Tag Archives: restroom

February 2023 meeting

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by Joel Cool-Panama, Secretary, RRS.ORG

The Reaction Research Society held its monthly meeting at the Compton/Woodley Airport location, February 10th, at 7:30 PM PST.

Agenda topics of the meeting were:

  • Pyro-op licenses. New applications, test materials, CALFIRE website list, renewal period reminder.
  • Newman motor pouring class interest
  • Outreach
  • CALFIRE Rocket subcommittee
  • Bill Claybaugh
  • Jim Gross meet up in San Fernando Valley for electrical firing video
  • Symposium
    • Entrance fee
  • Larry Hoffing

Past Events

On January 22nd, 2023, we hosted another work event at the MTA. The work event was productive, but the electrical and septic work are not yet done. More support during the work week was requested, and another event was scheduled for February 19th.

Keith Yoerg held a firing event at the MTA on January 28th. He, Leanna Lincoln, Rushd Julfiker, Jim Gross, and Michael Rouleau attended. Keith recorded videos of the event, including slow motion footage, of the four micrograin standard alpha rockets they fired. Larry briefly went over methods for cleaning out alpha rocket propellant tubes as a part of the discussion.

FAR’s liquid rocket symposium on the same day, January 28th, at the Flabob Airport in Riverside was a success, having about two hundred persons in attendance. Videos and presentations from the event are currently hosted on Mark Ventura’s website.

The society is pleased to announce the new Constitution has officially been ratified. While there were no opposing votes, the fact is that a majority of society members did not vote on the matter.

On February 6th, the executive council discussed the new website. We currently expect that the site will launch by the first of March. As of now, we are seeking tax exempt status from Paypal, in order to reduce the cut of our donations which they take. We also need to archive the old website.

Regarding our April symposium, we are currently leaning strongly towards holding the event at the Mary Star of the Sea High School in San Pedro, which has approved the event. It should be noted that the location has good parking, and might provide food for the event. We also discussed holding a class on their football field.

Current Events

The Society is pleased to announce that Keith Yoerg is currently getting his recommendation letters for a Class 2 Rockets pryo-op license. Wolfram is also undertaking the process for obtaining a license, and Michael Rouleau is considering it as well.

For any others who might be interested in obtaining a pyro-op license, it was mentioned that the lowest grade license, Class 3 Rockets, doesn’t require recommendations from fellow license holders. Instead, recommendations from any non-related person as to your character will suffice.

John Newman’s solid motor pouring class at the FAR site was also mentioned at the meeting. He is going to be hosting the class on the first and third Saturday’s of March. So far, nearly ten society members have shown interest in attending.

Society vice president, Frank Miuccio was pleased to announce his first class in a year at Nickerson Gardens. The class demonstrated straw rockets and Newton’s three laws of motion.

Society treasurer Larry Hoffing attended the last CALFIRE Rocket subcommittee in Dave’s place. Mark Holthaus of FAR and David Reese of ROC have been giving a lot of good guidance to CALFIRE regarding laws governing rocketry which will be taken for legislative review this year in Sacramento. Based on some language seen in a recent draft, society president Dave Nordling had strong reservations against manually relieving pressurized tanks which should be avoided by design on rockets and remote releases should be mandated instead. This will be mentioned in further meetings at the committee.

Bill Claybaugh continues to prepare for a late April launch and may need to use the MTA again in the near future.

Future Events

Jim Gross is still planning to watch some educational videos with members of the society. The location was set for his home in Northridge, but the possibility of an online meeting, potentially through Zoom, was discussed.

The date and time for the society symposium has been set for April 15th, 8am to 5pm. The society discussed using the preceding Friday evening to set up for the event. The ordering of exhibits was discussed as well, and it was suggested that universities be allotted later presentation times, as well as big ticket exhibits. A limit of twenty minutes and twenty slides was suggested for each exhibit, but it was suggest that this number of slides was in excess of the time alotment. There was also brief discussion of holding a launch at the event.

