ESTES Engine Date Codes

Does anyone know how to translate the date codes on ESTES engines?

google is great! However, you should read the rec.models.rocket FAQ pages.. lotsa information (some pretty dated) but I think its recently been updated... can't remember where the latest version is, do a search or start at nar.org or something....

· How can I tell the age of my Estes motors?

Estes uses a date code on their rocket motors. It's of the form XXYZZ (example, 25T9) where the first number is the day of the month of manufacture, the letter is a code indicating year of manufacture, and the last number is the month (1 = January, 12 = December). Date codes run progressively through the alphabet, as follows:

T 1989
U 1990
V 1991
W 1992
X 1993
Y 1994
Z 1995
A 1996 - Estes cycled back to the beginning of the alphabet




In the early 70's, Estes motors had the actual date stamped on them.



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This FAQ entry comes from Part 5 (last updated on November 17,1998) of the FAQ for the rec.models.rockets newsgroup which is copyright 1996 by its editor Wolfram V.Kiparski. The only changes made to the entry were to adapt it for presentation on MaxThrust.

why didn't just have the date stamped on them now it's soo stupid

hahah ya I agree but its probably some thing where they don;t necessarily want a customer to know that these motors have been sitting on the shelf for 3 or 4 or 10 years... I guess??? who knows... but dont newer motors have actual dates now?? I never really bother to look or notice but I thought I saw that last summer while flying??? or am I dreaming?

I hear about guys shooting off motors from the 70s with good success rates if they've stored the motors properly (very little temperature cycling). A rocket motor stored in a retail store will probably have a much lower temp cycling issue since most stores are air conditioned in the summer and heated in the winter. I personally wouldn't hesitate for a second to buy a 10 year old motor from a hobby store that looks reasonably kept up.

yeah, what Kermie said

oh no, I didn't mean to imply that there's something wrong with old motors that were handled and stored with reasonable care. I've flown some really old motors myself and couldn't tell a difference between them and new ones. I just thought it was for Joe consumer as a gift for billy on xmas... might think twice about buying something with an old date code for whatever reason?? just a guess....

Knowing that older motors work just as well as newer motors. I recently drove a hobby shop proprieter crazy while I "shopped" for motors.

I spent the longest time taking stacks of blister packs off of their hooks to find the OLDEST motors. I told the proprieter i was "getting them in order" for him.

Not because the older motors are better...all of his "older" Estes motors were marked $2.35 a pack.

That was a whole bunch cheaper than the $4.95 price on the newer ones.

I bought about 20 packs of engines that day. I'm all set for next summer. He was happy, so was I!

sandman

Originally posted by Trogdor
... but dont newer motors have actual dates now?? I never really bother to look or notice but I thought I saw that last summer while flying??? or am I dreaming?

Click to expand...

I just bought a pack of C11-3's at Michael's with a 40% coupon. They're stamped 02 28 02 with an A below that.

Does this mean they were made on Feb 28, 2002? Or 1996 (A)?

Theyhave the speckled clay nozzles as well.

Scott

they're new....2002 models... they new clay is pretty recent and that A ... well, dont know what that means but the old codes were something like 21P1 and thats it...

Originally posted by seo
I just bought a pack of C11-3's at Michael's with a 40% coupon. They're stamped 02 28 02 with an A below that.

Does this mean they were made on Feb 28, 2002? Or 1996 (A)?

Theyhave the speckled clay nozzles as well.

Scott

Click to expand...

And I just bought some C6-5's at Wal-Mart. They are marked A081803, inside an oval. I guess that's August 18, 2003?

Im looking at a oldish B6-4 that I have , and the only code i can find is ' MR-OO57'? But it does say B6-4, Singe Stage , 11x11 printed in green letters on it. And the casing wall does seem a little bit thicker than motors that are out now.
Karl

OK, IIRC I was told that they switched back to actual dates to comply with some sort of European labeling requirements. Also the extra letter now indicates the casing manufacturer. If you handle and fly as many motors as I do, you will notice that there has been a difference if the fit of some motors over the years. I think the "too fat" motors were mostly the result of a new casing manufacturer and not a motor loading pressure change.

The 24mm motors have the date stamped as described above. The 18mm motors have a smaller date and casing code inside an oval outline. And, of course, this could change again at any time. They seem to tweak the labeling/printing every year or two.

Originally posted by seo
I just bought a pack of C11-3's at Michael's with a 40% coupon. They're stamped 02 28 02 with an A below that.

Does this mean they were made on Feb 28, 2002? Or 1996 (A)?

Theyhave the speckled clay nozzles as well.

Scott

Click to expand...

your motor is from year "X". The year of the exploding C5-3 motors.

The MR-0057 (you said O, but those are zeros) is the California State Fire Marshal classification number. To sell (or posess or use) any pyrotechnic device in the state of California, it has to be submitted to the CSFM and 'tested' to confirm that it meets the requirements of classification into one of several categories of pyrotechnic devices. MR indicates "Model Rocket Motor". There are other categories like High Power Rocket Motor, Agricultural Firework (gopher gassers, etc.), emergency signalling device (highway flares, etc.) and others.

