Figured that would get you're attention.........
Went with the wife to town...and I hate this more than she hates to go to launches......ya'll know how this is.....
Anyhow...I always try to make the best of it....
Went to all the fabric stores... etc etc... and lo and behold... in front of the last fabric store we went to was a large display of bamboo, about 6 ft long ea.... hmmmmmmm say's I.... (remember, bamboo is a member of the grass family)
I musta spent 30 minutes looking for the perfect body tube.....bought the one I wanted...4 bucks, took it home...
Spent the next 2 days just figuring out how to go about making a 38mm rocket outa this stuff....well.... wouldn't ya know it.. the aft end is a perfect 38mm motor tube....ok.....this is the starting point....
I decided to go with 3 elliptical fins, surface mount, remember bamboo is only so thick, so thru the wall is not an option, I did score about half the thickness for a fin tab tho....cut the fins from 1/4" 5 ply plywood...mounted them with 2 hour epoxy, added some fin supports along side the root edge....
Now, working on up the tube, I had to figure out the deployment.... hmmmmm.. looked at the knuckle and made a cut right there at the 2nd knuckle up from the motor tube...found an old Vulcan H300 single use (spent, of course) and it fit perfect as a tube coupler...added bulkheads, perforated, eyebolt, and now I'm set for seperation, anti zip design.....but.............. there's another knuckle between the separation and aft end of the rocket....what to do... this is a solid knuckle.. I have a 4ft 1/4" drill bit.. so I just drilled a few "vent" holes to allow ejection gas to escape.... worked perfect.
Nose cone... hmmm since this is bamboo, I didn't want to find a plastic etc. cone, want to keep in the "theme of things" so I turned one outa pine... looks close enough.. even considered cutting various lengths of bamboo and "transitioning" them to a cone... well this woulda made the cone almost 4 ft.. so not an option...
How to attach the shock cord to the upper part... well.... again,. I went thru the knuckle of the upper half and simply threaded the shock cord thru there to the coupler with the eyebolt...sure didn't wanna fool around with electronics bay first time out....
I used 3/8" bamboo from an old fishing pole as launch lugs...
As I stand back at a distance and look at this rocket, I am impressed with myself... this looks kinda cool... and I have never seen one at any of the launches I've attended...
Bamboo is incredibly strong, and lightweight.. used in construction for thousands of years... and remember the first astronaut, the Chinese guy in the chair?? the one MythBusters busted??? these were bamboo motors..
I am considering using the Loki J motor for the first flight....I know the rocket will handle the flight,simmed at 9,300K I'm not sure I can handle the long walk ......
For a finish coat, not gonna paint it, but I will use either Future, or urethane clear coat....
I just had to brag a bit, so I went and got my son, (21 L2 rocketeer) and asked his opinion......well .... he took one look and said......
"Looks like something the "Perfessor" and Gilligan put togeather".....sigh
He did come up with a good name for it tho.....
BAMBOOM
specifics... L= ..........6.5' dia=.........2.0" weight=......2.5lbs (empty)
Bill NEFAR