number of people working on it, the range was set up well in time for the opening of the launch window at 10:00.

Vern Knowles, "parent" of the ever-popular "Kate", is working on making a version of her available for sale. Kate is an automated flight data reporting system that receives GPS data transmitted from a rocket and announces the details of the flight in near-real-time. Vern had prototype transmitters, pre-installed in various size nose cones, available for test flights at this launch. For various reasons I was the only person to take Vern up on the chance to give Kate a ride at this launch. Having Kate on-board meant I would not be able to include my Walston Tracker, which is installed in my usual nose cone. I was still able to fly my AltimeterOne, which meant I'd have two sources of data regarding my maximum altitude. The Kate nose cone is also heavier than my usual nose cone, so I anticipated a lower than estimated flight. Based on RockSim v9.0 my expected altitude was 6830' AGL. According to my AltimeterOne I reached an altitude of 6210', while Kate reported 6449'. Kate did lose GPS during the ascent, but reacquired a fix before apogee and reported data for the rest of the flight. It is a good thing she did, as I never saw Flying Colors after it left the pad. There were people that spotted it, but I think they were able to due to Kate's reporting. Since Flying Colors landed 1.33 miles from the launch site I probably would not have received a signal from the tracker if I'd been flying it, particularly after Flying Colors landed. With Kate having provided landing coordinates it was a simple matter of punching them into a hand-held GPS unit and walking right to my rocket. Thank you Vern for letting me fly your transmitter for you.


Photo Album: 2011-06-04, Tripoli Idaho Launch



Video: 2011-06-04, Tripoli Idaho Rocketry, Launch Montage

Have Weather Station Will Travel

We infrequently have weather information, primarily wind speed, available at our launches. I own a wireless weather station that I've not been using much at home and decided that I'd see about arranging so I could transport it to the launch site and set it up. On Friday I picked up the hardware I would need to implement this decision and today I built it. I took a 56" length of 1010 rail that I acquired at a local recycling store, along with some accompanying hardware, and built a support structure I can attach to my Yakima roof rack system. I cut the 1010 rail into 36", 12", and 8" sections. I used the hardware to connect the 8" section at right angles to the 36" section. This forms the base portion, with 2.5" long, 1/4" carriage screws slid into both ends of the 36" and the end of the 8" section. These screws pass through clips borrowed from my bike rack to mount the base to the Yakima round bars. The 12" section is then mounted vertically, at right angles to both of the base sections. I used hose clamps to mount a 10' length of conduit to the 12" upright 1010 rail. The wind vane/anemometer of the weather station is mounted to the top of the conduit.

I assembled the support structure and mounted it on the car. Everything worked as planned. I'll probably mount the weather station's transmitter, which includes barometer, temperature, and relative humidity sensors, on the 1010 rail, but for today I just set it on top of the rail. After I had the system set up I went in the house to collect the receiver/display. Even in my office it was displaying the wind speed and direction, so I expect we'll be able to place the display on the LCO table and have it work, as I hope to do.

Presently I'm using a steel conduit. I had thought it was aluminum until I went to put it on top of the support. If I can locate an aluminum one I'll probably replace it in order to make the system easier to erect.

I also realized that I had to solve how to transport the conduit, since it won't fit in the car. That was easily solved though by using the hose clamps to fasten it along the 36" section of 1010 rail. We will need to be careful about opening the trunk of the car while the conduit is in this position. I think I'd better come up with some foam padding for the end of it, just in case.

Since photos provide the best explanation...