The subject of fundraising at the Symposium was also discussed. It was suggested that some or all visitors pay an entrance fee, but it was mentioned that another society encountered issues when they sought to do the same. It was suggested that the society could have a dedicated RRS table to collect donations which would require constant monitoring. It was also suggested that donations might help cover expenses and the need for cleanup volunteers after the event was mentioned.

The CALFIRE Subcommittee has deliberated on some new rules. Among them are a requirement that blockhouses have two layers of sandbags on their roof or the equivalent to slow down projectiles. Although the idea is not new, there is some question about the exact and specific need of sandbags to provide adequate protection versus other means of construction providing similar or even superior protection.

Larry Hoffing needs a blueprint for a new blockhouse which Chris Lujan is to assist with. It should be noted that the contractor who worked on the septic system is a mason, and could be asked for assistance when time requires.

Following the completion of the restroom, the next project which the society wishes to tackle is the creation of a sixty-foot launch rail for liquid propellant rockets. Many universities have requested this and Mark Holthaus of FAR may be able to give us the design for the one used at FAR.

Another potential future project is the surplus LNG container that the society owns. While it isn’t ready for use and requires some refurbishment, some groups to the MTA have inquired about our capacity to deal with LNG. The society will need someone to work this project.

The next society meeting will be on March 10th, 2023. Contact the secretary for details.

MTA work event, 2023-01-22

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by Dimitri Timohovich, RRS.ORG

The RRS held a work event at the MTA to continue the work on the restroom. It was a four day event starting, Sunday, January 22nd and ending Wednesday, January 25th. Several members came out throughout this event to help.

On the first day, we cleaned up the Creosote bushes around the Dosa building and between Dosa building and the pit toilet.  The pit toilet platform was releveled. Our pit toilet has always been a simple stopgap measure until our more grand facility goes into service.

Several people got trained in using the loader to scrape and smooth out the area. I put together scaffolding and prepped the jobsite. Started to install electrical in both bathrooms.

Less bursh means more space at the MTA.

On the second day, we installed shelves in maintenance area and mounted the water pump and water heater. Started to put together the drainage pipes inside the container and assembled the shower drain.

Batteries, water pump and water heater installed.

On the third day, Installed hand rails around toilet in handicap bathroom. Installed sink braces and Installed storage cabinets in both bathrooms. Finished up drainage pipe inside the container. Rented trencher and started laying in the conduit from Dosa building to container.

Sewer header

On the last day, I finished trenching and returned the trencher. Finished laying conduit into the trench then covered up the trench and packed the dirt down.

All in all, a successful event, but there’s more work before the restroom is operational. We’ll have another work event in mid-February 2023. Details to follow later.

Many thanks to Keith Yoerg, Leanna Lincoln, Bill Inman, Osvaldo Tarditti, Joe Dominguez, Waldo Stakes and Dave Nordling who helped.

January 2023 meeting

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by Joel Cool-Panama, Secretary, RRS.ORG

The Reaction Research Society held its monthly meeting at the front office of the Compton/Woodley Airport, 7:30 PM PST. on Friday, January 13, 2023.

Agenda topics of the meeting were:

  1. Welding helmets (Mohammed)
  2. Gas Guzzler progress (Wolfram)
  3. 1/14/2023 launch event
  4. * ROC high-power launches, terms of granting membership
  5. * American Artist – LACMA
  6. Work event 1/22-1/25/23
  7. launch event on 1/28/2023?
  8. 2023 symposium on April 8 (Frank)
  9. FAR liquid rocket symposium 1/28/23 at Flabob Airport (Dave)
  10. Restroom progress (Dimitri)
  11. Compton Comet work at MTA (Jamie)
  12. Launch rail designs (Jackson)
  13. Visit to Ventura Energy LLC, 1/12/23
  14. micrograin resources, alpha (Jim Gross)

Past Events

Another update which we were pleased to announce is that the President of the society has been formally admitted to the CALFIRE subcommittee on Fireworks, under which rocketry is governed, and which will be rewriting the existing regulations.

