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Rocket Man
07-20-2009, 02:57 PM
Hi,
Could you please tell me where I can get the thick card stock used for centering rings and such. The only heavy card stock I can find is for greeting cards or wedding invites. All are much to thin.
Thanks for your help in advance.

Intruder
07-20-2009, 03:17 PM
I haven't found any fiberboard like what's used in centering rings. I usually make my own rings out of everyday cardboard. The few fiberboard rings I have made, I took the fiberboard insert out of a 3 ring binder. I cut out a piece about the size I needed to make a ring and then split that piece in half, so that I had two thinner pieces, and cut the rings from those.

STRMan
07-20-2009, 03:31 PM
You could also laminate/glue a few pieces of card stock together until you get the desired thickness. and stiffness.

rkt2k1
07-20-2009, 04:09 PM
You can pick up centering ring cardstock from Apogee Components.

8-1/2" X 11" X .048" thick for about $1.75 a sheet.

Here is link (http://www.apogeerockets.com/centering_rings.asp) to page (cardstock is down about mid-page.)

... Bill

hcmbanjo
07-20-2009, 04:36 PM
For centering rings, I picked up illustration boards from Staples a while back.
They are 1/16" thick x 20" x 30". If memory serves me it was $13.00 for three sheets.
The product number is 438945.

This board is three ply "sandwiched", white outside layers, brown on the inside. It's thicker (.0625") than the Apogee product (.048) but great for centering rings.

I can't take credit for the "find".I originally saw this product mentioned on a forum, but I don't remember who recommended it.

gpoehlein
07-20-2009, 05:00 PM
You can also laminate your own. I use 110# cardstock (Georgia Pacific - can be purchased at any Walmart). It mics out to .009 - .010" thick. So four layers would equal .036 to .040", five would be .045 to .050". If you laminate your own, apply white or yellow glue VERY thin (I spread it with a Q-Tip) and laminate each layer at cross grain to the previous layer (the grain of a sheet of cardstock runs the long direction of the sheet - just rotate each page by 90 degrees). If you have a good draw or paint program that is pretty accurate, or using Rocsim, you can print the centering ring on the top layer and glue it down to give you a cutting guide. Once you have the sheet laminated together, press under a heavy book (or stack of books) to dry flat. By crossing grains, you will also minimize curling as well as adding strength. The result is very much like plywood, except made from paper (ply-paper?) ;)

Greg

maricopasem
07-20-2009, 05:05 PM
Print your centring rings on plain paper and then glue them with a glue stick to your empty box of Cap'n Crunch. Personally I don't see the point of spending money on that which can be made with what otherwise will end up in the recycle bin.

stefanj
07-20-2009, 05:11 PM
Try matte board. A framing shop will probably give you scraps.

Jeff Walther
07-20-2009, 05:17 PM
This board is three ply "sandwiched", white outside layers, brown on the inside. It's thicker (.0625") than the Apogee product (.048) but great for centering rings.

Those two measurements, .048" & .0625", are the most commonly used thicknesses for printed circuit boards, with .048" being mostly out of use and the .0625" being common now days.

So, an interesting (to me) idea is to design any electronic gizmos one wants in a rocket to fit on a centering ring shaped printed circuit board. Then you wouldn't need a dedicated payload compartment. Of course, the electronics would be more or less permanently affixed to the rocket. Still...there's got to be an application...

Of course, one could just cut one's centering rings from old electronics boards.

tfischer
07-20-2009, 06:47 PM
Print your centring rings on plain paper and then glue them with a glue stick to your empty box of Cap'n Crunch. Personally I don't see the point of spending money on that which can be made with what otherwise will end up in the recycle bin.

I like that train of thought, but the cereal boxes we have are considerably thinner than the centering rings I've used...

Rocket Man
07-20-2009, 08:17 PM
Thanks to all you have been a great help! I think I will try them all and find which I like best. :)

tbzep
07-20-2009, 10:12 PM
Print your centring rings on plain paper and then glue them with a glue stick to your empty box of Cap'n Crunch. Personally I don't see the point of spending money on that which can be made with what otherwise will end up in the recycle bin.

I'm cheap like you. Most of my centering rings are from cereal boxes, often laminating a couple together for extra strength. I also use old USPS heavy envelopes, boxes, etc. You fly the Cap'n, and I fly Tony the Tiger. :p

luke strawwalker
07-21-2009, 03:09 PM
I've used just plain old cardboard from cardboard boxes for centering rings. The corrugation in them gives them 'strength from shape' (like honeycomb material used in spacecraft) and being hollow they're probably as light or lighter than the solid fiberboard stuff.

I do admit they're a bit of a pain to cut, but if you use a circle cutter with a hobby knife blade then they really aren't much if any harder to cut than fiberboard.

Plus the source stock is cheap and infinite... :)

L8er... OL JR :)

Mark II
07-21-2009, 05:10 PM
Cereal box cardboard is great scratch-building material. I have used it to make the cores of fins for cardstock models. (Laminate the fin pattern to the cardboard on one side, cut the fin out, and then glue on the pattern for the other side.) It makes for very sturdy fins, so I'm confident that it would work well for centering rings, too. You can follow that same approach to make the centering rings. Print out your CR pattern onto some 65 lb. or 110 lb. cardstock, and then glue the pattern onto the cereal box cardboard. Cut the CR out, spread a thin layer of glue on the unlaminated side, and then stick it down onto another piece of cardstock. Then just cut it out of the second sheet. This is much simpler than trying to laminate together 5 sheets of cardstock.*

If you are worried that the centering rings won't be strong enough, follow the same procedure, but glue the unlaminated side onto another piece of cereal box cardboard, and then glue that onto the second sheet of cardstock. And get a very sharp knife, because it with be a bear to cut the center hole out of the combination of two layers of cardboard sandwiched between two layers of cardstock. But try it with just one layer of cardboard first. You will be amazed at how rigid and tough that combination is.

(*Five layers of 110 lb. cardstock would be tremendous overkill, anyway, unless you were trying to create rings for a Level 1 rocket. I built my Mega Midnight Express with tubes that I created out of five rolled layers of 100 lb. cardstock. The tubes were hard, thick, very strong and also rather heavy. I also joined them with couplers made from 4 more rolled layers of cardstock, and then skinned the rocket with a layer of poster board followed by a layer of heavyweight photo paper. It needs an H for a decent flight, which is why, almost four years after being completed, it has yet to fly. :rolleyes: I would think that if you tried to create flat sheets of centering material out of five laminated sheets of cardstock, you would end up with some very heavy and wavy material that would take a week or more to dry and would be very brittle.)

MarkII

falingtrea
07-22-2009, 01:30 PM
Another high strength sandwich would be to put a layer of "tyvek" between the cardboard layers.

mycrofte
07-24-2009, 08:30 AM
I just laminate the cardstock with Elmer's glue. Here is one of the PDF files I print out on cardstock. Each has four rings to cut and laminate.