Oops. Only for the second time in 2,500 Estes motors used in 14 years!

[Daddyisabar]

No ejection charge!



D12 5

 

[neil_w]

I use a lot of D12s, not gonna be a happy camper if/when that happens to me.

What happened to the rocket?

 

[Daddyisabar]

BUT THE ROCKET GODS WERE WITH ME!


Steve Riegel's awesome cluster photo! Clips falling with igniters. Dual flame deflecting off the compact disc blast defector! TLP Persius flys again!

 

[SharkWhisperer]

No ejection charge!
View attachment 459354

View attachment 459359
D12 5

When my bud's Big Daddy nosedove into the top of a storage container a few months back and was demolished, there was zero evidence that the ejection charge had fired...D12-5. Unsure exact manufacture date but it was a recent purchase from Hobbylinc, so probably not tooooo old... Yours appears to have been manufactured in 2020; his, too, probably.

Hmmm....

 

[kuririn]

So the second motor ejected the laundry?
Strong case for flying everything with clusters.

 

[Daddyisabar]

So the second motor ejected the laundry?
Strong case for flying everything with clusters.

Yes, second motor saved the day!

 

[Daddyisabar]

When my bud's Big Daddy nosedove into the top of a storage container a few months back and was demolished, there was zero evidence that the ejection charge had fired...D12-5. Unsure exact manufacture date but it was a recent purchase from Hobbylinc, so probably not tooooo old... Yours appears to have been manufactured in 2020; his, too, probably.

Hmmm....

Yes, 11 20 2020. Both motors from one pack just purchased at Hobby Lobby.

 

[icyclops]

Hmmmmmm, guess that burn never made it through the delay material....what does Estes use for their delay and how is it set up to burn through. I always thought it was a slow burning compound that produced the tracking smoke which burned through to the ejection charge. Either means there was no ejection charge or the burn never made it through To it. Perhaps you may want to tear apart that motor and see what happened. If it’s missing the eject charge then they have a real qual control, manufact problem...if the delay stopped the burn, then who knows....very strange no doubt.

 

[KenECoyote]

Could the charge have blown through the nozzle without breaking it?

 

[KennB]

Don't forget to file a MESS report, please.

 

[shockie]

My Big Daddy experience about 12+ years ago. It sat on the launch pad going nowhere with the exhaust just spewing out. ....the clay nozzle and plug inserted had blew out, the engine ignited but the ejection charge never activated.

 

[Daddyisabar]

Could the charge have blown through the nozzle without breaking it?

I have had weak ejection charges where the clay cap was only partially blown out. The pressing machine did not add the powder ejection charge before it was compressed.

 

[Daddyisabar]

My Big Daddy experience about 12+ years ago. It sat on the launch pad going nowhere with the exhaust just spewing out. ....the clay nozzle with nozzle and plug inserted had blew out, the engine ignited but the ejection charge never activated.

Sounds like a CATO and lacking ejection charge combo!

 

[Daddyisabar]

Hmmmmmm, guess that burn never made it through the delay material....what does Estes use for their delay and how is it set up to burn through. I always thought it was a slow burning compound that produced the tracking smoke which burned through to the ejection charge. Either means there was no ejection charge or the burn never made it through To it. Perhaps you may want to tear apart that motor and see what happened. If it’s missing the eject charge then they have a real qual control, manufact problem...if the delay stopped the burn, then who knows....very strange no doubt.

A clay nozzle, 3 different BP mixes and a clay cap all pressed together make up a a BP motor. The trick is to make it an automated, single die compression done on the cheap. That is what a pyrotechnician named Vern Estes figured out in the late 50s. Like chocolate, mass production of BP motors is hard to do.