New Chute Deployment System Test Launch

Today we launched our two stage to test our new parachute release. The deployment system consists of a spring loaded bay door that is released when a pin is pulled. The pin is pulled by a motor which is stated by a 555 timer. We had a pull switch so that once the chute deployed it would turn off the motor as to prevent it from burning out. Unfortunately we believe that this switch was triggered on burnout causing the motor to fail to turn on. Due to this the chute did not deploy and the rocket came in ballistic destroying the chute bay and much of the electronics bay. The nosecone and onboard camera however came out unscathed. We are planning on rebuilding with the same design however are are going to either eliminate the switch or redesign it so that it cannot be triggered by burnout. Here is the media from the launch (onboard video and ground stills)

Launch

Well we launched on Saturday, however we ran into trouble once again. The recovery system went off on the pad. We had it set up so that there was a break wire on the first stage so when they separated the timer would start. After checking that the wire was continuous we packed the chute for the booster around it, in doing so we broke the the continuity of the wire. This caused the timer to start immediately after we armed the electronics, and seconds later the the charge went off with the rocket still on the pad. We were unable to reset the system and out of frustration (after so many setbacks) decided to launch the rocket without a recovery system with the nose cone and a extra piece of FTC tube to absorb the impact. We were in a very large field where the rocket would not present danger to anyone, otherwise we would not have launched.

The flight was fairly successful, however there was one glitch. The separation between the booster and the sustainer was not smooth. We are guessing that the booster chute got caught one the sustainer a bit causing it to take off at an angle, as you can see in the photo to the right. We also were unable to get video of the flight. But here are a few more still shots.

The impact with the ground did little damage to the rocket. The body of the sustainer was unscathed and the nose cone will only need a few touch up.

Launch Delayed Till Saturday

Well we were all set to launch today, however we were not able to gain access to the launch site we found previously. We contemplated launching in a much smaller field however we determined that the risk of loosing the rocket was not worth it and that a days delay would not be a big deal. We took the time to test the times once more as well as do a bit of preventative maintenance on our compressors. They are cheep compressors and the crank shaft has a bit of a tendency to pop off the axle while the compressors are running. We were able to add a retaining pin to help keep it on and are hoping that it stays. I guess we will find out tomorrow!

Launch Tomorrow Or Friday

Today we got the 555 timer fixed and also fixed up another one so we have a backup timer. The timer is based of one found here which was designed by Scott Fintel. We plan to launch thursday (tomorrow) or on friday, depending on weather and avaiable time.

As I stated in the last post the rocket is a 2 stage rocket. The booster section is made from 5 spliced two liter bottles and is about 36" long. It has three fins which are made from cardboard laminated in packing tape. The sustainer is a 25" piece of FTC tube with two bottle tops spliced on both ends. The sustainer also has a electronics bay for the timer and a camera as well a the chute bay. The entire sustainer measures in at just about 4'. For fins the sustainer uses 4 pet fins. Here is a picture of the booster and sustainer next to each other.

The electronics bay is fairly basic it contains the timer, a 9v battery and a small gumstick camera. Here is a view of it out of the tube.
Thats all for now.

P.S. I will do a post on how the staging mechanism works for thoses interested soon.

First Entry

Well this is the first entry in the blog so i though I'd give some background info. B&R rocketry consists of myself and a friend we mainly work on water rocket projects. Both of us are attending school right now, and work on out rockets in our spare time. We have been working together for about a year now and both have a fair amount of experience engineering and building things. The workshop currently has a wood and metal lathe, band saw, drill press, and various other tools.

Currently our project is a continuation from a 3-stage rocket that we flew in January (Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnL4vQVgPJg&NR=1). The project was slightly ambitious and due to low pressure and to much weight the second stage became unstable and the sustainer was released almost horizontally. Anyways we have decided to scale the rocket back and remove the second stage, as we feel that it is adding alot of weight and no extra performance.

Today we set up for launch and were ready to launch, however we had technical difficulties with the 555 timer that ignites the charge to deploy the chute and decided to postpone the launch. The timer was tested the night before and all was working well, however it would not work today at the launch. We are working on it and hope to try to attempt to launch again this week.

One good think about today launch is that we were able to find an awesome launch site which we will have access to for future launches. Heres a picture of the site with most of the rocket on the launch rod.


Anyways that's all for now.