Photo Album: 2011-05-28, Have Weatherstation Will Travel

Another Successful Launch Day

Yesterday was our regularly scheduled launch day and the rocket gods smiled on us and gave us decent weather. We got stopped by a train across railroad tracks on the way to the launch site, so things were pretty much set up by the time we arrived. Our president had had to bring out the club trailer, meaning he didn't bring his personal trailer, which had his rocket tracker receiver in it. Since for now I'm borrowing his receiver when I fly my rocket, I was quite nervous about launching up over a mile and trying to find it. Given these considerations I decided to proceed with a flight, but use the I255 motor I had instead of the I303, since it was supposed to provide me a slightly lower flight. I armed my tracking transmitter and installed it in my nose cone as a precaution against my rocket going missing, the idea being that if I did lose my rocket I'd be able to go back out to the launch site with the receiver and locate it. I took my time prepping the rocket and ancillary gear so I didn't forget to do anything this time. I took my rocket out to the pad once I had it loaded up and inspected, but before I had everything else ready to go. I think I irritated some of the other rocketeers by tying up the pad for a while as I was getting everything else ready. I'll need to modify my preparations to make sure I don't do this again.

By the time I had video cameras ready to roll, GPS receiver up and running, and binoculars, camera, and FRS radio located and checked Coldfire was loaded up on the away pad and ready to fly. I re-situated my tripod mounted video camera so it could capture both Coldfire's and Flying Colors' flights. I asked Coldfire's owner if he would launch first so I could watch Coldfire fly without worrying about losing track of where Flying Colors landed. I don't think he understood my reasoning, but agreed and that is how things proceeded. It did prove to be a mistake in one regard in that I ran out of memory in my camera at the base of the launch pad prior to Flying Colors launching, so I have no video from it.

For this flight there was a high layer of thin clouds. This is exactly the kind of situation where I lose track of my rockets. I simply can't see them against the clouds. I think everyone lost it this time, so it may have actually gone above the clouds, but it is not clear. We watched and listened and for what seemed for an eternity there was no sign of Flying Colors. Finally somebody called out that they saw it and soon many people were tracking it. Eventually even I spotted my brilliant red parachute. In this case I think I would have been blind to not ultimately spot my descending rocket as it landed a mere 288.8' from the launch pad, per my GPS. I made the short walk out to it and did my usual post-flight inspection, including checking my AltimeterOne to see how high I actually flew. I was disappointed in this case to find that my altimeter had malfunctioned and was only reporting a peak altitude of 953' AGL. This was with the altimeter installed in my ported payload bay in the same configuration as the previous 5 flights.

I returned to base with my rocket and contemplated the skies. Soon we had a large patch of blue develop right over us and I decided to go for a second launch, this time on the I303 I had brought along as my primary motor. I reset my AltimeterOne and, hoping for better results, assembled my rocket. Since I already had my gear lined up from the first flight I was much quicker getting ready to fly when I took Flying Colors out to the pad. Soon the LCO gave the count and hit the launch button. Flying Colors flew beautifully up into the clear blue skies and I watched it from launch to landing. I walked straight out to it with no difficulty, though before I reached it I was really beginning to think I must have some how walked past it. It had landed beyond a small ridge and once I crested the ridge the parachute was easily spotted. I really didn't think it had landed as far out as it had, at 1244' from the launch site. I popped open the payload pay to see how my AltimeterOne had performed on this flight and found it reporting a perfectly normal looking reading of 6661' AGL.

So, with one small hiccup I had a really nice day of rocket flying with two successful flights of Flying Colors. In all there were 6 HPR launches, though I only managed to record 3 of them. There were a number of LPR rockets flown, at least one of which went AWOL. It was a rather detailed model, so I hope it can yet be found.


Photo Album: 2011-05-21, Tripoli Idaho Launch Day



Video: Montage of Tripoli Idaho Rocketry launches on 2011-05-21
Video Playlist: 2011-05-21, Tripoli Idaho Rocketry Launch

