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Old 03-02-2019, 09:29 PM
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teflonrocketry1 teflonrocketry1 is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Whitehouse, Ohio
Posts: 264
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You could just offer laser cut custom fins, like the Sandman at Roachwerks who only sells custom turned nosecones. Your customer base will be small for this offering, a few hundred people probably at the best.

Keep in mind balsa is not the only wood used for fin material, there is also basswood, birch ply, cardboard and fiberboard among others; having these materials on hand will increase your overhead. However, you will get a good discount if you buy these in bulk. Do you have the ability to cut fins from RockSim, OpenRocket, CAD or other files? Can you profile fins (diamond wedge or airfoil) with your laser engraver? Can you laser cut G-10 fiberglass for high power rockets? Can you laser cut and slot body tubes? How easy would it be for you to cut a set of fins for something like the OOP Estes Orbital Transport http://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/estes/k-42m.tif ?

Even though I can make my own decals, I prefer kits that include them or minimally include a link to an artwork file for the decal or body tube wrap. For lager models BT-55 and greater I use basswood fins. For competition models I use 2 ply (1/64") birch ply fins. I prefer G-10 to 1/4" birch ply fins on high power rockets. Instructions are nice for anything more than 3FNC and 4FNC rockets with standard motor mounts, launch lugs and recovery devices. Plastic nosecones can now be easily and inexpensively 3D printed even in small (30 to 50) bulk quantities, do you have access to a 3D printing facility?
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