About: I am a high school student from South Australia with a passion for making things, especially electronics. Over the last 6 months I have been working on Project Summit, an extremely overkill model rocket with a…

As part of a huge project involving model rockets I needed a controller. But like all my projects I couldn't just stick to the basics and make a handheld single-button controller that just launches a model rocket, no, I had to go extremely overkill and make it as complicated and over the top as I could possibly think of. I did have ideas to make this even more over the top, however those ideas were a bit out of the budget for a 16 year old student.

After much research and planning I could not find any resources in the way of 'briefcase rocket controllers' as they are not exactly a common item, so I needed to design my own from scratch. The main part of my whole project, the rocket itself, is made from carbon fibre and looks pretty badass, so I wanted to continue this theme through to the controller, and the steel launch pad (currently incomplete).

But what does this controller do? Why did you make it?

Well my model rocket isn't exactly a typical rocket with fins and a basic launch pad with a guide rail. Instead the rocket is filled with custom electronics and thrust vector control equipment. Thrust vector control, or TVC, involves moving the engine inside the rocket to direct its thrust and therefore steer the rocket to its appropriate trajectory. However this involves GPS guidance which is ILLEGAL! So my rocket uses TVC to keep the rocket super stable going upright with a gyroscope on the flight computer, no GPS equipment. Active stabilisation is legal, guidance is not!

Anyway through this long intro I still haven't explained what the controller does! The launch pad as I previously said is not just a stand with a guide rail, rather a complex system filled with electronics a mechanical parts, like a real launch pad. It includes a pneumatic piston to retract the strong back, clamps holding the rockets base and upper body and many other things which I will explain better in future YouTube videos.

The controller not only sends all the wireless signals to control the launch pads systems and launch the rocket, but it also allows me to adjust the settings of the launch. Whether it is actually launching, or just being held down to the pad for a static fire of the motor. Whether or not I have the retractable strong-back pneumatic system activated or not. Does the rocket have side boosters as seen on the Falcon Heavy. Or do I need to test the wireless connection between the controller and launch pad. These are all just some of the functions this controller can do.

Quick note: These are not the final labels as I do not currently have access to my usual Roland GX-24 vinyl cutter. I also do not have the battery yet, I will be using a standard RC car/plane LiPo, 11.1V and about 2500mAh.

Before we get started with the step by step instructions on how I made it I would like to make it clear to everyone that a controller like this can be used for much more then just launching rockets depending on what you make it for. It could control a wireless rover, control an RC helicopter/drone, be adapted to a portable computer or gaming system. Your imagination really is the limit. If you wish to build this controller I would also strongly recommend you design your own schematic, switch layout and all your own software. Make it truly YOURS.

Update!

Here is the new YouTube video about the controller!

Supplies:

As I am in Australia my parts and links will likely be different to any of yours so I would recommend doing your own research! I have a full parts list PDF of everything I used here. I also recommend using your own parts to make your controller custom to what you need/want it to do!

The basic parts list:

A case of some sort

Acrylic panel

Buttons and switches

LCD screen, voltage readout

PLA filament

3D carbon fibre vinyl

A speaker and audio module (if you want it to talk)

I have kept the tools basic, you can use whatever you have: