You know it's going to be fun when the LCO makes everyone stand, ready themselves with bent knees and eyes on the prize!
Fanboy looking forward to more vids and reports!
NSL 2024: A 24" Diameter 1/6th SpaceX Dragon Pad Abort Test
- Thread starter bandman444
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Fanboy looking forward to more vids and reports!
The great thing about the San Louis Valley site is that far far away pad for the big dream boat rockets with really big limits. Get to ride in the TAPS nice truck or ATV out to the pad, just like NASA. Soooo cool. Level 3 space out there for the beautiful cover girl rockets.
jpoehlman
Well-Known Member
1/12 scale test flight 2 was nearly perfect! Video link below.
Improvements over test flight 1 included:
Components were installed in a 3D printed box:
On to the flight, we proved the model is stable! Ignition had a slight delay left to right, but the 1010 rail kept the model vertical. Motor burnout was also not equal, but the model righted itself to the flight path!
The video you have been waiting for: Dragon test flight 2
Landing success for the proof of concept not a high priority for this test flight. There was a successful recovery, but despite a near perfect ejection timing from the D16-4 motors, the parachute did not deploy until the very last possible movement.
We still have a lot to do on the 1/6th scale version to fly at NSL West. Good news though, we're feeling confident in the stability of this odd-rock and have learned a lot in these test flights.
Improvements over test flight 1 included:
- A new model was printed in short order with adjustments to accommodate a 1010 rail for launch guidance.
- 8x D16-4FJ motors all with the same batch number
- ignitor resistance was measured, paired by similar measurements, with pairs spilt on opposite sides of the model
- designed and build high current ignition relay box (details below)
- flown in lite winds
Components were installed in a 3D printed box:
On to the flight, we proved the model is stable! Ignition had a slight delay left to right, but the 1010 rail kept the model vertical. Motor burnout was also not equal, but the model righted itself to the flight path!
The video you have been waiting for: Dragon test flight 2
Landing success for the proof of concept not a high priority for this test flight. There was a successful recovery, but despite a near perfect ejection timing from the D16-4 motors, the parachute did not deploy until the very last possible movement.
We still have a lot to do on the 1/6th scale version to fly at NSL West. Good news though, we're feeling confident in the stability of this odd-rock and have learned a lot in these test flights.
Attachments
Looks great, a very cool looking short little cluster model. Looking forward to seeing video of the 1/6th version.
Cheers - mark
Cheers - mark
Gus
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Absolutely wonderful! The model is magnificent but as someone who has spent so much time working with boiler plates, it’s just fantastic to see someone putting in the same kind of effort. Really a treat to be watching this. Keep up the great work.
It looked like one group of motors ignited just a tad early but it made no difference. Great job!
rharshberger
Well-Known Member
Here is the RSO/Launch Directors view.....and with TRF's own Lugnut56 as LCO on the mic.
View attachment 20240413_123152.mp4
View attachment 20240413_123152.mp4
Draggy oddrocs and their need for zero delay. No coast.
jpoehlman
Well-Known Member
Catching up on the build of the 1/6th. We're getting close, but NSL West will happen (Fingers crossed).
After the capsule was fiber glassed, next up building a recovery bay section. We started by making a bulk plate circle out of 1/2 plywood:
The band saw made quick work cutting the circle:
The edge was sanded to the needed 18-degree angle:
Resulting in a well fitted bulk plate into the upper end of the capsule:
Interesting to note the size difference between 1/12th scale and 1/6th scale, it seems more like a 4x difference than 2x:
We acquired Carbon 38mm shipping tubes to use as motor mounts. After some review and consideration, we decided on keeping the full 12" length of the motor tube. With this decision, the motor mount needed to extend through the bulk plate, so holes would be need. Carbon paper was used to mark the landing location of the tube on the bulk plate:
And the drill press was setup with a Forstner bit to bore holes at the needed 22-degree angle:
This netted in a nice home for all 8 motor mount tubes:
to be continued........
