X-Caliber Rocket
2024-03-27 CAD Files
2024-03-25 Open Rocket Simulations
Sunday, March 3, 2024
(BAR-29) Gary Larsen's "Farside" Rocket
2024-04-23 Final Swing Tests
2024-04-22 Metallic Silver and Photo Shoot
2024-04-12 Blue and Red Paint
2024-04-09 CWF and Primer
I made a couple openings in the cone to inject some wood glue into the upper section, and then let it set over night.
I trimmed the lower cone and then made a plywood ring to glue onto the rear cone centering ring. I'll glue this to the cone bottom to keep it from getting crunched.
2024-03-24 Fabricating The Lower Cone
I gave up on trying to locate some suitable cardstock, and used the cardboard from a Strawberry Frosted Mini Wheats box. Came out really nice.
2024-03-21 Preliminary Swing Tests
2024-03-11 Nose Cone Hub
I did a number of preliminary swing tests. The rocket appears stable. The canted nose doesn't appear to push the rocket askew.
It gives me confidence to give this a powered flight.
2024-03-20 Nose Cone Repair
The day after I turned the nose cone I noticed the crack was opening up... like considerably. I used a band clamp and clamped the bottom for 24 hours, periodically checking and re-tightening to close up the crack.
Then I applied wood glue and clamped it again. I'm pretty sure it's back to where it was when I initially turned the piece.
2024-03-18 Nose Cone
I turned the nose cone from a piece of pinyon pine we cut down on our property about 7 years ago. It has some worm holes which adds character. I may end up filling them with wood putty... we'll see.
2024-03-17 Launch Lug
2024-03-13 Upper Body Tube
I placed a glue fillet on the hub and let that dry a bit. Then, slathered some Gorilla Wood Glue on the O.D. of the hub and then slid the upper tube in place... secured with a thumbtack.
Then I injected some more wood glue into the access opening I punched into the tube and spent the next couple hours slowly rotating the rocket to coat the inside of the joint. There's really almost no loading on this joint due to the internal dowel.
2024-03-12 Upper Body Segments
Kind of hard to see, but I used Gorilla Wood Glue to coat the inside of the intermediate upper body tube to Lower body tube joint.
I then cut some masking tape down to 3/16" wide and wrapped it around the 1" dowel. This allows the hub to sit on the tape. I applied some Gorilla Wood Glue into the bore of the hub, and then inverted it onto the dowel. The tape keeps the glue from running down the dowel, yet while the glue was still "fresh" I could rotated it to get optimal fit of the upper body tube.
The upper body tube is removable at this point so I can get a good glue joint of the hub to the dowel.
I turned the nose cone hub from a scrap piece of a Southern Yellow Pine 4 x 4. Then cut the 22-1/2 degree angle with my chop saw, and drilled the 1" dia. hole.
I mocked up the upper tubes and the cone hub to check the fit.
2024-03-10 Internal Nose Cone Support / Recovery Anchor
This little gizmo attaches the nose cone to the lower body... and has an eyebolt to anchor the recovery gear.
2024-03-09 Lower Cone Development
I searched high and low on the ole internet for a development of an offset eccentric cone..... not a concentric cone.... not an eccentric cone.... an offset eccentric cone. I never found one?So I decided to make my own. Using some paper I fit each piece to the rocket, cutting out for the fins. Then I removed the template and copied it onto a piece of 11 x 17 paper.Now to find some suitable cardstock or poster board to make the cone from.
2024-03-08 Fin Can Day 02
Applied glue fillets to the fin can.
2024-03-07 Fin Can Day 01
I got all the fin can parts glued together with an initial fillet of Gorilla Wood Glue. I ended up sanding the o.d. of the C-80 coupler in the area where the lower BT-80 goes in order to get a sliding fit. I then use Elmer's Glue All to secure it in place.I'll add glue fillets now.
2024-03-05 Rings, Tubes and Fins
I cut the tubes and made the plywood rings and fins
2024-03-03
This one is slated to be a scaled model of Gary Larsen's Farside rocket.
I used the actual Farside comic and set about to draw a scale model of the iconic rocket.
Armed with these dimensions I picked a body tube size, BT-80H, and then scaled all the dimensions based on that body tube. I fired up the CAD station and created a Model.
I then built an OpenRocket simulation using a straight line version but with the actual diameter and lengths from the CAD model. I wanted to know what size motor might be needed.
Looks like a flyer. So I knocked out a CAD drawing showing the configuration of the fuselage.It's a rear eject spool design with a 29mm motor mount. None of that is shown in the CAD model / drawings.
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