The Thrifty Rocketeer

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues... A recent entry on Facebook made an excellent suggestion that we all agree is very good.  A number of people have endorsed it and said that they have done this regularly.  Perhaps we all have at various times. The suggestion is to save the chopsticks that one receives at a Chinese restaurant and to place them in your tool box. The idea is that many of these chopsticks are two round dowels on one end, but have a flattened opposite end that in some cases are initially attached.  To use them, you pry the two pieces apart. The idea is that the flat end can be used as a paddle to apply glue (epoxy or otherwise) deep inside the body tube on in hard to reach places, like along the motor mount in a through-the-wall fin arrangement.   The original poster even suggested marking one inch increments along the chopstick, so that you can grip the stick at the right mark and know exactly how many inches you will be able to reach down int...

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues... This is going to be a departure from my usual comments and tips  directly related to rocketry .  But bear with me, there is a connection. We've all gone to club launches where there are several launch pads.  Most of these are controlled through a  panel launch controller, via a  weak current that runs out to the launch pad through a standard electrical extension power cord.  But when it gets to the launch rod, it is typical for a jumper/adapter, or clip lead to be used. This consists of a short power cord (lamp, toaster, fan or other power cord) with a male plug on one end to mate with the extension cord, and bare wires at the other end that typically have alligator clips or micro test clips that connect onto the igniter wires.   Most of us haven't given this much thought, as we're focused on our rocket and the motor's igniter and getting a good connection that shows continuity.  Someone else (an ...