I received my order of MJG Firewire Initiators from Pyro Direct last week and had a chance to start making and testing my first black powder charges for altimeter controlled recovery. After talking with many of the wonderful rocket enthusiasts at Northern Colorado Rocketry's Octoberfest on Saturday I have decided to try the surgical tubing method. I like the idea of being able to make the charges ahead of time in a quiet controlled environment where I can concentrate on what I am doing. I used a 25ft length of speaker wire and a 9V battery to test the charges. My first test was the Firewire by itself to make sure my testing setup was sound. I followed that with a surgical tubing charge secured on a couple cinder blocks, and then a charge loaded into an empty one gallon ice cream bucket. My kids got a kick out of watching the bucket leap 10 feet into the air. Anyways, on my second attempt with a charge in the bucket it didn't fire. I deconstructed the charge and tried the Initiator by itself. Still no 'joy'. One thing I did differently with that charge was to use a dab of 5 min epoxy to help seal the zip tied ends of the surgical tubing. With my 2 previous charges I was having a little difficulty getting a tight seal on the zip tied ends and was having a few grains of 4F black powder leak out. This leads to a few questions.
First, is there a way to pre-test e-matches? I will be using a Missile Works RRC2+ and from what I can tell from the instructions when I power it up on the pad it will go through a series of diagnostics including 'telling me' if I have continuity through the Drogue and Main terminals. I was just wondering if there is anything else I can do to prior to catch a 'bad' e-match.
Second, could my use of epoxy to help seal the ends of the charge have done something to damage the e-match?
And finally, any other suggestions on how to get a good seal on the ends of the surgical tubing charges?
Thanks for sticking with me through a lengthy post. Any suggestions/answers would be greatly appreciated.
First, is there a way to pre-test e-matches? I will be using a Missile Works RRC2+ and from what I can tell from the instructions when I power it up on the pad it will go through a series of diagnostics including 'telling me' if I have continuity through the Drogue and Main terminals. I was just wondering if there is anything else I can do to prior to catch a 'bad' e-match.
Second, could my use of epoxy to help seal the ends of the charge have done something to damage the e-match?
And finally, any other suggestions on how to get a good seal on the ends of the surgical tubing charges?
Thanks for sticking with me through a lengthy post. Any suggestions/answers would be greatly appreciated.