MOST but not all clear nail polish is nitrocellulose based. look for it in the ingredients.
The brand I currently have is Maybelline Forever Strong. It lists Nitrocellulose 3rd in the ingredients after the solvent package consisting of Ethyl Acetate and Acetone.
I find it mixed with firecracker flash-powder makes for an excellent pyrogen dip.

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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, TURMOIL, FIASCOS, and HAVOC !

True. I've done that as well.

__________________
Living life on the edge...launching C's on a B field.

Been gone a couple of days and have now caught up.

Four level 2 flyers and myself (more than 100 years flying experience) concluded without question the problem was most definitely the igniters.

We used our almost brand new club launch system (3rd launch day) with a fresh 12 volt jump battery, 4 very experienced mentors and the same teacher that has been loading the engines flawlessly for the last 8 of our 9 years at this school. We're talking about a teacher with 2,700 builds and launches under her belt, and we still had 40+ out of 300 fail to launch; George can tell you, he's helped there many times. When replaced with old style igniters 100% launched on 2nd attempt with same engine and with multiple people swapping out igniters; not about experience.

As hard as it is for me to believe I completely missed the reg change for the igniters (writing too much? ) that lets Estes off the hook to some degree, but I still wonder if there isn't something they could do to make them as good as before.

The suggestions to improve them on my own (for clusters) are good ones and at some point I may try it... when my current stock (250-300) old igniters is gone.

Randy
http://www.vernarockets.com
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HHJHOK6
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O14ET8K
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CX1UPCG

A short soak in vinegar loosens up the stuff coating the bridgewire. I suspect that it is hide glue since that was used in the old igniters as well.

Hide glue has no pyrogen qualities so is there simply as mechanical protection for the bridgewire.

Once that is off you can use it naked or after coating in your favorite pyrogen.

I prefer launching with clothes on.

__________________
Living life on the edge...launching C's on a B field.

From Estes MSDS: Flash Point: Auto-ignition temperature 540° F (282° C)

So the igniter only has to get to 540° F / 282° C!

APCP is considerably higher. Close to 650 C.

A kitchen match is about 1200 F. Hard to light APCP with that, easy to light BP.

That is a ridiculously HIGH ignition temp.

__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, TURMOIL, FIASCOS, and HAVOC !

Brought to the rocketry community by our bureaucratic overlords. For our safety of course. And their budget.

If you can get 9 volt *mercury* batteries (they haven't been made for a while, but are probably still available if you search for them), they have a long, shallow output dropoff curve (it's nearly constant until the very end). The Vanguard satellites used multiple mercury "D" batteries with--or instead of, in some of the satellites--solar cells (to power one or both of the transmitters), as did the Pioneer 3 and Pioneer 4 lunar probes. (I used 9 volt mercury batteries in an old General Electric AM/FM pocket radio that went through alkaline 9 volt batteries frustratingly rapidly; with the mercury 9 volt batteries, it outdid the Energizer Bunny.) Some if not most of the button cell batteries are mercury cells, too.

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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR