New Estes Shock Cords

[LOGAN]

I called Estes for some replacement parts last week for my Heatseeker and they said they will throw in a new shock cord.
(my nosecone is still floating )
I said I probably will use kevlar cord because of the diameter of the body tube and they said we are sending you a new type
of shock cord. They said it is rubberband like and should be using them on all future Estes rockets.

It came on Saturday and sure enough its a grey rubberband material....sorry no pictures yet ...anyone heard anything else on this?

I assume we still glue it or tie it as usual, I did not recieve any directions with it. I will be the Guinee pig.

Rob

The replacement was 24 inches - see pic

PIC https://home.att.net/~godzilla1/sc.jpg

 

[brianc]

Originally posted by LOGAN
They said it is rubberband like and should be using them on all future Estes rockets.

It came on Saturday and sure enough its a grey rubberband material....sorry no pictures yet ...anyone heard anything else on this?

I had something like that in a recent Fat Boy kit from Wal-Mart... I thought it was strange, but did the standard tri-fold and knot mounting.

Seems to be OK after an initial flight. None of the black char residue like the elastic usually collects... We'll see how it holds up after a few more flights.

 

[shreadvector]

Is it like the "OLD" shock cords used from the dawn of time until they switched to braided elastic in the 80's? The original was "Contest Rubber" which is a dark rubber band like material used for rubber powered airplanes. Sometime in the late 60's or early 70's they switched to a white rubbery band material. That is *WHY* we have the goofy tri-fold mount. You see, the rubbery material could not be glued to the body tube. it had to be entombed in a card-stock mount to form an anchor that could then be glued to the paper tube.

 

[cydermaster]

This shock cord sounds a bit like the material Sunward Aerospace use in their kits. I was a little warey of it at first, but the rubber shockcord material outlasted the fins in the Moondance kit I built. After six flights, the fins broke during transit (I dont just mean a little break - they managed to shatter to the point of almost disintegration), but the shockcord was/is still looking as good as the day I took the kit out of its bag.

 

[radiO]

what about length? will we still be replacing them because they are too short?

 

[Austin]

sounds interesting...I would like to see more on these as they would make a good replacement for some classic OOP clone builds.

Carl

 

[sandman]

Hmmm, I have several hundred feet...yes, I said HUNDRED feet of 18" and 3/8" contest rubber band left over from my "stick & tissue" days.

Never even thought to use it.

sandman

 

[Bill]

Originally posted by sandman
Hmmm, I have several hundred feet...yes, I said HUNDRED feet of 18" and 3/8" contest rubber band left over from my "stick & tissue" days.

Never even thought to use it.

And probably should not. That stuff does not age well.


Bill

 

[LOGAN]

The replacement I recieved is pretty long ( I will measure it when I get home...approx 12-18inches)

It has a lot of snap...maybe the Estes Dent will become

the Estes Dent and Rebuild if its too short.

 

[flying_silverad]

Originally posted by sandman
Hmmm, I have several hundred feet...yes, I said HUNDRED feet of 18" and 3/8" contest rubber band left over from my "stick & tissue" days.

Never even thought to use it.

sandman

Ditto...I have about 4-5 lbs of the stuff. I'll have to start some testing

 

[astronboy]

Come one everyone and sing along:

"Everything old is new again..."



Fred

 

[BobH48]

I just got an Estes Outlander and the shock cord is the new "old" style from the 70's. I'm not sure if it's long enough though. I didn't take it out and measure it but just looking at it I can tell it won't be too long

If I remember correctly, (that's asking a lot), there didn't seem to be as much of a problem with shock cords burning through back then as there is with the braided ones now.

I have about 50 ft of 3/16" contest rubber also. Hmmmmm, maybe we're onto something.

 

[LOGAN]

Here is a pic of the replacement shock cord estes sent me already installed in my heatseeker, its 24 inches.

Rob

see pic

https://home.att.net/~godzilla1/sc.jpg

 

[wwattles]

Personally, I'm a strong believer in the Kevlar Elastic from Mile High Rockets. It's a rubber band inside of a Kevlar sleeve. All the resilience of elastic/rubber, all of the strength and fire-resistance of kevlar. Best of both worlds!

Maybe Estes won't purchase it wholesale from MHR, but they might look into making some of their own...

WW

 

[mkmilion]

Originally posted by cydermaster
This shock cord sounds a bit like the material Sunward Aerospace use in their kits.

