Found a pack of Estes E9-6 in the garage, circa 2004, safe to fly?

Was looking through the garage, and in the back of the back found a an old range box with a launch pad, controller and a few other miscellaneous items in it, must have been my kid brothers before he went off to college, in any case in that same range box was a pack of Estes E9-6 from what I can determine is likely circa 2004. My question is are these safe/responsible to fly after 14 or so years?

I built an Applewhite Priority Stealth to fly these sorts of questionable motors in. It took a couple of hours and if it gets destroyed I don't really care.

They are as safe as any Estes E9, which isn't saying much.

mikec said:

I built an Applewhite Priority Stealth to fly these sorts of questionable motors in. It took a couple of hours and if it gets destroyed I don't really care.

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yeah I picked up an Estes Red Flare E2X kit from AC Supply for this reason, about an hour or so work, and $15 bucks on sale

Depends, in part, on the state of the garage. If the motors were subjected to moisture then I'd chuck them. Otherwise, it's not like BP is perishable.

My E9 failures, two (or was it three?) in a row all went BANG and blew out their nozzles. But then they say there on the pad and burned, doing no damage. So sure, I'd give'm a shot.

When you say "subjected to moisture", do you mean soaked with water/submerged? Humidity in the air does virtually nothing to black powder motors. This has been tested in the lab and you would need to seal them in a container with a pool of water and let them absorb the moisture from the air for many weeks before the performance changed. AND the performance would simply change with lower thrust for a longer burn and a longer delay time. There would be no blown nozzles or blow through of propellant or casing rupture.

Temperature Cycling is bad. With firing at a temperature 75F lower than the peak temp ever experienced by that motor.

jqavins said:

Depends, in part, on the state of the garage. If the motors were subjected to moisture then I'd chuck them. Otherwise, it's not like BP is perishable.

My E9 failures, two (or was it three?) in a row all went BANG and blew out their nozzles. But then they say there on the pad and burned, doing no damage. So sure, I'd give'm a shot.

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OK, I guess my information is old? As I understood it, the conventional wisdom has been that very high humidity, like dew-forming 100% RH, causes water penetration that leads to CATOs. If that's wrong, then I'm glad I learned something today.

This is the bad motor list that I have compiled from TRF reports over the last several years. It may not cover the motors that you have found from so long ago.

E9
09-04-12
06-28-11
06-14-01 A
A 06 28 11 1
A 01 12 16
A 09 15 14
A 1-12-16

If you've got an expendable rocket, just fly them (keeping in mind they may CATO) and report back on the results.

mikec said:

If you've got an expendable rocket, just fly them (keeping in mind they may CATO) and report back on the results.

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I sure will hoping to get a launch in this weekend, provided Mother Nature cooperates, it’s been raining for almost 2 weeks straight.

Declare it a heads up flight. I have had a few beautiful catos with E9's. I wish someone had done a video of the one. Beautiful blue sky behind the rocket and the motor instantly spit out all the laundry on the pad with a stunning white smoke cloud. No damage to the rocket.

However, I flew a questionable motor about a month ago and had disastrous results. Someone gave some old motors to our club and we suspected they were not stored properly. I used a C6-3 in a Newway Dare to be Square figuring it couldn't be damaged even if the motor catoed. WRONG! The case split down the side and split the body tube of the rocket right along with it.

speaking of cato:

[video=youtube;gS-tbiRozXk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS-tbiRozXk[/video]

Heed Mr. Shecter's advice please. If you attempt to fly, do it at an isolated area with a long interval and with fire suppression equipment nearby. Better deal is just buy new motors. If one knows they were stored in a cool dry place, they might be safely flyable.
From a garage without a temperature controlled environment, it's Russian roulette. Kurt

Interesting... does look like the E9-6 has been discontinued by estes

They switched to only the E12 and discontinued the E9 because the E12 is better for virtually all models that they originally designed around the E9.

And 12 is bigger than 9.

[video=youtube;s9F5fhJQo34]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9F5fhJQo34[/video]

DankMemes said:

Interesting... does look like the E9-6 has been discontinued by estes

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Definitely looks like the e12 gives you a better hole shot off the pad, looks good for heavier models especially

Personally I have not had a problem with E9's, but I think I will build a Priority Stealth to burn off the rest of my stock.......

ksaves2 said:

... Better deal is just buy new motors. ..

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Not sure that "new" has any bearing on the failures at all. The guy in the AstroBlaster video said his were new motors, just opened the packet...

lakeroadster said:

Not sure that "new" has any bearing on the failures at all. The guy in the AstroBlaster video said his were new motors, just opened the packet...

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The OP's question was about old motors which may or may not be less reliable than new ones. Coincidentally they are old E9s. Which means they may be even less reliable than new E9s, and that's saying something.

lakeroadster said:

Not sure that "new" has any bearing on the failures at all. The guy in the AstroBlaster video said his were new motors, just opened the packet...

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But did you look at the date on the video and actually unless one knows the dealer one doesn't know how the motors were kept. Plus, some of the danged things are defective.
Kurt

ksaves2 said:

But did you look at the date on the video and actually unless one knows the dealer one doesn't know how the motors were kept. Plus, some of the danged things are defective.
Kurt

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To clarify... You are the one that said new.. not me.

I wouldn't fly them in anything I own, new or old. Sad that so many folks have had good flying hardware ruined by bad quality control from Estes.

If they were mine I certainly would be flying one of them to start with and if that went well, #2, then 3

UPDATE: static fired one in the backyard, weather was not conducive to launching, was successful, however I neglected to click the record button on my go pro. Hoping to launch next week. I’ll be sure to record that, hoping for a successful launch,but in the case of cato, should make for an interesting clip

Consider using a "beater" rocket you don't mind destroying or losing. That way you can screw Murphy twice. Once when the motor performs successfully and if you find the rocket,
second when you recover it. I've had pretty good luck with beaters that I've purposely tried to lose with SU engines. As luck would have it, I want to get rid of them with cheap
plastic chutes, dog barf etc. more often than not I get a visual and begrudgingly go out and get 'em cause I don't want to be busted or chastised for littering!!

Good luck Dave!!
Kurt

So epilogue to this store flew them at Bama Blastoff, and it cato’d blew the nozzle out, my Top Shot barely survived

You were warned. They are not a reliable motor.

Ummm, I've had no issues with them but I store them in a cool dry environment. I have BP motors from the 1960's that weren't in environmentally controlled environments that no way in Hades would I fly. Some are before Estes went metric they're that old. Kurt

Yesterday’s Cato was actually pretty funny, there was about a whole lot of spectators as the launch sponsor took out broadcast ads spots. The kids thought it was pretty funny. I could see why, made the funniest pop sound

Flown two E12-4’s this year. Then bought an RMS24-40 and E18W reloads. I’m not putting an E9 into any rocket I care about. Voted no based on all the horror my rocket blew up on a E9 trash reviews floating about.

Safe, but I would use them in a saucer.