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As long as they're not swelled or cracked you should be OK.
Q-Jet E26-7 motor sputtering
- Thread starter Dave S.
- Start date
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shockie
High Plains Rocketeer
hey Gary, put in about 2-3% pristine graphene nanoparticles by volume into the clay. It may well have a synergetic effect on the properties of the clay, mostly in terms of strength and hardness, and fire resistance. if it works, you can send me a check. LOL
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You have a sample?
We’ve actually tried adding all sorts of things to the clay, nothing so far has improved what we’re currently using.
I will add this here as I have in other threads where Q-jet initiators/igniters come up: In my experience they will work on FJ type Q-jets (A3, B4, C12, D16) even if there is no pyrogen left on the bridge wire. I've also fired at least one W type with a bare-wire Firstfire Micro. So just because it's bent (straighten it) and some of the pyrogen is missing, it will probably still work.
That said, the newer ones with the protective coating are much more robust. The tradeoff is that they are a really snug fit through the nozzle of B6W motors. But they will go in. Recent bulk packages of motors as well as the little boxes of four initiators are better packed than they were at first, so damage is reduced there as well.
I wish. They look fine at the beginning. Then they go tangential and the nozzles cracked, actually more like chipped. The problem is that I can't trust them and have lost too many rockets (not all of them) including a JLCR. I appreciate that you replace the motors but this is after they are launched first with the rocket. Not what I was hoping when I first bought them. We've talked about this over email and it is what it is. In the end you're correct, the new clay formulations with the dark circles are better and the new First Fire Minis are awesome. There's still a lot of fragile Micros out there.
waltr
Well-Known Member
Yep, that is what happened to me. Nozzle looked good before flight. At about 25 feet up Rocket made a HARD 90° Turn and went off into the woods. This had a DD altimeter but never got high enough to trigger LDA (launch Detect altitude) so went ballistic into the woods. Never found the rocket.
The other motor in that pack looked good but I am NOT going to trust it.
I have joined the “it was stable for the last 112 flights so what just happened??” Q-Jet club. I put my current Nova Payloader up for its 111th, 112th and 113th flights today. The first of these was on an Estes C6-5 and was as expected. The next was on a Q-Jet C12-6FJ. Also as expected. Then I put in a C18-6W. It chuffed quickly, then about 30 or 40 feet up did a skywriter routine for a bit, before shooting off at about a 40 degree angle upward. It got high enough that with a shorter than advertised delay (~4.3s, per the FS Mini aboard) the ‘chute got out before it lawn darted and the model was pretty much unscathed. But still…what the heck??!? I have flown hundreds of Q-Jets and dozens of C18s and D20s, and this is the first time this has happened to me.
I will admit I didn’t inspect the nozzle closely before the flight, but I certainly didn’t notice anything odd as I was installing the initiator and the little bit of orange heat shrink to retain it.
After the flight it looked like this:
Date code on the motor (it’s from a bulk bag of 25!) is 030121-01.
I have filed a MESS report and also written Karl already.
(I had two Estes CATOs today as well, an A10-0T and a D12-5 — the latter blew up my Green Eggs. So three motor anomalies in 11 flights and 12 motors. Not a good average and much worse than I normally see.)
I have well over 100 Q-Jets on hand (mostly 18mm Cs and Ds). None have been made more recently than August of 2021. And, until today, they’ve generally worked pretty well and have been trustworthy and consistent. But now….I have to wonder what will happen next time, at least with White Lightning motors. *sigh*
I will admit I didn’t inspect the nozzle closely before the flight, but I certainly didn’t notice anything odd as I was installing the initiator and the little bit of orange heat shrink to retain it.
After the flight it looked like this:
Date code on the motor (it’s from a bulk bag of 25!) is 030121-01.
I have filed a MESS report and also written Karl already.
