Centuri sold flame resistant crepe paper wadding as well as the flame resistant fluffy cotton material.
Crepe works, but if is stiffer than Estes TP wadding and it can allow hot gasses to blow by the sides if you do not form a proper gas sealing piston.
Estes did indeed make the wadding by dipping the enitre roll of TP and then allowing it to dry. They had a big rack with a lot of rolls on it. I saw it when I got a quick tour 30 years ago. It's dry up there, so I wonder how fast they dry?
Cellulose insulation with a bit of Estes or Quest wadding below to prevent it from falling into the motor area or out the back is what I use. If squirrels get into the bale of cellulose, simply transfer to a sealed plastic tub. insanely cheap and highly effective.
You've got to be kidding, right? Nomex is very expensive? Maybe if you use it once and then throw it away. Since a Nomex flame protector is meant to be used dozens, even hundreds, of times, how expensive can it be? Let's see now, a TFR 3x3 Nomex Firewall protector is just under $4. If I get 400 uses out of it, that's $0.01 per flight. Since a cheap black powder motor costs something like $3 each (or more), my total cost per flight soars to.......wait a second......$3.01. Oh my, can I swing that?I think we have missed the point here. The original idea was to save money. Using lettuce will not save money, nor will using nomex(very expensive). You have to buy a baffle for every rocket. I have about 30 at this time.
I still say the cheapest way is to make you own.
Andrew
Our club (somewhat ham-handedly) mandates dog-barf use
$14.00? kind of pricey for a nomex flame resistant blanket for a BT50 body tube..... I build from scratch a rocket with a BT-50 body tube. ....So I go out and buy a 14 dollar normax blanket.....
I've been using it for quite a while now. I save the Estes wadding that comes in the rocket engine packs from Wal-Mart for use with smaller rockets, because it's easier to pack in, and use crepe for anything BT-55 or larger.All crepe paper sold in the US is flame resistant by law. I'm not sure how effective it would be at protecting your recovery system, though.
Huh. I've never had any trouble cutting up those sheets. I got a bunch for under a buck a pack at Hobby Lobby before they raised the price to (gasp) a buck and a half. I cut the whole package into four sections, then slit the sections apart with scissors.My hand-cut crepe paper comes in wide sheets, 20" x 7.5'. They are hard to cut into 4" squares.
I don't know Roy's club's rationale, but I've been told that it's all about the mess left behind. Regular wadding from a club launch would amount to a lot of litter in the park; if it's a public place, that's a no-no. But dog barf just disappears into the grass and melts when it gets wet later (rain, dew, etc.)What's the rationale for that, Roy?
You don't need the boric acid. The 20 mule is what you need. 2 teaspoons in 16 oz of water seems to be just right for me.
Andrew
What's the rationale for that, Roy?
$14.00? kind of pricey for a nomex flame resistant blanket for a BT50 body tube.
Currently listed on Sunward's site, on sale, for 3.22.
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