Estes B6-0 recall?

[DaveCombs]

I don't want to start any blasphemous rumors, but...

I went to Meijer last night on a whim (actually, the wife's whim as she had blown a fuse in her car) and actually found some B6-0s on the shelves at $5.99. That being the relative steal that it is, I nabbed a couple of packs.

At the checkout line the register beeped and the clerk said these were on a recall list. Offhandedly she noted some other things (toys, as it were) being on the recall list as well.

There is nothing on Estes' site, and being late on the weekend I couldn't give them a call to confirm. Does anyone know anything about this?

 

[RoyAtl]

Nothing recent on www.cpsc.gov either. Just the X15, the airplane LiPoly battery problem, and the old air power rocket problem.

 

[sandman]

I don't want to start any blasphemous rumors, but...

I went to Meijer last night on a whim (actually, the wife's whim as she had blown a fuse in her car) and actually found some B6-0s on the shelves at $5.99. That being the relative steal that it is, I nabbed a couple of packs.

At the checkout line the register beeped and the clerk said these were on a recall list. Offhandedly she noted some other things (toys, as it were) being on the recall list as well.

There is nothing on Estes' site, and being late on the weekend I couldn't give them a call to confirm. Does anyone know anything about this?

Personally, I wouldn't take what a Wal-Mart check out person says to seriously. They couldn't get the change right unless the cash register told them how much it was...even then, I double check.

The "beep" at the register was probably for something else like, maybe you have to be 14 years old to buy model rocket motors.

 

[Meat]

I picked up about 10 packs of c6-3 and - 7 motors tonihgt form local walmart . hey were all marked down to $1 a pack byut he had a hell of a time ringing them up i guess they were in the system weird . The checker a wonderful specimen redneck had to call over the slightly less slack jawed manager the two of them eventually figured out how to type in the sku. It seems like walmart may b e getting rid of all their motors. All three of the local stores here have their motors marked down to either $1 or $3 a pack.

 

[Pippen]

Our Walmart clears out their motors once a year, and the first markdown is usually $3. They don't order a lot to begin with but often there's not many left to mark down.

 

[DaveCombs]

The display actually said "This item has been recalled", and the lady said she couldn't sell them and she put them under the register.

 

[gpoehlein]

The only other thing I can think of is that the UPC code for the B6-0 motors might be one digit off from one of the other Estes items that have been recalled. If that were the case, someone might have keyed the code in wrong.

Of course, it is Monday and you can call Estes today.

 

[DaveCombs]

Called and left a message. We'll see...

 

[Verna]

I'm confused. We were told Estes stopped making the B boosters a year or two back.

I know you can still find them from time to time but I just thought they were left overs.

Verna

 

[RoyAtl]

No, they started making them again last year, for the Solar-Flare two stager.

 

[foose4string]

Did they ever really stop making them? Weren't they available in certain bulk (educator) packs all along? I thought they just quit selling three packs for a while. They started doing three packs again when the Solar Flare came out, as Roy noted. I've gotten several packs from Toys R Us over the past few months. Bought some for 5.49 when the Solar Flare came out, but more recently, they've been selling at 5.99.

I bought two packs of them a couple weeks ago and didn't run into any problems purchasing them at that time.

Looks like Tower is selling three packs too....no signs of a recall there since it looks like you can still add them to your cart.

B6-0's at Tower Hobbies

 

[RoyAtl]

Interestingly, I've heard that production runs of many of the fringe types can be a couple of years apart, which if true, belies the other meme I've heard that if they can't sell a day's production within a year, they drop it.

However, being available only in bulk packs while not being available in 3-packs for a few years tells me that the bulk packs were selling off back inventory.

At some point, they must've run out of B6-0's, as they started packing C6-0's in the same box and put a sticker on it changing the "B6-0" to "C6-0".

 

[DaveCombs]

However, being available only in bulk packs while not being available in 3-packs for a few years tells me that the bulk packs were selling off back inventory.

The answer to that question would be to check the date code on the engines in the pack to see when they were made.

 

[RoyAtl]

The answer to that question would be to check the date code on the engines in the pack to see when they were made.

That would only tell me when that pack was made. Not when the last such pack was made.

The one I bought a year & a half ago was made about two to three years before that. But as I said, that's only one data point. I can't assume there wasn't something more recent.

 

[bobkrech]

Interestingly, I've heard that production runs of many of the fringe types can be a couple of years apart, which if true, belies the other meme I've heard that if they can't sell a day's production within a year, they drop it.

However, being available only in bulk packs while not being available in 3-packs for a few years tells me that the bulk packs were selling off back inventory.

At some point, they must've run out of B6-0's, as they started packing C6-0's in the same box and put a sticker on it changing the "B6-0" to "C6-0".

AFAIK there are no recalls on Estes motors.

BP motor production is more sensitive to small changes than composite motor production so it take a while to get a motor line up and running, so once you have the line up and running, you make a lot of motors.

Estes is a business so I seriously doubt that Estes makes only a days production of anything, and they probably don't stock much of an inventory. I'll assume that large orders from Walmart, Target, and various hobby supply wholesalers determines what motors Estes makes.

