The Final(ly) Countdown

Nearly half a year ago (wow... has it really been that long?) Santa brought our boy an Estes Tandem X Rocket Kit for Christmas.  In January we excitedly assembled the larger of the two rockets that came in the kit and then tucked it away in the garage so it wouldn’t get lost or smashed.

And there it sat, the victim of a string of launch delays. Weekend rain, flooded launch sites, cold, and high winds played a factor in well over half or them.  Birthday parties, travel, playdates, yard work, and family and church functions were responsible for others.  I guess there were a couple of “man, I totally don’t feel like driving to the park” and “holy cow, I forgot this thing was even here” reasons sprinkled in there, too.

Life has a way of getting in the way, you know?

When I was a kid I had rockets sort of like this... just smaller and less plastic-y.  Probably less safe, too, what with me using a twelve-inch bicycle spoke jammed in the grass as a make-shift launch “guidance” rod. Also, instead of the fancy electric launcher this kit came with I used what I now recognize as a waaayyy too short hunk of wick and the OSHA-disapproved “light it, run like hell, pause, wonder what was taking so long, take two-and-a-half steps toward the rocket, get seriously startled” method to get the things to fly.  

“No sirree, no son of mine is going to have to deal with that,” I thought while I was putting the batteries in the yellow plastic... um... make-it-go machine (sorry about that... my thesaurus has no other words for “launcher” and I used that word in the last sentence and I plan on using it again in the next).  It took 4 AA batteries, which was a little weird but not not as weird as the fact that the flashlight bulb on the launcher (see?) didn’t light even with the safety key in place.

It turned out that it was not defective, just badly designed.  Or overly-well-designed.  It’s hard to tell the difference sometimes... Anyway, by mashing down on the safety key with all my might and with a fuse in place I could just make the lightbulb dimly flicker which is supposed to mean the LAUNCH button would then be active.

Pfft.  That’s no good.  How is my kid supposed to use this thing, even if the bulb was somehow visible in bright sunlight?  Let’s do better.

I rifled through my electronics “hoarder” boxes and found a small project box, a large red LED, some wire, a 9V battery connector, a current-limiting resistor, and a normally-open push-button switch.  Sweet.  Almost there.  I went to radio shack and found a really cool-looking switch (the one with the red cover) to act as one-half of the new safety-circuit.

Just half, you ask? See, regardless of how liberal your definition of “safe” is, you have to admit that handing an electric launcher to a four-year-old and saying “Here, hold this while I go hook up the rocket engine.  Don’t touch the big shiny red switch and, no matter what for the love of God, don’t touch the dazzlingly blue, jolly, candy-like button below it until I get back” will end with you returning from the launch pad with way less eyebrow hair than you had when you woke up that morning.

The second half of the safety circuit came from Lowe’s.  I finally found a use for one of the key-shaped items that their automatic key “duplicator” made, other than filling my door locks with a hunk of ill-fitting metal.  I cut a chunk off the end with a Dremmel and sanded the material down a bit to expose the conductive surface.  Sliding the key through a slot in the side of the box bridges the gap between two pieces of copper leaf inside, completing the circuit.  

Now the very bright LED lights when the key is inserted (which I wear around my neck) AND the covered switch is flipped.  Only then will the blue LAUNCH button light the fuse, launching the rocket somewhere... hopefully mostly “up”.  Also, it takes a 9V battery which is way more convenient than scrabbling around junk drawers looking for a handful of AA’s.

The weather last weekend was awesome and the park was dry so we decided to give it a go.  I was a little nervous about getting a ticket since it wasn’t clear what the rules were there.  There was plenty of space, but some of the parks here have some unusually specific rules.  Heck, one near here actually has a written rule against javelin-throwing.  Man... you accidentally kabob one lousy poodle and “the Man” is all up in your grill, like, forever, you know? 

Grumble... those no good punk kids... training for the Olympics at all hours of the night... 

But,  hey, wouldn’t you know it, another family was there launching rockets as we pulled up so that meant it must be ok!  Right?  

Well, actually, they launched only once and then couldn’t get any more to go.  Their launcher died, you see.  After we confirmed ours worked ok we shared the thing and a good time was had by all.  My wife got some awesome pics and we made some new friends. 

Hopefully the weather will hold for this weekend.  We will see.