It might be repairable. In my old age, I am getting lazy. I will just solder a new clip to the wire after I get some new clips from the hardware store. No launch today because of torrential rain. . I bet the new clip doesn’t last over 40 years.That looks repairable, is it a broken spring?
I will just solder a new clip to the wire after I get some new clips from the hardware store
Mission almost accomplished.And here I am thinking you're a fellow Frugal Rocketeer!
We all fall off the wagon occasionally...
It did come out. The two pieces of clip separated and it popped out. The heavily oxidized piece of wire stuck onto the clip won’t come off even when heated up with the soldering iron. Sadly, the time and effort to fix the broken clip is no longer justified. Just bought some new clips. Occasionally I do give up and just throw out old things and replace with new things. But only occasionally!Oh, the spring came out? If you can't find an aligator clip at a hardware store or jewelry shop, it turns out you can google DIY crocodile clip and get instructables on making your own.
I am using Estes igniters as this clip is for igniting LPR, black powder rocket engines. I considered just using bare wire and twisting it onto the igniter leads. Would that not work? It would be a pain to twist the wires on for each launch.Unless you need it for Estes igniters, you can just bare some wire and wrap the igniter lead around it.
It might be repairable. In my old age, I am getting lazy. I will just solder a new clip to the wire after I get some new clips from the hardware store. No launch today because of torrential rain. . I bet the new clip doesn’t last over 40 years.
My go-to tool for cleaning clips is the brass wire brush (https://www.dremel.com/us/en/p/535-02-26150535ab) in a cordless Dremel. I have a couple of the ones that have been variously sold as golf club cleaning tools or pet nail trimmers (that run on four AA cells). One is in my field bag, and one on my work table.I have both the GB style clips with teeth, and the flat ones like Bernard has mentioned in my launch setup. I have found that over time the flat clips accumulate soot on the flat parts that clip to the ignitor and need to be cleaned often.
Goose
I had no idea the NAR sold hardware.
I hear you. There are often multiple ways to accomplish a task in rocketry. You solicit suggestions from other rocketeers. You select one of the suggested techniques. Or you discard them all and do it “your way”. It’s all good. Still, before I re-invent the wheel, I like to have other rocketeers tell me what has worked, or not worked, for them.This like most things in rocketry seem to be a matter of personal preference and experience.
They are, but they are a pain to solder to…..
I learned the hard way that not every metal lends itself to soldering. I had made a Wien Bridge type audio frequency oscillator circuit that was stabilized by a light bulb (google that circuit if you want to know just how nerdy that is - I thought I was Bill Hewlett for a second…)They are, but they are a pain to solder to…..
That’s ok. I have enough of them in the stash now. Thanks for thinking of me!Hey Brock, if you’d like a few of the flat clips, I ordered a pack of 50 after that guy ran over my cable with the mower yesterday. I’d be happy to share, I can’t see me ever using all of them.
Enter your email address to join: