HEXA Open Source Rocket Body
Amateur rocketry is such a cool hobby. Anyone interested in space travel dreams of lifting off of the face of the earth, strapped to a huge rocket, going places no human ever has before. For the majority of us average humans, though, we probably won’t get that chance. So the closest thing is launching small rockets into the atmosphere and gathering data and images! concreted0g has been into rocketry for a while and wanted to create a rocket body kit that would be easier to ship than typical tube-body rockets, which can often get damaged in shipping. Thus, the HEXA was born! It is a flatpak kit that is printed out of PETG and PLA, pre-scored and easy to assemble. You can then easily attach your rocket motor, parachute, and controller systems!
The flatpack kit as received
Testing has shown the rocket performs very well and is just as easy to assemble and ship as imagined. It uses 18mm Estes style motors, though because the project is open source (and undergoing OSHWA certification!) you can easily re-print any part if you want to modify it for different motors or fins. Assembly is done with superglue and PVA glue, which leads to a very tough — essentially plastic-welded — rocket body. The tested B6-4 motors are good for up to 113 grams, and the rocket with the motor attached comes in at 65 grams, leaving some capacity for you to add small sensors or wireless telemetry.
So, if you want to get into amateur rocketry, this is a great place to start! concreted0g has some excellent documentation that goes along with the source files, and I know from personal experience that he would be more than willing to help you out if you have any issues – he’s excited about rocketry and I know would welcome more hackers into the hobby!
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