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| Mounting Rockets on Your Robot |
Mounting Rockets on Your Robot
 05-18-2009 12:30 AM
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| Difficulty: | dangerous but not too difficult | ||||||
| Estimated Time: | 1 day | ||||||
| Skills Required: | Being careful | ||||||
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How to Mount and Fire Rockets on Your Robot
Disclaimer I need to make it very clear that this tutorial discusses working with explosive materials. It is extremely dangerous. Understand that I am not nor have I ever claimed to be an expert in the handling of, or usage of these materials. Any persons who choose to follow the examples here in should now that the techniques used are simply those found in several other tutorials found on youtube and many other sites. A simple search for ignitors conducted on google has many results! This is not safe, and serious injury can result. Extra care should be taken when working with explosive materials. No one under the age of 21 should engage in this activity without the careful supervision of a qualified adult. Read all of the instructions, watch all of the videos, and then go do your own research before attempting to do this. In other words...Don’t do this, and if you do...I, Trossen Robotics, and anyone else other than you are in no way responsible for what happens! Tools/Materials: Aluminum tubing Duct tape 2 Part Epoxy 2 Conductor Wire Pyrodex (synthetic gun powder) small indoor holiday lights (christmas lights) Small rocket engines (micromax) Multi-meter Wire strippers/cutters Scissors Some sort of Relay switch either USB, serial, or PWM (I am using the phidget 0/0/4) A 9-volt Battery Instructions: Making the wiring harness: Organize your materials. Do not have your pyrodex (synthetic gun powder) out or open at this time. Measure and cut 1 1’ length of wire. Measure and cut 4 8” pieces of wire. Separate out the last inch or so of each end of each wire. Choose one end of each of the wires and strip the last half inch of each end. Be very careful here! designate one of each of the conductors as negative and one as positive. Connect all of your negatives together, and all of your positives together into one bundle. Check the bundle to make sure that negatives are all connected to negatives and positives are all connected to positives. Solder each bundle and then heat shrink, and add a liberal amount of tape. What you are trying to do here is create a reliable system. An unreliable system involving explosive material is a recipe for disaster. Now you have one wire that is about 3 inches longer than the others. Using your wire strippers strip the last six inches of the long wire. connect this to a 9 volt battery terminal. Make sure there is no battery connected. For added safety you can wire each of these to a switch to ensure power is not transmitted until you want it to be. (here you have to make a personal choice. I felt that having a switch between where the battery connects and where the relay takes its power input might not be the best idea because it would encourage me to leave the battery in place while working on the robot believing that the switch was turned off. If you do add a switch, ensure that it is a powered switch with an LED indicator. Turn off the power and remove the battery before working on this system. Now you can use your multimeter to check to ensure that you did not mix up any of the positive and negative wires. Check for continuity between the positive and negative. You should not read any continuity. if you do you did something wrong. Now double check. Remove the last half inch of insulation from each of the 4 wires leading away from the bundle. Check for continuity between each of the negative wires, and the negative side of your battery terminal. Now check for continuity between the positive side of the battery and the positive wires. Finally cross check each terminal. (Still do not connect your battery at this time.) Cut four more wires at about 8 inches long each. (this is the length of the distance between where you are mounting your relay and where your rockets will be mounted. Again, separate the last inch or so of either end of each wire, and strip the insulation off of the last half inch.  Again identify which wire is negative and which wire is positive. Connect the negative wire from the bundle to the negative wire on your extension. Solder the negative wire s together. Cut them to about 1/3 inch. Do this for each of the 4 extensions.  Insert the bound negative wires into the block terminal connection labeled NC for no connection. Insert each of the two positive wires into the two terminals that are labeled for not connected (for the phidget 0/0/4 there are only three connectors for each block...NC (not connect) ON and #C (# is the number of the terminal).  