Chuffing can also happen with propellants that are hard to light, even when running at very good chamber pressure. I see it often with Loki Red. It likes to spit the igniter on the really long loads.
Yea, David has got some really great shots of the J-820 star grain reload in this 2015 thread somewhere.
what sets LOKI apart from the others, specifically in the larger loads?
To add to what has been posted.
The single best reason I can think of is the reliability, not just of the larger reloads, but of all Loki Research reloads. Sure, there are a few motors here and there, but I can count on one hand how many warranty claims are filed each year. Those claims that are filed are 38mm reloads. I've heard from others who have told me they have seen a Loki reload cato at a particular launch here or there, but having never been contacted by these customers, I have to assume they are due to user error. Others have sold other reload brands off their false claims that Loki reloads will blow up your rocket, but the fact is that Loki Research reloads are
extremely reliable when properly assembled and assembly is almost fool proof.....almost.
The reliability I believe can be traced back to quality control performed by myself. Every reload is cast and cut by me. The 38/1200, 54/2800 & 4000 and 76/8000 reloads are each cut and completely assembled before being bagged to ensure a proper fit and maximum propellant loading. If you'd ever seen the
plastic models
I've made, or the home electronic systems
I've wired, you'd know how much of an anal stickler for attention to detail that I really am. I can't say that my suppliers like this attribute as much as my customers do.
I honestly can't remember a single 54mm reload warranty claim since I've been owner. The only 76mm claims I've had were when I first bought the company and I had received some crappy casting tubes that were burning away up the spiral seams, throwing chucks of propellant out the back end and cracking the nozzles. Since then (about 2012/13) I haven't had a single claim in 76mm. On a side note, you may see some tape on 38/740 reloads from time to time which is an easy way of keeping the bottom grains from spitting their casting tubes without having to glue them in. If the grains fit really tight, this isn't a problem, however it's really hard to get two different tubing manufacturers to get both tubes to fit within about +/-.003" of each other when each manufacturers tolerance is +/-.005".
Back on track here.... snap ring reloads are very easy to put together when you have a good pair of Knipex snap ring (retaining ring) pliers and most can be assembled very quickly. There are very few parts and the tracking smoke assembly is very easy. If you haven't been to the Loki Research website, go to the 54mm Hardware page (under the Products page) and watch the video on motor assembly at the top of the page.
As David mentioned, performance is a priority of mine, even more so than the founder of Loki Research. Looking at the same case size to other snap ring manufacturers, Loki reloads almost always deliver the more total Ns for each specific case size, sometimes by quite a lot. Even when you look at the comparable CTI or AT case sizes, the performance is usually right up there with them. When you get into the longest case lengths however, there's more performance in the comparable Loki propellant flavors, hands down. You can look for more high performance reloads in the future as well.
On a side note, every item I sell and manufacture is made from materials sourced and made here in the USA, except for the CTI/Loki Delay Adjustment Tools (DAT). Also, as David mentioned, I'm a small business. Each new customer that I pick up has a MUCH larger affect on the growth of my company than it does for my much larger competition. Whether that was true or not, I take each customers level of satisfaction with myself and my products very seriously. I know a lot of companies preach great customer service but I'd rather simply practice it religiously and let my customers do the preaching for me. I've been in sales for most of my adult life and I've dealt with very demanding customers who have even higher expectations. I realize just how important a customers satisfaction is. About 23 years ago, the head honcho for the entire Bose Retail Division said to our sales team, "If you ever do something for a customer that wasn't part of company policy, and your manager asks you "
why did you do that?" if your answer is "
to please the customer", then you did the right thing." He wanted to empower us with the knowledge that we each had the ability to do the right thing in the customers eyes. It may not have been what the manager wanted, but Bose knew which was more important to their success. I have never will forgot that and I never will. Now I won't give away the farm to make someone happy, LOL but I try to do what is fair and honest in their eyes.
That's about all I can think of on the larger reloads for now.
Detail..... it can also be seen in my sometimes ridiculously long posts.....