mmx engines and kit questions ???

[genzod]

ok i ordered a few kits from fliskits ,like the big honkin rocket and the mud wasp,i also ordered a kit from aerospace specialty products the lil joe 2 and saturn 5,i ordered the lil joe with the launch set,it includes motors and launch pad,i also ordered motors w the q2 igniters,then i saw another launch pad that is for the q2 igniters ?? will these work w the launch pad and controler that comes w the little joe 2 ? which motors are better the ones with or without the q2 igniters ? are there different size micro max motors ??? thanks guys

[MarkII]

All of the motors that you bought, regardless of what kind of pack they were in, are the same; they are all MicroMaxx II motors. They replaced the original MicroMaxx motors (now referred to as MicroMaxx I) about a decade ago and have been the standard one since then. The design of the igniters has changed, but the motor has remained the same.

The Silo launch pads that were included in your Little Joe II and Saturn V launch sets were designed to use the original plug-in style igniters, called QMX igniters. You aren't restricted to using QMX igniters in just the Silo, though. You can split the black plastic plug housing apart (it isn't glued together, only press-fit) with a dull knife blade or your thumbnail and then carefully pull out the igniter. It sort of resembles an Estes igniter, except that it is much shorter and doesn't have pyrogen on the bridge wire. You can then install it into the motor in the same way that you do for larger motors, and then use a thin strip of tape, a tiny spitball of ejection wadding or a toothpick lightly placed into the nozzle to hold it in place. A few years ago Quest stopped making the Silo and the QMX igniters and began supplying an igniter that resembled a previous version of the one that they used in their larger motors. The two leads on these igniters are stiff enough that you can support the entire rocket on them. The idea is that you set up the igniter vertically next to the launch rod and connect microclips to them, and then you place the rocket onto the launch rod and lower it down onto the loop of bridge wire. I haven't tried that method myself yet; I still use a toothpick.

You can use any launch controller that operates on at least 6 volts to fire MicroMaxx motors. The 9 volt hockey puck controller in the Silo will do it, as well as the standard 9 volt Quest Futuristic controller. The 6 volt Estes Electron Beam launch controller also works very well for this. I mostly use my 12 volt AeroTech Interlock Controller to launch mine. It is the same controller and power source that I use to fire mid-power composite motors. Any standard launch controller, including a club's main launch system, can be used to fire MicroMaxx motors.

[MarkII]

The original MicroMaxx motors and the current MicroMaxx II motors are the same size.

The original MicroMaxx motors had a brown colored plastic casing and a molded-in nozzle.

The MicroMaxx II motors have a casing made out of spiral-wound gray paper and have clay nozzles.

The most recent type is the MicroMaxx II NE motor. It is identical to the MicroMaxx II except that it doesn't have an ejection charge. (It does have a delay element, though.) These are meant to be used in rockets that don't deploy a recovery device, such as saucers, for instance, and they have also been successfully used as booster motors in two-stage rockets.

MicroMaxx II and MicroMaxx II NE motors are exactly identical in appearance, so it is a good idea to mark the NE motors with a magic marker as soon as you receive them so that you can tell them apart from the other kind. MicroMaxx II motors are slightly more powerful than the original version but they have a slightly shorter delay.

You will probably never see any original MicroMaxx motors unless you order them specifically from Quest. They are still certified for sport use, but most shops sold out of them years ago. You also won't find them in Silo Launch Sets unless you happen to get a very old one.

[Micromeister]

As Mark posted Most of the motors you'll likely recieve these days will be MMX-II motors A.S.P. has had his Micro line for a good while so some of the Older Starter sets may indeed contain the older MMX-I motors.
You can instantly tell the difference MMX-I (1/8A.2-1) .21Ns motors are a hard Brown plastic with a single hole, one piece brown plastic nozzle. Newer MMX-II (1/8A.5-1) .284Ns are dark Grey spiral wrapped fishpaper casings with a clay nozzle.

First Pick below should help with Identifying.

There are a number of ways to make the Old Silo launchers much more field reliable by adding a pair of standard smooth jaw 1-1/8" Micro Clips.
I've also found by using 18 to 24 gauge wire twisted together then into a coil it doubles as a model support and allows any diameter model to be mounted without having to worry about motor nozzle alignment.

It is also advisable to up the battery power to 12volts, no alteration is needed to the puck type or newer Pistol grip controllers just add an external battery drop wire and any external 12V battery makes life a lot easier and ignition reliable.

[genzod]

Wow, I ordered the newer launch set up that works w the new igniters, making it easier I hope

[genzod]

When you say split the casing and take out igniter I'm assuming u mean on the new q2 igniter ? The 3 that come w the Joe kit should be fine ? Thanks

[Micromeister]

When you say split the casing and take out igniter I'm assuming u mean on the new q2 igniter ? The 3 that come w the Joe kit should be fine ? Thanks

No; we split the Black Plastic plug on the OLD style Plug-in igniters to remove the taped igniter wire inside. (Upper Left in Photo)
Q2's need no spliting:)....unless your clustering and need to break off the glass bead to give the max length of the lead wires..just be very careful not to break the bridge wire or short it out by twisting.

Yes the newer Porta pad should make it a lot easier to get started. The Z-bend launch rod also allows for a wide range of body size models to be flown easily.

[MarkII]

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UUDk52rJPas/ThVEhl70x2I/AAAAAAAAA-0/D3ZlSJwvUpg/DSCF0402.JPG

If you see packs that look like the one on the left, they contain the original MicroMaxx (aka MicroMaxx I) motors. Note that there are 8 of them in the pack. All of them contain the old-style QMX igniters.

If you see packs that look like the one on the right, they contain MicroMaxx II motors, but also have the old-style igniters. Note that there are 6 motors in the pack.

If you see motor packs that look like the photo below, they also contain MicroMaxx II motors and also have the newer version of the igniter.

http://estesrocketswholesale.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/qa5664.jpg

The QMX igniters were enclosed in a black plastic plug with just the loop of bridgewire protruding from the flat top of the plug and short lengths of the wire leads emerging from the bottom of the plug and curling around two nubs. It is somewhat like the way that the bulbs of mini Christmas lights are housed in their green plastic plugs so that they can be plugged into their sockets on the string. The base of the Silo launch pad had a slot right next to the launch rod. The igniters were simply plugged into that slot, which connected them to the launch controller. The controller leads were permanently attached to a pair of contact plates inside the base of the pad. When the igniter was plugged into the pad, each one of the two little tips of the igniter leads contacted a plate. The wires for the hockey puck shaped launch controller extended out of the base of the Silo pad. When it was not in use, the controller leads were coiled up and they and the controller were stored right into the base of the pad. The rocket was then placed on the launch rod and lowered down so that the loop of bridgewire that protruded from the top of the plug fit into the nozzle of the motor in the bottom of the rocket. The new style igniters don't work like that; they get hooked up with microclips like typical LPR igniters.

This diagram of a Christmas mini light bulb illustrates the general idea:

http://www.coolest-christmas-holidays.com/images/change-mini-christmas-lights.jpg

[jflis]

When you say split the casing and take out igniter I'm assuming u mean on the new q2 igniter ? The 3 that come w the Joe kit should be fine ? Thanks

The technique that includes splitting the casing is for the old style igniters. We include a figure in our kits that explains how to do this as seen below. Hope this helps.

jim