August 2023
August 2023 Launch Report
One of the best flying days in recent memory! And a well-attended annual picnic full of good food too.
Motor totals:
- 11 – 1/2A or less motors
- 20 – A motors
- 24 – B motors
- 21 – C motors
- 7 – D motors
- 11 – E motors
- 11 – F motors
- 3 – G motors
Total of 108 motors on 100 flights
It was a very busy day at the pads. 100 flights is a lot for us, and nearly every rod was used on every salvo until the very last couple. I think we were flying until at least 5:30, and we only stopped because we were all exhausted! Even Joe at Rocketship Games had a busy day, and I don’t think he was able to fly until the very end. But no, it wasn’t quite a record. In October of 2022 we had 104 flights and burned 110 motors. Also, in July of 2022 we also had 100 flights, but “only” 103 motors, so yesterday is firmly in 2nd place for the busiest launches (that I have records for). Well done everyone!
So let’s get right to the food. Being our annual picnic, and our Grand High Exalted Poohbah’s birthday, he treated us to some melt-in-your-mouth ribs that were pretty darn fantastic. Also corn bread, hot dogs, and Martha’s Rocket cookies and dip. Not a bad start. Lots of other folks added lots of other goodies too. Salads of all kinds, fruit, pastas, corn, drinks, and sooo many sweet treats! I tried, but couldn’t sample everything. Never did find anything I did not like. Another item of note for the lucky few who were able to try it was Ken’s “Upside Down Flint-Rubble Double Bubble Cake” – also known as a blueberry pie. But it was about the best blueberry pie I have ever had. Must have been the blueberries that he hand-picked recently. I’m not sure which was a bigger amount – the food we ate, or the rocket fuel we burned! Well done, Kudos, and many thanks to everyone who brought something to share. (next year we’ll need another tent!)
So if you were watching, there were a number of classic rockets that came in multiple sizes. Goblins, Bull Pups, Bertha’s, and Bullet Bobby’s. They came in small, medium, and Extra-large (which were Neil’s small versions). I think I even saw a couple of extra-small micro max versions too. For the most part, they all flew great, proving that a good design is a good design, no matter what size it is.
Speaking of Micro Max, did anyone else notice the abundance of those small, but fast rockets, especially later in the afternoon? They are quick, but they can be good fun if your eyes are good enough to build them, and track the little buggers. Don’t let their small size fool you. They are well detailed, good-looking rockets. Rocketship Games is your source for all things Micro Max if you are interested in launching into that class of rockets.
Trying as hard as they could, Don and Brian C. just couldn’t get rid of their Leapers. They flew them a number of times hoping to crash them or loose them to the pond across the road. While others had such misfortune, those Leapers did not. Sorry guys, you get to fly them another day!
We had a few new folks to the field. I can’t name them all, but welcome! And a shout out to young Will and Spencer, who both built their first rockets right there on the field, and flew them several times each with great success. Well done! Will even built a second one, and I believe bought a third from Rocketship Games to work on for next month!
You might have noticed a few students from the American Rocketry Challenge team (The ARC, which replaces TARC – don’t get me started on that one!) from the Staten Island Technical High School. The team flew with us earlier this year and are back for another run at it. Good luck folks!
A face we haven’t seen in awhile also reappeared. Welcome “home” Josh! Josh has been busy since we last saw him a few months ago. He built a nice rocket (LOC-IV?) for his Level 1, which he successfully achieved recently. He’s already eyeing his Level 2! Josh also graduated High School and is about to head off to college to study engineering. Congrats Josh, and good luck. Say hello to Elon for us when you are working for him soon.
Pictures are in the Gallery. Add any good ones that you took.
Next on the calendar is a Scout build and launch out in Millstone. We will help them build their rockets on the Friday evening of Aug. 18th, then we help them launch the next day, Saturday morning of the 19th. The kids are fun to work with, and it is always a good time. Details are on the calendar page if you are interested in helping out either session, or both. You don’t even need to set aside a full day to come help out, just a few hours.
Finally, our next launch is September 3rd, Labor Day weekend. We’ll be in that “Back-to-school” season, so bring anything school related. Maybe a flying crayon, or a Skywriter pencil like Kate flew yesterday.
Hrmmm. I'm realizing that one of the reasons it wasn't a record was we had a lot of ignitor failures, so many rockets stayed on the pads through 2 or 3 rounds (Texas Two-Step anyone??).... But that happens. Unless we start pouring black powder down all those Estes nozzles and violating the warranty we aren't going to get a 100% success rate. However, on the upside, I had never used an Estes F15 before and I was pleasantly surprised how nicely that worked -- King Ring was a good match for that motor and I'm likely to team that up again, although as I said to Charlie, I think next month I'm doing all 18mm motors (although some might be Quest 18mm) to try and keep my rockets within the bounds of the field as walking through the weeds is getting old (or I'm getting old, not sure which).
Yo! For the record, I believe "Texas 2-Step" went on the first try. It was the "Purple Space" that failed to launch.
