More questions about micro maxx....

[moocrew]

alright i have done some research but haven't gotten real far with it. So i thought i would ask you guys about Micromaxx

First off...where do you buy the supplies for them?
do you have to have any special materials or anything "special" to launch them with?

thanks in advance

-moo

 

[rstaff3]

If you haven't already done so, you should joint the micromax yahoo group https://login.yahoo.com/config/logi...//groups.yahoo.com/group/MicroMaxRockets/join

I pretty much get my supplies from totally tubular https://www.wooshrocketry.org/misc/tt.htm This include tubes and CRs. I make the cones from scratch. I have also used the tubes from the AT FirstFire ignitors and 1/4" lugs as body tubes as well as Apogee 10.5mm tubing and even BT-5.

 

[shockwaveriderz]

ehobbies has micro-maxx on sale right now:

https://www.ehobbies.com/rocketry-rocketry-sale-micro-maxx-on-sale.html

 

[shreadvector]

The "SUPER VALUE STARTER SETS" will show up soon.

And the value is *SUPER*

Originally posted by shockwaveriderz
ehobbies has micro-maxx on sale right now:

https://www.ehobbies.com/rocketry-rocketry-sale-micro-maxx-on-sale.html

 

[BlueNinja]

Does anyone have the super value sets in stock, how much are they?

 

[moocrew]

great thnx for all the feedback!

Im still a bit fuzzy on some things thou.

If i got into this type of rocketry....i wouldn't need to go out and buy some type of special launcher would i? i could use my E beam?
what about building techniques...obvioulsy it needs to be extremely lightweight for such a small engine...but i could build the rocs with the same materials right?...same techniques for engine mounting?

 

[rstaff3]

Because of the low impulse of the MMX motors, you are correct that they should be light. The construction can be the same as Estes class rockets, just use scaled down parts. You should wade through the posts on the yahoo group and read the info in the files section of the group. Also, micromister (he's also here on TRF) has a TON of plans on the group for everything from scale, to clones, to oddrocs, pmc...everything. There are also free plans for saucers, monocopters, and a bi-copter.

Here are some quick thoughts.

Nose cones - hand turn from a hard wood dowel using a hand drill. Can also turn from balsa scraps or foam. There are lots of plastic doohickeys that can work too.

Body tubes - You can use First Fire tubes, 1/4" launch lug tubes (ie LOC), Bic Pen tubes, etc I did this for a while but the tubes you buy from Totally Tubular are much lighter. I have a good stock now

Centering rings - you can buy them from Totally Tubular or make them from card stock

Fins - thin balsa, card stock, thin plastic such as the packing from Estes Motors

Shock cord - I like the thinnest Kevlar twine. Get it from Pratt, McMasterCarr or even a fishing store

Chute - maybe, but who needs them on MMX?

Streamer - sometimes, be creative

Wadding - try Teflon plumbers tape

Launch lugs - I use the ink tubes from Bic pens (ink removed of course), the plastic Q-tips work (remove the fuzzy ends of course )

Launcher - If I were you I'd buy a launcher/starter pack from the link earlier. Cheap enough. You really should have the thinner rod for these little guys. You could buy some thin piano wire and build a pad yourself. See the Yahoo group for plans on how to convert the Quest pad for use with a 12v system. I often use the quest pad, remove the plastic housing from the stock quest igniters, slip on a model, and fire it with my 12v controller.

Tired...sleeep....

good luck!

 

[Karl]

Does anyone know how much the mmx Jayhawk & WAC Coporal is please?
Thanks
Karl

 

[shreadvector]

Buy the Super Vlaue Starter Set (when it is available in the next few weeks).

It has a full sized Quest launch pad with a MicroMaxx adapter to hod the micro rod AND a clip that holds the QMX igniters so you can connect regular micro clips (it has a beeping/electronic 9 volt Quest futuristic controller which is GREAT for all normal igniters).

Watch the Yahoogroup for updates and info. Look through the Yahoogroup for past news and lots of background info.

Originally posted by moocrew
great thnx for all the feedback!

Im still a bit fuzzy on some things thou.

If i got into this type of rocketry....i wouldn't need to go out and buy some type of special launcher would i? i could use my E beam?
what about building techniques...obvioulsy it needs to be extremely lightweight for such a small engine...but i could build the rocs with the same materials right?...same techniques for engine mounting?

