Originally Posted by CPMcGraw

Carl,

Curiosity has killed more cats than I can count, but I can't help myself here...

When you insert the ceramic nozzle into the casing, do you start from the top down, or just a quick insertion from the... short end?

And, does the ceramic nozzle have a bulge in the middle, or is it more wedge-shaped?

Originally Posted by Carl@Semroc

Everything is packed from the top. A nozzle forming die is at the bottom of the pressure chamber and a tube is inserted over it. The loose clay is measured next and then packed down over the die. The clay nozzle is slightly bigger at the top because as you pack the clay, it expands more nearer the ram. It almost flows like a fluid. By the way, so does the black powder and delay.

Originally Posted by CPMcGraw

So the ceramic is not "heat hardened", but "pressed", similar to a piece of tablet candy? As in several thousand pounds of pressure? This is a "dry" clay with a very low moisture content, yes? The product "fluidizes" as it's pressed.

Originally Posted by Royatl

I think Estes was motivated by reducing cost and simplifying inventory. Quest is probably at the mercy of having to buy large manufacturing lots from overseas (but then, when they *did* have their own machines, they didn't diversify too much).

Originally Posted by Carl@Semroc

Does anyone know where Vern got his original "ceramic clay"?

Originally Posted by Gus

OK Carl, I give up.

And as long as you're answering that one, how about an explanation of how "port burners" got their name.

Originally Posted by CQBArms

Ohhh very cool. I learn something new every day. If I might ask, all of these are going to be A-E? hobby motors? Also will there be the "chance" if hobby motors, to get some different colored smoke in either the boost or delay charge?

Originally Posted by Carl@Semroc

As long as engines are widely available, I don't think a matching brand is as important as it might have been in the past.

The absence of 1/2A and A boosters is a good example of why there is little new or innovative kits to use low power boosters. The places available to fly two-stage rockets with a minimum of a C6-0 is growing smaller all the time. If the C6 was a C12 or C20, at least you could do low altitude two-stage rockets with heavier designs. That is just my opinion. I always liked two-stage rockets that you could see and recover. I also liked the B14-0 because I could make the rocket a little heavier.

I am not sure if Estes and Quest dropped the small boosters and port engines because of low demand or they dropped them to create low demand. I guess we will be working on finding out which it is.

Originally Posted by CPMcGraw

It's probably a dog-chasing-tail problem, beginning with a lack of design direction toward the small motors. Most of the cataloged designs for small motors seemed to go in the "smaller is better" way of thinking, which leads to models like the Mosquito, Quark, and 220 Swift. How many of these have we ourselves lost after just one flight, even on 1/4A and 1/2A power? Lose enough of them, you start getting tired of losing them, and you stop flying them, and then you stop buying the motors because you've stopped flying them...

I'm really interested in the 13 and 10 mm category for my "Schoolyard Sounders" series. Small field issues hit very close to home for me, and right now it prevents me from enjoying multi-stage designs. Having boosters in these sizes would open up a lot of possibilities.