My First Pad

A lot of people have been posting about their first launch of the spring... or their first launch pad. 

 You've inspired me to think back to my first launch pad. I wasn't sure just how much money I could sink into this hobby, (HA,HA~!) so I tried to assemble what I thought was needed from scratch.

First, I had a 3/4" thick square of pine lumber for a base.

 I went to Lowes and got what is commonly called a yard sale sign, consisting of a single straight rod that is two feet tall, and then describes a 360 loop before continuing strait up for another 6". (its intent is to hold a cardboard/poster board sign in the loop like a paper clip and display it in front of your yard sale or to direct people to your yard. I inverted the rod, so the loop was at the bottom, and stapled it with an electrical staple or cable holder nail in two places, to hold the rod perpendicular. I was a bit stumped for a blast shield, until I spied the pull top aluminum lid from our cat's moist cat food. I pierced the lid off center with a nail, and then slid it down the rod until it rested upon the loop. I may have held it with a clothes pin as well.

My 15 foot launch wire was 12 feet of Bell Telephone twisted pair, with a mismatched pair of alligator clips left over from some electronic kit from the 60s. I had no switch, no indicator light, just a 6 volt camping battery. But I had a healthy respect for my safety and went out on the golf course driving range on MLK day when it was far too cold to golf but not to launch.

I believe I had only two low power rockets to launch...a rocket assisted glider, and small 10" parachute "Yankee" that someone had given me. I had posted on the internet asking what people were using instead of a full Estes launch pad set, and was immediately gifted with TWO sets from two different "Elmers" who wanted to pass their's along. But for this launch, I was scrabbling it together as I went.

The result: I had near perfect liftoffs of both small rockets and recovery, one with a chute, one with a streamer and I walked a little for the glider that described lazy circles as it came down. Upon inspection, the first launch on an 1/2A3-4 had burned a small hole through the cat food lid, convincing me that I was on the wrong track there. The second launch was an A8-3 and burned even more cleanly through the lid, and just barely discolored the pine plank base of my "launch pad". I knew I was short of 15 feet away when I touched the wires to the battery spring terminals momentarily, but figured my arms were another 3 feet, and I was an adult, not a kid, so I knew the risks.

As I walked to retrieve my glider, an attendant came out of his heated trailer/office and yelled at me that I had to get off their property. I responded that no one was on the driving range at the time, and that I wasn't hurting anything...just launching into the air. He responded that he'd call the cops on me if I didn't leave. I gathered up my things and went home, mulling over how to solve the blast shield problem.

Later that week, my first Estes launch pad arrived, sans a blast shield. But it had a controller, wires and alligator clips, but the batteries had been left in for some time and the contacts had all corroded. I was able to sand off the contacts, but I don't recall using the controller again.