Ignitor Pyrogen

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I make 150 igniter blanks today. I wrapped the nicrome and still soldered. I cussed in my head the whole time because I know it is not needed. My goal is 300 igniters by the end of the weekend.
 
I think one is "supposed" to use an acid flux and then neutralize it when done if soldering. I used to solder but gave it up when I just got a tight wire wrapping tool. I suppose if I went to large clusters, I'd go back to soldering plus checking the resistance with a meter to try to make sure the motors would light at roughly the same time.
Staging takes a low current igniter and that's an entirely different animal.
I haven't had very many failures of an igniter and with a single stager, I can afford to walk back out and put a new igniter in if necessary.

Kurt
 
I think one is "supposed" to use an acid flux and then neutralize it when done if soldering. I used to solder but gave it up when I just got a tight wire wrapping tool. I suppose if I went to large clusters, I'd go back to soldering plus checking the resistance with a meter to try to make sure the motors would light at roughly the same time.
Staging takes a low current igniter and that's an entirely different animal.
I haven't had very many failures of an igniter and with a single stager, I can afford to walk back out and put a new igniter in if necessary.

Kurt

I did neutralize the flux.
 
Nobody has mentioned matchsticks- I've wondered if you could scrape the red stuff off the ends of matches and put it on an igniter. If I was doing it I would crush the stuff a little bit at a time, dip the igniter in the nail polish and then dip it in the powder.

I didn't have any nail polish so I tried some igniter experiments tonight. I found some stranded steel wire, the strands measured 0.006" which could be 34 or 35 gage. I dipped the bridge wire in polyurethane and then into match powder. I couldn't get any of them to ignite using a 20V Lithium drill battery. Back to the drawing board.

I have a tiny bit of old nichrome left from Estes BP motors, long ago. I just measured it at just under 0.008" diameter which would be 32 gage, significantly thicker than the steel wire I was using today. I have a few old composite motors that I would like to launch, 24mm single use, so I need to make a few small igniters. For just a couple of engines it's not worth buying an igniter kit or even paying the shipping for a pack of commercial igniters.
 
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Nobody has mentioned matchsticks- I've wondered if you could scrape the red stuff off the ends of matches and put it on an igniter. If I was doing it I would crush the stuff a little bit at a time, dip the igniter in the nail polish and then dip it in the powder.

NOTE : Beware of "Strike-Anywhere" matches !

Also, the chemical composition may become inert if exposed to moisture.

Dave F.
 
NC lacquer (real stuff) is WAY cheaper than replacing mil-surplus 7.62 right now....
I agree, but I bought some really crappy indian ammo that some idiot cleaned with a vibratory cleaner that blew up at least one gun. Not shooting it for sure, lol.
Only usable for brass and raw materials, at this point.
 
I agree, but I bought some really crappy indian ammo that some idiot cleaned with a vibratory cleaner that blew up at least one gun. Not shooting it for sure, lol.
Only usable for brass and raw materials, at this point.
Gotcha, that is totally understandable.
 
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