Blood & Tears

Here's hoping that I've met the blood and tears quota for my new rocket. I was sanding out the latest fiberglass work on the new airframe tube this afternoon. After getting the sanding to a point where I was satisfied I dry fit all the pieces together (fin can, 2 airframe tubes, 1 coupler, and nose cone) and showed it to my younger daughter. I had started disassembling the parts when my older daughter came out. I wanted to show her so started reassembling the rocket by attempting to insert the nose cone in the upper airframe tube. Despite the fact that I'd just had it all together and easily assembled and disassembled it, the nose cone wouldn't go in. In fact it got stuck and wouldn't go in or come out. I applied more force and suddenly it popped loose. Of course my elbows bent and the nose cone described an arc right into my face. Thank goodness I was wearing my glasses. They took a good bit of the energy and deflected the nose cone such that it hit my brow ridge. I still ended up with cuts on the bridge of my nose from my glasses and a puncture wound in my eyelid from the tip of the nose cone. That is far closer to losing an eye than I ever hope to come again. I'll be lucky if I don't get a black eye from this. So consider this an object lesson you need not repeat. If that nose cone gets stuck and you are tempted to apply more force to get it out, at least put on your safety glasses/goggles before doing so.

How to reinforce a coupler tube with biaxial fiberglass sleeve without vacuum bagging equipment.

Today I undertook reinforcing the airframe tube and two coupler tubes for my next rocket. Like Flying Colors this rocket is being constructed from LOC/Precision 54mm kraft paper tubes reinforced with 3" light biaxial sleeve fiberglass from Soller Composites.

I started by fiberglassing the airframe tube as I did the practice tube that will be the second airframe tube in the new rocket. I once again used the treated shrink tubing to squeeze out excess epoxy using the process described on the Soller web site. I was able to strip the shrink tubing off by late this evening and I'm very happy with the results. Clearly the best of all the tubes I've done to date.

Once I had the airframe tube hung up to cure I started work on the coupler tubes. As can be seen elsewhere in this blog, I used biaxial sleeve to reinforce the coupler tube for Flying Colors, but while successful it was not a process without its problems. I had issues with the fiberglass pulling away from the inside tube wall if any force was applied that would pull towards the outer ends of the tube, as if the sleeve were a Chinese finger trap. It also kept pulling away from the tube at both ends where I had folded the sleeve back over the outside of the tube. These two problems tended to feed on each other as trying to correct one tended to result in the other being exacerbated.

While it is likely that using a vacuum bagging process would cure these issues, I do not have the equipment to implement such a process at this time. I have spent a fair bit of time thinking about the trouble I'd had and had come up with a possible solution that I decided to attempt implementing for these coupler tubes.

I started my new process by taping wax paper around the outside of the coupler tube in order to minimize transfer of epoxy to the outside of the tube. The wax paper was trimmed to match the ends of the coupler tube. Next the fiberglass sleeve was inserted into the tube. One end of the sleeve was folded back over the outside of the tube and secured with masking tape. This was done in order to restrain the sleeve within the tube while the remaining work was performed. The other end of the sleeve was not secured, thus essentially eliminating the possibility of the finger trap effect occurring, so long as I didn't pull on the sleeve from the unsecured end. I then used a disposable fiberglassing brush, available at your local hobby shop, to apply the epoxy to the sleeve, working from the end of the tube with the sleeve secured to it. I made sure that any force applied to the sleeve was a pulling motion towards the end of the tube I was working from. This forced the sleeve to expand against the wall of the coupler tube. Once I had all of the fiberglass wetted with epoxy I inserted a rolled up tube of waxed paper and then expanded it to contact the wall of the tube. I then inserted an uninflated balloon, purchased at the local party supply store, inside the tube, stretched the balloon to reach both ends of the tube, and inflated it with my air compressor. The balloon helped hold the fiberglass against the tube while the epoxy cured, while the waxed paper served as a release to keep the balloon being bonded to the tube. When the epoxy had cured to the gel stage the balloon was popped and the internal waxed paper removed. The fiberglass then received a rough trim and the external waxed paper was also removed. This process was duplicated for the second coupler tube and the tubes are now being allowed to fully cure before any further work is done.