I believe you're right. I remember the same looking material in my CFX-3. It's not too bad. It holds up quite well. As for length I normally never say this when it comes to shock cords, but it was a bit to long. Taking up a lot of space in the rocket.

 

[Karl]

Originally posted by cydermaster
This shock cord sounds a bit like the material Sunward Aerospace use in their kits. I was a little warey of it at first, but the rubber shockcord material outlasted the fins in the Moondance kit I built. After six flights, the fins broke during transit (I dont just mean a little break - they managed to shatter to the point of almost disintegration), but the shockcord was/is still looking as good as the day I took the kit out of its bag.

Yep that Sunward shockcord is sweet , sometimes ive forgot to put enough wadding in , and still the shockcord is undamaged!
Karl

EDIT:
But that stuff is ALOT 'springyer' than normal elastic shockcords?

 

[Justin]

Okay, one of you old timers tell the young'in what the old estes stuff was. Was it not cloth covered? I have a tissue paper hellcat I built that came with "competition rubber" that was a blue rubber band-ish thingy. Is that what the new/old stuff is? I hope it dosen't toast...

 

[sandman]

No the original Estes shock cord was competition rubber brownish grey colored.

It looks like they have gone back to it.

My thought is It won't last as long time wise maybe a few years exposed to the exhaust chemicals but i think it can take the ejection gasses better on the short term.

We shall see.

sandman

 

[shreadvector]

I started in 1970 and Estes was using the white version of the rubber cord. Perhaps earlier than that they used actual "contest rubber" which was brownish-grey-black. The white stuff is a little different and I think it is more durable. It may be plasticized...

I still prefer braided elastic with the proper amount of elastic used. If it's too narrow it will break. If it's too short it will break or create "Estes dents". If the anchor is too close to the motor it will burn through.

For the side mounted E2X models like the Heatseeker, I use a 9 inch length of cotton cable cord as the anchor and then tie the shock cord to that. it will last forever. We did that with a huge batch of Hijax models we used for a Make-It & Take-It and they survived dozens of flights with zero damage. The scouts and others who built and flew them were amazed at how durable the models were compared to their previous experience with models they described as POS's.

Originally posted by sandman
No the original Estes shock cord was competition rubber brownish grey colored.

It looks like they have gone back to it.

My thought is It won't last as long time wise maybe a few years exposed to the exhaust chemicals but i think it can take the ejection gasses better on the short term.

We shall see.

sandman

 

[BobH48]

No the original Estes shock cord was competition rubber brownish grey colored.

It looks like they have gone back to it.

I just got a couple of Baby Bertha's to make into Goony's and the shock cord is not the original brown grey "contest rubber" but the white rubber shock cord material that was the replacement for contest rubber.

If I remember correctly, it wasn't too bad. I've had more problems with the cloth covered shock cords than I ever did with the old ones.

Or maybe my mind is shot and I don't remember anything

 

[Justin]

So it was whitish rubber, then greyish brown rubber, then by the time I was a BAR (2 years ago) cotton covered elastic?

Then the blue contest rubber with my F6-F tissue kit was just a seperate thing not like any cords mentioned?

 

[Justin]

This history is getting complicated....Which material is best?

 

[Fore Check]

I wouldn't care if they'd rip the waistband off their underwear and toss it in the bag to use as a shock cord - just as long as they made the dad-gummed things longer.......

 

[rabidsheeep]

i just got some sort of estes kit from walmart (some missile type thing), and i was surprised with the shock cord... They still have the paper to attach the cords to the BT.

It feels just like a rubber band actually...

 

[JStarStar]

The original Estes brownish-gray shock cords from the 1960s didn't withstand ejection charges very well - they would become brittle and crackle very quickly and were pretty subject to snap.

Estes also made cords longer in the olden days. The new short ones are a pain, and just about guarantee the nose cone whacking a chunk out of the body tube on ejection.

 

[shreadvector]

Read my earlier post. I am correct.

Originally posted by Justin
So it was whitish rubber, then greyish brown rubber, then by the time I was a BAR (2 years ago) cotton covered elastic?

Then the blue contest rubber with my F6-F tissue kit was just a seperate thing not like any cords mentioned?

 

[BobH48]

When I first got into rocketry in 1966 or 1967 (not sure which), Estes shock cords were the brownish contest rubber.

Sometime in the late 60's or early 70's they switched over to the white shock cords. They were less "springy" than the brown ones but otherwise much the same. These are the ones I am finding in the new kits.

Just recently when I returned to the hobby, the shock cords were the cloth covered elastic.