There are many different solutions to the rocket design challenge. Rules of Thumb simply provide a solid starting point that many have found useful in the past, and that will, in many cases, provide a suitable solution for your design problem today. Rules of Thumb are guidelines. They're not laws. They are nominal solutions that usually, in many cases, most of the time, get the designer in the right ballpark. Once a rocket designer's judgement has been formed by lots of experience, some Rules of Thumb can be stretched, bent, stood on their head, or ignored completely. Using Rules of Thumb certainly does not take the place of stability tests, or attention to safety. Proof of stability and a constant focus on safety are the most fundamental and unchangeable Rules of Thumb I know. - If you know Rules of Thumb that are not mentioned here, please send them to us via our contact form or through the forums at Rocketry Online and they could appear in a future update with your name as the contributor. Comments are always welcome.
Whatever your choice, use a primer, finish and clear coats that are compatible. Many times this means sticking to the same brands-e.g., Krylon primer, Krylon finish coat, and Krylon clear coat. Test a scrap piece of material with your intended finishes beforehand. Process it just as if it's your rocket - fill, sand, primer, sand, base coat, sand, color, sand, mask, second color, sand, top coat. If there is any kind of adverse reaction, or the finish doesn't turn out like you thought, it's easy to start over on a piece of scrap.
The ratio of rocket length to diameter, sometimes referred to the aspect ratio, should be from 10 - 20:1. For example, a six inch diameter rocket would mean a length of 60 -120 inches.
The larger the rocket, the more important reinforcement becomes. Two layers of a lighter fiberglass fabric work better than a single heavy
layer. Two layers of 4oz fiberglass works well for 3-4 inch rockets, 2-3 layers of 6oz for 5-7.5 inch rockets. A final wrap of 2 oz glass provides a good sanding veil. Glass a rocket measuring 2.56" or greater that will reach equal or greater than 0.85 Mach.
A fin that is 2 diameters of the airframe in root length and span and a chord length of about 1 diameter will be effective.
The shape you see more than any other is called the clipped delta, and is known for its effectiveness. The clipped delta resembles a parallelogram, with the fin swept somewhat to the rear. The root and chord lines are near parallel, and the leading and trailing edges are near parallel. There are many, many shapes that will get the job done. Some look cooler to me than others. One of the most efficient fin designs looks like a simple rectangle attached to the tube.
The leading edge of the fin should be rounded, the trailing edge shaped like a V. The chord edge should remain square.
Three fins will almost always do the job. Four fins work too, but only marginally better as far as improving CP. Some have said that four fins
reduce wind-induced spin.
Use enough BP to yield a 15 psi pressure within the airframe. See the article on Ejection Charges in the Recovery section for a detailed discussion.
You want your rocket to descend at about 15 feet per second under nominal conditions. Slow it up over playa and concrete. Use 3.5 square feet of chute per pound of recovered rocket weight. Determine chute size by doubling the square root of the weight of the rocket. For example, a 16 pound rocket would use a 2X4=8' chute. A 49 lb rocket would use a 2X7=14' chute. Streamers should be 10 times as long as they are wide. Drogue recovery descent should be about 50 ft/sec. A full-hemispherical canopy has very little performance gain over the more efficient and less bulky quarter-spherical--the top-half of a
full-hemispherical chute.
Tensile rating for recovery materials should be at least 50 times the static weight of the rocket.
9/16" serves well in rockets up to 15 pounds. Go with 3/4" up to 30 pounds. 1" up to 50 pounds.
Make shock cords for model rockets a minimum of 2 to 3 times the overall length of the rocket. Middle or high power rockets should use tubular nylon at least 5 times the rocket length.
Use enough wadding to fill 2 x the diameter of your BT. Any more is probably overkill. Any less may allow hot particles through to hit your
chute. Do not pack it tight
Knots, sharp bends, including sewn loops, in the tubular nylon or flat webbing will weaken its load capacity by 50%.
