Overview

A.Y.U.C.R. is designed around an Olymus Hi*Lite Autofocus 35mm camera. It weighs about 8oz with film and batteries and is small enough to fit inside a LOC 3” tube coupler with a little room to spare. It costs $50. In its flight configuration it is housed in payload bay made up of a LOC 3” tube coupler and three LOC 3” centering rings. The payload bay holds all of the arming and triggering electronics as well. The payload bay slides into a specially made payload section made up of LOC 3” tubing with all of the cutouts required to access the arming plugs and allow the camera lens a window to the outside. The A.Y.U.C.R. booster is also made of LOC 3” tubing fiberglasses with 2oz cloth. It has a 29mm engine mount and through-the-wall-to-the-motor mount trapezoidal fins. The ejection gases are baffled to help protect the paracutes and reduce the need for wadding. The upper portion of the booster screws to the fin can to allow it to be replaced and to allow easier access to the screw-eye shock cord mount on the forward centering ring. The booster and payload are connected by an altimeter can/tube coupler which contains an antimeter to control deployment. The whole thing is topped off by a LOC 3” nose cone. In its flight configuration without motor it weighs just over 53 ounces.

555 Timer Circuit

The camera shutter is wired to a homemade 555 timer circuit which trips the shutter every three seconds. The circuit is powered on by an Adept ASA3T acceleration switch at liftoff. At apogee an Adept ALTS2 fires an charge to separate the booster from the payload section and each comes down under its own chute. The payload section is rigged so that the chute holds it horizontally with the camera facing down. If all goes right the camera will take two or three pictures on the way up and the rest of the roll on the way down.

I case you are wondering what AYUCR stands for here's the story. When I was designing and building this rocket I would email my fellow rocket-bud Jeff Taylor and discuss it. At the time I had no name so I just called it As Yet Unnamed Camera Rocket. The name just eventually stuck!