KNIGHT MFG

Our Small Folding Launch Pad

Small folding pad in red.

Small folding pad in yellow.

Small folding pad in blue.

Launch rod is held securely in place with a thumb screw for fast set up.

Folds to compact size for ease of portability. Available in red, yellow, or blue. $56.99 plus S&H.

Small pads include our 4 X 4 inch blast deflector made from 16 gage steel with welded steel standoff.

Small pad with rocket.

Our Medium Folding Launch Pad.

Medium folding pad in red.

Medium folding pad in blue.

Medium folding pad in yellow.

Our medium size launch pads have a larger 25 X 26.75 footprint, larger pivot block which accept up to 1/4" launch rods, and come with a larger 6" X 6" blast deflector.

Medium size pad's pivot block accepts up to 1/4" launch rods and tighten with a torque knob as opposed to a wing nut.

Medium pads fold to compact size for ease of portability. Available in red, yellow, or blue.

Medium launch pad is $69.99 plus shipping.

Medium pads include our 6 X 6 inch blast deflector made from 16 gage steel with welded steel standoff.

Our Large Folding Launch Pad

Large Folding Launch Pad. Available in red and blue $99.99 plus shipping. (blast deflector included)

Our large folding launch pad comes with a 7.5" X 7.5" blast deflector made from slightly thicker 14 gage sheet steel with welded standoff. Perch atop the blast deflector's standoff gives the rocket a place to sit before blast off.

Beefy aluminum launch rod holder accepts up to 1/4" launch rods, pivots left and right, and locks firmly in place with a 5/16-18 button head cap screw. 5/16-18 star knob underneath locks the folding arms in place. These launch pads are nice and should easily give you a lifetime of service and enjoyment.

Large folding launch pad with Loc Graduator.

48" High Power Launch Pads

Our 48" high power launch pads are available in red and blue. With a 48 X 45 inch foot print, you can launch some large rockets with these. 

Large 12" diameter, 1/8" thick blast deflector with perch is included.

The frame's arms are made from beefy 1" 14 guage square steel tubing and are locked in place with a large 1/2 - 13 center bolt with aluminum star knob underneath. The launch rod holder pivots left and right and is locked in place with 1/2 - 13 pivot bolt. 

Accepts up to 1/2" launch rods.

We now have rail mounts available for those who wish to use a 1 inch 80/20 launch rail. Three 1/4" holes allow you to attach your rail securely. Blast deflectors for the rail configuration will have square standoffs that will slide down over the rail.

Perch gives the rocket a place to sit atop the standoff.

High power launch pad with blast deflector is $199.00 plus shipping. We will have 1/2" stainless launch rods available for these soon.

With my Loc Precision "Forte".

New INCLINOMETERS!

An inclinometer or altitude tracker is a simple to use optical sighting device for tracking the altitude of a model rocket using basic geometry. Ours are made from hardwood (poplar) with aluminum protractor, swing arm and sight tube. Swing arm locks firmly in place with a torque knob allowing for accurate measurement and reading of the launch angle. These will add a fun and educational aspect to your rocket launches and demonstrate a practical use for your high school trigonometry class. And don't let the trig scare you. These are very simple to use. Angle/Tangent chart is included. 

(Diagrams below illustrate use.)

Available in red and blue. $34.99 each

New aluminum models with poplar handles are now available!

Our new inclinometers have a main frame made from aluminum channel with painted poplar handles. Top edge of frame is painted flat black to eliminate glare. Available with red or blue handles. $39.99

USING AN INCLINOMETER.

To use an inclinometer, you'll first measure off a baseline distance from your launch pad in feet. 200 feet is fine for small, lower altitude rockets. Use 300 feet or more for higher flying models. Stand at the measured baseline distance, hold the inclinometer level, and sight it toward the launch pad. Check to see that the inclinometer reads an angle of zero degrees when sighted on the pad. Now have your helper launch the rocket and follow it up with the inclinometer. At peak altitude, lock the swing arm indicator in place with the knob and read the angle it shows. Suppose you've paced off a baseline of 500 feet. You launch the rocket and record an angle of 30 degrees. Look up the tangent of 30 degrees on the provided chart. It's .5774. Multiply .5774 by 500 and you'll discover that your rocket attained an altitude of 288.7 feet. To achieve even greater accuracy, you can use two station tracking with two inclinometers and average the results. (See below).

Model rocketry is a hobby that I have enjoyed a lot over the years. So we are now offering model rocket launch pads for our fellow model rocketeers. Our folding model rocket launch pads are designed for the model rocket enthusiast who appreciates the high quality associated with custom made products. With their all steel and aluminum construction, they are very durable and will easily last for many years. We currently make these in four sizes to handle just about any size rockets you're launching. 

