D12-5 Failed to fire ejection charge.

[LtSharpe]

The picture below of the clay plug over the charge is worse than the end looks, it actually looks perfect, not a bit of the clay plug is warped or blown out etc. It looks perfect. Engine was used on a blue ninja and I fired one other engine from the same pack with no problem. I don't believe I even heard it fire so either it didn't go off, there was no charge to begin with, or it was a very weak undercharge. I wonder if estes would like to have the motor back? Blue ninja fortunately tends to fall horizontally with it's nose cone on so although I figured it would be mashed even after hitting some Kiwi trees it was fine. One pic is of the plugged end, the other is of the thrust end.

 

[Karl]

Hmm very strange!

Does the motor have some sort of code on it what indicates the date it was made in? If it's a old motor, a X should of been scored on top of the clay cap to help it break.

Did any flame or strange ammount of smoke come out of the rocket when the delay stopped?

If you look into the nozzle can you see the clay cap at the opposite end or black? But I doubt the ejection didn't fire. Possibley just a slightly larger clay cap, and the pressure frm the EJ couldn't break it.

I would contact estes & tell them about this. They are very nice people and will help you the best they can. Heres their customer service e-mail page.

https://www.estesrockets.com/cgi-bin/contact.cgi

I hope this helps,
Kar

 

[Papa Elf]

Did the delay grain burn? I had that happen with an A10-3T. The delay did not ignite .

Estes will probabily send you a new pack of motors, and a new rocket.

 

[jflis]

At the very least, fill out a MESS FORM

I would also inform Estes as they *will* make good on it, beleive me

jim

 

[Papa Elf]

Jim likes Estes . And they like him to. Even unintentually used one of his designs... but once they figured that out... they made good on it ;D.

I like Estes return... they always treat you nice. Even if the rocket survived, they hook you up with a new kit .

 

[LtSharpe]

I sent estes an email about it and I filled out that other form about engine defects from one of the posters. The clay plug does not have an x on it. It's a fairly new engine, I only bought this pack about a month ago from Michaels. The first one in the pack fired fine. I have not tried the third. I've kept the plug in this intact in case estes would like to see it,, you never know, it might be of use to them.

 

[shreadvector]

The message you replied to was not worded clearly and so your response was correct, but you were led in the wrong direction.

Your motor was new based upon the mottled clay. It was probably missing the ejection charge. The motor loading machines clog once in a while. Call or e-mail Estes for replacement motor pack (and since rocket was not damaged, no need for a new rocket...).

What the previous poster meant to say about older motors is that during the "Poopy Clay" years there were motors with white powdery clay that would crumble out of the nozzle AND they also had a nasty problem of not having any ejection charges or very little ejection charge combined with an extra thick clay cap. The motors DID NOT come from the factory with a "X" scored in them. Estes (once notified of the serious problem) recommended that consumers score the clay caps of the motors to help weaken the caps and allow them to blow out (upwards) even if there was a weak ejection charge. Since you did not have an older motor and you did not score the cap yourself, of course it was not scored with an "X".

Doing a Google search of r.m.r. will provide lots of history on this condition.

Good luck.

Originally posted by LtSharpe
I sent estes an email about it and I filled out that other form about engine defects from one of the posters. The clay plug does not have an x on it. It's a fairly new engine, I only bought this pack about a month ago from Michaels. The first one in the pack fired fine. I have not tried the third. I've kept the plug in this intact in case estes would like to see it,, you never know, it might be of use to them.

 

[LtSharpe]

Thanks for the response. Yes I am almost certain that there was simply no charge in it because I would think if there was some charge then the clay would have been partially damaged but it's perfect. I have always wondered how these are actually packed,, meaning is there a carboard spacer between the smoke trail and the ejection charge or does it simply 'burn in' to the ejection charge as it sits loose on top of the smoke delay?

 

[Papa Elf]

The powder sits right on top of the delay grain. Did you ever figure out if the delay grain lit or went out? stick a probe in the nozzle to see how far down it will go before hitting something.

 

[LtSharpe]

The delay was fine I saw a good 5 second or so smoke trail.

 

[Donaldsrockets]

I've seen this happen before with a C6-7, caused my friend's Chrome Dome to prang in from 600 feet or so. Needless to say, it was crumpled pretty good.