Fin redesign
Joedang opened this issue · 1 comments
The current fin frames (the physical ones) are not the right design. This gives us an opportunity to improve the design before trying to make new ones.
The planform we originally intended on making is actually pretty good. The main thing that would be nice to redesign is the manufacturing of the frames. Machining them out of a single block of aluminum on an 11-axis mahine certainly makes a robust product, but it's also the most brute force method imaginable. It would be better to have a design that can be machined in-house on a 2-axis or 3-axis machine (maybe using "sticks" of aluminum for the edges and bolting/registering them into the flange).
If anyone wants to mess with the OpenRocket models, please do. The main criteria for a "good" launch are 0.2 calibers (or more) off the rail, 2 or 3 calibers in flight, and about a degree of coning in the angle of attack. The fins also need to fit on a single module (no longer than 24", preferably less than 18"), and "probably not" be the first thing to hit the ground when the rocket lands.