Where's the parts?

I want to build a Nike Ajax. Got no Parts.

A large chunk of time has elapsed since we thought Semrocs part were going to become available for scratch and clone building.

There is no news, up dates and no Semroc parts available at erockets.biz

Anyone have any idea of what the hold up is?

semroc parts are available, not all of them, but quite a few. Look at erockets " semroc parts" right under Aerotech Parts.

If there's a part that you want/need I would call Randy at ERockets. I needed a nosecone that was out of stock, he had it for me 4 days later. In speaking with him he's working as fast as he can to get all the parts in stock.
Thanks
Joe

Yeah, lots of Semroc parts - and kits - are available on eRockets website. However, the parts have their own link near the bottom of the left hand side bar, they are not grouped with the rest of the parts that they carry. I've already ordered from them a couple times. It seems like more stuff is added or updated every day.

Randy and "gang" are doing a fantastic job. Have patience, and I am sure in a matter of months they will have all the parts you want. Remember, he had to learn everything as a new manufacturer.

Have you seen this thread brady ? https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...ists-lots-of-info-from-Randy&highlight=semroc
Lots of info and updates there IMHO. It's been stated somewhere around here by Randy and/or zeus-cat that a business decision was made not to resuscitate the Semroc website. Oh Well. We just need to learn to substitute "eRockets" when we think of "Semroc" and move on.

Try this link:

https://www.erockets.biz/parts-from-semroc/

samb said:

snip... Oh Well. We just need to learn to substitute "eRockets" when we think of "Semroc" and move on.

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That ain't gonna happen. Substitute eRockets when thinking of Semroc? Heh. Good one.

Yes, I'll purchase Semroc products at eRockets (gladly and thankfully)—but there is no substitute.

What eRockets may not have, can sometimes be found at Uncle Mike's Rocket Shack (UMRS) or Balsa Machining Services (BMS).

bradycros said:

I want to build a Nike Ajax. Got no Parts.

A large chunk of time has elapsed since we thought Semrocs part were going to become available for scratch and clone building.

There is no news, up dates and no Semroc parts available at erockets.biz

Anyone have any idea of what the hold up is?

Click to expand...

foamy said:

That ain't gonna happen. Substitute eRockets when thinking of Semroc? Heh. Good one.

Yes, I'll purchase Semroc products at eRockets (gladly and thankfully)—but there is no substitute.

What eRockets may not have, can sometimes be found at Uncle Mike's Rocket Shack (UMRS) or Balsa Machining Services (BMS).

Click to expand...

OK, parts are slowly showing up. The parts from old Estes plans had Alpha designators after the part.

The booster tube For the Nike Ajax is listed as BT-55KA. The AK is a descriptor for that tubes length.

Semroc had these designators listed for all their body tubes and you could buy the specific length needed. Yes, I know a long tube can be cut. However the BT-20AE length still needs to be known first in order to get the needed size of cut tube.

Erockets is not showing these handy dandy designators for the body tubes. Why not? How hard could it be to list these designators?

While it is possible to find the lengths and widths at another web site(s), it's would be so much easier to find the info in one place the way Semroc provided it.
I wish I had printed out the Semroc Body Tube pages when they were full of this type of information. Who knew?

bradycros said:

...

Semroc had these designators listed for all their body tubes and you could buy the specific length needed. Yes, I know a long tube can be cut. However the needed length still needs to be known first in order to get what's needed.

Erockets is not showing these handy dandy designators for the body tubes. Why not? How hard could it be to list these designators?

While it is possible to find the lengths and widths at another web site(s), it's would be so much easier to find the info in one place the way Semroc provided it.
I wish I had printed out the Semroc Body Tube pages when they were full of this type of information. Who knew?

Click to expand...

The kind of feedback a vendor might be able to act on I would think. https://www.erockets.biz/contacts/

Yes, one could think that.

A valuable rocketry resource is being lost a little at a time. Many rocketry people are unaware that a excellent tool for getting the information needed to build the rockets of your youth are disappearing.

I will try to recreate the obstacles I have encountered trying to use the part numbers given on the plans for the Nike Ajax, Estes kit #1279 and find the needed lengths for the several body tubes, the transition and nose cone.