Many people use masking tape to finesse the fit between an airframe and a coupler that must separate at deployment. A common question is: how tight do I want it to be? Use enough masking tape so that you can pick the rocket by the nose cone without the rocket coming apart. If you vigorously shake the rocket up and down, and don't see any movement off the coupler, you've probably got too much tape on, Jack.
Use 25% less Black Powder if your deployment system is piston driven.
Running a damp cloth through your airframe after flying will clean out powder residue and keep your piston moving freely.
Use shear pins on any rocket where you need a little extra piece of mind to know everything will stay in place until the proper time. Use 1/16" styrene rod or #2 nylon screws on almost any high performance rocket. For example two styrene shear pins each on a 2.6" phenolic airframe, 4 nylon screws on a 6" bird. See the article on Shear Pins in the Construction section for more detail.
Note: Adjusting the delay as described below is considered a modification to the motor and is therefore against the rules in a TRA/NAR sanctioned launch. Delay grain burns at the rate of 1/32" per second. Shorten delay time by drilling a 1/16" bit to drill a hole into the ejection charge end of the delay. Drill to a depth of 1/32" for every second you want to shorten the delay. A piece of tape wrapped around the drill bit at the proper depth will help ensure an accurate depth. Don't drill more than 25% into the length of the delay.
The CG should be forward of the Center of Pressure by 1-2 calibers. A caliber is simply the diameter of the bird. One caliber of stability is also known as a margin of stability. In other words, in a four inch rocket, the CG must be ahead (closer to the nosecone) of the CP by 4 - 8 inches. More than .5 but less than 1 margin of stability (less than one caliber) and a rocket is "marginally stable'. More than two calibers of stability is known as "over stable". An over stable rocket will tend to dramatically turn into the wind. A marginally-powered, over stable rocket can end up almost horizontal.
To move the CG forward, add weight to the nose, lengthen the rocket, or lessen the weight in the aft end of the rocket. To move the CG aft, (for example, if your rocket is overstable), do the reverse.
To move the CP aft (more stable), increase the size of the fins. To move the CP forward, decrease fin size.
A rocket must maintain its rigidity in flight. Any tendency to bend will be magnified in flight resulting in a kinked tube and likely a failed flight. If you hold a rocket horizontal by its tail section and notice any curvature in the rocket, your bird probably isn't stiff enough.
In selecting a motor to power your rocket, you need to have at least a 5:1 thrust to weight ratio.
Build your rocket for the largest motor you might want to fly in it. You can always adapt down, you can never adapt never up. Also consider the length of the motor. 54mm motorsfor example range from soda-can sized cases to 36" or more in length. If your mount is short, you will never be able to fly the longer motors in that rocket.
By motor size:
- Single A, B, and C motors: 1/8" Launch Rod
- Single D, and E motors, C clusters: 3/16" Launch Rod
- Single F, G, and H motors, D and E clusters, with a body tube dia less than 2.6": 1/4" Launch Rod
- Single F, G, H, I w/ 2.6" to 4.0" body: 7/16" Launch Rod
- Single I and J motors: 1/2" Launch Rod
- Over J and/or body tube over 4" dia: 1" Rail
By Rocket weight:
| Rod Diameter |
Maximum rocket (lbs) |
| 1/4" |
5 lb |
| 3/8" |
10 lb |
| 1/2" |
15 lb |
| 5/8" |
30 lb |
| 3/4" |
40 lb |
| 7/8" |
55 lb |
| 1" |
75 lb |
Note: Many believe that a rail should be used with any rocket weighing more than 15-20 pounds.
44 fps (30mph) is generally accepted as a minimum safe speed for stable flight and is good for winds up to 5 mph. Faster speeds are necessary to achieve stability in windy conditions so add 9 fps (6 mph) for each additional 1 mph of wind speed. (Contributed by Terry Markovich, TRA 6811)
When mounting a single lug , cover the center of gravity with the lug. Always mount at least two rail buttons. When mounting two lugs or buttons, mount the lower piece at the rear of the airframe. The second should be on or just behind the center of gravity.
Submitted by Tom Savoie
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