Initially open the hole with you knife. Widen and round out the hole with 220 grit wrapped round a dowel.
The first pat of clay was molded into a tall cone. When this is dropped in it should fall into the nose cone tip.
You'll need a long dowel to tamp the clay all the way forward.
After the first pat of clay is pushed forward and the base flat,
The second clay piece is inserted and pressed into place.
Check against a bright light to get the clay evenly in place.
Chris - do you ever “lock in” clay nose weight with a bit of epoxy or polyurethane glue?
ReplyDeleteHi Openroad,
DeleteI have used glue to lock in nose weight, like with the smaller Madcow Bomarc. I found water activated Gorill Glue to work very well.
I stay away from epoxy, I don't want to develop an allergy.
The clay weight that Estes supplies sticks pretty well, it's probably fine for LPR launches. In the Summer heat, I don't set my rockets in direct sunlight. I don't want the clay to warm up, soften and slide around in the nose cone.
Polyurethane Gorilla Glue is also my go to for sealing clay nose weight - I add a bit of water to activate it, we don’t have quite the humidity levels you do in Florida !
DeleteHave you tried putting the nose point-down in a hot water bath to help the clay settle down into the tip? Supposedly that works pretty well; I haven't had a chance to try it yet.
ReplyDeleteHi Neil,
DeleteI haven't tried the hot water approach to settle the clay. Might be a good idea though.
In the picture above, the clay is all the way to the tip, the plastic in the nose cone tip is pretty thick.