After the capsule was fiber glassed, next up building a recovery bay section. We started by making a bulk plate circle out of 1/2 plywood:
The band saw made quick work cutting the circle:
The edge was sanded to the needed 18-degree angle:
Resulting in a well fitted bulk plate into the upper end of the capsule:
Interesting to note the size difference between 1/12th scale and 1/6th scale, it seems more like a 4x difference than 2x:
We acquired Carbon 38mm shipping tubes to use as motor mounts. After some review and consideration, we decided on keeping the full 12" length of the motor tube. With this decision, the motor mount needed to extend through the bulk plate, so holes would be need. Carbon paper was used to mark the landing location of the tube on the bulk plate:
And the drill press was setup with a Forstner bit to bore holes at the needed 22-degree angle:
This netted in a nice home for all 8 motor mount tubes:
to be continued........
jpoehlman
Well-Known Member
Now that we had a bulk plate, it was time to get the rest if the recovery bay built. We cut and fit a piece of 10" tube to use as a recovery bay compartment:
The bulk plate was fitted tightly into the capsule and supported so the tube could be positioned properly and align with the nose cap opening. After initial bonding with 5-minute epoxy, the bulk plate tube assembly was removed for completion. Completion work included fillets on both the inside and outside of the tube and fiberglass reinforcement:
AND coating the inside surfaces with a thin layer of epoxy. A terminal block was also added with stranded CAT-5 cable for the ejection charges :
The nose cone modeling was completed with known dimensions and printed. Tree supports where used to achieve a successful upside down print:
We now had full capsule for the first time and 38mm fiberglass coupler tube to use as a central launch lug:
more to follow in the comming days.........
The bulk plate was fitted tightly into the capsule and supported so the tube could be positioned properly and align with the nose cap opening. After initial bonding with 5-minute epoxy, the bulk plate tube assembly was removed for completion. Completion work included fillets on both the inside and outside of the tube and fiberglass reinforcement:
AND coating the inside surfaces with a thin layer of epoxy. A terminal block was also added with stranded CAT-5 cable for the ejection charges :
The nose cone modeling was completed with known dimensions and printed. Tree supports where used to achieve a successful upside down print:
We now had full capsule for the first time and 38mm fiberglass coupler tube to use as a central launch lug:
more to follow in the comming days.........
Looking good... now once it flies, you will need to pair it with a Falcon 9 booster for it's next flight...
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bandman444
Well-Known Member
Only 33ft of 24inch diameter body tube to add. How hard could it be?
Neutronium95
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I know a guy who was planning on building a 24" Falcon 9. I should put you in touch with him...
Home Depot sells 4' segments of 24" tubing $16 each... so $128 for the length of tubing. Chump change compared to the motors you'll need to get that thing off the ground with the upper stage loaded lol
E: Apparently they're sold elsewhere in 12ft segments, each weighing 60lbs. Assuming a 24" falcon 9 would weigh (conservatively) about 200lbs (33' of that tubing should be like 160-180... but also we need a chute, internal structure, couplers, etc for it to be safe to launch, and add the extra 15lbs for the dragon capsule, and 215lbs converts to about 950N (rounding to 1000 for simple math)....) you'd need something with like 5000N of thrust average to be at the 5:1TWR. That's not even considering how much impulse you need to put it above ground. Depending on where you source the motors and your motor choice, that's gonna be two or more massive motors clustered to get the needed thrust, so somewhere over $1k for the motors alone. Quite a project according to my napkin math lol
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terryg
Well-Known Member
Not neccesarily, you would only need to have enough power to get it to enough alititude to simulate a CATO and then activate the PAD abort system......
Why simulate a CATO when you could pack a huge cluster of Estes E-motors into that diameter and practically guarantee one.
(I've not actually had an Estes E CATO yet myself, but with an upcoming flight on twelve of them, that streak may well be living on borrowed time.)
bandman444
Well-Known Member
Way ahead of you.
rharshberger
Well-Known Member
Just make sure all of them are the same ID/OD, sonotubes are designed to nest two in one so a 24" can be either a nominal ID or OD so two nest together for shipping.
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