TR-1 MOTOR UPDATE

I didn't get much time at the lathe this weekend, just enough to face the divergent side of this piece and cut the relief that the other half of the nozzle fits into.  I need to index the screw locations, then I can flip the piece and finish it off.  I did realize during the weekend that I didn't have a complete set of drawings for this motor.  It had been so long since I designed this motor and I was incorrectly thinking that I had designed this piece to work with another nozzle divergent piece that I had already fabricated.  You can see that nozzle here, it's the one on the right.  At one point this weekend I saw the two motor casings sitting next to one another and immediately thought "wait a second, that other motor is way bigger...that nozzle piece can't work with the TR-1 motor!"  After checking my earlier designs I realized that I had drawn a preliminary version of the needed part.  I double checked everything, made some minor adjustments to the design of both pieces and now have a full set of drawings for this design.

I may still decide to take some excess weight out of the nozzle ring as it's heavier than it needs to be.  Then again, it doesn't really matter for the static test so I may just get the important stuff done then move onto the next piece. It would be beneficial to remove weight from the aft end of the rocket before the flight so I'm sure I'll do it before then.   I'm machining the nozzle ring out of 1018 which is noticeably tougher to machine than the 12L14 that I'll be using for the divergent piece.  Once you've machined 12L14 steel, all other steel seems like a chore!