Expert: James Bell - 9/14/2008

Question
I am wanting to design a tower which would be a three railed design and be able to hold small model kits to large fiber glass rockets up to 7 feet tall and about 6 inch diameter. I have looked up google and wikipedia extensively but cannot find any help on how to design one or just to get any ideas. Please help me.

Answer
Ali -

I have seen many different variations of launch towers.  The most popular involve a nippled lug that rides inside a slotted tube, like a "C" in cross section.  This allows for a single rail, but requires a good amount of reinforcement along the tube rail.

The second one I've seen is a three rail system similar to the one you are describing.  I haven't seen any specific plans on this type of tower, as it seems all are individually made.  The best one I saw had the individual rails mounted on a moveable rod inside a sleeve, with turnscrews to hold it in place.  You could retract or extend the rails to suit different body widths of rockets.  Granted, all the ones that I saw usually belonged to a high-powered rocketry club, and not by a single person, thereby cutting the cost by spreading it out over many people.

There doesn't appear to be much out on the web that would help you.  The best I found is this one to CAZTEK, Inc.

http://www.towerlauncher.com/ldrs.html

I use an Aerotech Mantis for all my lower powered rockets.  All my high-powered stuff requires FAA procedures and I usually do these at a formal launch with a large group, so I use their heavy launchers.  All my stuff is rigged for various sized launch rods, so I have never dabbled in creating a tower.

I hope this gives you a little bit of information.  If not, or if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to write back.

Sincerely,
James Bell