Going for level 1 and 2

[Tim Thomas]

Adrian, The chute should be 36″ across, you may have a mislabled one. No worrys, I will have a 36 with me, we can swap it out. I packed my Bolt to tight a couple of times and it separated but did not deploy. THUNK But it was just fine. (twice) No one ever said I was real sharp, but I did finaly get it and put in a smaller chute, loosely. Your setup sounds better than mine, so you should be good to go. I will have the Motors with me, bring your glasses! Tim 8)

[AdrianParticipant]

Adrian, The chute should be 36″ across, you may have a mislabled one. No worrys, I will have a 36 with me, we can swap it out.

Actually, after some deployment tests this evening, the chute that I have is the biggest that will fit anyway, so hopefully it will be enough. By the way, I’ve been having success with Pyrodex by potting Estes igniters into 1/4″ cardboard launch lug tubes using 5 minute epoxy. Here are two 1/2″ ones, one 3/4″, and one 1.” The 1/2″ ones are good for my Blue Ninja, and the 1″ one worked well for the Thunderbolt.

[SCOTT EVANS]

Interesting.
Been trying to master the art of ematches the last few nights, with disapointing results. Will a 9 volt fire an estas igniter. I guess I could try it. 🙄

[new2hprParticipant]

You could try, but it would probably require a long “on” time, possibly latched. Most altimeters just give a blip of current to pop an ematch.

Everyone post results from any experiments! 8)

Ken

[AdrianParticipant]

Yes, a 9V battery will fire an Estes ignitor. That’s actually how I’ve been doing my ground tests recently, since I seem to have misplaced my Estes launch controller. I didn’t notice any delay; they seemed to go off pretty much as soon as I made contact. The Parrot altimeter latches the firing circuit on for 1 second, and I seem to recall that at least some other altimeters use 1 second also. I’d check your user manual or better yet, do a test with a DVM that beeps for continuity to be sure.

As for results of the above method so far, they are:

1/2″ charge in a Blue Ninja with a piston and a sealed bulkhead: perfect
1/2″ charge in the same Blue Ninja with a hole in the bulkhead and another in the piston: Partial ejection (lesson learned: Pay attention to pressure leaks)
3/4″ charge in a Thunderbolt 38: partial ejection
1″ long charge in a Thunderbolt 38: adequate ejection, but a little wimpy

1.25″ long charge in a Thunderbolt 38: Test tonight

The construction method seems like it should be self-explanatory from the pictures, but in case it’s not:

1. Cut your tubes in lengths appropriate for your rocket(s) based on ground tests
2. Carefully bend up the tips of the ignitors so that the ignitor head will be in the middle of the tube while the rest of the ignitor is laying flat
3. Mix up some 5-minute Epoxy and glop some onto some plastic or waxed paper. Set the ignitors into the epoxy, making sure that the leads are completely embedded and the head stays dry
4. Put the cardboard tubes over the ignitor heads, doing a little twist to make sure the epoxy adheres to the sides of the tubes all the way around. Wait for the epoxy to cure.
5. Fill up the tubes with Pyrodex or BP. Tamp down gently so the powder leaves the top edge exposed all the way around.
6. Mix up another batch of epoxy and cover the ends of the tubes, making sure that the epoxy adheres to the sides of the tube all the way around the top.

Time to make a batch of 6 charges: 10 minutes + waiting for cure + 5 minutes

Cost: $5.00 for 6 ignitors + $0.10 for powder + ~$1 Epoxy

[new2hprParticipant]

The manual for my MAWD doesn’t specify the latch time, so I should just try it like you said. It certainly works out to cheaper than ematches (and LEUP free).

Ken

[AdrianParticipant]

Well, the charges worked again. In fact, pretty much everything went smoothly for me yesterday. My level 1 flight went out of sight, which I wasn’t expecting. But I never lost radio signal, and from the top of the little hill by the launch site I could see the parachute about 1/4 mile away.

I reloaded with a nice level 2 cert deal from Tim, passed the test, got to the pad and found that I wasn’t getting a good signal from the Beeline. I think the antenna got folded over or something, because when I took the rocket back to the prep area, unpacked and repacked it, it was fine. The second flight, on a J285 (barely a J) went great. I love to see a rocket just wink out of sight like it went through a wormhole or something. I had a good signal all the way down, and the Beeline took me right to it, about 3/4 mile away. It’s nice having a rocket with a big enough parachute that it’s visible from a good distance, unlike the little record attempt rockets which I can’t see until I step on them. Here is some data from the second flight:

So the Parrot works fine for the second deployment in a dual-deployment bird. Good thing, since I already sold a couple of them in that configuration recently. 😉

[Tim Thomas]

8) Adrian, 8,000 ft at Mach 1? Nice flight. 8)

[Bruce R. Schaefer]

What the motor man said, Adrain! Congratulations! I’ll be buying one of those dual deploy altimeters from you at MHM. Hey, you borrowed my pen at the annual meeting, can I have it back? Hee, hee… alpha test comes before beta testing, which comes before production… 😉

[AdrianParticipant]

Thanks, John. I’d forgotten how fun it is to launch a rocket and get the whole thing back. 😉 Wish you could have been there. It has been classic Colorado springtime weather with record-setting mid 70’s yesterday, and blizzard conditions today, never getting out of the mid-20s.

I’ll be buying one of those dual deploy altimeters from you at MHM.

Cool, I’ll try hard to make sure I have some in stock in time for that. I may be sponsoring the prize for the MHM’s mile-high contest, also assuming I can get some more altimeters ready in time. And just in case I haven’t been clear, the Parrot still just does one charge, at apogee or at low altitude. For my flights yesterday I did a drogueless motor deployment at apogee, and the Parrot was set for a low-altitude deployment.

Hey, you borrowed my pen at the annual meeting, can I have it back?

Uh oh. What did it look like?

Hee, hee… alpha test comes before beta testing, which comes before production… Wink

Oh, so that’s how it’s supposed to work. 😆 Don’t worry, I made sure the guys who bought the Parrots for low-altitude deployment knew the first alpha testing was barely done.

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