Ye Olde Rocket Forum

Ye Olde Rocket Forum (http://www.oldrocketforum.com/index.php)
-   Model Rocket History (http://www.oldrocketforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2)
-   -   NCR by Estes F62 Darkstar motor production (http://www.oldrocketforum.com/showthread.php?t=16491)

5x7 02-19-2017 12:25 PM

NCR by Estes F62 Darkstar motor production
 
I started a new thread so not to go OT in Bob's history thread.

F62s were very fine single use motors, especially memorable because another single use smokey available was the AT F14, so the F62 was a wonderful alternative, plus I recall the delays being spot on. I only have four left :(

Matt Steele mentioned that 17,000 were fired in development testing which staggers the imagination.

Matt, can you divulge total number produced?


F62 post

ManofSteele 02-19-2017 04:13 PM

Thanks for the compliments. Between Scott Dixon, Mike Dorffler, Dan Kafun and I, we worked very hard to make a great hobby composite motor. We paid a lot of attention to the delays to make sure they would work well.

I'd prefer not to disclose the total number of motors made, but is was "lots and lots more" than 17,000, as you might guess.

Matt

ghrocketman 02-19-2017 06:22 PM

Just from simple math if they tested 1% of production it would be 1.7 million motors, or if 10% it would be 170,000 motors.
One could reasonably guess it would be somewhere between the two; that is a LOT of F62's !

Brent 02-19-2017 06:23 PM

I saved one each F62-4 and F62-6 and put them up with a few black powder Centuri and Estes Diamond packs. Sad it must have been more cost effective for Estes to contract Aerotech the next time they entered the composite market.

ManofSteele 02-19-2017 08:12 PM

The 17,000 F62 motors tested were all pre-production qualification motors, so you can't draw any conclusions between that number and production testing. We had to test 17,000 before we were satisfied to release the first production motor to the market.

Matt

5x7 02-19-2017 10:35 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by ManofSteele
The 17,000 F62 motors tested were all pre-production qualification motors, so you can't draw any conclusions between that number and production testing. We had to test 17,000 before we were satisfied to release the first production motor to the market.

Matt


Were all of those fired in test stand to generate a thrust curve?

ManofSteele 02-20-2017 12:21 AM

No, the motors had very reproducible time-thrust curves.

The testing was done to establish statistically significant reliability values. We had to be sure the motor worked as designed under a wide variety of conditions (0 degrees F to 120 degrees F, for example). We didn't want any problems to crop up after we released them (like what happened to Estes when they released the infamous D13s that had a propensity to fail catastrophically).

Matt

Initiator001 02-20-2017 12:38 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by ManofSteele
The 17,000 F62 motors tested were all pre-production qualification motors, so you can't draw any conclusions between that number and production testing. We had to test 17,000 before we were satisfied to release the first production motor to the market.

Matt



I guess you guys had...(wait for it)



















Money to burn! ;)

Jerry Irvine 02-20-2017 07:41 AM

I think I saw a figure that was related to a Tunik Q&A that was 6000 delivered motors. I remember feeling that was a relatively small number.

Much of what he did was tax loss destruction of manufacturing assets, tooling and stuff that really should have ended up in a museum. For example he dismantled Vern's house.

Jerry

Rob Campbell 02-20-2017 07:56 AM

Wasn't there fire at Estes that contributed significantly to the decision to exit the mid-power market?


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 07:52 AM.

Powered by: vBulletin Version 3.0.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.