First is one of my own since it goes well with the title pic. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"These safety glasses are being worn for your protection, not mine"
-KenKzak ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right, a single experiment can prove me wrong."
-Albert Einstein re; Theory of Relativity. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do."
-Leonardo daVinci ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Logic is an organized system of thought that enables you to be wrong with confidence."
-Charles F. Kettering ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Can't ya see, you're not making Christianity better, you're making Rock'n'Roll worse!"
-Hank Hill ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"War without fire is like sausages without mustard"
-Jean Juvénal des Ursins on Henry V's firing of Meaux in 1421 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You can do anything if you have enthusiasm. With it, there is accomplishment. Without it, there are only alibis."
- Henry Ford ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak."
- unknown ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing."
-Wernher von Braun ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer."
--Frank Zappa ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The thing about quotes on the internet is that you cannot confirm their validity."
This is the test data for the motor used in the RU-486, discussed in the previous post. I thought about posting a pic of the actual motor, but to a non-rocketeer, it looks like a boring aluminum tube. To a rocketeer it looks like an aluminum rocket motor that's boring because it's not lit. I've been into making sugar motors for about 8 years now on an unsteady basis. I started developing this Bates grain motor right after my initial successes with small disposable motors. Initial ground tests of all motors were done with a peak reading pressure guage in order to dial in the correct nozzle size. I flew the 4th and 6th motors, the 6th being the RU-486 flight. This is the first time I've gotten to test these motors on a proper motor test stand, unfortunately, the pressure transducer had a broken wire, so there is no chamber pressure graph. We believe that the strain guage was not properly calibrated and the unexpectedly high ISP number bears this out. There is no doubt though, this is an extreme motor. I recently adjusted my motor labelling nomenclature. 638-B7 means, Cooking batch #6 for any 38mm motors, B for Bates geometry, 7th bates motor produced. Labels packed with the reloads hold additional data, but this is enough to I.D. the motor when referring back to my notes.
This is the 2nd, and last, flight of the RU-486. Yes, I named it after the "Morning After Pill". Just the thing for a Saturday or Sunday morning. The 1st flight the day before was on an Aerotek I161 motor, this flight is on an experimental I947 motor burning Sorbitol diet sugar and Potassium Nitrate. The launch was on 7/8/07 deep in the heart of Pecos County, Texas. Courtesy of WestTex Tripoli. The photographer was lucky to catch it, it was already hauling ass. In fact, the acceleration was so high that the control altimeter shifted backwards causing the contact pins to pull out of the connector body on the wireing harness. Pulling one contact with pliers is tough, pulling all 4 at once is impressive. Of course, with the altimeter disconnected, the rocket ended up in a hole. A deep one. I had to borrow a shovel. Basic Specs: 5ft tall, 2 1/4"dia., ACME Fincan, 38mm motormount, Adept ALT-S2 altimeter, rigged for single chute recovery. I gave it a lot of thought before posting an unsuccesful flight as the first rocket pic on here, but it's important to remember that one usually learns more from failure than success. This is a great pic anyway, and it makes a flashy intro to my sugar motor research which will be expanded upon in the next couple posts.
I'm not a MAD scientist, sometimes I'm not even grumpy, sometimes. Man, those may look like jumper cables, but they've got the potential to jump start an elephant. If you have a taste for the classic Buck Rogers vision of the future; zap guns, mad scientists, robot sidekicks, and rocket ships with open cockpits [so that everyone can see YOU styling] Retropolis Transit Authority is the place for you. I'd rather reveal my sources after I'd already bought some shirts for myself, but money is tight and this site is too cool not to support one way or another. Check the links there too, the artist; Bradley W. Schenck has several sites to look at. Go to; http://www.printfection.com/retro-future
This is the original ZZakk's Garage sign. It still hangs in my workshop. A while back I got a quote of $500 to have it done in neon. Maybe someday. The following is what my brother Keith wrote about the sign when he started ZZakk's Garage blog.
The Origin Of Zzakk's Garage
In 1980 I made this little sign and put it up in my apartment in Clifton Park, New York. I was visiting Texas while my brother worked on his Triumph Bonneville motorcycle in my kitchen. After we both moved back here it went up in our garage, where he pursued his various hobbies while I practiced new songs for my band, late into the night. Many cold beers and stuff were enjoyed, and our guests always had fun and maybe learned a thing or two. He kept the sign all these years, and I named this site in honor of those days gone by. Posted by KeithAlanK Friday, September 30, 2005
I had an upstairs apt at the time, and the apt security would get on you if you did more than check the oil in the parking lot. The snow was deep that winter too. OTOH- Keith & Zard had a ground level apt with a big patio door to roll through. Maaan, the place stank of gasoline and rancid motor oil for months, a change from college dude dirty laundry, but the job got done, and I was in the wind come springtime. My 1st motor rebuild, I learned a lot. Thanks guys, I'm still grateful to this day.
I always liked the tagline; "Don't ask us to borrow tools!" Sounds a little confusing, but; "Neither a borrower, nor a lender be."
Welcome to the first entry at ZZakks Lab. Please bear with me as I learn my way around the place, and get this carny act up and moving. If you're not yet familiar with ZZakks Garage blog, you should be. The Garage is one of my brother Keith's several blogs and is well worth a look on a routine basis. This would've been the Garage but he used it first [more about that later]. In any case, I'm definitely the mad scientist type so the Lab fits me well. As time goes by, you'll see many of my science experiments, hobby projects, sketchpad scans, pirated art, blather, vitriol, and rare insights, very rare.
