CTI Discussion Thread

[Lord Rory Gin]

Considering I have waited sense mid 2022, you appear to have experienced better results for a warranty issue..

Actually it wasn't a warranty issue. I just ordered the 54mm casing set from my dealer. I was building a 54mm rocket and was anticipating ordering J motors shortly. They didn't have any in stock so they back ordered. CTI kept telling him that they will get around to it and after 2+ months they finally shipped out casings to their dealers. When it finally shipped, I saw they had raised the prices as well but since I prepaid I got mine at the lower price.
Edit: I ordered July 7 and received Oct 21 so it was more like 3.5 months.

 

[dr-ws]

They cater to their commercial clients firsts and the hobbyists second. I had to wait 2+ months to get casings from them to the dealer then to me.

Hopefully their commercial clients need nothing from the J360 nor J270 bins. . .
Hopefully their commercial clients don't `benefit' from the QC unit that oversee these two motors.

 

[Neutronium95]

From talking with people in the industry, the QC process that CTI or ISP uses for commercial or military customers is leagues above what they would use for hobby motors. I imagine that holding hobby motors to those same standards would force prices to go up significantly.

 

[AeroTech]

From talking with people in the industry, the QC process that CTI or ISP uses for commercial or military customers is leagues above what they would use for hobby motors. I imagine that holding hobby motors to those same standards would force prices to go up significantly.

Affirmative.

 

[mikec]

Fortunately, there is AeroTech, and Loki, and AMW, and, for some, patience. . .

AMW hasn't made motors for quite some time, and Loki isn't certified for use in California, so for some of us, there are really only two manufacturers.

I can only speculate but CTI doesn't appear to have ever recovered from the 2016 fire that injured their lead engineer. Too bad, because I really like their product line.

Manufacturer participation comes and goes. It's been great to have Gary giving us a lot of insight into what AT is doing, but it hasn't always been that way (not that I have ever had a problem with AT and am a happy customer.)

 

[cwbullet]

I have cleaned up a bunch of the side chatter. Please keep it on topic and avoid the side arguments.

 

[Frederocket]

I have cleaned up a bunch of the side chatter. Please keep it on topic and avoid the side arguments.

I was on topic, until someone decided to take issue and question why I was asking a specific question. How about you put that question back and we can go from there on topic...

 

[mikec]

CTI typically responds to very specific questions. I'm not sure it's reasonable to expect them to respond to questions like "why have you had so many problems lately?"

 

[cwbullet]

I was on topic, until someone decided to take issue and question why I was asking a specific question. How about you put that question back and we can go from there on topic...

What I posted in reference to my original post #832: "Oh well, I guess the OP for this thread, (CTI Discussion Thread), has nothing to say or explain".

Stay on topic. Did you have a question for CTI or were you bantering with another member? This is not for discussion.

 

[Frederocket]

Stay on topic. Did you have a question for CTI or were you bantering with another member? This is not for discussion.

My apology for this whole mess. It's obvious, CTI is not going to answer my inquiry/question, either on this thread or via PM. I'm done with it.

 

[dr-ws]

My apology for this whole mess. It's obvious, CTI is not going to answer my inquiry/question, either on this thread or via PM. I'm done with it.

Haislip: I am the banteree.
If culpability is involved, it is equally mine ("two to tango"), not solely Fred's.
I 'entered the fray' because, as per Fred's last post, it was obvious to me that CTI has better things to do than respond to Fred (or any of us re. this topic), and the redundancy was annoying to me (MY problem, not others'). I have not bantered recently, nor will I banter further regarding this thread.
This is not for discussion.

 

[Frederocket]

This year at NYPOWER I had a CTI 6 grain K820 Blue Streak cato and I'm still waiting for my motor vendor to receive and replace the load. He already replaced the 6 grain casing and aft closure. It seems to me that almost two and a half months is quite some time to get-r-done. I know of one other flyer in our club who experienced the same issue with the same motor and received warranty replacement. If I remember correctly, I did a MESH report shortly after returning from NYPOWER anf I'm preaty sure Dennis did one the year before.

I know I said I was done with this thread. However, just thought I would bump this posting, to keep my recent postings and resulting frustration in perspective....

 

[Frederocket]

Like you, I have been doing this a long time. I treat my casings just as I treat my guns. After use, they are cleaned and lubed. CTI motor loads get the glue and lube treatment. I remember being told when I first started using CTI motors, that lubing the o-rings was not necessary and gluing the FWD closure and nozzle to the liner was also not necessary. To me, gluing in the FWD closure and nozzle, along with lubing the o-rings are extra steps that help retain gas pressure where it's supposed to be. It's simple physics. I have only had one CTI motor failure and as stated in my last post it was a cato. It was a burn through at the top, just after the FWD closure and it also blew off the aft closure retainer. I don't know what caused the cato and probobly never will. However one thing for sure, cleaning, lubing, and gluing did not prevent the cato from happening.

And another one for reference....

 

[Frederocket]

This year at NYPOWER I had a CTI 6 grain K820 Blue Streak cato and I'm still waiting for my motor vendor to receive and replace the load. He already replaced the 6 grain casing and aft closure. It seems to me that almost two and a half months is quite some time to get-r-done. I know of one other flyer in our club who experienced the same issue with the same motor and received warranty replacement. If I remember correctly, I did a MESH report shortly after returning from NYPOWER anf I'm preaty sure Dennis did one the year before.

