Ye Olde Rocket Forum

Go Back   Ye Olde Rocket Forum > The Doctor is In! > Ask the Doctor
User Name
Password
Auctions Register FAQ Members List Calendar Today's Posts Search Mark Forums Read


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1  
Old 10-22-2020, 11:13 PM
blackshire's Avatar
blackshire blackshire is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
Default Quest/Estes igniters/controller compatibility?

Hello Doctor,

This week I started the process of brainwashing...er, introducing my Physical Therapist's grandson to model rocketry. Before the regular Monday PT session, I gave her a care package containing an Estes Tandem-X Launch Set, a Quest Payloader ONE kit, and a few other Apogee Rockets, ASP, and Estes kits, along with Estes and Quest wadding, an Odd'l Rockets RAISE Spring, Stuart Lodge's and G. Harry Stine's handbooks, and a few packs of Estes 13 mm--and Estes ^and^ Quest 18 mm--motors with igniters (the Quest motors were A3-4 Q-Jets, whose packaging helpfully suggested, "Compare to [or with] A8-3"). My question is as follows:

When launching a rocket that's loaded with a Quest Q-Jet motor (with its included FirstFire Micro https://www.questaerospace.com/2-Pa...5_18338149.aspx igniter type installed), will the Electron Beam launch controller in the Estes Tandem-X Launch Set https://estesrockets.com/product/00...m-x-launch-set/ allow a normal continuity check of the Quest igniter, or will it fire as soon as the safety key is installed? (It's okay if that happens some or all of the time--I'll let them know; I just want to avoid possibly-unpleasant surprises.)

Many Thanks in advance for your help.
__________________
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
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 10-23-2020, 12:33 PM
BEC's Avatar
BEC BEC is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Auburn, Washington
Posts: 3,643
Default

Jason,

The FirstFire micro is safe to use with current Estes launch controllers (which have had an LED for continuity indication for several years). These are the red Electron Beams (and they are even Q2G2 safe).

I thought I checked FirstFire Micros for incandescent continuity lamps (so ~150 mA current) and found them OK when they were first introduced....but right now I'm not sure if I have, so maybe I should go do that again.

How recently was that Tandem-X launch set made?

Added: we have flown Q-Jets off our club launch system, which has an incandescent continuity indicator and which will launch a model with a Q2G2 in it as soon as you check continuity. After a couple of really cautious first uses, we don't worry about them any more. So I would say they are safe with even older incandescent-lamp-equpped Electron Beams (black or yellow or blue ones).
__________________
Bernard Cawley
NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member
SAM 0061
AMA 42160
KG7AIE
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 10-23-2020, 12:59 PM
blackshire's Avatar
blackshire blackshire is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by BEC
Jason,

The FirstFire micro is safe to use with current Estes launch controllers (which have had an LED for continuity indication for several years). These are the red Electron Beams (and they are even Q2G2 safe).

I thought I checked FirstFire Micros for incandescent continuity lamps (so ~150 mA current) and found them OK when they were first introduced....but right now I'm not sure if I have, so maybe I should go do that again.

How recently was that Tandem-X launch set made?

Added: we have flown Q-Jets off our club launch system, which has an incandescent continuity indicator and which will launch a model with a Q2G2 in it as soon as you check continuity. After a couple of really cautious first uses, we don't worry about them any more. So I would say they are safe with even older incandescent-lamp-equpped Electron Beams (black or yellow or blue ones).
That sounds reassuring. Maybe Quest modified their igniter slightly (not fundamental changes; maybe just more of the tip-dip "whiskers" to make it conduct enough to handle an Estes controller's continuity check without firing). I don't know when that Tandem-X Launch Set was manufactured (I'd ordered it from AC Supply earlier this month), as I passed it along to my Physical Therapist on Monday.
__________________
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
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 10-23-2020, 01:49 PM
BEC's Avatar
BEC BEC is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Auburn, Washington
Posts: 3,643
Default

The igniter used in the Q-Jets is really a very small version of what Aerotech uses in some of their larger motors....I don't think it's descended from the Q2G2.

I went back thorugh my emails to Karl at Aerotech and confirmed that we've flown Q-Jets from our old club launch system. That one has a continuity current at least as high as an incandescnent-lamp-equipped Electron Beam or Solar Launch controller (or, really, any Estes controller that used an incandescent lamp) and we did not have any fire-on-continuity-check issues.

So even if that's an older Tandem-X set, it will be fine.

