I used to get one day service from Centuri because we lived in Scottsdale AZ between 1966-1968 (was in 7th and 8th grade), I'd give my father "the order" along with cash and since he worked in Phoenix he just went to their facility sometime during the day, paid for it with the cash given him, and we had it that evening. I never personally visited, but we did upset the Centuri staff. My Centuri story:
Our house and the neighbors house were on about 15 acres under what now is condos and townhouses. We flew single and multi-stage Centuri rockets with no "adult supervision". We soon got very tired of the electrical ignition system that seemed to only work with 50% reliability because back then igniters were just lengths of nicrome wire we would wrap into a two turn loop using the end of a tooth pick as a form. So we started putting cannibalized long firecracker fuses up the motors and lighting with a match. Unsurprisingly we had a 100% success rate, the only problem was of course getting away fast enough. We solved that problem by getting Jetex fuse at the local hobby store (made to light the very low thrust Jetex reloadable rocket motors for model planes) which came in little rolls inside a can, and it burned at a very reliable rate. When I put my next motor order together I put down a reminder to get Jetex fuse too for myself.
Well, my father took that paper to Centuri and said he was there to buy motors and fuse to light the motors. A "heated" conversation with the Centuri staff ensued about the fuse part of the order. When my father came home that night he had the motors and a complete launch system which basically was what we had quit using. He said "You really upset those Centuri people, you cant use fuse,!!! You have to use this to launch your rockets....they wouldnt sell me those motors unless I also bought this launcher stuff!"
Well, at least I didnt have to pay for the new controller and battery as my father picked up the cost. Occasionally I chuckle to myself when I see a low power rocket blow an igniter or misfire, cuz it wouldn't have happened with Jetex
Our house and the neighbors house were on about 15 acres under what now is condos and townhouses. We flew single and multi-stage Centuri rockets with no "adult supervision". We soon got very tired of the electrical ignition system that seemed to only work with 50% reliability because back then igniters were just lengths of nicrome wire we would wrap into a two turn loop using the end of a tooth pick as a form. So we started putting cannibalized long firecracker fuses up the motors and lighting with a match. Unsurprisingly we had a 100% success rate, the only problem was of course getting away fast enough. We solved that problem by getting Jetex fuse at the local hobby store (made to light the very low thrust Jetex reloadable rocket motors for model planes) which came in little rolls inside a can, and it burned at a very reliable rate. When I put my next motor order together I put down a reminder to get Jetex fuse too for myself.
Well, my father took that paper to Centuri and said he was there to buy motors and fuse to light the motors. A "heated" conversation with the Centuri staff ensued about the fuse part of the order. When my father came home that night he had the motors and a complete launch system which basically was what we had quit using. He said "You really upset those Centuri people, you cant use fuse,!!! You have to use this to launch your rockets....they wouldnt sell me those motors unless I also bought this launcher stuff!"
Well, at least I didnt have to pay for the new controller and battery as my father picked up the cost. Occasionally I chuckle to myself when I see a low power rocket blow an igniter or misfire, cuz it wouldn't have happened with Jetex
