Fin Can Part 1

Since I could not get these photos to open up I decided to put larger pictures in it.

Using a 75mm adapter I was able to center my 98mm Aeropack motor retainer. What I hate about the larger retainers is that with the smaller ones you get a 1/4" lip of motor tube to help center the Aeropack. Mine has the motor tube flush with the aft bulkhead which makes it hard to center. With the 75mm adapter in place it was fairly simple. I carefully drilled out dimples where the holes were.

Ready to go to the drill press

Finishing out the holes

Even though there were allen wrench sockets in the inserts I preferred to use the insert T-Wrench I bought a while back.

Inserts........ah.......inserted

Everthing lined up. Thankfully my fins sweep back far enough that the adapter assembly won"t take on any damage when it lands.

The fins were originally cut to support a 75mm motor tube. I will be using a 98mm so I need to trim some of the tab off.

A simple jig set up on my tablesaw sled does the trick

Aligning the 3 fins on the 3 centering rings

Alignment marks on the motor tube

A trick I saw on the Rocket Forum. I hung a weight from the tip of the fin and carefully aligned it till the string matched the fin

My son helping me with the alignment.

Setting up to cure

All three finished...well, almost...

After I got the last fin epoxy tacked and ready to fillet, one of the fins popped loose which threw the whole rig off balance which popped the other two fins off. Come to find out, 2 pound fins don't hold well with just tacking...so...

I drew out a jig which will allow the motor mount to sit on the jig (bolted, actually) and will allow the fins to hang down.

More on the Jig a little later......

The Electronic Sled

I am quickly realizing that developing a blog is almost as much work as building the Max. I have yet to figure out how to post pictures and allow you to open them up into the full size...looks like I'll need to do a little research (if there is anyone out there that is actually reading this, post a comment if you know how to do that)

Back to the project, after getting the electronics bay carcass made I focused my attention on making the sled for the electronics. With three all-thread's to attached to I will use two and maybe use the left over space to put in a camera or video recorder.

I initially decided to use brass tubing to fit over the all-thread but quickly found out that the slightest ding would prevent it from going over the post. I though about using the next size tube but it ended up being too loose and I did not want the sled moving around that much.

My next choice was plastic. Easy to cut, not dent or ding problems.

The placement was a little unprofessional because I had the brass tubes JB Welded earlier but when I accidentally dropped the sled all but one of the brass tubes popped off so the placements were a little out of alignment.

This photo shows the post I will be sliding the sled onto.

Here you can see the misalignment I talked about earlier.

With the plastic tubes in place I wanted to strengthen it up so I layed up some fiberglass. I had to use CA to keep the fiberglass tight around the curves.


Application of my blood red epoxy

Masking tape removed.

Now that my fiberglass has arrived and I have located a 75mm adapter I will begin work on the fin can and airframes...