Rules of Thumb

First, please read the fine print:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. If you know Rules of Thumb that are not mentioned here, e-mail them to tsavoie31@home.com and they could appear in a future update with your name as the contributor. Comments are always welcome.

General Design

Motor Mount Size

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.

Paint Selection

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.

Airframe

Diameter And Length Of The Rocket

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.

Reinforcing the Airframe

• 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.

Fins

Fin Dimensions

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.

Fin Shape or Planform

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.

Shaping the Fin

The leading edge of the fin should be rounded, the trailing edge shaped like a V. The chord edge should remain square.

Number of Fins

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.

Recovery

Black Powder Ejection

Use enough BP to yield a 15 psi pressure within the airframe. See Black Poweder Sizing and Ejection Charges in the RECOVERY area for more details.

Sizing The Parachute

• 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 # 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.

Recovery Harness Strength

Tensile rating for recovery materials should be at least 50 times the static weight of the rocket.

Sizing Tubular Nylon

9/16” serves well in rockets up to 15 pounds. Go with ¾ up to 30 pounds. 1” up to 50 pounds.

Length of model rocket shock cord

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.

Wadding

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, Loops and Sharp Bends in Shock Cord or Bridle

Knots, sharp bends, including sewn loops, in the tubular nylon or flat webbing will weaken its load capacity by 50%.

How Tight is Tight?

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.

Piston Deployment

Use 25% less Black Powder if your deployment system is piston driven.

Piston Maintenance

Running a damp cloth through your airframe after flying will clean out powder residue and keep your piston moving freely.

Shear Pins

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 area for more details.

Shortening Delay Elements

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.

Stability

Margin of Stability

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.

Adjusting the Center of Gravity

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.

Adjusting the Center of Pressure

To move the CP aft (more stable), increase the size of the fins. To move the CP forward, decrease fin size.

How Long is Too Long

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. Sorry, rocketeers, Viagra will not cure this problem.

Propulsion

Sizing the Motor

In selecting a motor to power your rocket, you need to have at least a 5:1 thrust to weight ration. See Motor Selection in the PROPULSION area for a detailed discussion of this guideline.

Launch Operations

Launch Rod Diameter

By motor size:

A,B,C motors 1/8” Launch Rod
D, E 3/16”
F,G ,H and a body tube less than 2.6” - 1/4”
F,G,H,I w/ 2.6” to 4.0” body - 7/16” I - J - 1/2” over J and body tube over 4”

By Rocket weight:

Note: Many believe that a rail should be used with any rocket weighing more than 15-20 pounds.

Minimum Speed for Stable Flight

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.

Submitted by: Terry Markovich, TRA 6811

Mounting launch lug(s)/button/s

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