A Little Something For All LPR Folks

[Gary Byrum]

I am not alone having noticed how the text on a great many things has been reduced in size on a great many products over the years. Anybody with 20/20 vision prolly doesn't have issues with this but for many of us, it's a real drag. When I have to put my reading glasses on and use a magnifying glass to read a label, that's when it's ridiculous. I understand the cost factor with manufacturing blah blah blah and the fact that we have to share bi-lingual info on shared paper these days, but damn! So, here I am one day trying to read the plug chart on a pack of Estes motors.....nuff said? Even the plugs themselves has a little tab with that says which motors they are for and they TOO, are too small to read.

That being said I made some labels that were big enough to read, printed off a few sheets, taped one inside my motor range box and took the rest to one of my recent launches. EVERYBODY that saw them wanted one and it's no wonder. I take a batch to every launch now and offer them as a courtesy. You too can give your fellow LPR rocketeers a really handy, easy to read copy also. The attached pdf has 8 labels on it printed to scale that can be cut out. I use an office type bar handled knife cutter for mine. A pair of scissors will suffice. Enjoy, and know you are doing someone a favor.

***NOTE*** Use the new link further down the page. It includes the 29mm E12

View attachment Estes Plug Guides.pdf

 

[fyrwrxz]

Thank you, Sir, for a much needed service!

(There, that ougth to be easy to read!)

 

[jflis]

I know what you mean!

As a result, notice our recent photo albums..... I used to post them with a 10 point font. Now I use a 12 point font cuz it got to the point where I couldn't read my own photo albums! LOL

 

[BABAR]

What about the brown ones....... oh, that's not a plug. Stupid squirrels. eeeeeewwww. Gotta clean the glasses.

 

[mwtoelle]

I actually got a set of bifocals this year because my arm got too short. .

 

[KennB]

What about the brown ones....... oh, that's not a plug. Stupid squirrels. eeeeeewwww. Gotta clean the glasses.

Sounds like you'll need to clean more than your glasses. :lol:

 

[BEC]

This is a neat little aid - thanks. One comment, though. You need to add E12 to the Yellow section. And I expect you don't care about the blue plugs for OOP B8s and C5s.

 

[Gary Byrum]

This is a neat little aid - thanks. One comment, though. You need to add E12 to the Yellow section. And I expect you don't care about the blue plugs for OOP B8s and C5s.

Actually I just copied what was on the most recent pack of motors I bought. There was nothing there about the E12's and I never knew of any blue plugs. I'll have to take a look at a newer motor plug chart I suppose.

I just checked Estes site and found this. They say the black plugs are for the 24mmE motors. No mention of it using yellow. CLICK HERE

OK, apparently I need new reading glasses. I re-read that link and caught something I missed. E12's are 29mm and use the "WHITE" plug. I've never seen or used those before but I'll change the PDF file to reflect this info.

View attachment Estes Plug Guides.pdf

 

[KennB]

Gary, you had it right with the black plugs for the 24mm E motors. These include the E9 and E12. The 29mm E16 and F15 motors will be out in August and will use the white plugs.

Our President used a yellow plug in an 24mm E motor yesterday. I was at the RSO station and challenged him on this but he reassured me it was an acceptable swap; I had seen it done before and will have to measure some plugs to compare. It ended up being one of the non-CATO launches of an E motor that day.

 

[Gary Byrum]

Gary, you had it right with the black plugs for the 24mm E motors. These include the E9 and E12. The 29mm E16 and F15 motors will be out in August and will use the white plugs.

Our President used a yellow plug in an 24mm E motor yesterday. I was at the RSO station and challenged him on this but he reassured me it was an acceptable swap; I had seen it done before and will have to measure some plugs to compare. It ended up being one of the non-CATO launches of an E motor that day.

Ken, unless I'm loosing my mind or Estes has it wrong, the info at the bottom of the page of the link posted above clearly says The white plugs are for D12 and 29mm E & F motors.

Sorry Ken, I just read your post wrong. I mistook your E12 for a D12. I'm really thinkin bout some new glasses now.

 

[BEC]

I used a white plug in the 29mm F16 I flew at NSL.

The 24mm E12s use the YELLOW plug.

Attached are pictures of yellow plugs in an E12 package and a closeup of the table from the same package.

Also attached is a picture of an old table showing the now OOP B8/C5 blue plug and the OOP E15 as well.

 

[Gary Byrum]

I used a white plug in the 29mm F16 I flew at NSL.

The 24mm E12s use the YELLOW plug.

Attached are pictures of yellow plugs in an E12 package and a closeup of the table from the same package.

Also attached is a picture of an old table showing the now OOP B8/C5 blue plug and the OOP E15 as well.

If I could figure out how to delete an attachment, I'd replace said incorrect attachments with one that's supposed to be right now.

