Motor mounts for este rockets

[Lunarxray1968]

Has anyone come up with a creative way to mount motors into their rockets ? Other then buying motor retainers or the old fashion way of using a wire to hold the engine in? I'm looking for something easy and inexpensive

 

[rharshberger]

Has anyone come up with a creative way to mount motors into their rockets ? Other then buying motor retainers or the old fashion way of using a wire to hold the engine in? I'm looking for something easy and inexpensive

For black powder Estes/Quest type motors, I usually ditch the motor hooks and just friction fit the motor using masking tape.

 

[Lunarxray1968]

How do you pull them out after the launch? Do they come out easy with pliers ?

 

[jadebox]

Water bottle top retainers:

https://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/2012/07/18mm-retainer-article-in-apogee-peak-of.html

-- Roger

 

[TangoJuliet]

That water bottle retainer is a neat idea, and I suppose if you've already got water bottles laying around, it's cheap. But I don't see anything wrong with the "old fashioned" way, and there's no bottle cap to lose.

 

[tomsteve]

How do you pull them out after the launch? Do they come out easy with pliers ?

if ya have the pliers with ya when retrieving the rocket, the motors usually come out easy when theyre warm. sometimes pliers aren't even necessary, but I keep em in my back pocket just in case.

 

[Flyfalcons]

Welcome to TRF. I generally prefer having a positive, mechanical motor retention, but I have to say that I haven't had a motor get spit out when using friction fit as well as some tape wrapped around the motor and motor mount tube.

 

[rharshberger]

How do you pull them out after the launch? Do they come out easy with pliers ?

Usually they do, and usually it only requires finger pressure, one thing to make sure of is that you spiral the tape around the motor casing a small amount so that as its inserted in the motor tube the tape doesn't roll back along the forward edge, by spiraling the tape a small amount, the edge of the tape inserted first is only a single thickness and it goes in easily (somewhere CJ aka blackjack2564 posted a picture of this very recently in reference to a minimum diameter rocket project).

 

[soopirV]

+1 on the water bottle retainer- I only have one build like that, and just flew it for the first time last weekend, but it was pretty slick. Some drawbacks- need to substantially build-out the motor tube, and it doesn't work well for anything less than BT-50...to be honest, I think maybe mine is even a BT-55. I built it a long time ago, just never got around to flying. Kids thought it was cool, and, "just like the big ones!" meaning aeropack. Also- be aware that you'll need to install the igniter after securing the motor- sometimes it's easier for us to install the igniter first, before the motor due to fin arrangements and whatnot. If you have a complex tail end, test it first.
All my other LPR that aren't MinDia use engine hooks- I like 'em just fine.

 

[sl98]

There are several Apogee newsletters with lots of graphics for different types of motor retention. https://www.apogeerockets.com/Peak-of-Flight

Look at #95, 96, 97, 317 & 326. I have these downloaded. There may be others articles on motor retention.

#95-97 are on minimum diameter retention
#317 is water bottle top retainer (suggested by others above)
#326 is flip clip.

I've use the flip clip described in #326. Works great on both minimum diameter and in a motor mount. I bought the brass tubing at hobby lobby for a buck or two with a coupon. I still have a lot of tubing left from my one time purchase.

If you ever change out your windshield wiper blades you can pull the metal strips out of the blade. Use the metal strips to make a traditional motor clip. Just use an old motor to bend the strips around to get the proper size.

 

[Lunarxray1968]

Wow that's a great idea ! Using the metal strip from the wiper blades. Thanks for that tip ! My wife will be happy, I've been stealing her metal BBQ skewer's LoL