Originally posted by Karl
Im looking at a oldish B6-4 that I have , and the only code i can find is ' MR-OO57'? But it does say B6-4, Singe Stage , 11x11 printed in green letters on it. And the casing wall does seem a little bit thicker than motors that are out now.
Karl

Click to expand...

Originally posted by Trogdor

In the early 70's, Estes motors had the actual date stamped on them.

Click to expand...

All the Es that I bought in bulk a few months ago had the date stamped on them. All from 2001.

Hey, that "search" button works great! I picked up some old Estes motors today from a guy in southern PA, they all had "F" and "G" date codes and one (a B6-0) with 1976 stamped on it. A couple of blue diamond 13mm motor packs, date unknown (but the "F"/"G" motors were in blister packs, so Estes must have made the switch from tubes to cards right around 76-77.)

Oh, and a few B14's (-0's and -5's) in the deal too!

Hahaha. In my box of old rocket stuff, I have an A.8-3 and a 1/2A.8-2 from about 1968 ... I believe the NAR converted over to the metric/Newton-second system of notation in 1968 or 69...

I don't know if I'd wanna launch them, but ya never know...

Originally posted by Karl
Im looking at a oldish B6-4 that I have , and the only code i can find is ' MR-OO57'? But it does say B6-4, Singe Stage , 11x11 printed in green letters on it. And the casing wall does seem a little bit thicker than motors that are out now.
Karl

Click to expand...

Well I flew the motor in the rocket that It came with (Alpha III) , and it seemed to burn a little while longer than expected. No problems, just the green residue around the nozzle.
Karl

I know this thread is about Estes date codes, but my question is where is the date code on AT and Quest motors?

There is currently an exception in NFPA 1125 that allows the manufacturer to place this information on the packaging if it can't be placed on the actual motor itself, but this exception will be removed for the next nfpa 1125 for 2006.

SO what this means is that the manufacturer will actually have to place on the motor casing the production date code.

I tried to pry up the quest outer sticker to see if they have any form of date code actually printed on their casings, and well its a pretty good sticky stuff...and the casing labeing underneath sorta look slike it is german..... I guess Quest US motors get that outer paper wrapper huh?

What did Quest and Aerotech tell you when you asked them?

Or was this an "are you still beating your wife?" question?

All my Aerotech motors have a manufacturing code stamped on them.

All my Quest motors have a manufacturing code that looks like it was ink jet sprayed onto the label. under the label is the German printing that also has information.

See the clearly in-focus C6-3 motor on this Quest web page for an example of the sprayed on code I referred to:

https://www.questaerospace.com/pages/products_motors.htm

Originally posted by shockwaveriderz
I know this thread is about Estes date codes, but my question is where is the date code on AT and Quest motors?

There is currently an exception in NFPA 1125 that allows the manufacturer to place this information on the packaging if it can't be placed on the actual motor itself, but this exception will be removed for the next nfpa 1125 for 2006.

SO what this means is that the manufacturer will actually have to place on the motor casing the production date code.

I tried to pry up the quest outer sticker to see if they have any form of date code actually printed on their casings, and well its a pretty good sticky stuff...and the casing labeing underneath sorta look slike it is german..... I guess Quest US motors get that outer paper wrapper huh?

Click to expand...

fred:

I just looked at a couple of used AT SU (EFG) that were made when AT was in Nevada, and there no date code on them anywhere that I can see. So either the production date vcode was on the packaging or instructions sheet...



I don't have any AT RMS reloads so I can only assume they place the date code on the packagaing/instructions sheets, not the actual reloads sligs themselves.

As far as Quest is concerned, I only have 6 C6-3... and I can find no production date code on them, so again I assume the date was on the packaging/instructions sheet.


maybe I'll email both and ask them where the dates codes are on current motors.

Originally posted by shockwaveriderz
fred:

I just looked at a couple of used AT SU (EFG) that were made when AT was in Nevada, and there no date code on them anywhere that I can see. So either the production date vcode was on the packaging or instructions sheet...

Click to expand...

The date/production lot code was printed on the paper cap which covered the ejection charge (Using a Dot-matrix printer!).

After the ejection charge fired, there was usually nothing left of the paper cap.

Originally posted by Initiator001
The date/production lot code was printed on the paper cap which covered the ejection charge (Using a Dot-matrix printer!).

After the ejection charge fired, there was usually nothing left of the paper cap.

Click to expand...

thanks!

Regarding use of older Estes' motors, I had great luck up until about 7 years ago with the "hanging around forever" collection of motors. Then I had two spectacular CATO's from kids in our rocket build sessions. Followed closely after by my own CATO of a C6-0 in a rear-facing Astrocam booster (Yes, I was trying a two-staged flight!). The photo tells the tale!

Rocketking,
I see you are using PEM-1 as your avatar. Very cool. I'm glad Lockheed got that fixed.

I was trying to find out which bird that was! Thanks for filling in the blanks!

I don't know why, but I can't manage to upload the right sized jpg of my C6-0 Astrocam 'Blast'... I'm going to try again...

Won't do it... Oh well!

We often give out motors and kits to kids at rocket launches. Someone donated their supply and are from the 70s.
I'll post the results of our testing (both static and flights) at our next launch...time permitting. and no, not giving these to kids.