AeroTech Open Thread

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Ok people I think I'm back into the hobby after leaving in 2000. I have 38mm, 54mm and 98mm of all sizes for AT. After reading this whole stream I'm assuming reloads are available and still the same. Not to age me, but im staring at my LEUP license right now...Wow Allot has changed. It was a life changer just getting that back in they day and having ATF visit me once a year. Any of you guys remember that?
 
Jon Dubrick said:
Ok people I think I'm back into the hobby after leaving in 2000. I have 38mm, 54mm and 98mm of all sizes for AT. After reading this whole stream I'm assuming reloads are available and still the same. Not to age me, but im staring at my LEUP license right now...Wow Allot has changed. It was a life changer just getting that back in they day and having ATF visit me once a year. Any of you guys remember that?
Click to expand...

OH yeah! Had the ATF inspections every year. Good times!
 
I have an aerotech 54/2560 case and a plugged threaded forward closure. If I had bought a smaller casing, lets say the 54/1280 casing, which the reloads have ejection charges. If a reload i was using had an ejection charge, would i be able to just ommit the ejection charge and use the plugged threaded forward closure instead?
 
tollyman said:
I have an aerotech 54/2560 case and a plugged threaded forward closure. If I had bought a smaller casing, lets say the 54/1280 casing, which the reloads have ejection charges. If a reload i was using had an ejection charge, would i be able to just ommit the ejection charge and use the plugged threaded forward closure instead?
Click to expand...
Yes
 
tollyman said:
I have an aerotech 54/2560 case and a plugged threaded forward closure. If I had bought a smaller casing, lets say the 54/1280 casing, which the reloads have ejection charges. If a reload i was using had an ejection charge, would i be able to just omit the ejection charge and use the plugged threaded forward closure instead?
Click to expand...
You can use the plugged closure. There is just no place to put the black powder. You still use the delay grain, now called a smoke grain. Assemble the motor per the instructions with the reload kit.
 
You may want to consider using the ejection charge anyway if your rocket design allows (along with a non-plugged fwd closure), as a backup to your altimeter-fired ejection, assuming it’s not redundant already. It’s good malfunction mitigation. I drilled the delay to pop 2-4 seconds after the sim-calculated apogee time to reduce likelihood of a simultaneous ejection firing. This practice saved me from a lawn dart once when a wire loosened from my single Stratologger, causing the primary ejection means to fail.

Good skies,
GlueckAuf
 
GlueckAuf said:
You may want to consider using the ejection charge anyway if your rocket design allows (along with a non-plugged fwd closure), as a backup to your altimeter-fired ejection, assuming it’s not redundant already.
Click to expand...
The chances of a blow by when using an open bulkhead are far higher than an altimeter failure. Use a plugged closure even if flying only one altimeter once you are very confident in your altimeter prep.
 
Rocketjunkie said:
The chances of a blow by when using an open bulkhead are far higher than an altimeter failure. Use a plugged closure even if flying only one altimeter once you are very confident in your altimeter prep.
Click to expand...
Not to belabor the point, but I've experienced one incident of both of these failure modes over the years. The consequence of my Loki K-1127 burning through the forward bulkhead was the premature deployment of the recovery system. All pieces returned softly under chute or tumbled harmlessly to earth. The single-altimeter failure, on the other hand--a loose battery cable losing continuity to the Stratologger in flight--would've caused a ballistic return of the whole enchilada if not for the motor-initiated ejection back-up--a bit more potentially consequential event. Redundancy is the best approach, in my view, and in fact is mandatory for a Level 3 design.

Good skies,
GlueckAuf
 
GlueckAuf said:
You may want to consider using the ejection charge anyway if your rocket design allows (along with a non-plugged fwd closure), as a backup to your altimeter-fired ejection, assuming it’s not redundant already. It’s good malfunction mitigation. I drilled the delay to pop 2-4 seconds after the sim-calculated apogee time to reduce likelihood of a simultaneous ejection firing. This practice saved me from a lawn dart once when a wire loosened from my single Stratologger, causing the primary ejection means to fail.

Good skies,
GlueckAuf
Click to expand...

The idea behind it was to not have to purchase a new forward closure unless i had to. Two of the three rockets that the 54mm aerotech casings are flying in do not have any other means of shock cord attachment other than the plugged threaded forward closure. I will probably use redundant stratologgers just to make sure everything goes off without a hitch.
 
As posted on the AT Facebook page back on 4/7:

The COVID-19 situation has seriously disrupted the beginning of the 2020 Launch Season... Your friends at AeroTech/Quest/RCS are continuing to produce starter sets, rocket kits and composite propellant rocket motors. We're fulfilling and shipping orders as complete and as fast as possible.
Click to expand...
 
Correct.

Orders are down because of cancelled launches and people out of work, but we are using the time to get caught up and build as much inventory as possible. We also have a number of commercial and government contracts that are helping to keep us busy.

tbonerocketeer said:
They have not
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Hello Charlie I'm just wondering if you would happen to know where I can find a Rocksim file for the mega initator?

thanks for your time
highflyer1968
 
Glad to see you guys at AT are getting things sorted out. I ordered my cases about a week and a half back, they arrived at the dealer earlier this week, three 24/40, and three 29/40-120. I gots some clusters to fly! Much better than when I ordered my M1150R motor in April or beginning of May last year for a flight on Labor Day weekend, and it arrived the day before the flight and we weren't even certain it was going to arrive in time.
 
highflyer1968 said:
Hello Charlie I'm just wondering if you would happen to know where I can find a Rocksim file for the mega initator?

thanks for your time
highflyer1968
Click to expand...
Can't help you with Rocksim... but I did create a couple of .ork files for it... The shorter early production of the kit (with a 27" booster tube) and the current production with the longer 28" booster tube.

https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/kteshs-openrocket-files.123564/post-1942350 (look for post 496)

1588385459124.png
 
So how important is that thrust washer in a G79 29mm loadable Aerotech Motor? It fell out of the casing while I was epoxying and didn't notice until it was too late...
 
Before anyone refers me to this 10 year old thread, I have seen it and it didn't answer my question:

On the 24/40 AT casing using a D9W reload, does one put masking tape over the forward surface of the propellant grain or not? Logically, it would seem that you do it the same way you put together the E motors, but the instructions do not say anything about the D motors and the thread does not answer the question, either.
 

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