 

[LW Bercini]

Gary,

Cub scout launches are chaotic at best. Sometimes the scout leader provides a bunch of motors and ignitors and plugs and let the scouts have at it. With nobody giving them instruction, they were using any plug they got their hands on. Consequently there were lots of misfires.

I took one of your earlier versions of the chart, blew it up to 8.5"x11" and put copies of the enlarged chart on clip boards. Then at the next scout launch, they had your charts available to tell them which plug to use.

Now I wish there was a simple chart that says, "Just because the C6-5 fits your Wizard, does not mean you should use it at this soccer field launch!"

 

[Gary Byrum]

Well, here is a new one. I think I have it right. Maybe 3rd time is the charm. Good to know that at least some of my effort has been to others advantage. Thanks for the note LW.

On another note, if you have OOP motors or no blue plugs, DEAL WITH IT! Use the old school method.

View attachment Estes Plug Guides.pdf

 

[powderburner]

That is a handy little chart

But for those of us with a combination of really bad eyesight, bad memory, and can't match up the right colors (also evidenced by poor clothing selections, according to the wife), you can always do it the old-fashioned way.....with a dab of ejection wadding rolled into a ball and tamped into the nozzle with a pencil point.

 

[LW Bercini]

That is a handy little chart

But for those of us with a combination of really bad eyesight, bad memory, and can't match up the right colors (also evidenced by poor clothing selections, according to the wife), you can always do it the old-fashioned way.....with a dab of ejection wadding rolled into a ball and tamped into the nozzle with a pencil point.

At that launch where the scouts didn't have the right plugs, I demonstrated the old-fashioned way. They pretty much blew me off and called it "weird".

 

[Gary Byrum]

That is a handy little chart

But for those of us with a combination of really bad eyesight, bad memory, and can't match up the right colors (also evidenced by poor clothing selections, according to the wife), you can always do it the old-fashioned way.....with a dab of ejection wadding rolled into a ball and tamped into the nozzle with a pencil point.

I still do that now and then. I'm old school anyway. The only reason I use those plugs is because they are there. They work, and I have a bunch of them.

LW, Kids are included in most of our phone discussions about not relating to tried and true methods. They came into it not knowing how it used to be done. Sometimes it pays to know an old school method, eh?

 

[Gary Byrum]

I have also discovered that my last attachment had no text for the black plug. No 3rd charm for this old goat. It's fixed now.

View attachment Estes Plug Guides.pdf

 

[Green Jello]

Cool! Thank you so much. It's funny, I was going to make this last week and I was having trouble finding the info, so I shelved the project.

 

[BEC]

On another note, if you have OOP motors or no blue plugs, DEAL WITH IT! Use the old school method.

FWIW I have also found that the little orange A3 plugs work nicely when using an Estes igniter in Quest motors (all currently available) and a slightly melted used pink (I think of 'em as purple) plug also works in Quest motors, albeit not quite as easily.

 

[RocketMike]

Man I feel old. I remember when we just used to stuff a bit of recovery wadding in after the igniter.

 

[Gary Byrum]

Man I feel old. I remember when we just used to stuff a bit of recovery wadding in after the igniter.

My main rocket bud still does and I've been known to. Back in the 60's it's all there was except for the tape method. But in those days they were using that flexible blue stuff on the ignitors.

 

[1tree]

Funny thing is that at a Cub Scout launch I received some plugs from a dad who had been into rockets as a kid and didn't get why use a plug?

 

[PhlAsh]

Gary,

Cub scout launches are chaotic at best. Sometimes the scout leader provides a bunch of motors and ignitors and plugs and let the scouts have at it. With nobody giving them instruction, they were using any plug they got their hands on. Consequently there were lots of misfires.

Indeed.
SEVRA had 30 scouts at last month's launch and I was tasked with corralling them and minding the pads. I noticed a number of them were falling out and if finally dawned on me that they weren't using the appropriate plugs. One announcement later and we were all squared away.

A poster would be a great idea.

 

[Gary Byrum]

A poster would be a great idea.

Careful what you wish for. You just might get it. I did a zoom on the plug chart I made and snapped an 8.5 x 11" PDF of just one of the charts. Should be big enough to make a decent sized poster. Take the PDF to Kinkos or Staples and have them print you some bigger copies.

View attachment Plug Chart Poster.pdf

 

[Pem Tech]

What's that Jim?
Speak up, I can't hear you.

I know what you mean!

As a result, notice our recent photo albums..... I used to post them with a 10 point font. Now I use a 12 point font cuz it got to the point where I couldn't read my own photo albums! LOL

 

[PhlAsh]

Careful what you wish for. You just might get it.

THANKS!

 

[AfterBurners]

I went to the ye doctor last year and he said I have OMS = Old Man Syndrome I actually need to go this year and probably get BI-Focals. Damn I'm getting old. I actually have a magnifying desk light that I use for small print items or nuts and screws. It's mounted on my work bench.