Makers Corner

Good advice.

Yes that's what they cost. My hardware only goes up to 75mm, so I haven't bought anything beyond an M. That said, once you are an experienced L3, you can always volunteer for IREC or other college competitions where the team buys the motor. I have flown a bunch of 98MM motors at IREC. One way to look at it is that you might fly multiple smaller motors at a launch, but typically a L3 flight takes up the entire day.

Frankly, my bigger concern these days is weight. I can't really carry more than a 40 LB rocket across a farm back to my SUV. Given that and the low waivers we have in the east, you are pretty limited :-)

When you get into L3 motors such as M, N and O, it is a whole different hobby.

Yup! I watched a 6" diameter 10' rocket launch on an "O" motor in PA. It was quite impressive, but from what I see online, an "O" motor costs $3-10,000!

I recently bought a J180T reload kit for my Level 2 attempt...$93.49. Yessir, welcome to the pricier rocket motor selection....:)

(but they sound so good, don't they?)

Congratulations! Welcome to high power rocketry. Get out your check book. I'm supposed to say that, it's tradition.

I successfully launched & recovered the Zephyr to earn my L1 certification yesterday. I used the H100W motor for the certification flight as the first flight because the Pittsburgh Space Command's launch rods were not long enough to test fly the rocket on G motors first. It flew straight, reached about 2K', popped the nosecone at apogee and the JLCR released he chute at 300" but the lines fouled so it hit hard but was not damaged.

Flying your certification rocket (when possible) for a shakedown flight is a very good approach. I've flown several rockets using single use/reload in the F/G range, 24 and 29 mm. My L1 flight was preceded by one on a G80. I used the jolly logic chute release for both. The G80 flight went fine but the parachute snarled and the rocket landed like a sack of wet cement. The only serious damage was some cracks in the paint. I found I had inadvertently improperly prepared the chute release. If that had been my L1 attempt and there had been significant damage... I eventually flew my L1 rocket in dual deploy mode to gain experience for my larger L2 project. At this point, I'm preparing for my L2. I'll be flying a shakedown of the dual deploy system on an I180 hopefully at the September launch in preparation for an October launch.

It is advisable that you get some experience flying on mid power prior to graduating to high power.

I think planning to fly the same rocket twice on the same day is very ambitious. Its possible, especially with a simple motor eject flight, but it has a high risk of failure. You definitely should fly some G's before you try to cert L1.

I guess my $0.02 worth would be to say yes. For example, in looking to get an L2 cert, it is recommended to get/have a few L1 flights in prior to the L2 attempt (that's what I'll be doing. I'm just finishing up a 38mm Excel Plus from Binder Design mostly for that purpose, along with an older 29mm Ariel from Public Missiles, will both be used for those flights). For an L1, I guess that would say you should have some G impulse flights, especially if you haven't flown using G impulse before.

One last L1 certification flight question. Should I launch my Zephyr on the H100 certification flight right away or test out the rocket on 1 or 2 G's first?

I have LOC 38 to 29 adapter that I use for my LOC Lil Diter. You can come by at the next launch and take a look at it. I think I made a slight modification to it. I would have to compare it to the other one I have still in the package. It works well. John P. made his own 29 to 24 adapter that works well.

So, funny story, you'll have a twin at that launch. I'm also gonna be sending up a Zephyr on an 29mm H. It looks like we've got the same solution for adapting to the Zephyr's 38mm MMT.

...and I have a ring that is not in the photo which goes inside that 38mm retainer to hold in 29mm motors.

Swivels it is then! Thank you for the link Alberton.

I figured out how to post a photo of the "business end" of my Zephyr kit. Please let me know if anything looks wrong. The fins have since been sanded round and that exposed scrap of blue masking tape should not affect anything.

I 100% agree with Frank. You should use swivels on all parachutes (drogue and main). They just help the parachute work better to keep any asymmetrical drag from causing the rocket to spiral around during descent.

Check these out; high strength stainless steel with ball bearings and tensile strength ratings....

Ball Bearing Fishing Swivels

This is the URL that explains how to post photos to the Gallery. You can drag and drop photos to the Forum posts.

https://cmass.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=693092&module_id=722231

I recommend a swivel on all chutes.

We have a Zoom meeting on Tuesday at 7:00 PM. You should attend. We enjoy it when people ask us rocketry questions.

You can contact me through the CMASS website in the membership section and I will send you the meeting information.

Frank D