MM versus MM2

[Pat_B]

Micro, or anyone. How can I tell the difference between the original MM motors and the more recent MM2 versions? I don't see any markings on the casings and they both appear to have the same dimensions.

I have hundreds of these little guys floating around and want to be sure I don't use the original at NARAM this year which is apparently not contest certified.

[MarkII]

Micro, or anyone. How can I tell the difference between the original MM motors and the more recent MM2 versions? I don't see any markings on the casings and they both appear to have the same dimensions.

I have hundreds of these little guys floating around and want to be sure I don't use the original at NARAM this year which is apparently not contest certified.The original MicroMaxx motors have a brown extruded plastic casing with a plastic molded-in nozzle. The MicroMaxx II motors have a casing made from spiral-wound fish paper and have clay nozzles. If the case is any shade of gray and shows spiral wrap lines, it's a MicroMaxx II.

[MarkII]

Also, if you have seen both, you cannot mistake one for the other. They are the same size but they have distinctly different appearances. The brown plastic is a medium brown and does not at all resemble the case on the later version.

If I can dig up my stash in the next few minutes, I'll post photos.

[Pat_B]

Mine all appear to be dark green. I've also seen some conflicting information on the length of the two versions. One site showed the original MM as being shorter (can't remember the exact length, but was about 1/4" shorter).

[MarkII]

OK, here they are side by side. The first picture shows the two types in their respective packs. In the first photo, the original MicroMaxx is on the left, and MicroMaxx II is on the right.

In the next two photos, the Micromaxx-II is on the left and the MMX-I is on the right. The second photo is a closeup. Because of some oxidation on the 12-year old plastic MMX-I cases, they look a little gray here. To give you a better idea of the contrast in appearance, I edited that photo by cranking up the color saturation in order to emphasize the difference in the casing colors. The third photo is the result. (I didn't doctor up the colors; all I did was amp up the saturation of the photo as a whole.) I hope this clears the issue up for you.
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[MarkII]

Mine all appear to be dark green. I've also seen some conflicting information on the length of the two versions. One site showed the original MM as being shorter (can't remember the exact length, but was about 1/4" shorter).I just measured them, and all of the motors in both packs that I showed you are exactly 1" long. If your motors are packaged in an 8-pack on a card with a black background, then they are the original MMX-I. If they are in a 6-pack on a card with at light blue background, then they are the MMX-IIs. Also, look closely at them. If the case shows evidence of spirals, they are the newer version. It is not so easy to obtain the original version anymore, so if you bought your motors from a retailer in the last few years, they are in all likelihood the IIs. I bought the one pack of original style motors that I have 3 years ago from a fellow club member who had in turn purchased them when they first came out in 1999. Quest may have a very limited supply of the original motors left, but I have never seen any retailer who had them in stock, and I have been flying MicroMaxx since 2004.

The original motors have somewhat less than 2/3 of the impulse of the later version and they also have 1/5 less propellant mass, but the cases are the same length in both versions. The delay is longer on the older motors, though. At that scale, an extra 0.3 second more delay does make a difference for very optimized rockets.

As to the color, my wife and I have this dispute all the time. I will describe something as gray, and she will disagree and call it moss. I will identify something else as green, and she will question my eyesight because the color of the object is obviously heather. So green = gray, and vice versa. :wink:

[blackjack2564]

Geesh.....

and all this time I thought it was the "old" Mark & the "new improved" MarkII ! LOL!!!

[Pat_B]

Thank you so much for taking the time to photograph them. Looks like mine are probably the MM2. I'll have to look around, but I do have some older ones somewhere else and I do recognize the earlier packaging.

I'm suprised they are able to produce them without some sort of identifying mark(s).

It'll be interesting at NARAM this summer with the one MM event. I wonder how many will still have some of the older motors and not know it.

[billspad]

I'm suprised they are able to produce them without some sort of identifying mark(s).


NFPA 1125 allows that if the motor is too small to print on as long as the packaging has all the important information.

[MarkII]

Geesh.....

and all this time I thought it was the "old" Mark & the "new improved" MarkII ! LOL!!!Either evolve or die - that's my motto! I'm very much a work in progress.

[Micromeister]

Thank you so much for taking the time to photograph them. Looks like mine are probably the MM2. I'll have to look around, but I do have some older ones somewhere else and I do recognize the earlier packaging.

I'm suprised they are able to produce them without some sort of identifying mark(s).

It'll be interesting at NARAM this summer with the one MM event. I wonder how many will still have some of the older motors and not know it.

Pat:
The only thing I can add to what Mark as already posted are the Stock numbers and a couple closer photos of the motors themselves. They are really very EASY to identify (with the exception of the -NE motors).

If you talk to Quest directly it's possible to buy either
#5662 the original MMX-I motors (1/8A.2-1, .21Ns which are NO LONGER contest certified. These are the Brown plastic casing motors with the plastic straight hole nozzle. While they do indeed have a slightly longer average delay, they won't do anyone any good in contests particularly NARAM where Identification is very easy.

The "newer" #5663 MMX-II motors are the Grey/greenish Fishpaper cardboard casings 1/8A.5-1, .31 Ns. with an average delay of .857 Seconds. some a tiny tad longer some shorter. Generally if you find motors at weigh in at 1.1g they seem to be the ones with the slightest of longer delays.

We also have the recently released #5665 MMX-II-NE which have had the Ejection charge remove but still have the same .857s average delay. the are MMX-II's that were Factory altered to remove the ejection charge, repackaged and certified as NE's. They LOOK exactly like MMX-II's that's why I've magic markered my stash RED for easy identification in the motor box as booster/saucer motors only. They were also soft packaged as shown in the photo below.
Hope this helps.

[Pat_B]

Thanks for the clarification. I have a bunch of motors from way back when Hobby Lobby was getting rid of the kits for $10!. It seems that the best way to tell the difference is that the spirals are on the latest version. I'm assuming the older motors had molded plastic casings.

It'll be sad if some competitors show up at NARMA inadvertantly with the older motors, though there should be enough motors available from others to share.

[chanstevens]

Thanks for the clarification. I have a bunch of motors from way back when Hobby Lobby was getting rid of the kits for $10!. It seems that the best way to tell the difference is that the spirals are on the latest version. I'm assuming the older motors had molded plastic casings.

It'll be sad if some competitors show up at NARMA inadvertantly with the older motors, though there should be enough motors available from others to share.

We're aware of the potential errors and issues of old/new MMX's at NARAM, and I've got visual guides and samples for the check-in teams to use to make sure everyone's legal. Also, if there are a few folks who seriously only show up with the decerted version, I've got a stash of about 500 or so MMXII's and I'll be on the field all week ;). A few years ago, it seemed just about everybody was dumping them at around a dime apiece, so I picked up what is probably a lifetime supply.

--Chan Stevens
(NARAM CD)