The results are considerably better than I achieved on Flying Colors' coupler tube, with the fiberglass well bonded from end-to-end. There are signs that the internal waxed paper wrinkled and trapped some of the excess epoxy. Use of a proper release directly on the balloon would likely alleviate this issue. The balloons were also only able to exert a limited amount of force since the expanded outside the tubes as more air was blown into them. This limitation means that they didn't squeeze out as much excess  epoxy as I would have liked. It is likely that the only cure for this would be to use a proper vacuum bagging process, however, use of a long balloon in place of the round balloon I chose to use my yield better results. I used the round balloon as I wanted the heavier walls such balloons tend to have. The photo album should help clarify the process.


Photo Album: 2011-05-07, Fiberglassing New Rocket

A Red, White, & Blue Day

After scrubbing last week's scheduled launch due to marginal weather conditions we got a "Go" for Saturday's "rain date." We got to the site with clear skies and cold temperatures. Once the sun got up for a bit it warmed up nicely and we had a great launch day. Shortly before noon I had a Cesaroni 649J335-15A loaded and was ready to launch Flying Colors on it's 5th flight. When the LCO pressed the launch button we were treated to a brilliant laser red flame, white smoke, and blue skies as Flying Colors leapt off the pad and raced to an altitude of 7588' AGL, setting a new personal altitude record for me. After recovering my rocket about 2/3 mile from the pad I spent much of the rest of the day shooting videos of other launches.


Video: Flying Colors, Flight #5, Composite


Photo Album: 2011-04-23, TIR Launch


Video Playlist: April 23, 2011 - Launch Videos

Flying Weather Arrives

After scrubbing the last two weekends due to weather we finally got a "go" for launching today. Early in the day weather conditions were not very favorable for flying. Winds were coming from the north-northwest at approximately 15 mile per hour. Those rockets that were flown were targeting the 2000'-3000' range due to the winds and a low ceiling. I could have flown my Dragon Fly with the last of the G76 reloads I purchased last year, but with the cold temperatures I really didn't want to risk the non-ignition fiasco of our last outing. That meant I needed a much higher ceiling and preferably lower winds so I could fly my Flying Colors. The expected altitude for the smallest reload I had available, a Cesaroni 517I255-16A, was 6471'. After noon we started getting some blue patches of sky going over, so I prepared Flying Colors for flight with the I255 reload. When the next patch of blue rolled over us my rocket was launched atop a brilliant red flame and zoomed off into the sky. It weather-cocked a bit into the wind and deployed near apogee as expected. I had a long walk to recover it and discovered that my rocket had received new cosmetic damage, this time on both the payload bay and one of the fins. Due to paint transfer evidence it is obvious that the two parts collided, presumably during deployment of the recovery system. My altimeter recorded a maximum altitude of 6479'.


Video: Flying Colors, Flight 4


Video: Flying Colors, Flight 4 (1/20 normal speed)


Photo Album: 2011-04-09, Start of New Rocket Season

While waiting for a chance to fly my own rocket I shot video of a number of other launches. The videos will be posted to my YouTube playlist for the day as I get them processed.

A New Rocket Begun

Tonight I started work on a new rocket. It actually has been in process for a little while, but up to now it has been planning and parts acquisition. This is going to be a scratch built, 54mm, minimum diameter rocket using the practice tube I did before building Flying Colors and additional materials. I've purchased another LOC Precision 54mm airframe tube that I will fiberglass in the spring, once temperatures have warmed up. I have an Acme 54mm fin can that was picked up for me at the 2010 XPRS launch. I also just received a Performance Rocketry 54mm Von Karman nose cone that I ordered on a pre-Christmas sale. When I went to test fit this nose cone in the airframe tube I discovered that not all 54mm's are equal and the nose cone would not go into the tube. A quick check with my micrometer showed that the nose cone was 0.6mm too big, so tonight I took it out to my shop and carefully sanded down the nose cone until it fit into the airframe tube. Already this is starting to look like a cool rocket, but it has a long way to go.