Heavy Launch Pad

Background

If you progress in this hobby long enough, you will eventually outgrow the equipment you started with. My original Estes launch pad was fine for the local schoolyard and mod rocs I built with my kids, but not for long. My next pad was a three-legged PVC contraption made by North Coast Rocketry that I had found on clearance at a local hobby store. I thought this was enormous when I bought it, but soon exceeded the capacity of the 1/4-inch launch rod and found myself building a stronger PVC pad.

My first home-built pad was a lot like other PVC pads with the exception of a huge stainless steel blast plate. Details can be found [HERE!]. But PVC fatigues over time, and my brother eventually busted the legs off launching his Evil Grimace on a J350. Hence the creation of the heavy pad. (not to be confused with this!)

My buddy Billy surprised me one day with a pad he designed and had welded up just for me. What a guy! In addition to being heavy-duty strong , Billy designed the pad to be portable, easy to use, and accept any size launch rail or launch rod. It is awesome.

The handsome fellow to the right is Scott Swayze, Billy's former neighbor and guy who did the welding on the heavy pad. His skill is incredible. He stands by the first version of the heavy pad, which sported a nifty flame pattern. Scott also helped implement some additional design features (and that's how we lost the flames.)

The photo to the right shows the central assembly without the blast plate or legs installed. The drill chuck is mounted below the 24-inch x 0.25-inch steel blast plate to help protect it from heat and caustic chemicals of the rocket plume. Even though the drill chuck mounts below the blast plate, it still needs frequent treatment with WD-40 or the parts will sieze up.

Opposite the chuck is mounted a 2-inch square tube; a 1.5-inch square tube slides into that (through the blast plate) as a removable mount for various size launch rails. Bolts tighten down on the rail mount to keep everything snug.

The pad obviously needs a new coat of paint. The abrasiveness of AP exhaust is pretty evident.

At the end of two of the four legs is a leveling assembly. This was an ingeniously simple innovation. Billy mounted one jaw of a bar clamp onto the end of the leg. Squeeze the clamp mechanism and the bar can be easily moved up or down, and the clamp mechanism will then hold the bar firmly in place when released.

As I look at these photos now, I realize that I will probably never need the full 12 inches of leveling adjustment that these clamps provide; when I have a chance I will probably shorten them.

Each leg is attached with two 1/2-inch bolts.

In the photo to the right, I have removed the bolt that holds the upper assembly in the vertical position.

The entire upper assembly hinges down. This enables easy installation of the rocket onto the pad. Not that a rocket would hang from a launch rail if it has launch lugs, or would slide atop the launch rail if it has rail buttons.

It is possible that a rocket glider (like the 1/4 scale SS1) could be launched at a 60-dgree angle using this launcher.

It this photo, the launch rail is resting on the leveling bar-clamp adjustment mechanism. This is not by design; I don't think we were paying attention when we attached the legs on this particular day. This is a fairly small rocket, so the location of the leveling mechanism is not a hindrance -- but it could be if the rocket were really big. So as a rule, I try to locate the legs in one of the positions that the leveling mechanism will not interfere with the rail or rod.

You can see a lot of the components that I described above in the photo to the right:

• the blast plate
• the mount for the launch rail
• the drill chuck
• the leg mounts
• the hinge mechanism
• the bar clamp levelers

This also highlights why the levelers should be located in another leg position; note the lateral strain on the leveler from the weight of the upper assembly.