According to published production specifications from Sport Rocketry a few years ago, Estes has 7 Mabel production machines, and each machine can make ~12 motors per minute or ~5,760 per day, or ~34,560 per week, and one week of production from a single Mabel only puts (2) 3 packs of motors in each Walmart store in the country, and that's only part of the market.

Recalls are expensive so Estes tests about 3% of its production for quality control and it's unlikely that you'll have a problem with a production lot of Estes motors.

Bob

 

[falingtrea]

Bob, ain't it 240 motors per hr? 12 an hr seems tooo slow to me.

 

[bobkrech]

Bob, ain't it 240 motors per hr? 12 an hr seems tooo slow to me.

I edited the orignal text. It should be 12 motors per minute, not per hour.

Thanks.

Bob

 

[DaveCombs]

THERE IS NO RECALL.

I got a call from a girl at Estes (can't recall her name, might have been Jody), and she confirmed that there are no current recalls for any engines. The last engine recall was the one for E engines about 15 years ago.

Looks like I'll be making a trip back out to Meijer again...

 

[georgegassaway]

A possible answer here.

Did Meijers even HAVE any staged rockets??? Or Snitch Saucers?

If not, it would make perfect sense for them to recall a booster engine, which was not safe to use to fly any of the kits they sold. Not because the booster engine itself was bad, but that it was too much risk for someone to use a B6-0 in a rocket that needs a B6-4, which would likely crash from no ejection. We all know how many newbies do not even have a clue what the numbers mean after “B” (even after they finally do "get" what A-B-C means), much less that boosters have no ejection charge.

So if it happened like that, with no kits using B6-0’s, then whoever at Meijers that originally ordered the B6-0’s made a mistake. Which someone else later realized, for whatever reason.

Note again, the above is only conjecture.

- George Gassaway

 

[DaveCombs]

Completely plausible, George.

I went to yet another Meijer last night and tried again to buy them, and once again the POS terminal said they were recalled. But I had been thinking along those same lines, and I looked on the shelves - all they had were single-stage RTFs. So that may indeed be the motivation behind it.

Maybe I should print the barcode for B6-4s and use it when I scan the motors at the do-it-yourself checkout line!

 

[gpoehlein]

I'd talk to the manager of the store about it, Dave. After all, the items are not recalled by the manufacturer and should not be ringing up as such. It is as much an error of the UPC scanning system as when an item is not in the system at all - it needs to be corrected. I'm still leaning toward my theory that the UPC of the B6-0 motors is one digit different from another item that WAS recalled. If this is the case, not only are they denying themselves sales of a valid item, but some item that SHOULD be recalled is still being sold. This should definitely be brought to their attention.

 

[DaveCombs]

OK, so being the occasionally devious person I am, I tried my aforementioned little experiment, to use the barcode of a B6-4 to buy the B6-0s.

Guess what.

THEY WERE ON THE RECALL LIST TOO.

So this time I did indeed grab a manager, plead my case, and waited patiently at the self-checkout while some cute little checkout girl was falling all over herself apologizing for it all.

The manager came back and said there were some things that were on her recall list, but these (both the B6-4 and B6-0) should not have been on it and they were "getting in touch with corporate" to get the error fixed. She and the cutey worked their magic on the POS terminal, keyed them in differently, and I left the store with six B6-0 Flight Packs.

FWIW, the date code on the motors was A092506.

Life is good. Pay forward!

 

[RandyM]

You're lucky, the Meijer in Lafayette stopped carrying all rocket stuff last year. At least I got a bunch of motors cheap when they clearanced them out. I'll have to check out a few of the stores in South Bend then weekend when I'm up there.

 

[MaxQ]

Nothing recent on www.cpsc.gov either. Just the X15, the airplane LiPoly battery problem, and the old air power rocket problem.

What's w/ the X 15 ?

 

[brianc]

What's w/ the X 15 ?

https://www.rocketryplanet.com/content/view/2069/95/

 

[atticus]

Yesterday (5 March), after a month, I received a response from Mary at Estes regarding the ejection charge amount question in another (now closed) thread.

As an aside, she mentioned she had visited TRF and had this to say about the B6-0:
"I did visit The Rocketry Forum and reviewed the "string" you provided.
The B6-0 model rocket engine continues to be made by Estes and is NOT
being recalled. Some of the people on the thread were correct in that
it was offered only in Estes Educator Bulk Packs for awhile. However,
it is being offered in the traditional three pack at this time.

Kind Regards,
Mary Roberts
Estes Industries"

Tim L.

 

[DaveCombs]

"I did visit The Rocketry Forum and reviewed the "string" you provided."

That itself gives me reason for hope for the Penrose people! It's good to know they're looking outward. And Mary, if you're reading this, Thanks!

 

[RandyM]

I bought 4 packs at the Mishawaka Meijer yesterday. No problems at also it looks like the problem was corrected. In looking as to what they have in stock for rockets, I also wonder why they have B6-0's there. No two stage rockets at all. Did they carry the Solar Flare last season?

 

[DaveCombs]

I haven't seen anything but RTFs since last fall in either WalMart or Meijer. The last kits I saw were various X-Prize kits - in the clearance aisle.