 

[Micromeister]

Moocrew:
As Richard mentioned Totally tubular is the place for 34" stock length .013" wall white body tubes and black fiber centering rings for .246", .281", .375" and .448" diameters. bigger if your clustereing some plastistruct and evergreen styrene tubes can also be helpful but on the heavy side, Bic pens are great as an entire model or as body tube parts. again on the heavy side.
Launch lugs can be the pen ink tube, coffee stir sticks, the stems from some of the cheap Q-tips, evergreen 1/16" styrene tubing but must be drilled out with a .052" dill bit, or you can roll your own paper two ply tiny tubes per the instructions in the files section of the micromaxxrockets group.l
Most of my micros use teflon plumbers tape Streamer recovery. 1/2 inch wide in the minimium .281" dia models and 3/4" in some of the larger .375", .448" and .544" bodies. McMaster-Carr sells military grade teflon tapes from 1/2" to 2" wide in 43 foot rolls. these can be in yellow, orange and red muted colors. These military grade tapes are also thicker then the white "Harry homeowner" type white teflon pipe thread wrapping tapes. Teflon tapes streamers double as their own wadding further reducing liftoff weight. I prefer 50 to 70lb kevlar braded line for shock cords.
fins can be .020 or .030 white styreme, 1/64 aircraft plywood, 3/32" basswood, .015" waferglass, some packaging materials and .030 clear lexan for the "finless" projects.
I've made 3", 4", 5" and 6" 1/2"mil mylar chutes, but only for some of the very large and heavy micros. X- Form chutes seem to open better on the lighter weight models.
Motor blocks, couplings and nosenone shoulders can be T-2 - .246" tubing or old motor casings can be cut up and used for motor blocks and shoulders.
Nosecones are either hand turned or some of the small vacuum formed styrene cones from Pratt hobbies work really well.
Decals can be printed yourself or purchased from a number of sources.
Try to keep your models in the 3 to 8gram range, for best performance, with 8 to 12 grams as a mid range models flying somewhere in the 15 to 40 foot range.
NOTE! Large heavy micros, ( between 12 to 17grams are considered heavy) do not fly very high, 6 to 15 feet.
heres a look at a few of my micor models not including the Quest RTF model
Hope this helps.

 

[moocrew]

wow!...thanks for all the information!
this has helped so much I am defenitely going to look into buying one of those "specials kits" Can't wait to start on my first try at MM!
thanks again for all the help!

 

[moocrew]

so a set like this is sufficient to launch most of the rockets?
these come preassembled which is fine by me i wanna get the feel of how these things work first.
of course if i made a larger roc i would need a somewhat larger rod..correct?

 

[Micromeister]

Moocrew:
Mocro-Maxx use a .049 to .050" dia 9" to 12" launch rod. 9" come with the silo launch systems. I do NOT know what Mr. Stine is releasng with the Super Deal kits. He mentioned New igniters that will work with one of their standard launch systems. We aren't sure if this will be a new system or an add-on for one of the existing systems. I'd hold off buying "systems" until the release of the Super Deal bulk packs. This launcher my come with both .050 and 1/8" launch rods.?

To directly answer your question. standard (up to about 1 pound model rockets Require at least a 1/8" x 36" long launch rod. D12 models and up need 3/16" x 36" miniumum rods

 

[rstaff3]

The Super Deal sounds super. But if you want to get started now, I still think 5 bucks for a current starter set isn't bad. Or you could buy a piece of piano wire and adapt it to your current Estes pad. Probably easier to make a base from scratch too. Igniter placement on a regular pad isn't too hard. For my last several launches I've just been clamping the MMX rod into my standard, cheapo LPR pad made from a drill chuck and block of wood.

 

[sandman]

I just bought a .050" length of piano wire and slapped a gob of yellow paint on the end so I don't put my eye out (really hard to see on a sunny day!) and stuck it on my regular launch pad.

The easiest way to work the igniter is to tape it to the rod and lower the rocket down onto it. some adjustments are needed to get it just right but masking tape is pretty cheap.

Then I bend the ends of the wire on the igniter out and use my regular launcher clips.

sandman

 

[rstaff3]

I usually split the stock igniter and attach it to the rocket before mounting on the pad. This leaves more wire for the clips to grab and less work down low.

 

[shreadvector]

The Super Value set will have the current QMX igniters (which is why it has a special clip-on adapter to adapt the regular launch pad to the micro rod and grab the igniter so you can attach regular micro clips). REASON: These sets are special blow-out deals to help sell off the hundreds of thousands of motors and igniters he still has, as well as the existing plastic rockets.

Future product will include "real" model rockets and the new (Q2?) igniter (which works in the MMXII-1 motors as well as all other regular size motors).

I prefer an 18 inch long launch rod for these models. The stock rod is too short. i don't know if he will use existing rods in the SVSS or if they will be longer.

