A Sunday Project

This is what I did yesterday.  In total, it was about 6 hours of work.  This is my first project in stainless steel and I was a bit nervous after having read of the problems others have had.  I'm releived to say that it wasn't as bad as I expected.  I did shatter two carbide inserts threading the external threads.  However, the trick seems to be to take very light cuts.

The brazed in tubes are new to me also.  The braze material is a Silver with Nickel alloy from McMaster.   Torch brazing them wasn't much harder than pipe soldering although you do have to be carefull about burning the flux.

Valve Speed

Some one asked how fast the valves move with these actuators.    I did a test this morning with a 6 cell NiMH battery.

Here is a full speed video of an open/close cycle with no pressure:

Here is the same video at quarter speed:

Here is a quarter speed video of a second test at 750 psi line pressure:

With no pressure, the average frame count of the open and close was 8.5 frames which corresponds to 0.283 seconds/90 degrees

With the 750 psi line pressure, the frame count was 9.5 frames, or 0.317 seconds/90 degrees.

Valve for Sale

This is the latest version of the valves I use.   I have one listed for sale on ebay:  http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270295521784&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123

-RM

Work in Progress...

New Website

A blog isn't really a great archival medium so I've created a new website,  www.rocketmoonlighting.com.  I can still use the blog for, well ... blogging ... but information can be organized by project on the website which may make it more useful.

I've already populated a few project pages.  Some of the pictures you've seen before, some not.  Among the new stuff, you'll find some drawings of the restartable hybrid motor and the new bipropllant motor.