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  #1  
Old 07-20-2010, 10:57 AM
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Solomoriah Solomoriah is offline
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Default Quest Rocket Engines

I'm really just writing this to complain.

See, I wanted to buy a 25 pack of A6-4 engines for the club launches. That would get me 25 Q2-G2's to make our various clusters ignite more reliably, and 25 nice little engines to fly small rockets on. I'm flush with Estes C6 engines, but low on A's and B's. Basically out of A's.

So I look around, and the bulk pack is a pretty good deal. I found a vendor willing to sell them for about $45.00 a pack... not a great deal, but I can live with it.

But $11.00 shipping is the lowest I've found. Yeah, I know, they're rocket engines... but for a calculated $6.72 per each three engines, I might as well cough up for three-packs at the local hobby shop.

Gah.

I just need to find someone who sells them off the shelf in bulk packs.

Okay, whining time is over, back to work...
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Old 07-20-2010, 11:20 AM
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I've had four problems with Quest motors that have caused me to go with Estes for our school programs.

1. I can order individual 3-packs of A8-5's and and separate wadding just as cheap as I can order bulk packs of A6-4's.
2. I found that teachers and students had more trouble getting good protection with Quest wadding squares than with Estes toilet paper wadding. We had a lot of recovery failures the years we used Quest wadding.
3. The old loose fitting German Quest motors had blow-by, ruining motor mounts. It was too much trouble to tape every motor.
4. Teachers and kids had a lot of trouble with the early Quest wire igniters. They were very thin, which gave problems with micro clips weighing them down. I had to re attach almost every clip to get a good circuit.

The new igniters and Chinese made motors address the last two issues. However, cost and wadding are still enough for me to keep going with Estes A8-5's for now.
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Old 07-20-2010, 12:40 PM
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Solomoriah Solomoriah is offline
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I can't get A8-5's as cheap as I can A6-4's right now. No vendor in my area carries them, and when I go to a bigger 'burg, the prices are very close. I can get A6-4's in 3 packs at a local shop for about what the Hobby Lobby price is for Estes engines.

If Hobby Lobby would just carry long-delay A's and B's, I'd be a happy camper.
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Old 07-20-2010, 01:54 PM
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I'll gladly pay a little more for good-old USA made Estes A8-5's over Quest imports.
One of the few things Estes did right over the last 15 years was to NOT move their motor production to some overseas third-world Elbonia/Arsephartistan part of some cheap-labor country.
One of the few things that will cause me to pay more than actual market value for a product is if I find out it is actually PRODUCED in the USA; NO NATION has ever became rich providing services. You must PRODUCE durable GOODS. High time we stopped the policy of FREE trade with nations that tariff the crap out of our stuff when we export it to them. Time for a FAIR, not free, trade policy across the board and protect our few remaining decent manufacturing jobs.
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Old 07-20-2010, 04:14 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ghrocketman
I'll gladly pay a little more for good-old USA made Estes A8-5's over Quest imports.
One of the few things Estes did right over the last 15 years was to NOT move their motor production to some overseas third-world Elbonia/Arsephartistan part of some cheap-labor country.
One of the few things that will cause me to pay more than actual market value for a product is if I find out it is actually PRODUCED in the USA; NO NATION has ever became rich providing services. You must PRODUCE durable GOODS. High time we stopped the policy of FREE trade with nations that tariff the crap out of our stuff when we export it to them. Time for a FAIR, not free, trade policy across the board and protect our few remaining decent manufacturing jobs.




Since when are single-use rocket motors considered to be durable goods?


Bill
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Old 07-21-2010, 09:43 AM
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Doug Sams Doug Sams is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill
Since when are single-use rocket motors considered to be durable goods?
I guess it's a semantics thing... But in the context of economics, a rocket motor is a durable good rather than a service, etc.

Didn't they teach econ at Cal Tech?

Doug

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Old 07-20-2010, 03:47 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Solomoriah
I can't get A8-5's as cheap as I can A6-4's right now. No vendor in my area carries them, and when I go to a bigger 'burg, the prices are very close. I can get A6-4's in 3 packs at a local shop for about what the Hobby Lobby price is for Estes engines.

If Hobby Lobby would just carry long-delay A's and B's, I'd be a happy camper.


I get A8-5 motors for our school launches from AC Supply. Order $75 worth of merchandise and get free shipping.
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Old 07-20-2010, 04:13 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tbzep
I've had four problems with Quest motors that have caused me to go with Estes for our school programs.

4. Teachers and kids had a lot of trouble with the early Quest wire igniters. They were very thin, which gave problems with micro clips weighing them down. I had to re attach almost every clip to get a good circuit.

The new igniters and Chinese made motors address the last two issues. However, cost and wadding are still enough for me to keep going with Estes A8-5's for now.



I have noticed a somewhat higher misfire rate with the Q2 starters. Besides the problem with the weight of the clips pulling it out of the motor, the thinner wire is more difficult to secure with the plug, making it easier to install it not in contact with the propellant. Also, despite the little bead, those tiny wires are easy to install shorted; maybe Quest should add a couple of small bits of tape to keep the leads apart as their competition does.

Where oh where do you manage to buy A8-5s WITH wadding?


Bill
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  #9  
Old 07-20-2010, 04:22 PM
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Shreadvector Shreadvector is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill
I have noticed a somewhat higher misfire rate with the Q2 starters. Besides the problem with the weight of the clips pulling it out of the motor, the thinner wire is more difficult to secure with the plug, making it easier to install it not in contact with the propellant. Also, despite the little bead, those tiny wires are easy to install shorted; maybe Quest should add a couple of small bits of tape to keep the leads apart as their competition does.

Where oh where do you manage to buy A8-5s WITH wadding?


Bill


The older Q2 igniters with the German motors had thinner wires and the wires were closer together than the last few years of Q2 igniters which had much thicker wires and wires held apart more by the glass bead.
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  #10  
Old 07-20-2010, 05:00 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill
Also, despite the little bead, those tiny wires are easy to install shorted;


This is what I was referring to. With the thin wires, the clips weighted them down so that they moved and came in contact with each other, or the deflector. Even if they were ok to start with, a slight breeze would nudge the rockets and they would end up shorting. We never had that problem with Solar ignitors. I've got some of the new style but I haven't used them yet. They look much better.

As for A8-5's with wadding, I was referring to buying standard 3-packs and buying packages of wadding from AC Supply.
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