PSA: Check your new casings BEFORE you go to a launch.

Hopefully this will save someone from having to scramble looking for a case to borrow at a launch.

Earlier this year I purchased a CTI 54mm 6 grain case from Wildman. I didn't bother opening it until I took it to a launch. When I did open it up and the case had a blemish. it wasn't structural, but i wouldn't be able to resell it without taking a big hit. I returned it for a warranty exchange and upgraded to a 6XL case at the same time. I just received the new 6XL case and the tapered rear closure. Based on my previous experience I decided to open everything up and check that that it all looked good and fit together properly. Unfortunately the tapered closure wouldn't thread onto the case. I tried a standard closure and it fit. The tapered closure fit on my 4 grain case too, so the 6XL case must be on the high end of the tolerance and the tapered closure is on the bottom end.

Tim and CTI are handling this for me. They have been very responsive. Thankfully I'm not planning to use the case until the end of July.

I am suddenly quite nervous about the 54mm6XL I plan on flying Saturday.

watermelonman said:

I am suddenly quite nervous about the 54mm6XL I plan on flying Saturday.

Click to expand...

What would make you nervous? The point of this thread is "check before you go" not "doubt everything now"

GRIFFIN said:

What would make you nervous? The point of this thread is "check before you go" not "doubt everything now"

Click to expand...

Oh, because I am in the office! All will be known, in a few hours.

Inspection of parts is a good thing to do before a launch. I will even slip a motor in to the case to see if the clearances are good.

My reload fit fine. Well, it gets real tight near the end, but it did go far enough to get the closure all the way on. Phew.

With my CTI 54mm casings, sometimes I really have to bear down on the reload to get it all the way in. Once in, all is well. And they come out fine. A little silicon grease goes a long way.

No associated but I have had 3 CATOs of 54 mm 6XL loads. All three separated the front of the casing (2-3 inches) fromt the end. The grains appeared ok on 2 of the three. One had a cracked grain but that was after they spewed out.

It is unlcear why the casing failed, but I had a diffcult time getting the load in the last 3 inches.

That sounds like when estes released the North Coast Rocketry rockets with a 28 mm motor mount Thankfully I checked before gluing anything together