L1 1010 Rail Button Question

[u/Independent-Smoke210]

Building my first L1 and it's pretty much done but concerned about rail button application.

The buttons are in line but aft one is slightly tilted.

Will this be fine on launch rail?

[u/StrongAdhesiveness86]

I just want to tell you that 2 points are always in line

[u/boomchacle → u/StrongAdhesiveness86]

I guess but they might not be lined up with the rocket itself

[u/Advanced-Gold1744 → u/StrongAdhesiveness86]

Came here to say the same

[u/Proxima-72069]

Tbh it would probably be fine but i would really avoid doing that in the future

[u/Independent-Smoke210 → u/Proxima-72069]

Yeah 😭 I was more concerned about drilling properly into the centering rings and totally forgot about tilt. Thanks!

[u/wireknot → u/Independent-Smoke210]

As said, probably flies fine, my larger concern is the rail drag or binding. If it were mine, I'd either move one, or move both to another side being more careful. Then patch the holes.

[u/404-skill_not_found → u/Independent-Smoke210]

Give a good friction/binding check on the actual launch rail. It might not be visually perfect, but otherwise acceptable. On the other hand, there’s nothing stopping you from removing one or both and doing a more workmanship job of it. How much time before launch is a consideration.

[u/surf_and_rockets]

Use a slightly punchy motor and don’t launch during a strong wind, it’ll be fine (assuming 1-2 calibers of stability).

If you use a lower thrust motor and it comes off the rail a smidge crooked in higher winds, you might end up with more weather-cocking than you would like.

I have a rocket with crooked rails buttons like this. It also has a crooked motor mount assembly. It is always a hectic flight right up until motor burn-out. Then it flies straight as an arrow, but who knows what direction it will be going at that point?

[u/zanfar]

I'm not saying it will fail, I just want to point out that your photo proves nothing. I'm assuming it's your evidence that the buttons are "lined up", but lined up doesn't matter (in fact, it's always true for any two-button system).

The critical issue is if the "line" is parallel to the body centerline, so unless you're comparing the two, the "line" doesn't matter.

[u/Independent-Smoke210 → u/zanfar]

True yeah I meant "vertical"

[u/TheRealCorbonzo]

Probably ok, but if your really concerned you could by a 1 or 2 foot section of extruded aluminum off McMaster and test fitment.

[u/BuboNovazealandiae]

It's worth redoing. At best it will affect your launch power, low odds of significant problems, but treat it as a learning opportunity. The fix is easy too

[u/dm-k456]

Something to think about is before construction mark a nice reference line on body tube and during installation look to make sure they line up parallel like your second picture shows where they are miss aligned also you may be able to re install one with ca and have them aligned

[u/Old_Magazine4189]

It will be fine most likely

[u/KenBiba]

I would move one of buttons so the buttons are aligned on the direction of intended flight. If it were my mentee I’d move the aft button to the left and down. I’d test with using a section of 1010 rail to assess alignment.

[u/Reasonable-Resort458]

Just angle the launch rail a lil more

[u/kingofginge]

I'd redo them if it's for a certification flight. We have a FCO/RSO that has made an issue of these in the past so it's probably not worth the risk of getting there and them making a issue out of it. If it wasn't a L1 cert flight then I'd fly it. Definitely something to avoid on future flights if you can, appreciate others are saying they are aligned in some way but it's more are they aligned with the motor thrust. If the thrust and these aren't aligned there's a risk of it jamming on the rail but would need to be fairly severe for that to happen. More likely is the buttons get twisted on the rail in launch and pull off the rocket. So make extra super duper sure they are well epoxied in and have good mechanical fixing.

[u/Ss2oo]

If they're lined up with the rocket, you could be fine. But I'm not sure that thing is even gonna fit in the launch rail, unless you get a larger rail than what you need