Yesterday MDRA launch was a good day for me, if for no other reason: Our longtime vendor, (PH), took it upon himself to find a replacement motor for my warranty issue. I did not ask him to do what he did, Ken just did it. Customer service above and beyond.

It is now up to CTI to insure our vendor is made whole. I'll be watching.

 

[DTRocket]

Yesterday MDRA launch was a good day for me, if for no other reason: Our longtime vendor, (PH), took it upon himself to find a replacement motor for my warranty issue. I did not ask him to do what he did, Ken just did it. Customer service above and beyond.

It is now up to CTI to insure our vendor is made whole. I'll be watching.

Yep that is the way Ken has always been with me, he goes out of his way to make his customers happy.

 

[Ez2cDave]

Stay on topic. Did you have a question for CTI or were you bantering with another member? This is not for discussion.

I have a couple of questions for CTI, directly.

(1) How does CTI justify 25% +/- price increases , given that the Canadian economy is currently experiencing 6.2% inflation ?

(2) Does CTI, typically, increase prices at a rate of 400% of inflation ?

Thanks, in advance !

Dave F.

 

[Frederocket]

I have a couple of questions for CTI, directly.

(1) How does CTI justify 25% +/- price increases , given that the Canadian economy is currently experiencing 6.2% inflation . . .

(2) Does CTI, typically, increase prices at a rate of 400% of inflation ?

Thanks, in advance !

Dave F.

You're being to direct.

 

[jmasterj]

(1) How does CTI justify 25% +/- price increases , given that the Canadian economy is currently experiencing 6.2% inflation . . .

One whole-economy inflation number isn't going to reflect the cost increases of the specific things a motor manufacturer needs to produce motors. It's pretty similar, or perhaps less than the cumulative Aerotech price increases over the past year.

The lack of warranty service is really bad, but the price increase should have been expected.

 

[Banzai88]

The lack of warranty service is really bad

...as well as the acknowledged (several years running now) but as yet un-addressed motor failure issues.

 

[jmasterj]

...as well as the acknowledged (several years running now) but as yet un-addressed motor failure issues.

Indeed. The 54mm issues have kept me from buying any of that, to AT's gain.

 

[bobbyg23]

I have a couple of questions for CTI, directly.

(1) How does CTI justify 25% +/- price increases , given that the Canadian economy is currently experiencing 6.2% inflation . . .

(2) Does CTI, typically, increase prices at a rate of 400% of inflation ?

Thanks, in advance !

Dave F.

The cost of materials have increased significantly. I know AT posted of 15%-30% increases a couple of seperate times in the past year or so. AT has had the same increases.

 

[Frederocket]

The lack of warranty service is really bad, but the price increase should have been expected.

The real issue...

 

[hobie1dog]

another thread to "Ignore"

 

[SkyFire]

Had AMRAAM rocket (all fiberglass) make a weird wobble mid flight today.
Turns out the CTI J430 CATO'D. (54mm motor)
Blew a hole in the side of the rocket and two of the fins loose.
Anybody else had this happen?

 

[jd2cylman]

Had AMRAAM rocket (all fiberglass) make a weird wobble mid flight today.
Turns out the CTI J430 CATO'D. (54mm motor)
Blew a hole in the side of the rocket and two of the fins loose.
Anybody else had this happen?
View attachment 558674 View attachment 558675 View attachment 558676

paging @rfjustin

Link (somewhere in there, I promise).

 

[Tractionengines]

paging @rfjustin

Link (somewhere in there, I promise).

See post # 203...
Post in thread 'Composite Warehouse 5" Bullpup or Concept 125 (54mm x 3) - Which one needs built first?' https://www.rocketryforum.com/threa...ich-one-needs-built-first.167169/post-2204915

 

[mikec]

Had AMRAAM rocket (all fiberglass) make a weird wobble mid flight today.
Turns out the CTI J430 CATO'D. (54mm motor)
Blew a hole in the side of the rocket and two of the fins loose.
Anybody else had this happen?

This is a fairly common issue but there is only one entry for this specific motor in the MESS database and it was a forward-closure bubble, not an aft problem. And usually these happen with the longer motors. Could be a bad joint at the liner, bad aft O-ring, or maybe the nozzle insert was flawed. Please submit a MESS report at https://www.motorcato.org/

 

[Rocketjunkie]

I have a couple of questions for CTI, directly.

(1) How does CTI justify 25% +/- price increases , given that the Canadian economy is currently experiencing 6.2% inflation ?

(2) Does CTI, typically, increase prices at a rate of 400% of inflation ?

Thanks, in advance !

Dave F.

Why worry about it. All the other manufacturers raised prices a bunch also. Vote with your feet and don't buy any. AP has tripled in price the last few years.

 

[Ez2cDave]

I have a couple of questions for CTI, directly.

(1) How does CTI justify 25% +/- price increases , given that the Canadian economy is currently experiencing 6.2% inflation ?

(2) Does CTI, typically, increase prices at a rate of 400% of inflation ?

Thanks, in advance !

Dave F.

"Crickets", just as I suspected . . .

Dave F.

 

[Banzai88]

Had AMRAAM rocket (all fiberglass) make a weird wobble mid flight today.
Turns out the CTI J430 CATO'D. (54mm motor)
Blew a hole in the side of the rocket and two of the fins loose.
Anybody else had this happen?
View attachment 558674 View attachment 558675 View attachment 558676

This long standing, CTI acknowledged, and as yet unaddressed issue is why many if us will not buy or fly CTI 54s if any size or flavor.

And with all the issues that they've had with the 38s over the last 5 or 6 years, they're a crap shoot, too.