Here is the 1st page for the plans of the Nike Ajax, Estes Kit# 1279. These plans can be found at www.spacemodeling.org/jimZ/estes.htm

Note the highlighted parts have a Alpha designator after the usual body tube numbers then a "J", or "KA" or a "AE"

This designator is a reference to information you want to know if you wish to construct this model rocket (or many of the other vintage rockets).

Place the cursor on the picture and left click the mouse. This will expand the photo. Repeat a couple'a more times and picture will fill the screen and will be readable.

I'm sure bradycros knows about this, but for those that don't... There are resources like the Estes Body Tube/Kit Reference Guide (https://www.psc473.org/howto/EstesTubes.pdf) which tells you the lengths by part number or the alphabetical designation

1279 Nike Ajax (030387 BT-55KA 10.625") (030352 BT-50 18.00") (030326 BT-20J 2.75")

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Looking up for the missing BT-20AE, I found 14 matches for it in the .pdf file... It's 1.5" long.

For old kits it's pretty good, but it hasn't been updated to keep up with the latest rockets.
It also notes when there's a discrepancy between part numbers or designations don't match up with the real parts.

Or you can look that up on the old Semroc site... https://www.semroc.com/Store/Products/BodyTubes.asp (I personally saved the webpage (when Semroc was in limbo), and have it archived on my hard drive, but wasn't able to upload the html file here). [EDIT] In checking my archived file, the number of body tubes offered by Semroc does show more than the current version website.[/EDIT]

but it looks like (at the moment) you'll then have to hunt through erockets's website to find the part you want by length.

If someone has a way of hosting my archived files they can pm me, and I'll see if I can send them what I've got.

[EDIT] Just uploaded the old version of the file's important stuff as an Excel Workbook file.

View attachment Semroc Body Tube Reference.xlsx

K'Tesh said:

[EDIT] Just uploaded the old version of the file's important stuff as an Excel Workbook file.

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Hey KL'Tesh,
Thanks for the Semroc Tube size reference file.

I just saved it on my desktop. Who knows how long it'll be online.

Nice. A guy adds some helpful info to a thread and is then asked not to post.

I saved that reference as well.

Hi Everyone,
This is Randy Boadway of Semroc.
I understand that our web page is still not up to snuff. We have been working hard to provide an easy place to find and order your parts. We are first adding pictures to the items, after that we will focus on descriptions. I understand that the old Semroc site has a lot of valuable resources and that is why we have not pulled the plug on it. We have no plans to allow purchasing off of the old site, it is not prudent to integrate it into our eRockets site or systems.

We are also continuing to focus on making parts available. There are currently almost 4000 SKU's of parts and we are down to about 400 not being available. I believe it will take us until the end of July to be back in production on everything.

We currently have 41 kits available and will continue at the pace to have about 84 in stock by the time the Christmas rush begins.

Our landlord in Dayton has decided that he wants to use our space for something else. This is throwing a big monkey wrench into our plan. We are about to move into a larger facility over the next few weeks. Of course we expect part production will be minimal during the move.

If there is a part that you would like to have sooner than later please drop me a note, we are trying to accommodate any request as quickly as possible.

respectfully,

Randy Boadway, Semroc

boadwayr said:

Hi Everyone,
This is Randy Boadway of Semroc.
I understand that our web page is still not up to snuff. We have been working hard to provide an easy place to find and order your parts. We are first adding pictures to the items, after that we will focus on descriptions. I understand that the old Semroc site has a lot of valuable resources and that is why we have not pulled the plug on it. We have no plans to allow purchasing off of the old site, it is not prudent to integrate it into our eRockets site or systems.



We are also continuing to focus on making parts available. There are currently almost 4000 SKU's of parts and we are down to about 400 not being available. I believe it will take us until the end of July to be back in production on everything.

We currently have 41 kits available and will continue at the pace to have about 84 in stock by the time the Christmas rush begins.

Our landlord in Dayton has decided that he wants to use our space for something else. This is throwing a big monkey wrench into our plan. We are about to move into a larger facility over the next few weeks. Of course we expect part production will be minimal during the move.

If there is a part that you would like to have sooner than later please drop me a note, we are trying to accommodate any request as quickly as possible.

respectfully,

Randy Boadway, Semroc

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Thank you very much for clearing that up.