Here’s a video of it in action.



I mostly followed the directions in Make Magazine volume 7 page 78, but I did change a couple things.

I used:
A Big Daddy Rocket - hobbylinc
Break away headers (female) - SparkFun
Break away headers (right angle) SparkFun



First I soldered the right angle headers onto the cam (I had to slightly bend each pin). I then soldered the female headers onto the USB cable. Different models of the cams have different pins so make sure that you correctly solder the pins of the USB cable and the cam. CameraHacking.com is a great resource.

Before I put the camera in the rocket, I made sure that I could hack it to be able to use it over, and over again. Again, CameraHacking.com is a great resource.

I then put the cam in the rocket using the advice in Make Magazine volume 7 page 78.

When I launched it, I wanted to know how high it went. I could either try and remember some trigonometry, buy an altimeter, or make the altimeter myself. The cheapest altimeters I found were 70 USD, so I decided to build one myself. jbgizmo.com has a bunch of great detailed instructions and kits for rocketry tracking and altimeters. I highly recommend building his altimeter. It’s very easy, and he even sells a pre-programmed PIC chip.

Once I had etched the PCB, I put it all together and tested it. It was my first time etching a PCB so it didn’t turn out as nice as I had hoped, but it was usable.


I put the altimeter in nose-cone opposite of the camera so that the weight was even on either side. I found that electrical tape is enough to securely hold the altimeter in place during launch.

On the day I was going to launch the rocket, I realized I didn’t have a usable launch bad. The legs of my previous ones had broken off, and I couldn’t find the metal disc. I had some HD DVD player cases laying around (any DVD player cases will work) from an old laser project (I might post that in the future), so I decided to improvise.

I first cut a square in the top with my dremel and then stuck the piece of plastic that supported the launch rod through the hole. On the underside, another piece of plastic from the original launch pad snapped onto the other piece of plastic.


To prevent the launch pad from tipping over, I bent some tabs on the bottom of the HD DVD case outwards. When you launch the rocket, you can use the tabs to nail the launch pad to the ground.


Unfortunately, I only got one launch with the camera (I had used an almost dead battery) and the altimeter didn’t work the first time (the battery got shaken loose), but I was able to launch the rocket 2 times with the altimeter but without the camera.

The first launch with the altimeter went about 420 feet with a D12-5 engine.
The second launch with the altimeter went about 835 feet with an E9-4 engine.

The launch with the camera was with a D12-5 engine.

Leave a comment below if you have any questions.

See all of the pictures in the gallery.

Tags: rocket, camera, altimeter