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Old 02-21-2017, 11:04 PM
ManofSteele ManofSteele is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Sandy, UT
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerry Irvine
Is there anything preventing Estes from simply re-releasing the motors? All the engineering is done. When they re-release kits they do all new molds now since they produce at a contract shop in China.


1) Scott Dixon made all the propellant and delay for Estes. He had the formulation, and Estes does not.

2) There is no one at Estes who knows how to make composite propellant now. There are very few people who know how to make production-sized batches of AP/HTPB propellant. It is not as straightforward as scaling up what most EX folks do. It was also more sophisticated than Aerotech's methods (though more expensive than Aerotech's methods). The process used Vulcan
Systems equipment that is no longer available to Estes. And, Scott doesn't want to do small motors or hobby motors anymore. He does work that pays much, much better.

3) The cases used some special engineered materials and were molded in the US. As far as i know, those materials are not available in China, and not able to be exported.

So, no, Estes can't do it anymore.

The current version of NCR could do something very similar from a technical standpoint, if I were so inclined, but the capital costs of re-starting production and re-certifying the motors is cost-prohibitive.

Sorry!

Matt
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