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It's ironic that when I order shipping boxes in bulk quantity from Uline that my shipping cost exceeds the cost of the boxes I need to ship stuff to Colorado! I'll bet that the shipping will (or has) cost you every bit as much as the product. Daniel, I recently acquired a treasure trove of rocket gear from a guy who had lost his enthusiasm. It is annoying but 99% of the time the shipping is quick an very reasonable. Had similar experience with long stock and small items (e.g. individual drill bits & end mills) – two packages that could easily be combined into one. Once I ordered 4' and 1' long stock and it came in two boxes when there was clearly room to put the 1' piece with the the 4'. I don't like how the process works, but they got the stuff I want and I get it quick. Does anybody know what they charge for standard ground shipping?
Will this work for th same for 28 gauge? That was a cool piece of technology back in the day. While we're on the topic, is there any significant differences between nichrome-60 vs the purer nichrome-80 for igniters? So…I should have read this thread more before ordering 100' of 40 gauge. I think you can go to 40 gauge if you are running a sensitive pyrogen. If you are lighting AP, then 32 gauge is your friend. 32 Anything thinner will not create/radiate enough heat energy before burning in half.
My soon to arrive MadCow rocket appears to include this. And where do the distinct differences lie between tubular and flat woven? My experience so far is limited to 1/8" & 1/4" elastic, 1/8" & 1/4" flat rubber, and 1/8" & 1/4" tubular Kevlar. Outside pertubations due to minor (undetectable) mis-alignments during construction and ambient conditions would still make the rocket unstable until it was at speed. Why can't they design a rocket that has ports to be used for stability alignment and pipe some of the thurst through them to keep it all lined up. The fins will not stabilize the rocket until they have sufficient air flowing over their surfaces. I wasn't raised in rocketry but it sure looks like it would be a neat thing to try.
I could use the stuff in a cleanroom, with gloves and the whole lot on. I love how it settles and smoothes but tape is definitely your friend with this stuff. With CTI motors there's no option for an eyebolt in the closure, though. I am thinking of just tape wrap friction fit for motor mounting and use an eyebolt FWD closure for recovery mounting. How are you doing motor retention and recovery mounting? Wow if we’re out of the garage and in the office it must be a fancy rocket.
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If your rocket club has rails, consider using them. If you want to launch the LONG-burn motors, you need a longer launch rod! The general rule of thumb for the rocket's minimum velocity (at the top of the launch rod/rail/tower) is 44 feet per second (or 30 MPH). I have the old standard Estes two piece rods AND a 4' length of one piece in both sizes. I have some nichrome left from the old days, mine was used for igniters for the old 21mm FSI engines in about 1965 or 1966. They sell 33 and 36 gauge. FYI…I just noticed that Always Ready Rocketry sells nichrome wire for DIY igniters.
I'm starting to accumulate a pile of tubular nylon that I don't use. Please, kit vendors, give us a complete solution, or interac casino ditch the tubular nylon entirely. So, you need to find/purchase a baffle, a length of kevlar, a sleeve, and/or more nomex blankets. Some vendors throw in a tubular nylon shock cord and think they are doing you a favor, but that is an incomplete solution. These can get tight in a 54mm rocket… My BF Madcow order (2.6" DX3) came with 9/16" tubular nylon, but no protection from ejection charges. And while we are on the subject, where do recovery harnesses come in as an advantage over a straight shock cord?
This will be my first one – a 6-foot-long metric rail, to be used with mini buttons, from rail-buttons.com, on my Estes Partizon, Quest Big Dog, and other rockets. In my rockets that have captive Kevlar braid (like a Wildman Dark Star mini), I find that washing it with dish soap and rinsing well every 5th flight or so makes it last longer. If you have access to a sewing machine and the time and desire, you can invest in a yard of nomex and some nomex thread. Our kids started using the steel cable for their TARC rockets and had too many failures. I've seen rockets that have nylon and Kevlar in a single shock cord setup. My educated guess is that a 40 or 38 gauge will heat up faster than the 30, all other things being equal. It's also my understanding that the igniter tip of the more recent Estes igniters is much thinner than 30 gauge, and the tip is the part that counts.