Originally posted by Micromister
Moocrew:
Mocro-Maxx use a .049 to .050" dia 9" to 12" launch rod. 9" come with the silo launch systems. I do NOT know what Mr. Stine is releasng with the Super Deal kits. He mentioned New igniters that will work with one of their standard launch systems. We aren't sure if this will be a new system or an add-on for one of the existing systems. I'd hold off buying "systems" until the release of the Super Deal bulk packs. This launcher my come with both .050 and 1/8" launch rods.?

To directly answer your question. standard (up to about 1 pound model rockets Require at least a 1/8" x 36" long launch rod. D12 models and up need 3/16" x 36" miniumum rods

 

[surdumil]

I've definitely missed some news here.

So, obviously, Mr. Stein successfully purchased the MicroMaxx product line that was being sold separately from the rest of Quest?

Last I'd heard, he'd bought Quest and MicroMaxx hadn't been part of the original deal.

 

[moocrew]

yeah..soooo......
just to clear things up a bit...if i get the "starter" set now...all the things that will come with are compatible with all-(MOST) motors and clips?...i mean i could always upgrade the rod later when i get into scratch building...but the launcher, engines, ignitors are compatible with MOST other mirco scale rockect items?

also- are there different sizes of micro engines? or are they all the same size..i haven't found much that would point to the fact that there are diff. sizes.

im getting the feeling i may just want to wait for this super deal.....

 

[moocrew]

one more..lol

i could always modify that launch pad with a longer rod right? if not building a new pad isn't difficult..its just nice to know if the option is there.


thanks again for all of your help guys..i can't thank you enough.

 

[rstaff3]

Originally posted by moocrew
yeah..soooo......
just to clear things up a bit...if i get the "starter" set now...all the things that will come with are compatible with all-(MOST) motors and clips?...i mean i could always upgrade the rod later when i get into scratch building...but the launcher, engines, ignitors are compatible with MOST other mirco scale rockect items?

also- are there different sizes of micro engines? or are they all the same size..i haven't found much that would point to the fact that there are diff. sizes.

im getting the feeling i may just want to wait for this super deal.....

I don't know about the forthcoming Super Deal, but the standard started set's pad/controller comes in a clam-shell plastic case. The sides lay down exposing the pad and the intergral controller. The rod slips into a hole on the pad. This could be replaced with a longer rod of the same dimension. The MMX igniters are housed in a plastic housing which slips into a hole in the pad next to the launch rod. The models slide down onto the igniter. Wire contacts mate with spring metal contacts in the controller. These tend to get mucked up and should be cleaned after every few launches with a Q-tip and alcohol. The controller runs off od a 9v battery. There are plans on how to convert this to 12v operation on the Yahoo group.

Here is a summary of the motors that exist, also from the Yahoo group's FAQ:

The Quest #5662 is the MM-I 0.2 Newton-second motor and has a 1 second
delay. They are 1 inch long and have a smooth plastic casing. They usually
come 8 to a pack. The #5663 is the more powerful MM-II 0.3 N-s motor and has a
0.5 second delay (go figure). They are also 1 inch long and just slightly
smaller in diameter than the #5662's. If you aren't using some form of
positive motor retention you may have to put a wrap of masking tape on the
engine to have a good friction fit. The casing is spiral wound paper. They
come 6 to a package.
(Art Applewhite, [email protected])

 

[moocrew]

yeah alright this is starting to sink in a bit..
i think i may just go with the starter kit then upgrade the rod as needed...i prolly won't get much from the super deal seeing as how it may just consist of engines...and **prebuilt rocs?** anyways..after one or two launches im going to be itching to build my own rocs anyways. And the controller is already taken care of..i can just use my estes if needed...


Thanks again for all the info guys!
im sure this will probably help out more than just one person....
so thanks again for all your information and suggestions.

-moo

 

[shreadvector]

I think you may still be missing something.

The "old" Silo launcher has a special socket that you plug the QMX (MicroMaxx) igniter into. The controller is a 9 volt controller and it is wired into the base. You can just use a longer rod of your own for better launches.

The "Super Value Starter Set" will have a regular Quest launch pad that you can use for any normal sized Model Rocket and a regular Quest9 volt controller with micro clips. There is a special adapter to snap onto the pad that accommodates a micro rod AND has a place to snap in the QMX igniters so that you can easily attach regular micro clips. It also comes with 10 rockets and 50 motors. *FIFTY*

Hobby people says they are Quest product number 5618 and Hobby People number 818603. Retail $39.95 (I expect HP to discount that).

Folks across the USA should ask your local stores if they have
ordered them. If not, you should explain to them why they should.

