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#11
03-26-2016, 01:26 AM
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The only time I have had full-cato E9's were intentional ones that I turned into large firecrackers by smacking them several times on the side with an "engineer's hammer" to fracture/dislodge the propellant from the casing. Makes for a decent 4th of July 'salute' when nothing more decent can be found. Not quite as good as 'flash powder' real M80/Silver Salute/Block buster, but can still be heard several miles away. Naturally ignited by a cannon-fuse hot-glue sealed into the nozzle or a hole in the side.
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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, and HAVOC ! 
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#12
03-26-2016, 03:29 AM
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A mixture of oxygen and acetylene in a black trash bag, ignited with a long (several feet) green cannon fuse taped to it, is even more explosive. A biker (motorcyclist) I met once when I was flying model rockets at Tamiami Park described having done this, using a 6' fuse. It was the cause of a mysterious incident late one night in Miami (with no discernable motive) which shattered windows facing the blast site (an intersection in a residential neighborhood) for blocks all around, but left no fragments. He said that the bag started to wrinkle in reaction to the mixture soon after he vented it from his oxy/acetylene torch, and that the noise of the blast was painful (he ducked behind his house after lighting the fuse and running). Needless to say, I've never been inclined to try this myself.
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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 Last edited by blackshire : 03-26-2016 at 03:48 AM.
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#13
03-26-2016, 03:44 AM
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That Oxy-Acetylene mix in the trash bag sounds like a real BLAST !
__________________
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, and HAVOC !
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#14
03-26-2016, 03:53 AM
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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
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#15
03-26-2016, 10:48 AM
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There ya go... I could see buying the "E" controller *IF* Estes would have actually made it a BETTER flipping controller, instead of a gimmicky (blue with slightly longer leads) version of the dinky standard starter set (yellow) controller they sell as "standard equipment" in starter sets and such... Make it powered by "D" batteries (or better yet a rechargeable RC battery pack) and with a port to plug in a simple lead-out to plug in a pigtail with car battery clips so it could be used with an outside power source, and some decent sized speaker wire or lamp cord 30 foot lead-out wires to the ignitor clips. Dumping the dinky flashlight bulb and switching to LED indicators would be another good step. Make it more like the old "Solar controller" of years past rather than the dinky AA powered things... Same thing with the "E" Pad, which is just an upscale of their standard plastic wonder pad... IMHO they should have upscaled something like the old "Bigfoot" pad, put 8 "D" cells in the base for weight (with a port for external battery supply if desired), put a relay in it, and had a plug-in 30 foot lead controller designed to operate it from the requisite "large model rocket" setback distance... That would have been something that would actually be worth the money and more suitable to the job, capable of launching ANYTHING in the "large model rocket" class up to low-end HPR, and with a relay capable of firing clusters as well... I mean, they had to make new tooling to make an enlarged E-Pad anyway, so WHY NOT make it something that is actually better suited to the size and weight and power of the rockets it's supposedly designed for, rather than a glorified upscale of the dinky standard 3 leg plastic pad from the starter kits, with a jakked up price?? Later! OL J R 
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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!
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#16
03-26-2016, 11:01 AM
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Last fourth of July the nephews were taking plastic pop bottles and squirting some Lysol toilet bowl cleaner into them (strong hydrochloric acid-- I've used it to eat rust off nuts and bolts before) and then dropping in a wadded up piece of aluminum foil and screwing the lid on quickly and tossing it out onto the county road in front of their house... the chemical reaction liberates gas that rapidly overpressurizes the bottle and causes it to explode surprisingly loudly....
I like the looks of the "cremora bomb" myself... take a coffee can punch a little hole in the side and put some viscofuse in it and then dump in a thin layer of smokeless powder. Cover with a paper towel and then dump a bottle of powdered coffee creamer in on top of it and spread it around evenly. Set the can in a hole in the ground and backfill around it with dirt. Light the fuse and run... The gunpowder acts as a "lifting charge" when it goes off and blows the flammable coffee creamer into the air as fine dust particles and aerosolizes it, and acts as an ignitor to create a dust explosion/fireball... Later! OL J R
__________________
The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!
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#17
03-26-2016, 02:29 PM
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If one is interested in a pre-made launch controller, the Estes PSII Launch Controller has 30' of cable and can be powered by six 'C' batteries or a LiPo battery pack.
It even has extra micro-clips for use with clustered motors.
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Bob S.A.M. # 0014
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#18
03-26-2016, 06:04 PM
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You should be fine. I think the Estes controllers us 22 ga. wire. Here is the ohms/meter for several gauges of copper wire: 18 ga., .021 22ga., .053 26 ga., .134 I'd just add 18 ga. lamp cord since it's cheap. If my math is right, each side of your 15 foot extension adds about .1 ohm. I modified an Electron Beam years ago and replaced the standard wire with 18 ga. lamp cord, terminated in a small box with banana jacks. I built up a bunch of 5 foot leads with banana plugs on one end, and micro clips on the other. I did this when I was doing school launches, and wanted easy to replace cords if they got really diirty. Easy to replace, and I could clean them later. I'd just use extension cords now, since they are cheap, and clip off the receptacle and add clips. Similarly, I'd put a receptacle in the box, rather than using banana jacks. But I did not want a modified extension cord with clips being used by students. Somebody would have plugged one into an AC outlet, I have no doubt. I also added 18ga. lamp cord to connect to a 12V gel cell, rather than use the built-in AA batteries. And that meant replacing the lamp, so I epoxied on a small, round piezo buzzer over the lamp socket. Basically I kept the interlock and launch button! I've since modified other Electron Beams, but mostly by just replacing the incandescent lamp with an LED.
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Lee Reep NAR 55948 Projects: Semroc Saturn 1B, Ken Foss Designs Mini Satellite Interceptor In the Paint Shop: Nothing! Too cold! Launch-Ready: Farside-X, Maxi Honest John, Super Scamp
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#19
03-26-2016, 07:19 PM
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One could always "reverse" the connections using 110 v extension cords and plugs... What I mean is, putting the MALE connector on the leadout from the launch controller, so the FEMALE end of the extension cord plugs into it, which leaves the MALE extension cord plug at the launch pad, into which a FEMALE plug end plugs into it with a pair of microclips attached to the wires coming out of it... No way to plug a female connector with a piece of wire and microclips on it into a 110 V outlet... Other than the obvious question, where do you plug into 110 out on the launch field?? Later! OL J R
__________________
The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!
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#20
03-26-2016, 09:11 PM
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We built rockets in the classrooms, and then launched on playground over several days. Everything was stored in the rooms between daily launches. Highly unlikely, although I could see a younger me putting an igniter between clips and plugging into the wall.
__________________
Lee Reep NAR 55948 Projects: Semroc Saturn 1B, Ken Foss Designs Mini Satellite Interceptor In the Paint Shop: Nothing! Too cold! Launch-Ready: Farside-X, Maxi Honest John, Super Scamp
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