Reed Goodwin
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In my search for reliable ways of igniting AP, I have often been left wanting more from the Copperheads supplied with AT reloads. In the past I have tried making my own igniters and pyrogen, but with varied success. I recently decided to abandon the pyrogen from scratch idea and focus on making the wired bits cheaply so I could just get some Magnelite and dip some igniters. Today I started doing some testing, using the solderless igniter technique that was on the InfoCentral site before they moved (it's still accessible through website archives). I have been experimenting with different bridge lengths and number of wraps around the wire to try to find some good, reliable areas. I did some looking on here and read that I should be aiming in the 1-2Ω range and that I want the bridge to glow as brightly and as long as possible before melting, so that's what I've been aiming for. The sweet spot for me seems to be about 1.2-1.4Ω
Materials-wise, I've been using the twisted pairs of wire from Cat5 cable as the igniter and then some 32awg nichrome wire I got from McMaster-Carr a while back. In trying to be reasonably scientific about this, I've been measuring the resistance of each test igniter and length of the bridge. I've also been recording the tests using my digital camera running at 60fps. Since I don't have my launch system with me right now, I've resorted to just holding the igniter leads to the 12V lawn mower battery I have.
So far I've only conducted 10 tests, though more are slated for tomorrow. I've had a couple that just sparked and didn't really heat up, and a couple with crummy video, but I've taken the good videos and compiled them along with some data about each test here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NzfuxaAEl0
I'll update this as I go along. I recall there was a good DIY igniter thread on TRF v1.0, so I figure starting another one isn't a bad idea. Any feedback is welcomed. I'm no electrical engineer, only aerospace, but I've got some semblance of an idea of what I'm doing, I think.
Reed
Materials-wise, I've been using the twisted pairs of wire from Cat5 cable as the igniter and then some 32awg nichrome wire I got from McMaster-Carr a while back. In trying to be reasonably scientific about this, I've been measuring the resistance of each test igniter and length of the bridge. I've also been recording the tests using my digital camera running at 60fps. Since I don't have my launch system with me right now, I've resorted to just holding the igniter leads to the 12V lawn mower battery I have.
So far I've only conducted 10 tests, though more are slated for tomorrow. I've had a couple that just sparked and didn't really heat up, and a couple with crummy video, but I've taken the good videos and compiled them along with some data about each test here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NzfuxaAEl0
I'll update this as I go along. I recall there was a good DIY igniter thread on TRF v1.0, so I figure starting another one isn't a bad idea. Any feedback is welcomed. I'm no electrical engineer, only aerospace, but I've got some semblance of an idea of what I'm doing, I think.
Reed