L2 Certification, Rocket Building

Building the Avionics Bay

I’ve already started building the Avionics bay, admittedly a little early in the steps, but decided that it would be good to see how it fitted in with everything else. There was a bit of gluing here, but decided that constructing parts of the Avionics Bay is not going to stifle the remaining construction of the rocket.

Markings on wood tray to help with alignment of the brass tubes
Markings on wood tray to help with alignment of the brass tubes
Making sure everything lines up well.
Making sure everything lines up well.

 

Roughing up the wood to ensure really good glue joint.
Roughing up the wood to ensure really good glue joint.
Brass Tubes areldited to the wood
Brass Tubes araldited to the wood

I wasn’t terribly with the result of the tray. I should have laid down some tape to ‘restrict where some glue could go.  I’m sure it would work (be strong enough), but from a cosmetic point of view – not good.

So, I’ve decided to make my own tray. See pictures below.

Wood pieces, all identical

Wood pieces, all identical

I had to take extra care in creating these wood pieces. I performed just TWO cuts of three pieces sticky-taped together in a special decide to ensure that all the cuts would be square. Because I cut them altogether, this meant they were precisely the same length.

In terms of drilling holes, I just took my time and very carefully ensured the drill was level and the markings were as close as possible.

 

Tray cutout with markings for where wood is to be glued.
Tray cutout with markings for where wood is to be glued.

 

All components glued and everything assembled.
All components glued and everything assembled.

This to me is a much nicer job.