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Old 01-02-2016, 03:54 PM
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BEC BEC is offline
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Default Starting the new year off with a bang....unfortunately

It was sunny, calm, but chilly in the Puget Sound area yesterday so I figured I'd do some New Years' Day flying - get the year started off right, so-to-speak. So, I went up to Sixty Acres to burn some propellant.

I don't know if I should take this as an omen, but my very first flight of the year, which should have been a real simple Big Bertha-on-a-C6-5 no-brainer didn't turn out that way. Instead, the C6-5 decided to CATO essentially on ignition. Oddly it blew the nose cone off before the rocket was off the launch rod - the little loop on the base of the nose cone broke and left the 'chute and the AltimeterThree (which I forgot to start) in the body. As the model continued to rise the motor and motor mount blew out the bottom, leaving shredded centering rings around the launch pad. Then, after reaching about 30 feet or so (my guess), it came in ballistic onto the frozen ground which did a little damage to the top of the body tube.

Attached are some reduced-size frame captures from the slow motion video I was attempting to shoot at the same time.

The other five flights were a mix of good (for example a pretty E12-4 flight to 706 feet in my Estes SLV) and not so good. I did get to meet the neighbors to the north of the park and they were very friendly and helped me recover my off-field landing. So, the session ended on an up note.



....and yes, I will submit a MESS report on the motor. I've never had a C6 CATO on me before and I don't know if I've ever seen one do it. The motor wasn't that old - 041707. The BB will be repaired this weekend and ready for the club launch next Saturday.

added: well I thought I'd be fixing the BB this weekend. I find I'm out of CR-2060s. I could make a couple, I suppose, or I can rob another kit for a pair and then order some new parts from Semroc/eRockets. I'll probably do the latter....
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Last edited by BEC : 01-03-2016 at 11:48 PM. Reason: fixing SLV motor callout. Surprised no one caught me (no such thing as "D12-4")
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  #2  
Old 01-02-2016, 06:10 PM
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ghrocketman ghrocketman is offline
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WOW !
I have never had an Estes or Centuri C6 of ANY flavor delay cato on me and I have been flying since 1977.
Never had a B6 cato either.
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Old 01-02-2016, 06:33 PM
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tmacklin tmacklin is offline
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If I understand the date code, the engine was made in April of 2007, 8 1/2 years ago. How was it stored and was there any possible temperature cycling? Had it ever been dropped on a hard surface? From what you describe it sounds like a simultaneous failure of both the nozzle and delay grain. Was the engine casing ruptured? Bummer but still exciting.
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Old 01-02-2016, 07:15 PM
Rob Campbell Rob Campbell is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ghrocketman
WOW !
I have never had an Estes or Centuri C6 of ANY flavor delay cato on me and I have been flying since 1977.
Never had a B6 cato either.



I did back in '75. I launched my Aerobee 300 and shortly after the rocket cleared the rod, all the propelland departed the motor up through the rocket. It made a big smoke cloud and my rocket emerged safely under its chute. The only damage was some burning of the plastic parachute.
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Old 01-02-2016, 10:51 PM
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GH: Yeah, me neither - until yesterday.

TMacklin: I went through all those scenarios in my mind. All motors in my possession are kept indoors and I generally cull ones I've dropped to a hard surface. Where that particular motor came from I cannot say with certainty because I have been taking advantage of sales and buying in bulk since I became a BAR six years ago. Since there were no others of that date code in the C6-5 portion of my big Plano motor box, I suspect it was from a three-pack - but whether I bought it at Wal Mart or Fred Meyer over the past few years I don't know. I have flown 40-year-old motors without incident. I was just as surprised as you and GH when I pulled it out of the remains and it had such a recent date code. The casing did not split or otherwise fail - but it pretty smoked on both ends.

In reviewing the video it's very much like an E9-6 CATO I had a few weeks ago - the nozzle is gone and everything else pretty much burned all at once - or so it appears. I actually have video from a Mobius cam aboard that rocket for that failure - quite spectacular in a couple of frames. That E9-6 is one from one of the three date codes that's already acquired a CATO-ing reputation.

After digging out another Big Bertha kit I managed to locate some BMS and also Semroc RA-2060s so the motor tube has new rings on it now and glue is drying.
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Old 01-03-2016, 09:36 PM
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eljefe eljefe is offline
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I'm glad to hear the damage is repairable. Luckily, I've never had a CATO but I've seen them happen to plenty of friends (all with composite motors).
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Old 01-03-2016, 10:05 PM
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Thanks.

The Big Bertha is back to flyable now....although not as pretty as it was originally thanks to the little bit of crunching the top of the body took (an instant after that fourth picture in the sequence above). So, it'll be ready if we get to fly next weekend.

MESS report now filed.
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Last edited by BEC : 01-03-2016 at 10:22 PM.
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Old 01-07-2016, 09:30 AM
Woody's Workshop Woody's Workshop is offline
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While the engine mount was out, should have thrown a 24mm x 4" mount in there.
But that's just me. I'm always putting bigger engine tubes in things.
Especially now with the Jolly Logic Chute Release coming out SOON.
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Old 01-07-2016, 12:52 PM
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Joe Wooten Joe Wooten is offline
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That smoke ring above the Bertha in the first photo was cool....

At the last Scout launch I did in October, one boy had a C6-7 cato about 30 ft up. It was a brand new engine made in 2015.
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Old 01-07-2016, 05:09 PM
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Joe - that's not a smoke ring, it's the nose cone, turned sideways. Whatever impulse blew it off did it so quickly that the little loop on the side of the nose cone to which the 'chute and shock cord were attached cracked at the base and let the loop of the shock cord the snap swivel attached to the 'chute and the Kevlar loop that retained the AltimeterThree all stay in the body. Very odd.

Woody - you're right, I could have. I've been thinking of building another Big Bertha with a 24mm mount in it, but I certainly could have done so with this one. As it was, I just replaced the centering rings and put the original motor mount tube/block/hook/retaining ring assembly back in. For the nose cone I just drilled a hole in the tapered section that goes in the body and put a Kevlar loop through it and the hole at the aft end to provide a new attachment for the recovery system and such.
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