b)

4 foot lengths of 1/8th and 3/16th steel rods are readily available at my favorite big box home improvement store. No joint to fail and a extra foot of guidance are my reasons. Get a small diameter pvc pipe with some end caps for storage, clean with a scotch brite pad after each use and you have a lifetime of launches.

For anyone who has never tried stainless for their launch rods, give it a try sometime. I think once you do, you'll never want to go back to steel. Of course, it is a little more expensive, but cleanup is well, basically a one-wipe deal. Actually, not even that if you don't want to. ;)

Earl

1/8" - ~24" brass welding rod
3/16 - 4' aluminum that came with Old Estes high power pad

I only fly low power on my own and for several years I have used a 40” carbon fiber rod. Purchased at the local hobby store. Light weight and doesn’t bend.

I have a couple each of the 2-piece 1/8 & 3/16 Estes rods,
A few single length 3 foot 3/16”, a 4 foot 1/4”, a two piece 6 foot
1/4” rod that I bought from North Coast years ago, and 2 or 3 6 foot
1/4” “stainless” that aren’t.

Granger, sells 72" X 1/8" Stainless Steel. A quick cut with the Dremel tool and you have 2
great 36" launch rods. I chuck the rod into a 1/4-20 collar that screws on to my Bi-pod , I keep all my rods in a PVC tube capped on the bottom and threaded end cap on the top.
I have 4 & 6 MM X 1 meter Stainless Steel Welding rods to use as 3/16"and 1/4" rods.

I hope to be able to try out a 1/8" , one piece 4 ft pultruded carbon fiber tube that has a .072" carbon fiber rod epoxied internally. If it ever gets here from CA. Was ordered a month ago, and it's in USPS in Bakersfield CA

Most of the low power I fly comes out of towers.

Still my favorite is my old Medalist tower. Very flexible, but doesn't travel well. Hopefully someone will make them again some day.

For FAI flying I use one of several home made 40mm towers. The one in the photo uses single piece aluminum tubes but I've switched to aluminum tent poles. Shorter pieces so they travel more easily but two of them stacked are longer than the aluminum poles.

For my yearly flying out in Arizona I have an Apogee tower which I store at my Mom's. Very nice tower with carbon fiber rods. Really easy to change diameters, works great.

Finally, for low- or mid-power egglofters I've recently started flying off a rail using Apogee's fly-away rail guides. Egg lofters are kind of a pain to fly out of towers so this is a great improvement. Absolutely wonderful.

I've always used a single piece rod for LPR.. 1/8 and 3/16. For boost gliders I use a 1 piece 48" rod. It's long enough to accommodate front engine gliders while still having at least 36" travel length. I've also got a launcher for my Carlisle Mark II Rock-A-Chute replica that uses a 5/16" wood dowel.

Launch Rod Poll, phase 2
 

Thank you, everyone! It's always interesting to see how people do model rocketry. I spent last month reviewing the Model Rocketry magazine archives ... wow. So much changed, yet so much is still the same.

For the people using the two-piece rods, do you ever actually break them down?

Cheers,