The Compton Comet project also had its first low pressure test earlier this month. There were many leaks, but the team is now nearing the point that they will need to carry on their testing at the Mojave Test Area (MTA).

A new member to the society, Abdullah Daya, also asked if there was any certificate available for those members who attended the society welding class in Vista. It was decided that the society would ask the instructors at a later time.

Current Events

The society is pleased to announce that member, Wolfram Blume, is currently seeking his pyro-op license. He currently only plans to obtain a Class 3 Rockets license, but the society currently seeks to expand its license holder count which will ease the planning of future MTA events requiring the presence of the same.

There was also a fairly lengthy discussion regarding society owned tools. Society member Mohammed Daya researched welding helmets on behalf of the society, giving a recommendation for a particular brand out of a few. There was also a recommendation for individuals to use prescription lenses, and helmets with small viewports should be used to prevent ones vision from wandering.

There was also discussion of a new requirement that individuals using society equipment sign waivers to reduce our liability, similar to the waiver required for MTA use.

Unfortunately, due to the recent weather in California, the launch event on January 14th for a project by American Artist has been cancelled. Dave still wishes to meet with him at another time, and hopefully schedule another date for his project at the MTA.

Another unfortunate situation has occurred, in that the FAA has reduced ROC’s height waiver by a substantial amount (7,000 feet). This will make the larger high-power launches impossible from their Lucerne Valley location. However, it was suggested that the society could reach out to ROC, and offer them use of the RRS MTA for their launch events. Keith Yoerg said he’d reach out to start a conversation.

In regards to the RRS MTA site improvements, the creation of more launch rails therefore was discussed. Materials for the construction of the same have been bought, and their design was briefly debated, with radio towers being mentioned as a frequent base. It was also mentioned that CAD software would be useful in our construction of any of the larger rail designs. A 60-foot launch rail for liquid-fuelled rockets is a top priority at the society this year.

An update on USPS protocols has been announced, that all mail addressed to a PO box must now also give the street address of the Post Office it is located at. Any such mail without an address will be returned to sender, so mail to the society should have the address written as such.

Reaction Research Society

8821 Aviation Blvd.

P.O. Box 90933

Los Angeles, CA, 90009-0933

An unexpected but minor blow to the society’s fundraising was delivered recently when Amazon announced that the AmazonSmile program will be discontinued in February this year. The money earned by the society therefrom was not a vast sum, but per our treasurer, Larry Hoffing, the loss of this small revenue stream means that pizza parties will be cancelled indefinitely. The society has yet to hold one of these events but the loss will still be felt.

Future Events

Starting on Sunday the 22nd, we are planning to have a multi-day work event at the MTA. This will do work on lighting and other electrical work on the site. Handicap rails and an access ramp also need to be installed soon. Dimitri will be present, and other volunteers are encouraged to participate as well.

On January 28th, there is another planned launch event for those wanting training in micrograin loading amoxil and launching. Jim Gross will be the pyro-op in charge.

Also on the same day, FAR will be holding a liquid rocket symposium at the Flabob Airport in Riverside. The RRS has been invited, but due to the limited gathering size only a couple individuals from the society will attend.

This April, Bill Claybaugh is planning to launch from the MTA. Likewise, the RRS symposium is planned to take place some time in April. Frank is currently in contact with the Gardena Community Center to see if we can hold the event there again this year on our 80th anniversary.

In regards to the symposium, there is currently no set budget, but it has been suggested that some of the society’s generous benefactors might be contacted to help cover costs.

Jim is currently in possession of zinc that might be used for sulfur micrograin. Some, contained in pales, are known to be good, but some received by mail are of unknown condition. It’s expected that the latter will be tested order phentermine soon so as to determine its use.

Next meeting will be February 10th. Contact the secretary for details.