Tiny Programs
Bowers
would print an Estes style fin alignment sheet and a centering ring template
for single and cluster engines. These were not big or pretty, but they did
the job. Does anybody know where these programs may be hiding? I've looked
a Rocketry Online with no luck.
Thanks for any assistance.
Paul Bowers.
Mark Daughtry SR.
Here:
http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/archives/rec.models.rockets//PROGRAMS3/programs.zip
Best Regards,
Mark Daughtry SR. (AKA Rockm...@aol.com.SPAMNOT)
NAR 71556-SR. Insured L1
MSRS 0035-SR.
Remove ".SPAMNOT" in my e-mail address to reply
Bowers
Jim Z number 2
writes:
>I remember somebody posting a message about a couple of tiny
programs........................................not big or pretty, but they did
>the job. Does anybody know where these programs may be hiding?
Great little programs! fin placement guide, elliptical fin design,
centering ring design (great for building clusters) and one other, I think? I
still have the .zip file on my drive....if you have any trouble finding it, let
me know and I'll e-mail it to you.
Jim Z "#2"
If you're sending someone some Styrofoam, what do you pack it in?
-Steven Wright
(to e-mail, remove the obvious)
Neil Tarasoff
> -Steven Wright
BUBBLE WRAP, IN A BOX!
-Neil Tarasoff 8-) TA DA
Jim Z number 2 wrote:
>
> In article <381f...@news2.foxinternet.net>, "Bowers" <p_bo...@yahoo.com>
> writes:
>
> >I remember somebody posting a message about a couple of tiny
> programs........................................not big or pretty, but they did
> >the job. Does anybody know where these programs may be hiding?
>
> Great little programs! fin placement guide, elliptical fin design,
> centering ring design (great for building clusters) and one other, I think? I
> still have the .zip file on my drive....if you have any trouble finding it, let
> me know and I'll e-mail it to you.
>
> Jim Z "#2"
>
Adrian Hurt
>I remember somebody posting a message about a couple of tiny programs that
>would print an Estes style fin alignment sheet and a centering ring template
>for single and cluster engines.
Who needs computer programs? Here's how to draw your own fin alignment guide:
+------3------3------3------+--+
| | | | | |
| | | | 1 |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
+------3------3------3------+--+
<-------------2-------------><->
Enough paper to wrap |
exactly once round the `--- Overlap
body tube.
Get a rectangular piece of paper. Wrap it round the body tube. Mark where
it starts to overlap. (Vertical line 1 in the above diagram.)
Measure the length of one side, from the starting edge to the overlap.
(Distance 2 above.) This length is the circumference of the body tube.
Divide it by the number of fins. This is the distance, measured around
the tube, from one fin root to the next. Mark the edges of the rectangle
at intervals equal to this distance. (Positions 3 above.)
And now you have your template, and you didn't a computer program to do it. :-)
Centring rings for single engines are even easier. Get a pair of compasses.
Draw two concentric circles. One should be the same diameter as the inside
of the body tube; the other should be the same diameter as the outside of the
engine mount tube.
Centring rings for clusters are a bit trickier, and are left as an exercise
for the reader. What am I, a rocket scientist? :-)
--
"It'll be alright. I've done this before." - M. Garibaldi
-----------------+------------------------------+--------------------
Adrian Hurt | E-mail: adr...@cee.hw.ac.uk |
| UKRA: 1026 | Kenny: RIP 30/8/99
Jim Z number 2
>Who needs computer programs? Here's how to draw your own fin alignment
>guide:.....<snip>.....
Not to "dis" the idea of doing *actual* math.....we should all do it once
in a while so we don't forget how :-) That all certainly works (I've done
similar.) The tiny programs just do it quicker and more accurately. Especially
those mixed-diameter cluster centering rings.
Jim Z "#2"
"I hate it when my leg falls asleep during the day....
...because then it'll be up all night.
-Steven Wright
Gordon S. Hlavenka
> Who needs computer programs? Here's how to draw your own fin alignment guide:
>
> | | | | | |
> | | | | 1 |
> | | | | | |
> | | | | | |
> +------3------3------3------+--+
>
> <-------------2-------------><->
> Enough paper to wrap |
> exactly once round the `--- Overlap
> body tube.
>
> Get a rectangular piece of paper. Wrap it round the body tube. Mark where
> it starts to overlap. (Vertical line 1 in the above diagram.)
> And now you have your template, and you didn't a computer program to do it. :-)
And now, with no measuring either:
After completing step 1 above, get a ruler and lay it diagonally across
the paper. Put the zero point of the ruler anyplace along the left edge
of the paper. Now, adjust the angle so that the "4" is on the line
marked "1" in the figure. Make marks at the "1", "2", and "3" points on
the ruler. If the distance from the left edge to line "1" is more than
four, then use a multiple of four. You might pick 20cm instead of 4
inches, and make marks at 5cm, 10cm, and 15cm. You may need to make the
paper taller.
This method can be used to divide into any arbitrary number of equal
sections. Handy for those oddroc designs; where can you find a marking
guide for 7 fins on a Bounty paper towel core?
--
Gordon S. Hlavenka www.crashelex.com nos...@crashelex.com
Grammar and spelling flames welcome.
Yes, that's really my email address. Don't change it.
Leonard Fehskens
>This length is the circumference of the body tube.
>Divide it by the number of fins.
Sometimes this is easier said than done. However, plane geometry
comes to the rescue. I draw my fin alignment guides on grid paper.
Parallel to one axis, I mark the tube circumference. Then, using
a ruler, I make a "hypotenuse" for a triangle with this baseline,
that's some nice integral number of inches (or whatever units you
prefer) easily divisible by the number of fins. Divide the hypotenuse,
then mark the baseline by dropping the hypotenuse marks down parallel
to the other axis. Maybe a picture will help:
(fixed width font required for ASCII art)
d +
e /|
d / |
i / |
v / |
i h + |
d t /| |
g / | |
y n / | |
l e / | |
i l + | |
s /| | |
a / | | |
e / | | |
/ | | |
+----+----+----+
tube circumference
len.
Jim Kerns
> Who needs computer programs? Here's how to draw your own fin alignment guide:
>
> +------3------3------3------+--+
> | | | | | |
> | | | | 1 |
> | | | | | |
> | | | | | |
> +------3------3------3------+--+
>
> <-------------2-------------><->
> Enough paper to wrap |
> exactly once round the `--- Overlap
> body tube.
>
> Get a rectangular piece of paper. Wrap it round the body tube. Mark where
> it starts to overlap. (Vertical line 1 in the above diagram.)
>
> Measure the length of one side,
No need to even measure. Just carefully fold it into 1/4's or 1/3's for
4 or 3 fin rockets.
--
Jim K. !When Great Britain changed to the Gregorian calendar in
Ji...@ili.net !1751, the day following Sept. 2 was declared to be
-- !Sept. 14. Thinking that somehow they were being cheated
out of 11 days, people rioted. Slightly more than 248 years later,
people celebrated Jan. 1 2000 as the start of the new millennium.