Egg-O-Naut C

[fleet130]

RE: Dumping the egg on the groundI

I understood this was meant to illustrate an idea and not as a viable proposal, however; it is a good example of how teams sometimes attempt to "trick" the rules.

First thought that came to mind: This is an obvious attempt to gain an unfair advantage (translation: cheating) AND it violates the spirit of the competition.

The "spirit of the competition" clause is often misapplied, but I think it's appropriate in this case. Whenever I suspect the "spirit" is violated, I go immediately to the first paragraph of the event rules which states the objective (at least it's supposed to) of the event.

Para. 1 (in part)states: "designed to carry an Egg-O-Naut (a raw Grade A large chicken egg), stay aloft the greatest amount of time and return to earth without breaking the egg

Any plan that involved intentionally breaking the egg would violate this (designed to return without breaking the egg), so you wound need to make it look accidental. If not = DQ

Para.3.a (in part)states: "teams will receive 1 egg per rocket, add any amount of water and load their egg in each rocket"

I would bet my money that the judges will contend that the word "will" applies to all three phrases(i.e. will receive 1 egg, will add water and will load their egg). Additionally they will contend the sentence does not say "load part of the egg", so you better get it all off the ground.
Best case: Egg not loaded = no launch = Participation only
Worst case: Intentional attempt= DQ

I liked the "zero seconds" interpretation, but that would only place you at the bottom of tier 1. The interpretation above could get you disqualified! My interpretation could depend, somewhat on how much static you gave me. I might go with the lessor penalty if a team presented a rational argument and with the greater penalty if they tried to BS me!

Finally: There is an old saying I've heard many times regarding judging this kind of situation: "If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and craps like a duck, It's a duck. End of discussion!" (not exactly a direct quote, but close!)

[seoliver]

We ended up just putting the parachute on the nosecone, we had trouble deploying it from within the pocket. It was a garbage bag with about 23 in radius.

I like that arrangement, but we've found it a bit aerodynamically challenged. It's hard to get satisfactory altitude. I understand that some teams have been able to get larger (up to 36") 'chutes to deploy, but not us: we're jut now getting 2-footers to work, and even those are taking too long to inflate.

[Celeste]

We ended up just putting the parachute on the nosecone, we had trouble deploying it from within the pocket. It was a garbage bag with about 23 in radius.

I like that arrangement, but we've found it a bit aerodynamically challenged. It's hard to get satisfactory altitude. I understand that some teams have been able to get larger (up to 36") 'chutes to deploy, but not us: we're jut now getting 2-footers to work, and even those are taking too long to inflate.

I've got a 28 inch diameter chute made from a trash bag that deploys really well, about 9 out of 10 times it work. You can also use 2 or 3 smaller chutes (I'm using 18 inch diameters), but it's really tough to get them all to deploy right.

[wlsguy]

We ended up just putting the parachute on the nosecone, we had trouble deploying it from within the pocket. It was a garbage bag with about 23 in radius.

I like that arrangement, but we've found it a bit aerodynamically challenged. It's hard to get satisfactory altitude. I understand that some teams have been able to get larger (up to 36") 'chutes to deploy, but not us: we're jut now getting 2-footers to work, and even those are taking too long to inflate.

One of the more interesting designs I saw at an invitational involved using a small 8~12" parachute already deployed on the outside of the nosecone. It was draped over the outside. It was then connected to a much larger 36+ parachute inside the nose. When the rocket fell, it pulled the larger chute out at the top of the flight. Both rockets had their parachute deploy correctly.

[rocketchicka]

Ok...my partner and I were out practicing today and our parachutes arn't working! They don't deploy until they're about a foot off the ground. Does anyone know the cause? I would really appreciate some help....I leave for states in three days!

[andrewwski]

No, it's a guess at best unless you can provide a lot more detail.

[rocketchicka]

No, it's a guess at best unless you can provide a lot more detail.

oops sorry. the way my rocket's set up is theres one bottle used as a pressure chamber (of course) and a second half bottle on top of that. That's where I put the egg and parachute. the nosecone is taped to the half bottle. After the rocket starts to come down the half bottle and nosecone is supposed to fall off (which it does) and then gravity pulls the egg and chute out. That's the part that's not working. It dosen't come out until it's almost on the ground. It just dosen't want to fall out.

I've tried folding it several different ways and I've used silicone and I've baby powdered the heck out of it. I'm out of ideas. I'm sorry if something like this has been posted before but i'm short on time so I haven't been able to read the whole link. Any ideas are appreciated.

[starpug]

No, it's a guess at best unless you can provide a lot more detail.

oops sorry. the way my rocket's set up is theres one bottle used as a pressure chamber (of course) and a second half bottle on top of that. That's where I put the egg and parachute. the nosecone is taped to the half bottle. After the rocket starts to come down the half bottle and nosecone is supposed to fall off (which it does) and then gravity pulls the egg and chute out. That's the part that's not working. It dosen't come out until it's almost on the ground. It just dosen't want to fall out.

I've tried folding it several different ways and I've used silicone and I've baby powdered the heck out of it. I'm out of ideas. I'm sorry if something like this has been posted before but i'm short on time so I haven't been able to read the whole link. Any ideas are appreciated.

How big is your parachute? If it's over 1.5 feet in radius, I don't know for sure maybe rocketman or someone can help you with that, then you might want to make a smaller parachute to use as a drague to pull the main chute out all the way. If it's already fully extended when it comes out I don't know what the problem might be . Maybe fold it looser?

[seoliver]

oops sorry. the way my rocket's set up is theres one bottle used as a pressure chamber (of course) and a second half bottle on top of that. That's where I put the egg and parachute. the nosecone is taped to the half bottle. After the rocket starts to come down the half bottle and nosecone is supposed to fall off (which it does) and then gravity pulls the egg and chute out. That's the part that's not working. It dosen't come out until it's almost on the ground. It just dosen't want to fall out.

I've tried folding it several different ways and I've used silicone and I've baby powdered the heck out of it. I'm out of ideas. I'm sorry if something like this has been posted before but i'm short on time so I haven't been able to read the whole link. Any ideas are appreciated.

Half of another bottle + nosecone for the egg and parachute. I'm picturing either a very long nose cone or a very small parachute. Can you put a picture in the gallery? If you are getting good separation of the parts (as it sounds you are) then you can try a thread taped lightly to the pressure vessel at one end and the item that's having trouble getting out at the other. The thread has to be at least a few inches long or you risk not getting the bits to come apart (trust me, it's not funny). Too much tape isn't good either - one end has to pull off once the job is done.

[andrewwski]

That's actually a very good idea to help pull the chute out.

Are you ensuring that the parachute is packed tightly? You don't want any resistance with the side of the container when it's coming out.