How Do You Build A Level 3 Rocket?

 

0:00 - Intro
0:48 - Design
1:37 - Recovery 1
2:09 - Fins
2:52 - Subminimum is a dumb term
3:16 - Airframe work
4:14 - Avionics 1
6:50 - Painting
9:27 - Avionics 2
10:11 - Onboard Cameras
10:40 - Power Hatch
12:57 - Parachutes
13:39 - Shear Pins
14:28 - Explosive Charges
15:23 - Micro Center

For more info:

[coreysienko]

Here’s a painting tip for you with stencils. Use clear coat first over the stencil. If anything bleeds, it’s clear coat. Once you cover that with your paint and peel, you’ll have clean, crisp lines every time. Even on porous surfaces.

[BobbyDukeArts]

Cool! I didn't even know there was a certification system for rocketry. Congrats on getting yours!

[RocketVlogs]

Great flight! Just a tip for future reference on charges: The turbo encabulator is awesome, but the new micro encabulator saves a lot of space since you don't need a full-length non-reversible tremie pipe, so you can run nano grammeters 👍

[gbedford]

Those winds at LDRS were killing me. I showed up with a handful of LPRs. My nieces who were with me saw me get a bit star struck when I pointed you out. You looked busy, so I didn't want to bother you. Was definitely one of the highlights of last weekend!

[rancidmarshmallow]

Look up "finger tech power switch". It's a switch designed for small combat robots and as such is super durable/shock resistant, lightweight, and should never back out from vibration. It does require a hex key to turn on but wouldn't fall out like the power hatch link might if, for example, it landed on it at a funky angle

[vbt]

Its so impressive and inspiring to see the evolution of these rockets, keep up the cool work!

[sciguy]

Just a couple tips from when I got my L3, try using the double pull pin switches from lab rat rocketry. In addition to adding a sweet 'remove before flight' lanyard, they are a mechanically simple way to easily arm two altimeters simultaneously. It would also be worth mentioning that I also wired two screw switches in parallel with the pull pin to add dissimilar redundancy for each altimeter. As cool as the power hatch is, just be wary that you are severely weakening the fiberglass by cutting that rectangle - filament wound composite does not like being messed with. Especially be careful with weakening the coupler that holds your two main parts of the airframe together because a rather large moment is applied there during flight. Because of that, I would recommend moving the location of the runcams to somewhere else on the airframe. Just being nitpicky here because clearly it worked, but moving forward with bigger and crazier rockets, these are just a few things to keep in mind. Awesome job!

[ryanthompson]

Loved the Turbo incabulator reference!

[RobSchofield]

Instead of cutting the ziplock "tails" close up against the cliplock face, cut them a little way back (even about 1/2 cm). When they are latched, you are relying on (usually) just three clicks, so if the lock slips (for any reason), a close-cut tail will just let go. If the tail is a little longer, a slip will not be catastrophic as it will catch and re-grip. Strangely, I was taught this in my stage lighting hobby, and it works - I use it in all my model RC aircraft too.

[haydendorockets]

Great video gunchboss! Glad to see you're using only the best connectors for your power hatches ;)... I also think you've convinced me to "send it" and get my L3 sooner rather than later.

[varmoes]

We had an exchange at some point on Twitter when you were going through a tough patch. Watched every video you made since you came back on YouTube. You seem to be doing much better and it shows in your content. It’s stellar!

Glad to see you back and in great shape!!

[NicholasRehm]

SEND IT! sent my cursor straight to the like button

[pdcweb]

tip for painting stencils and masks - do the first coat in the body color to seal the stencil and then have at it with the lettering color!

[sgibbons]

Love all your videos! You make it feel like I'm right there with you. Great video skills, and great content. THANK YOU!!

[jflight]

Interesting thing you've found with the audio glitch; I found A. Cookbook on the side of the road the other day, but all the pages were blank...
And congrats, can't wait for the launch video!

[derekmcdonald]

Finally! Someone who agrees with me that hot glue is an underrated build material. It’s the best!!!

[TheBookDoctor]

Congratulations, Joe! That's so awesome. I can't even imagine how it felt to successfully complete that flight and know you had the certification.

[oddzc]

Been following this chan for a while, its really enjoyable to see the evolution of the design and your skills. Nice job and congrats on level 3 certification.

[clayspurlock]

just a little comment to support and say Congrats! and thank you for the wonderful video, can't wait for the next one

[satoru]

Thank you for easy and detailed construction of high power rockets!!