The small folding launch pad is sized to handle smaller "ball field sized" 1/4A through C engine rockets with a 16" X 18" footprint, but is much more substantial than the flimsy, plastic, toy-like, "Porta Pad" launch pads that are so prevalent in model rocketry. It accepts 1/8" and 3/16" launch rods. The launch rod is held securely in place with a thumb screw which threads into a machined block of aluminum. The aluminum block pivots in either direction allowing you to adjust your launch angle depending on wind direction. The cool feature of this design is that it folds up into a very compact size for ease of portability. The main frame is made from 3/4" square steel tubing with welded angled end caps and the swing out pivot arm is made from 1/4" thick 6061-T6 aluminum and pivots on a 1/4" pivot bolt. The small sized folding pad comes with our 4" X 4" steel blast deflector made from 16 gage sheet steel with a welded standoff. This is a very tricked out little launch pad and is most likely the last one you will ever need to buy.

Small launch pad with blast deflector is $56.99 plus S&H. 

Our medium folding launch pad is very similar to the small pad in construction, it's just larger with a 25" X 26.75" footprint and a slightly larger pivot block that accepts up to 1/4" launch rods. It is sized to handle medium sized rockets up through D engine power. It also comes with our larger 6" X 6" 16 gage blast deflector with welded standoff.

Medium launch pad with blast deflector is $69.99 plus S&H.

The large folding launch pad is slightly different from the small & medium pads in that it's folding frame is made entirely of steel with welded angled ends on each arm. It has a 35.75" X 33" footprint to handle your larger E, F and G engine rockets. The folding frame pivots on a larger 5/16 pivot bolt and tightens with an aluminum star knob underneath the frame. The pivot block accepts 1/4" launch rods (and smaller) and pivots on a larger 5/16 pivot bolt which is tightened with an allen wrench so you can lock the launch angle in place more securely. It comes with a 7.5" X 7.5" blast deflector made from slightly thicker 14 gage sheet steel and the welded standoff has a clamp on perch at the top to give larger rockets a slightly larger place to rest. Plastic tubing plugs in the angled ends keep dirt out.

Large launch pad with blast deflector is $99.99 plus S&H.

Our high power folding launch pad is similar in design to our large folding launch pad but has a larger 48" X 45" footprint and is made from larger 1" square tubing with a slightly thicker 14 gage wall thickness. The folding frame pivots on a 1/2" pivot bolt and tightens with an aluminum star knob underneath the frame. The frame ends have plastic tubing plugs to keep dirt out. It comes with a large 12" diameter plasma cut blast deflector made from 1/8" thick steel plate with a welded standoff made from 3/4" DOM (drawn over mandrel) tubing with a .120 wall thickness. This allows a slip fit over a 1/2" launch rod. The standoff has a 1.25 o.d. perch on top to give larger rockets a firm place to rest before liftoff. The pivoting launch rod holder is made from the same 3/4" DOM and pivots on a large 1/2" pivot bolt which tightens down with a socket wrench to firmly lock your launch angle in place. The launch rod is held in the rod holder with a 1/4" hex bolt. This launch pad can also be supplied with a pivoting launch rail mount for mounting a 1" aluminum 80/20 launch rail. With the launch rail mount option, the blast deflector is modified with a square standoff to slide down over the rail.

High power launch pad with blast deflector is $199.00 plus shipping.

New tripod launch pads are now available. Click here to take a look.

Blast Deflectors.

We also sell our blast deflectors separately in three sizes. 4 X 4, 6 X 6, and 7.5 X 7.5.  The 4 inch and 6 inch sizes are made from beefy 16 gage steel with welded steel standoffs and are a significant upgrade over the thinner Estes blast deflectors with their plastic standoff. The 7.5 X 7.5 size is made from even thicker 14 gage steel with a welded standoff. All three work with up to 1/4" diameter launch rods. Perfect to replace a worn out flimsy blast deflector.

4 X 4 is $11.99

6 X 6 is $13.99.

7.5 X 7.5 is $16.99.

STAINLESS LAUNCH RODS

Stainless steel launch rods are available in 1/8", 3/16" and 1/4" sizes.

1/8" rods are 36" in length and are $6.99 each.

3/16" rods are 36" in length and are $9.99 each.

1/4" rods are 48" in length and are $12.99 each.

Rods ship separately in a PVC tube with end caps that you can save and use as a storage case. $3.00 of the shipping charge includes the cost of the tube and time involved cutting them to length, but this is the best way to ship them and you'll have a nice case to tranport your launch rods to and from the launch site.

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