Be aware that the 4s delay in those really IS 4 seconds, it's not short as is often the case with Estes motors. No way that motor should be used in the Amazon from that set. But it will be OK in the Crossfire ISX.
__________________
Bernard Cawley
NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member
SAM 0061
AMA 42160
KG7AIE
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 10-23-2020, 03:25 PM
blackshire's Avatar
blackshire blackshire is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by BEC
The igniter used in the Q-Jets is really a very small version of what Aerotech uses in some of their larger motors....I don't think it's descended from the Q2G2.

I went back thorugh my emails to Karl at Aerotech and confirmed that we've flown Q-Jets from our old club launch system. That one has a continuity current at least as high as an incandescnent-lamp-equipped Electron Beam or Solar Launch controller (or, really, any Estes controller that used an incandescent lamp) and we did not have any fire-on-continuity-check issues.

So even if that's an older Tandem-X set, it will be fine.

Be aware that the 4s delay in those really IS 4 seconds, it's not short as is often the case with Estes motors. No way that motor should be used in the Amazon from that set. But it will be OK in the Crossfire ISX.
I haven't used Quest motors for so long that one or two igniter "iterations" came and went without my seeing or using them; I'd only used the Tiger Tail ones. I wasn't considering the A3-4 being used in the Amazon (I got a pack of its lowest-impulse "B" motors for it). Does the A3-4 use a "Blackjack"-type propellant?
__________________
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
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 10-24-2020, 01:13 AM
BEC's Avatar
BEC BEC is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Auburn, Washington
Posts: 3,643
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by blackshire
I haven't used Quest motors for so long that one or two igniter "iterations" came and went without my seeing or using them; I'd only used the Tiger Tail ones. I wasn't considering the A3-4 being used in the Amazon (I got a pack of its lowest-impulse "B" motors for it). Does the A3-4 use a "Blackjack"-type propellant?


I think they call it "Fast Jack". Yes, black smoky exhaust, and a muted sound. Very different from the Quest black powder motors, especially those made in China.

I have seen but have never used the Tiger Tail igniters. Since then there have been the Quest Q2 igniters, which were similar to the Estes Solar igniter in appearance and behavior. Then came the much-prized-for-clustering Q2G2s. These were supplied with the Chinese-made black powder motor. These are a blob of black conductive pyrogen on the end of fine blue or red-insulated wire and are the ones that will fire on a continuity check if the check indicator is an incandescent bulb. 150mA will light them every time. But that same characteristic made them popular for cluster use (and drag races). They came with a small red "straw" (actually, I think, a short length of a small-diameter plastic coffee stir stick) for retention. I never found that to work very well.

I still have a stash of Q2G2s from buying bulk bags of the Chinese B6-4s (which also outperformed their Estes counterparts by a significant margin, helping me win B Cluster Altitude at NARAM-56). For single-motor use, an Estes igniter/starter, held in with a ball of wadding or an orange plug intended for 1/2A/A3 Estes motors, works fine in them.



The Q-Jets are a completely different animal and handle like the small composites that they are.

In my own experience a Q-Jet A3 is a little weaker than an Estes A8 and a Q-Jet B4 is on a par with Estes B4/B6 motors, based on altitudes reached (measured by altimeter) in a given typical sport model.

The C12s significantly outperform Estes C6s (and the new C5-3) and are my favorites of the Q-Jet line by far. The D16 is a C+, really.

To get back to your original question: the "FirstFire Micro Initiators" are safe on Estes controllers, and work just fine on them. They will even work with the little 9V battery-powered Astron II controller (so they should also work with the little pistol-grip-style Quest controller, though I've not actually tried that). The igniters are kind of fragile, and especially on the As require some care to get all the way into where they need to be inserted, as they ignite the motor at the top of the propellant, up against the delay, just like larger composites. There's a lot of empty space in the As (the propellant is short, but up towards the top of the case) so getting the igniter into the slot in the grain takes a little care. There's a bit of black shrink tube on the igniter that will be quite close to the nozzle opening if the igniter is fully inserted.

I have found that if one of these igniters is damaged and the pyrogen is knocked off the bridge wire, they will still fire a Q-Jet just fine as long as the bridge wire is not broken and they are properly installed.
__________________
Bernard Cawley
NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member
SAM 0061
AMA 42160
KG7AIE
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:40 PM.


Powered by: vBulletin Version 3.0.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe © 1998-2024