Sigh...here I go again.
{Educational rant on}
There is a real, honest-to-Odin reason for calling them starters. There is a certain government organization (that shall remain nameless) which appears not to know the difference between an ematch and an igniter. If memory serves, they don't define either one in words. They use images. Which were incorrectly labeled BTW. (I can think of reasons that the labeling might have been deliberate but I won't share them.)
Nonetheless, whether we like it or not..."igniters" legally are a regulated item.
The leadership of TRA and NAR spent years in courtrooms and in meetings with government officials, fighting regulations. This is simply another way to fight regulation. Unlike "igniters" and "ematches", starters are not intended to ignite fireworks or nefarious devices. "Intended use" is to start rocket motors.
So IF it ever came up in a court of law---and I very much doubt that it will, now---defense could point out that these are starters. Judges and staff are often technically clueless, and might well rule summarily, simply based on the name and the intended use.
Why do you think Estes renamed these items? To fool someone? Of course not. I would bet long odds that they did so, not on a whim, but based on their legal teams' advice. Please...think about that for a moment.
Agree with prfessor. We rocket guys know it's an "igniter". I started out back in the day when one didn't have to have an LEUP to get a commercial J motor either. The un-named gubbermint agency mentioned above got involved and wrecked life for HPR participants back then. The thing with "starters" was explained to get them reclassified so we could still buy them. I was cool with that. I got the chems to make them from scratch. A PITA but it can be done.
I worked with making my own ematches too because they were restricted! Igniters the risks with making them are manageable. Ematches are more dangerous though once in liquid form are safer. The powders before mixing can be dicey but I never had a mishap as I only did "teeny tiny" amounts. I never got consistency with my roll my own ematches so gave up on it. By then the Tripoli/NAR efforts paid off and we didn't have to worry about it anymore.
I did have some of my own ematches go off with a AAA battery though in testing. That was so cool.
Oh........I found this pasteup I made from 2021:
DON'T, DON'T DON'T I REPEAT DON'T try to make ematches for rocketry. The quality control on the bare blanks/heads sold absolutely stink. One has to solder the lead wires to them fastidiously and not gunk the solder on to cause a short. Two different dips have to be made with one component being especially sensitive to friction. Get some on the threads of the little glass bottle you're using and if you try to unscrew it the next day, it could go BOOM in your face. I was aware of this before I worked with it and treated it accordingly. One also needs an Ohm meter to weed out the matches with high resistance.
I resorted to making my own blanks wrapping nichrome wire around PC board, soldering and I had an appropriate shear to cut them. Had to check every single chip for pieces of copper clad that fractured causing a potential short. Sand paper usually cleaned them up.
I learned to make just enough of the components to use up in one sitting. After 5 years, I got good at it but with the availability of good commercial matches I stopped as it just isn't worth the labor. Oh, for fun I used to hit the head of the dried toothpick
I used to mix the first pyrogen (with a welder's face shield with a clear window for protection) and it would give a loud pop.
At the time I was doing it, we (rocketry) was in jeopardy of not being able to get reliable ematches (required LEUP otherwise) hence that was my impetus to attempt to learn the art. Learn it I did but boy was it a pain in the arse. About the time I mastered it, the easily obtainable matches came out and I IMMEDIATELY abandoned making my own.
Want to mess with making 12V engine "starters", "lighters" or whatever they call them? That's manageable and relatively safe for a neophyte to attempt. Get a kit and follow the instructions is the easiest for someone new at this. Can research some of the pyrogens out there and most (not all) are pretty safe. The unsafe formulas are clearly labelled as such and just about impossible to get the components for those anyways. I checked and many of the components cost too much for me to consider. Plus I didn't like the idea of getting killed by a "starter", "lighter" or igniter.
