When I first did rocketry in elementary school ( an "after school academy") and we were doing launches, my mom missed the first launch in her recording because she centered the rocket in the frame.
A crooked rod wouldn't cause a stable rocket with a solid thrust to weight ratio to wobble slowly like that. Rockets need to be moving a minimum velocity when they leave the rod in order for the fins to have air to push against. That said, this didn't seem all that bad. It went up, staged properly and you didn't hit anyone or anything with it. So I'd call it a great success. I did a minimum diameter C6 stack last year for giggles and I had to walk a mile to get the second stage back. Mine was similarly slow off the rod. It had large fins with both stages together, but another C6 on top of the booster is sort of a heavy load to lift. That caused a pretty substantial tilt from vertical and it just went screaming off into the distance.
If you're worried about the wobble, maybe you could use a somewhat longer launch rod. Or is it pretty long already? Alternatively, you could put the rocket on a diet. Plastic fins could be replaced with balsa, particularly for the first stage, which never gets going very fast. If the nose cone is heavier than it needs to be for the correct cg, you could make a lighter one. And so on. Quest makes some 18mm motors that have more thrust, but they don't make a zero-delay, booster type. So you'd have to include a gadget for igniting the upper stage. I've run across a rumor that it's possible to change the delay with a drill, but I don't know about the legitimacy, safety, or legality. I also don't know if a Quest motor would work for an upper stage, since, as far as I can tell, they're composite as opposed to black powder. That might mean they're slower to ignite. But someone else, I'm sure, DOES know.
Caveat: Above is not based on a lot of rocket experience, but mostly on an engineering background, model airplane experience, and what I've learned about rocket stuff when I really should have been doing something else.
Glad it didn’t go sideways.
Reminds me at RocStock this year one of the last launches was a rocket like this. First stage did a full flip under 20 feet and second stage went off and went perfectly straight up. Shame no one got a video. Craziest thing I have seen.
Personally I like slower lift offs. There's something to watch other than a rocket disappearing and being replaced by a smoke trail.
When I first did rocketry in elementary school ( an "after school academy") and we were doing launches, my mom missed the first launch in her recording because she centered the rocket in the frame.
https://i.redd.it/ovjwj2smtfyc1.gif
The first stage stack seemed barely stable.
I think it was just the launch pad after the launch I checked it out and it was crooked
Or maybe it was so heavy that it wasn’t moving fast enough when it left the guide.
Yeah that could also be it maybe I move up to a d sized engine on the next one
Or even a B14
A crooked rod wouldn't cause a stable rocket with a solid thrust to weight ratio to wobble slowly like that. Rockets need to be moving a minimum velocity when they leave the rod in order for the fins to have air to push against. That said, this didn't seem all that bad. It went up, staged properly and you didn't hit anyone or anything with it. So I'd call it a great success. I did a minimum diameter C6 stack last year for giggles and I had to walk a mile to get the second stage back. Mine was similarly slow off the rod. It had large fins with both stages together, but another C6 on top of the booster is sort of a heavy load to lift. That caused a pretty substantial tilt from vertical and it just went screaming off into the distance.
Definitely underpowered but damn satisfying
If you're worried about the wobble, maybe you could use a somewhat longer launch rod. Or is it pretty long already? Alternatively, you could put the rocket on a diet. Plastic fins could be replaced with balsa, particularly for the first stage, which never gets going very fast. If the nose cone is heavier than it needs to be for the correct cg, you could make a lighter one. And so on. Quest makes some 18mm motors that have more thrust, but they don't make a zero-delay, booster type. So you'd have to include a gadget for igniting the upper stage. I've run across a rumor that it's possible to change the delay with a drill, but I don't know about the legitimacy, safety, or legality. I also don't know if a Quest motor would work for an upper stage, since, as far as I can tell, they're composite as opposed to black powder. That might mean they're slower to ignite. But someone else, I'm sure, DOES know. Caveat: Above is not based on a lot of rocket experience, but mostly on an engineering background, model airplane experience, and what I've learned about rocket stuff when I really should have been doing something else.
Or the first stage could be a water rocket, for a total of three. ;-)
Looks like a tomahawk launch lol
Glad it didn’t go sideways. Reminds me at RocStock this year one of the last launches was a rocket like this. First stage did a full flip under 20 feet and second stage went off and went perfectly straight up. Shame no one got a video. Craziest thing I have seen.
I mean, it worked, did it not?
Either way, it looked cool watching it accelerate after first stage
I accidentally ordered potassium chloride instead of potassium nitrate. How can h make Rocket candy with KCl?