Dipping igniter's

I'm finally going to start dipping my own igniters. Just makes sense to me. I already have my pryogen. Any hint's or suggestions. It would be great if we could stay on topic.

Reply to
lovs2fly
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Just a few random thoughts...

If you're going to make a few, just as well make a couple hundred while you're at it... The last batch I did took about 3 leisurely hours and produced about 300 of the rascals -- They essentially lasted for three years. Hmmm....

While your at it, make them for the various motor sizes not only you'll fly but the sizes your friends will fly (nothing is slicker than helping out a buddy or a newbie/guest with a homemade ignitor)

Nice music in the background is good--Reluctant to suggest watching the tube while dipping...

Measure the resistance of each ignitor and group them in piles of similar resistance -- You'll need some layout space but this will give you feedback on your fab techniques. I'll bundle and package resistance sorted ignitors just in case I come across a cluster application. This is laborious, yes...

You'll get some "out lyers" from your resistance measurement sorting. Go ahead and fire them off with a 9v battery. This will get you some confidence on what's a good ignitor. It'll also give you some confidence on how good a 9V battery is. It'll also give you a sense on your processes.

Have something to store them in when your done. I don't like the long skinny tubes as the ignitor gets damaged in these over time. A wooden cigar box serves well. Jim Turner use to individually plastic wrap and cardboard sleeve his FITH products. Wow...

Leave most of them home and lug around just what you think you may need. I ended up simply tossing alot of ignitors that I lost confidence in from simple handling damage over the years.

L8r, Andy

Reply to
Andy Eng

Andy,

What do you use for lead wire?

Reply to
bit eimer

I don't make any more than I think I can use in a year. You can always make more if you need to. I store them in zip-loc baggies in a ammo box. NEVER double dip. Most failures I have seen are with double dipped igniters. The pyrogen tends to blow off of the tip and not ignite.

Les.

Reply to
Les Kramer

Avoid a thick layer of pyrogen on the area where the nichrome, conductive primer or fusehead is located. A thick(er) layer of pyrogen is okay below that area.

Dip the wire the first time. Turn the wire upright so that pyrogen flows down the wire and not to the tip of the igniter. The area where the nichrome or conductive primer is located should have a thin layer of pyrogen. This is the ignition point. You can add more pyrogen below that area by "painting" it on. An igniter should look like a tapered candle - thin at the top and thicker below.

I've used this method with igniters that used a conductive primer and augmented Daveyfire N28F igniters, and it has worked flawlessly for me.

Dean

Reply to
Dean

For the smallest stuff (MR as small as the old B7), wire wrap wire. Take 2 different colors, and using a cordless drill twist them together. 100' spools are available at any good electronics shop.

For bigger stuff (most 29-38mm), scrap phone wire, which may already be pre-twisted, but usually needs more twist. Do NOT use the plenum (teflon) stuff! I've yet to find a source for the tiny zip wire that AT uses for their smaller First Fire ignitors. Any one got a source?

For even bigger nozzles (38mm+), bell wire in zip cord form. The garage door opener wire is the same stuff. Hardware stores have 30-50' spools.

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

Reply to
Bob Kaplow

Hi Bob:

26 ga two-conductor wire listed as FW26D:

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Looks awfully similar to AT wire. It's been a while but last time I bought a 500' spool, it was around $12. I think. Am unsure whether they still sell single spools.... but give 'em a call to find out.

Regards -- Terry

Reply to
prfesser

Have you checked out Bob Fortune's Aerocon? I scored some of Bob's zip wire and near as I can tell it *is* the AT stuff. Haven't been able to compare it with the smaller firstfire only because I don't have any of the smaller firstfires.

Ted Novak TRA#5512 IEAS#75

Reply to
nedtovak

Just called them - $15.75/500ft or $29.95/1000ft

Shipping on single spool $12-18.

Reply to
bit eimer

I would repeat the advice not to dip them too thick. It is natural for us rocket guys to want a nice, thick meaty looking igniter, but my experience has been that it just blows to bits rather than igniting. I've also had several igniters that failed because of a lacquer coating (which also caused the igniters to blow themselves to bits), so now I leave off the lacquer coating, but the igniters are very fragile and don't last long. I may try thinning the lacquer and using a quicker dip in the coating.

Reply to
David

I believe that all three (firefox, aerocon, and AT) are exactly the same.

Reply to
David

Can't the Firefox wire be used possibly to make firecrackers or something?

Reply to
Jerry Irvine

jerry, you really should lay off the model glue.

Reply to
Dave Grayvis

Thanks Prfesser! They list the 26ga wire as .072", which is what I just measured the smaller AT stuff to be. That's the width of the zip cord, not the conductor!

I also found a good wire reference which not only lists the wire diameter sizes, but includes the formula for converting the AWG to diameter!

D(AWG)=.005·92((36-AWG)/39)

26 AWG comes out to 0.0159, which is what I measured for the AT wire conductor. So I think we have a match!

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

Reply to
Bob Kaplow

How much do you want of the shooter's wire?

Do you want a box of cat 5?

Make some noise on the sss list instead...

Reply to
Challengeder Center

Mandatory for model aircraf tparts.

Reply to
Jerry Irvine

Now that's phunnie :)

Ted Novak TRA#5512 IEAS#75

Reply to
the notorious t-e-d

Are the Igniterman products available these days? The IM lacquer dip is supposed to be a special type that doesn't do that - apparently it's _not_ ordinary nitrocellulose lacquer...

With the IM pyrogen and lacquer, I've made "big meaty" igniters for "big meaty" motors (like Aerotech 75mm's) on "standard" e-matches: no problems with the pyrogen "blowing to bits instead of burning", just rapid ignition. (I caught the LCO out "anticipating" by a second or two one time... the rocket was off the rail before he quite got to "zero"!)

I don't know what sort of lacquer that is...

-dave w

Reply to
David Weinshenker

Nail polish?

Ted Novak TRA#5512 IEAS#75

Reply to
the notorious t-e-d

Hmmmm, well I see *someone* is certainly tracking who is associated with which club.

Anyway, fairly ironic since I *have* a box of cat 5 sitting around from prewiring my house 11 years ago. I just never thought about it being the right stuff! So I checked - yes, indeed, 4 twisted pairs of 24 gauge solid - how convenient.

Thanks for providing a clue for the otherwise clueless. :^)

Reply to
bit eimer

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