Rocket camera

[andrewcoppell]

I am putting a small wireless camera on a Mean Machine Estes Rocket and I was wondering where to put it. It always seems every rocket I put a camera on it it always goes left or right and crashes. Any Answers?

[barone]

I am putting a small wireless camera on a Mean Machine Estes Rocket and I was wondering where to put it. It always seems every rocket I put a camera on it it always goes left or right and crashes. Any Answers?
Consider it a payload and place it as far forward as you can. Is it mounted inside or are you strapping it on the outside?

[CPMcGraw]

I am putting a small wireless camera on a Mean Machine Estes Rocket and I was wondering where to put it. It always seems every rocket I put a camera on it it always goes left or right and crashes. Any Answers?

Not to put a damper on your enthusiasm, Andrew, but the Mean Machine is nearly at the upper limit of allowable weight for a "D" motor on its own. The performance with the weight of a camera is going to be lousy. Don't even think about using the Estes "E" motor with that camera, it would (probably) just sit there on the pad and laugh at you. Bump up to a composite motor (24mm RMS, upper "D", or an "E") and your flight will look much better and should handle that camera reasonably well. Use a longer motor tube than the kit offers and you can move up to a longer 24mm motor, which would open up a better selection of power options.

As to where the camera needs to go, think about locating it in the nose cone, but at least no lower than the bottom of the upper 18" body tube section. You could turn that whole section into a large payload compartment by adding a balsa bulkhead (BH-60) from SEMROC. The camera will feel like ballast to the rocket, and the weight will push the CG/CP margin into a very stable range.

Do you know how to use RockSim? You can simulate the rocket in the desired configuration (with the weight of the camera added) and test fly it to see what results you might get.

[andrewcoppell]

Consider it a payload and place it as far forward as you can. Is it mounted inside or are you strapping it on the outside? yes i am mounting it on the outiside.

[tbzep]

I personally wouldn't mount it at the very top of a Mean Machine. They are very stable without added nose weight. The added weight of the transmitter and battery would make it over stable. The long moment arm of the model might or might not be enough to keep it from tipping severely, but I'd bet it still would under moderate winds.

All the classic camera rockets are over stable and tend to tip off and/or weathercock much worse than a non-payload model of similar dimensions even in fairly mild breezes. With the Mean Machine as long as it is, I would separate the rocket in the middle and put the camera there. You can run simulations, but I'm sure it will still be stable at that point.

[barone]

yes i am mounting it on the outiside.
And when your rocket veers to the right or left, does that happen to be the side you have the camera strapped to?

[tbzep]

It doesn't get any easier than flight4's setup over on TRF...

http://www.rocketryforum.com/showpost.php?p=491945&postcount=2

[andrewcoppell]

And when your rocket veers to the right or left, does that happen to be the side you have the camera strapped to?
Yes it does.

[andrewcoppell]

It doesn't get any easier than flight4's setup over on TRF...

http://www.rocketryforum.com/showpost.php?p=491945&postcount=2
maybe I should try that thanks people!