Once all of the wires are connected strip the last half inch off of the ends of each of the extension wires. Strip the last half inch off of each wire coming off of your christmas lights. Wind these onto the ends of your wires so that each extension is terminated in a christmas light. Do not solder these connections. After each detonation you will need to replace the bulb. Wrap each of the exposed wires with enough tape that they will not short. Now test your relay switch to ensure you know how it works. Add power and test each or your bulbs. When you switch them on they should light up. If they don’t check and recheck your wiring. Now is when you test to make sure the lights only turn on when you want them to. An inability to do this is a problem. If things do not work as expected, check and recheck again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFX1OA_y9kQ Finally using your wire stripper break the glass on each of your four bulbs. Be careful that you don’t break the filament. Check the continuity across the filament with your multimeter. This is the last time you will do this. Put your multimeter away. Make sure there is no source of spark or electricity in the area before following the next step Rip off a strip of duct tape about 5 inches long. Lay it out flat sticky side up on a table or smooth surface. Stick your bulb onto the tape at one end so that the exposed filament is facing the long way on the tape. Fold up the sides of the tape so that it makes a cup or open tube shape. Spoon a small amount (about 1/2 teaspoon) into the tube so that the exposed filament is covered with a small amount in front of it. Wrap the whole bundle the same way you would wrap a cigar. Try to pack the powder so that it is in a small bundle at the bottom of the tube. Pinch the end shut and cut off any excess. Making the Launch tubes: Make sure you are working in a clean safe environment. Make sure your pyrodex is safely put away. Using half inch aluminum pipe cut several pieces the length that you want your barrels to be. Cut out the bracket labeled Rocket Tube Mounting Bracket 01. Fold accordingly. See the tutorial (make a mech using DB’s bracket system for help on cutting and folding brackets. Using strong epoxy glue the tubes into the brackets so that you have about 1 1/2 “ of space behind the barrel for inserting the charges. Use a liberal amount of epoxy.  Cut out the bracket rocket tube mounting bracket 02. This is an offset that will lift your rockets away from your robot’s frame. This is to prevent having the pyrodex damage your robot in the event of an explosion.  Putting it all together. Begin by checking to make sure all of your relays are in the open position, and there is no power source connected to your wiring harness. Mount your harness and your rocket mounting tubes on your robot. Insert each of your charges into a tube. Insert the desired number of rockets into the tube in front of the charge. Place masking tape across the front of each tube. Check to make sure the relays are open. Ensure that your line of fire is clear. Treat your robot as if it is hot at this point. Check again to ensure your relays are open. Connect your power source. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNNvTLiByyM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nt8DqP9OOo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPCw1PvO6GE I am including the following image so that you could see the blast pattern created by the pyrodex. None of the paper behind the tube bracket was damaged at all.  |
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| Tags: | Mech warfare mounting rockets squidword robot | ||||||
| Replies to Tutorial: Mounting Rockets on Your Robot |
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#1
05-18-2009
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Re: Mounting Rockets on Your Robot
Great Job! I hope to stick some on my rover soon!
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#2
07-11-2009
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Re: Mounting Rockets on Your Robot
Whats the dimensions of the micro maxx rockets?
Any reason you made your own igniter and didn't buy one? Does the igniter survive launch? How straight and how far do these rockets go? (I'm probably going to imitate you, but run some calculations to optimize it) |
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#3
07-11-2009
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Re: Mounting Rockets on Your Robot
Hmmmm two more questions . . . it appears the edit button is broken for now . . .
How long are the tubes? How the heck did you fly to SF with explosives? |
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#4
11-01-2009
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Re: Mounting Rockets on Your Robot
sorry just got the questions now.
So...The tubes are about 4 inches long...with the backstops less than 6. The length makes it easier to slip the charges into the back of the tubes. The micromax rockets are a bit more than an inch long, and about 1/4 inch diameter. As to flying with explosives...I didn't I shipped them UPS in a coffee can, and got the pyrodex down there.  I did get an extra super special swab down, and still had a little bit of explaining to do. DB |
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