(I had two Estes CATOs today as well, an A10-0T and a D12-5 — the latter blew up my Green Eggs. So three motor anomalies in 11 flights and 12 motors. Not a good average and much worse than I normally see.)
I have well over 100 Q-Jets on hand (mostly 18mm Cs and Ds). None have been made more recently than August of 2021. And, until today, they’ve generally worked pretty well and have been trustworthy and consistent. But now….I have to wonder what will happen next time, at least with White Lightning motors. *sigh*
This happened yesterday with a QJet:
No further comment, since I would prefer not to be given a time out.
No further comment, since I would prefer not to be given a time out.
I have had that happen once in early testing of the C/D impulse FJs and nearly happen (bubble in the case that almost blew out) once since. My Airwalker didn’t fare quite as badly, but it has a nice hole burnt through the side, and the motor hook is gone. It’s still probably flyable.
My understanding is that after Nov 2021, Quest started applying a "washer" to the nozzle which gives it a darker color. This supposedly keeps the nozzle from blowing out and so far, haven't had an issue with the new modified Q-jets. That said, I had inconsistent launches with a pack of D16-4FJ with the washers. The first launch of my Venus Probe went straight up and the alien landed upright. The second launch arced over and ejected about 50 feet from the ground with minor damage to the alien. The nozzle seemed fine. From the video, it looks like the second motor didn't have enough speed off the rail due to chuffing. Hard to say...
As with the old Q-jets, it's inconsistent. I've had anomalies with D22-4W in the past, but the last two old packs had no issues. The E26-4W not so much with 2 out of 3 cracking the nozzle. It's difficult to see in your photo but looks like this happened. It lawndarted my Vapor so Karl is sending me two packs of E26-4W and a bunch of extra initiators. It should arrive in two weeks. The only thing I can suggest is to use one old motor in a Vortico and if it works, use it in bigger rocket. I'm guessing that Gary will use the second C12 in a Vortico just in case. I haven't had overpressures like he has, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.
As with the old Q-jets, it's inconsistent. I've had anomalies with D22-4W in the past, but the last two old packs had no issues. The E26-4W not so much with 2 out of 3 cracking the nozzle. It's difficult to see in your photo but looks like this happened. It lawndarted my Vapor so Karl is sending me two packs of E26-4W and a bunch of extra initiators. It should arrive in two weeks. The only thing I can suggest is to use one old motor in a Vortico and if it works, use it in bigger rocket. I'm guessing that Gary will use the second C12 in a Vortico just in case. I haven't had overpressures like he has, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.
And I've since had another case blow-through. C12-6 in a Der Squared Max at Sod Blaster. This one was much lower on the case than the first one I had (maybe 3/4 inch up from the bottom). The model is flyable, but I was really bummed as it's a nice model, it flew very nicely on C12-6s prior to that flight and now it has a hole burnt in it. I have been in touch with Karl. It was apparently the very last of a bulk bag of that date code as I have no more C12-6s of that label style (prior to labeling them "FJ"). I have two newer C12-6FJ bags. And I've flown LOTS of C12s and think that they are just great motors. So this was frustrating.
The C18 issue with the nozzle flaking away I mentioned above in post 37 is still unresolved, and there I have a bunch more C18-6Ws of that date code (most of a bag of 25). I've also recently had issues getting them (C18s generally) to light. Time to get some more ProCast and dip a few FF Micros I guess.
But my E26s have been just fine from an ignition standpoint, and turned in two fine flights in Precision Fragile Payload at NARAM-64 — well the up part was great. Delays are inconsistent. From the same pack of E26-7Ws, one delay was 8.7s and the other was 5.9 (this measured by the accelerometer on the FS Mini aboard). That long one led to a stripped 'chute and a DQ for a broken egg. The short delay was OK and that flight was pretty good. The prior pack had one with an 8.1s delay and the other was 7.4s. This latter is fine, and I know that 8.1 for a motor marked 7 is within NFPA certification tolerances.