Originally posted by moocrew
yeah alright this is starting to sink in a bit..
i think i may just go with the starter kit then upgrade the rod as needed...i prolly won't get much from the super deal seeing as how it may just consist of engines...and **prebuilt rocs?** anyways..after one or two launches im going to be itching to build my own rocs anyways. And the controller is already taken care of..i can just use my estes if needed...


Thanks again for all the info guys!
im sure this will probably help out more than just one person....
so thanks again for all your information and suggestions.

-moo

 

[moocrew]

yeah i understand that the "old" launch system is connected.
But thats fine. Im just learning how these types of rockets work first..and for 6 bucks..that a pretty cheap and quick lesson. besides if i like this then ill defenitly be one of the first to own one of those super value packs.


does anyone know if Hobby Lobby will carry these SVSS packs?
i may have to do some calling around today.
i would hate to think of what shipping would be on one of these packs if i bought it online. especially if it were bought from ehobbies...they charge shipping by weight.

 

[surdumil]

You really don't need much special stuff to work with MicroMaxx engines.

I started out with them by simply buying an engine/igniter pack. Using the 1/4" launch lugs from an Estes launch lug variety package, I built up the Fliskits MicroMaxx flying saucers. From the hobby shop, I found a launch rod that was actually a brass fuel tube that whose diameter was small enough to fit the ball-point pen tube that I used as a launch lug.

At launch time, I found a way to secure the launch rod in one of the launch rod holders of a full-sized multiple launch pad. I found that holding the MicroMaxx rocket up by the launch clips was a good way of ensuring the MicroMaxx ignitors make good contact with the grain in the engine. Works great!

So, now I'm thinking about developing some paper rockets to work with the MicroMaxx engines... maybe something simple and classic like a Black Brant II or and IRIS.

 

[Micromeister]

Moocrew:
I seem to remember e-hobby A-Z hobbies had all the Micro-Maxx starter sets on sale for 5.99ea. still haven't seen anything on the Maga bulk sets.

Sheadvector:
Beyond 12" .050" stainless steel, music wire and even carbon fibre rods exhibit way to much whip. For most micro's the supplied 9" rod is fine. I do use 18" rods with gliders and other models the require destance from the base but can not recommend their use for stand models. Even 12" can sometimes cause tip-off. A year or so ago i was experimenting with a 12" MM piston but have trimmed it down to 7' travel. Work on a floating head piston may end up at 6" travel, to attain peak seperation speed.
Hope this helps a little

 

[shreadvector]

i have not had any whip, but YMMV.

I have also used the handy-dandy upper portion of the Quest rod. if you are REALLY old you may have a Centuri rod that works the same way.

I use the free coffee stirrers found at fast food places or any restaurant supply house as launch lugs. Glue does not stick well, but you can always wrap it with adhesive paper and then glue that OR you can encase it in epoxy. I encase it in epoxy and with the forces these tiny things see, they do not pop off. Then I just slide those puppies onto the upper protion of the Quest rod and there is ZERO possibility of whip.

Originally posted by Micromister
Moocrew:
I seem to remember e-hobby A-Z hobbies had all the Micro-Maxx starter sets on sale for 5.99ea. still haven't seen anything on the Maga bulk sets.

Sheadvector:
Beyond 12" .050" stainless steel, music wire and even carbon fibre rods exhibit way to much whip. For most micro's the supplied 9" rod is fine. I do use 18" rods with gliders and other models the require destance from the base but can not recommend their use for stand models. Even 12" can sometimes cause tip-off. A year or so ago i was experimenting with a 12" MM piston but have trimmed it down to 7' travel. Work on a floating head piston may end up at 6" travel, to attain peak seperation speed.
Hope this helps a little

 

[moocrew]

alright now that im past all the supply questions...
here one about the actual rockects.
what are the measurement of a MMX engine?
i know that rstaff3 said they are an inch long. but what about diameter?
ive looked around but i can't find the measurments.

obvioulsy small enough to fit inside a Bic ball point pen.?.


also i know we've went over this...but what would be the point to converting the controller to a 12v system?...other than for the use of clusters. Or is that the only reason?

 

[surdumil]

Follow this link to the dimensions (and full specifications) of the original Quest MicroMaxx motors:

https://www.nar.org/SandT/pdf/Quest/MicroMaxx.pdf

Follow this link to the dimensions (and full specifications) of the Quest MicroMaxx II motots:

https://www.nar.org/SandT/pdf/Quest/MicroMaxxII.pdf

 

[moocrew]

hey thanks!

i think i may be done with questions for awhile.




....atleast untill i get my kit then.....im sure there will be more..lol.
thanks again!

when i get around to building my own..there sure will be pics!