Caution on Hypertech M motors

I would disagree that it rarely needs replacement; when we discovered mine was missing, that motor had only been fired a few times -- can't recall if it was 2 or 3.

Your point of checking for o-rings is a good one, though. Never assume they're there, and ALWAYS have spares. o-rings are cheap; much cheaper than the gas you burn getting to a launch, only to find you can't fly because you didn't bring a spare o-ring.

-Kevin

Isn't this a CTI product?

After all the work of building a L3 bird and having that happen, I feel bad for the guy.

If he had studied

closely, he might not have had the problem. I can't find fault with Cesaronii over this. Since it was his L3 cert flight, he should have studied it twice as hard.

It was very nice of Anthony to take care of him on this. Great service seems to be the norm for Cesaroni.

P O I N T ! !

Jerry

This should be in the FAQ.

What about the rocket ???? He's still out of a rocket ..

JD

I got quick looksie at it but it looks very fixable. Nothing anywhere to a total destruction.

I timed the fill and it started to vent after about a minute 10 seconds. The other two M hypertek flights I've witnessed took a lot longer than a minute before dumping occurred. Mind you, it was a full fill except it vented early.

Ted Novak TRA#5512 IEAS#75

JDcluster wrote:

Different O-Ring than the one you were missing. You were missing the regular Kine valve O-Ring. The regular Kline valve O-Ring only lasts a flight or two. This motor was missing the Kline valve seat O-Ring.

You have to unscrew the Kline valve to get to this O-Ring. When I inspected the motor before launch I didn't bother to unscrew the Kline valve as there was no reason to suspect the OO-Ring would be missing, especially on a new motor.

Brian Elfert

Yes, but still sold under the Hypertech name. They still have a Kline valve even though Korey Kline is not he owner now.

Cesaroni was making the motors for Hypertek long before Cesaroni bought the product line.

Brian Elfert

The owner studied the manual carefully. The diagram showing the O-Rings is for a J motor. The Kline valve SEAT O-Ring is not mentioned anywhere in the manual.

The reason Anthony is replacing the grain is because the Kline valve seat O-Ring should have been factory installed.

Brian Elfert

The cost of materials for repair should be less than the cost of the second Hypertech grain Cesaroni is sending.

All of the expensive parts are still intact.

Brian Elfert

How about reading the directions? He's lucky he got anything.

A new body tube and new motor mount tube and it will be ready to go. Even the fins are still good.

Others at the field felt the early venting was just a little gas venting. It certainly wasn't leaking heavily like if the regular Kline valve O-Ring was missing.

Brian Elfert

The directions that don't even mention the Kline valve seat O-Ring? Yes, I double checked the online manual and that O-Ring is never mentioned that I could see. The owner had checked everything per the manual.

I knew about the seat O-Ring but I figured the factory would have installed it on a brand new motor. That O-Ring is not a one time use like the others. I wasn't going to tear apart the motor to double check the factory work. I did check for all of the other O-Rings.

When you buy a brand new car, do you tear down the engine to be sure the factory didn't leave out a part?

Brian Elfert

Picture on Page 6 Assembly of Flight Motor first and second bullet. How was the o-ring lubricated as instructed in the second bullet.

Page 9 Post Flight Maintenance - first line

I'm not trying to knock anyone. I feel this was avoidable.

I don't think comparing this to a car is valid. To answer you question, I tear a lot of new stuff apart but not cars.

Different O-Ring in the picture. The M Kline valve has two O-Rings instead of one. The one in question is factory installed and I have never heard of any recommendation to lube it.

The owner read the manual and only saw the one O-Ring in the picture, so he never checked for the second O-ring.

I just assumed the factory did things right. I didn't feel like potentially damaging the Kline valve by unscrewing it.

Any accident is avoidable.

Brian Elfert

Thanks; I didn't realize there was another o-ring under there.

I'll admit, I'm not surprised by Anthony's response -- I've yet to find anyone who wasn't very pleased by his response to any issues.

-Kevin

The only company with better customer service than Cesaroni is Rolls Royce.

Jerry

Jerry - wipe your face!

Fuck you.

The truth hurts.

You.

Jerry