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Space Mouse Constuction
I made a collar to attach to the forward closure that would allow me to screw the payload section to. This reduces length
of stages, retains the motor, and allows the installation of the electronics and motor in one step
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The electronics bay is attached to the closure coupler through the airframe to retain both the motor and the bay
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I can assemble the motor and electronics as one. The whole assembly slides into the bottom of the rocket and is retained
with screws.
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The 3" first stage has three fiberglass fins. To remove some weight, I cut out the center and put in balsa wood inserts.
This cut the weight from 3 oz. to 2 oz. per fin. Carbon fiber with High Temp epoxy will be laid over the fins.
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This is the nearly completed first stage. Next step will be the carbon fiber material over the fins.
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This is the transition from the 2" second stage to the 38mm sustainer. I made couplers to fit the O.D. of the sustainer.
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I laminated two layers of 5 oz. carbon fiber, rotated at 45 degrees from each other, using high temp epoxy. The use of blocks
and clamps with release film in between was very successful. The fins came out as good as vacuum bagging. The high temp
epoxy was very brittle until oven cured for ten hours.
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After the fins were cured I filed beveled edges on the leading and trailing edges. Then, I put stainless steel tape (good
to 350 degrees) over the leading edges to prevent high speed delamination. A final coat of epoxy tied everything together
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Here is a good view of the fins and airframe where the upper stages have forward mounted fins so that the airframe will fit
into the interstage couplers. Fin size was worked out on Rocsim for the stability needed for each stage as well as when they
are fitted together.
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A close up of the transtion between the first and second stage shows the clean line. The tube that the lower part of the
upper stage fits into was made by wrapping wax paper and release film around an airframe and then two to three layers of fiberglass
and epoxy. The sloped transition is built up with lightweigh bondo.
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The three stages. I tried to minimize length as much as possible but in a mimium diameter rocket you only have the length
of it to stack parachutes, electronics, stage couplers, etc. The trick is to make the interstage coupling as tight as possible
to prevent any wobbling under thrust.
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Here it is stacked together. The whole rocket with electronics and recovery systems weights in at just over ten pounds without
motors. Add in the weight of the three motors (19 pounds) and it will have a take off weight of near 30 pounds. With an
M1315 in the first stage it will have a thrust to weight ratio of close to sixteen to one.
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