Safe, intelligent design, precise manufacture and strict engineering tolerances have made Estes Model Rocket Engines the standard in the industry. They have been proven consistent and reliable in more than 300,000,000 launches. Some important features are:
The concept of the pre-assembled model rocket engine is the foundation of this safe, scientific and educational activity.
The engine type code printed on the case has three parts:
The inside of a model rocket engine looks like this:
Literally hundreds of millions of model rocket motors have been produced and safely flown in the last 40 years, a testimony to their safe design and ease of use.
An igniter is a device used to ignite a rocket engine. In model rocketry an igniter element is a strip of resistance wire with or without a coating of pyrotechnic material on it. In the system it performs like a resistor in an electrical circuit. As electricity passes through micro-clips connected to the igniter, the igniter begins to glow and give off heat. If there is a pyrotechnic material coating the wire, it is ignited, and is the last step in the ignition. Igniters must be installed so that the coatings or wire itself is touching the dark-colored propellant grain. If the igniter is not touching the grain, this could cause a misfire. Heat created by the igniter is not great enough to cross a gap between the igniter and propellant grain -- there must be direct contact between the igniter and the propellant.
First, separate the igniter you are going to use from the other igniters by tearing or cutting the paper between any two igniters. Do not remove the paper from the igniter as this may result in cracking the pyrotechnic coating. Now take the igniter and push it all the way into the nozzle of the engine, making sure that the igniter is touching the propellant grain. For some engines you may have to push the igniter a long way down, as when using a B8 type engine, so push down gently until the igniter will go no further. Make certain that the igniter's leads are not crossed. If the leads are crossed, this can cause a "short" in your launch system and thus a misfire. Place the igniter plug in the nozzle of the engine and press down firmly. Bend the igniter leads as shown below.
Here's how to use the new Estes igniter plug technology. Our new brightly colored reusable igniter plugs have virtually eliminated the frustrations and misfires common to other igniter systems.
Two codes completely describe each Estes rocket engine:
1) Color code: Provides at a glance the specific application of the engine:
Green - Single Stage Purple - Upper Stage (on Multi-Staged Rockets) Red - Booster Stage Black - Plugged for special applications2) Alpha-numeric code: Provides the engine's performance information.
TOTAL IMPULSE
This letter indicates total impulse (total power in Newton-seconds) produced by the engine. Each succeeding letter has twice the total power as the previous letter. (Example: "B" engines have twice the power of "A" engines, which results in approximately twice the altitude the rocket will reach.)
AVERAGE THRUST
This number shows the engine's average thrust or average push in Newtons. (4.45 Newtons = 1 lb.)
DELAY
This number gives you the time delay in seconds between the end of thrusting and the ejection charge (green and purple labels). It lets you choose the engine with the delay time you want for any flight. Engine types ending in "0" (red label) have no delay or ejection charge and are for use in booster stages only.