So to recap, all motors were running on "Texas" (unlike a certain cluster rocket that ran on 2/3 of its engines), and we saw it land, (unlike a proto-something that was lost until it landed on a roof).
"Don't mess with Texas!" Just sayin' 😁
Quote from Brian C. on August 7, 2023, 10:44 pmUnless we start pouring black powder down all those Estes nozzles and violating the warranty we aren't going to get a 100% success rate.
Why would using black powder to ignite a black powder motor violate a warranty? I've been dipping Estes ignitors in collodion and fine black powder for some time now. A similar "hack" was featured in an article in "Sport Rocketry" a few years ago as well. There are companies, such as MJG, that make small electric matches for black powder motors. Did I miss a codicil that invalidates an Estes motor warranty if it is ignited with something other than their crappy igniters?
Quote from Admin on August 8, 2023, 8:58 amDid I miss a codicil that invalidates an Estes motor warranty if it is ignited with something other than their crappy igniters?
Trust me, Estes does not like any modification to the way they describe you are supposed to launch a rocket. First of all, all equipment to be used must be maunfactured by Estes!! And you should pay them double.
But seriously, the last time I contacted them regarding a CATO, I had mentioned that "a friend" told told me to epoxy the nozzle (FYI: this is Eric's trick, but I did not mention names); and the rep got back to me warning me not to modify the motors in any way. Needless to say I took this with a large grain of salt, as frankly, that's like telling me to build the rocket kit stock!
The important question is what was the problem with the Purple Space? If we can answer that, then maybe we can solve the misfires.
Quote from Ckirlew on August 8, 2023, 10:44 amThe important question is what was the problem with the Purple Space? If we can answer that, then maybe we can solve the misfires.
Estes ignitors and the plastic plug that goes into the nozzle can be problematic. It took me months to figure out how to get it right almost every time. You've got to gently spread apart the leads that connect to the nichrome wire and pull those apart just a tad, then insert into the nozzle and then insert the plastic plug. The force of the insertion of the plug will already bend the leads sticking out of the motor. But they also squeeze together the leads going to the nichrome wire.
I believe that if they are too close during manuafcture, then when you insert the plug, they short out against each other and while you have continuity, you cannot get the ignitor to fire. If we can train everyone to pull 'em apart just a liitle before insertion, we might have more succesful ignitions.
There is nothing wrong with Purple Space. Just as I doubt there is much wrong with other rockets that don't fire on the first try. Purple Space was not the only one with multiple failure to launch issues. It happens. But we all try to increase the odds of a good flight.
I didn't examine the rocket, or witness all of the attempts, but Jo Ann tells me she found the clips a little loose on the 1st attempt. Then after the 2nd attempt she changed the starter, although she said it had not burned. It also did not burn on the 3rd attempt. She did not spread the igniter wires. While I didn't see them, my best guess is that they were touching inside and shorted out. As was said, inserting the plug often scrunches the wires a bit and it happens inside where you can't see it.
I have for years now been routinely spreading the wires slightly (while holding the tip to keep it together) before insertion in the motor. I have shown this to many folks, fliers, and scouts. This is not a guarantee that it can't short out, especially in the smaller motors, but I feel it helps. Other possible causes for non-ignition are starters not touching the propellant, separating the tip wires, breaking off the starter's pyro chemical, poor connection, old motor with oxidation inside (more for composite motors I understand), lack of current through the wires and clips, or assorted acts of God.
So all we can do is try to reduce the chances of failure, but it will never go away. But I don't think this is a major issue, and I don't know why we're spending time on it now. We rarely have a "perfect" rack of all 12-16 liftoffs. Failures are also opportunities to learn, and we can help by assisting anyone who is having difficulty - which I think we generally do well as a Club. (That's one of our strengths in fact.) What's the alternative, remove any rocket that doesn't light on the first try? That just adds frustration to an already frustrating experience. What's the cost of these failures to launch, we didn't set a 1-day launch record? Oh well.
If we want, perhaps we can add a section on the rocketry hub page, where we point out some of these tips and tricks to help people succeed. Also point out some pitfalls.
But I haven't heard or seen of a launch event that didn't have some fails. And I am pretty sure that the fliers are self-motivated to minimize fails too. So I really don't see big problem here. It's not an increasing epidemic.
And yes, I'm sure Estes doesn't want to encourage adding epoxy to the D & E12's. But they have yet to tell anyone what the cause of the issue is, and I have yet to experience a problem with the dozen or more motors I have modified this way. So until this stops happening, or we know more, I will keep doing it. I just won't publicly promote the matter outside of our Club.
Quote from Brian C. on August 8, 2023, 2:08 pmYou've got to gently spread apart the leads that connect to the nichrome wire and pull those apart just a tad, then insert into the nozzle and then insert the plastic plug.
I teach people to do that every time I first show them how to insert an ignitor. If that's not done, there's a higher probability of the leads shorting together in the throat of the motor nozzle when the plug is inserted. False continuity check!