Areotech reloads

Hey Ther Rocket fans!
My St. Louis area hobby town had motor casings for both
24 and 29mm! I picked up an assortment of various sizes
they had in stock. It was certainly a learning experience
assembling these motors based on the directions. I am
not 100% sure I did it correctly. Any tips?

When I first looked into RMS I got the instructions to determine if it was easy or hard. The instructions read like some kind of DNA decryption thesus. So I decided it was not for me. But then through the pushing of some amigos (thanks Mark and Ken) I decided to go ahead and plunge into RMS. With Ken's help, I am now a knowlegable RMS reloader.

Lesson I learned: for the first couple of times, Don't do it by yourself. Find someone, somewhere willing to walk you through the process. If the reload is installed wrong it could potentially blow your case. And that's too much money to blow. I know without Ken's help, I could have never done it or, at least, I would have gotten frustrated and quit. Anyway, is there a sanctioned launch or a club in your area? Maybe a fried that is involved in RMS? Nothing else, come to Whitakers, NC on 9/22 and I can help ya.

Hey! Thanks for the response!
We have a club meeting this evening in Kirkwood I plan on
attending. And we have a launch Saturday at our "model"
site in west St. Louis county at Buder Park. I will definitely
consult some experienced reloaders pre-launch! It will be
far more interesting to find out if I did the loads correctly by
having them checked rather than having a "cato" !!!
Don

DR. Don,
I've got motors that have been built for almost 6 months... Take everything with you to the meeting.. And I'm sure someone will show you how to do there. Just don't put the bp ejection charge into the motor. when your done you will loosen the forward and aft closer, then when your ready to use the motor, just tight'n things down and add the ejcection charge.. also take some DieElectric with you to grease the o-rings... don't use vasaline.. this will dry out the orings over time.
You can also goto AeroTech's web page and print out the instructions for each motor... I think these are easyer to read then the printed one's that come in the package...
Good luck with it.. it's not that hard... just pay attention to where the orings go...

Dont use vasuline unless oyu hve to cause that dries out the rings. I forgot what it is called but its in a metal tube and is also not conductive. I will try to post the name of it but i put it on my o rings and 3 months later when i actualy launched the motor everything worked perfect.

Dr. Don,

Something that needs to be mentioned is, if you haven't opened your reload packages yet, don't. The propellant has a tendancy to absorb moisture and can be ruined over time. Many of my HPR friends and myself either leave them in the factory sealed pack or place them in an airtight Zip-Lok bag. If you have one of those vacumn bagging systems for your food, they work even better. Also, if you want to reload ahead of time, you can bag the whole RMS system to keep it dry. Here in the mid-west we get 200% humidity it seems at times and take percautions to insure our investment in reloads are "factory fresh".

Carl

Hey! Thanks, Carl!
I am glad to know that my experience with mid west humidity
prompted me instinctively to seal everything up!
And I knew better than to pre-install the ejection powder!
I'll leave that sealed until the last second.
When I was stationed in Florida, I found it unusual for an
open slice of bread to dry up when in St. louis any carb snack
gets real soggy instantly! Don

I have never used vasoline myself but chose a ceramic based grease that is available at most hobby shops. It has a fairly high temperature rating and is fairly inexpensive. Also I haven't noticed any problems with my O rings when I use it.
I bought some silica gel packs that I put in the baggy with the RNS motor, also I put several scattered in my range box. As they eventually become less effective I try to change them out (the range box packs) once a month.

See Ya!

IMHO the best grease to use on reloadable motors is DOW type 111 lubricant. It's an industrial product that is very thick and clinging and has a temperature rating from -40 to +200 degrees C.

Almost as good is Radio Shack high temperature grease. It comes in a gray tube and is the exact same item as Aerotech packages with it's hobbyline RMS casings. It's a high temperature lubricant loaded with PTFE.

Ken Holloway, NAR #78336, L1

I'm a bit confused. If you get a new set of O rings with each motor why would you care if they dry out over time? Shouldn't you just use them once then throw them away?

You are correct Phil, you get a new set of O-rings with each reload. The reason some people are concerned about Vaseline is because they build their RMS from weeks to months prior to using them. In this case, the vaseline will dry up over that longer period of time, which can cause the seal to break down. However, if you are just loading motors on site during a launch, Vaseline will work fine.

Everyone has their own way and preference of lubrication, all of which work fine and it does make for nice variety of products to choose from. I have been wanting to experiment myself and will try a few of those mentioned, but at this time have had great success with ole Vaseline all the way up to 54mm reloads! Then again though, I don't store pre-built reloads in advance.

Carl

OK, now I'm crystal... thanks... My plan right now is to build only at the site but I can see where I may build one at the site and then for some reason, not be able to launch. Then the O rings drying out may be an issue. I think I will go with the greese just in case.

This is the reason I use silcon greese... I've left more then one launch with a motor loaded that I wanted to fly and ended up not be'n able to launch it off. ie.. Rain, wind, out looking for a rocket too long, just couldn't get the rocket preped before the end of the launch.. You name it and it's possible. I use Dielectric from an autoparts store, it comes in a nice big tube and cost like $4.00.

Something else to mention while on the subject is about the BP ejection charge. I never load the BP into the motor untill I load the motor into the rocket and that's the last step I do when prep'n a rocket to fly. Now to explain, same as the above about not be'n able to fly the motor. If you have to store the motor over a lenght of time, you want to back off the forward and aft closures to take the pressure off the O-rings. If you have the BP installed then it can get passed the Forward O-ring and cause a failure from an inproper fit. If this does happend what you want to do is, turn the motor upside down and remove the forward closer and assembly, clean parts off of BP grains. Regrease and reinstall.

Finnally, You want to store a motor in a air tight package, I use Boat Box's that have an air tight seal.

I havent seen boat boxes but then agine I am not much of a boater..... I like to go to gun shows and get those ammo boxes wit the air tight seal and everything on them. If you get one be sure to check the seal first.

Hey There !
Its amazing how long it seems to have been since I first requested assistance to assemble my first 29mm reload!
With the help and good advice from this forum plus the
expert and willing input from the members of the St Louis
Rocketry club, I now have advanced to confidently and
reliably preparing high power motors with sucessful results!
At the launch saturday I was actually helping others put
together reloads as if I were the teacher! Cool!
I launched my initiator on an F, my barracuda on an F and
then again on a G. Then I became certifiable again with an
I200w in my now veteran EZI-65 and an I366R in my brand
new AMRAAM 4 !!! Building these motors was the same basic
assembly as the smaller ones just more parts! And the launch
was more smoke, more noise, more "GOHN" ness!!!
I now am interested in advancing to 54mm, hybrids, and
getting into the electronics stuff!
I Have The BUG! And I like IT!!! DR DON

Dr...

You have DEFINITELY been bitten by the bug!!! Keep the momentum going and the wallet dry!

AHHH yes the bug.....wel be sure to post your progress...triumphs....and failuers

Ahhhh the BUG... for which there is no cure you know. Congrats on all the success.

Just an idea . . . but if you're going to assemble the motors and put them away for a while, put a piece of masking tape on the casing then label it with the motor type and delay -just in case.