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Old 02-19-2017, 12:25 PM
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5x7 5x7 is offline
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Default 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?


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Old 02-19-2017, 04:13 PM
ManofSteele ManofSteele is offline
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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
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Old 02-19-2017, 06:22 PM
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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 !
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Old 02-19-2017, 06:23 PM
Brent Brent is offline
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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.
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Old 02-19-2017, 08:12 PM
ManofSteele ManofSteele is offline
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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
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Old 02-19-2017, 10:35 PM
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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?
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Old 02-20-2017, 12:21 AM
ManofSteele ManofSteele is offline
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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
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Old 02-20-2017, 12:38 AM
Initiator001 Initiator001 is offline
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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)



















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Old 02-20-2017, 07:41 AM
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Jerry Irvine Jerry Irvine is offline
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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
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Old 02-20-2017, 07:56 AM
Rob Campbell Rob Campbell is offline
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Wasn't there fire at Estes that contributed significantly to the decision to exit the mid-power market?
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