Aerotech Cooling Mesh "Fluffing"?

[Boda]

Anyone have any tricks or suggestions for "fluffing" the cooling mesh in Aerotech's Labryinth system? How often should it be done? Does it need to be cleaned of soot at any sort of interval?

My first attempt at mid-power flight a few weeks back was flawless on an Initiator with an E16-4W RMS under perfect conditions on a dry lake bed in the High Desert of So Cal. Reloaded with an F40-7W, I believe, for my second attempt, and it was like a $60.00 lawn-dart!@!!! (I do say, liftoff and height was soooooo much more imressive than the E motor)!!!! Saw a puff, but no ejection of the parachute. Straight down and buried itself 4+ inches into the lake bed (actually reached moist soil!!!) Once at home (it ruined the rest of my day obviously), I tore what was left apart and noticed the the metal mesh was quite dirty for 2 shots (in my opinion), and it was mashed all the way up to the top of the baffle (could partially be from the sudden stop at the bottom though).

Any info would be greatly appreciated. A newly assembled rocket sits next to me awaiting launch, but I want it to last more than 2 flights.

Thanks.

 

[brianc]

If you can blow thru the MMT and have the NC pop off, the
baffle should be OK. Shake out the red AT charge cap after
each flight (that action alone should get rid of any soot too).

Use a wire coat hanger or similar to puff it back into shape...

 

[Handeman]

Not sure what caused the problem on the second flight. My son has a Mustang that's flown 8 - 10 times and has never had the baffle cleaned. It works fine.

 

[Pantherjon]

I had the baffle mesh in my Mustang get clogged after only 4 launches..I even made a point of shaking it to get what I thought was all the crud out of there..But, last time I flew it, the baffle just completely disentegrated Nose cone with chute and half the baffle came down-eventually, while the body did a flat spin and landed with no damage..Will rig something to secure the shock cord, I really like flying my Mustang...

 

[hardinlw]

I have an Aerotech Cheeta that has to have 30 or 40 flights on it, most of them G80s, and all I've ever done is to shake out the bigger debris (like the red cap) every flight periodically poke around in the mesh with a piece of wire and shake out the gunk I dislodged.

 

[Initiator001]

Sorry to hear about your loss, Boda. Especially an Initiator.

I have never really cleaned out the mesh in my AeroTech models. It seems to be enough to just tap the rocket on the ground, desk, table, etc. and have the plastic cap or paper ejection cap fall out.

I usually 'retire' my AeroTech models because they get worn out from too much flying (Cheetah, Arreaux, several Initiators) motor catos (Mustang, another Initiator) or poor recovery system packing (G-Force).

 

[dave carver]

The metal mesh cools the hot black powder causing it to condense on the wire, building up layer after layer of unburnt PB. I have seen several times this powder ignite from hot gasses, in one case burning the rocket in two and causing a 1 acre fire that a near-by farmer put out by driving a road grader around the fire, plowing with the ripper. In the second case it was a smoldering fire, more of a glowing ember-thing, that burnt up the mesh and melted the plastic components. I don't know but they were both Mustangs', not sure if that had anything to do with it.

I think that the mesh should not be installed, use regular wadding. LOC had a baffle that was made from round wire mesh, much thicker and more able to resist the heat with Aerotechs' dishwashing mesh having sharp edges more suseptable to catching fire.

Anyway, that's been my experence Aerotech baffles, YMMV.