Hi
I’ve tired making pyro igniters for my liquid system. I didn’t know an ATF
license was needed to make and use you own electrically activated pyro
igniters.
After a lot of experimentation and quality assurance testing, I went with a
commercial igniter. Now, we use grains from a reload kit and the commercial
igniters. Much more reliable.
In Ohio, I lease land for a static test site. I’ve known the owner for years.
Our lease contact says I must inform the local fire department (1.2 miles from
our test site) and the police of when we plan to test. The fire services took
the information and asked a few questions. The police never responded to our
requests. As far as I can tell, the only restrictions I have are what the land
owner puts on me.
That said, I would limit the engine thrust size and test duration. To date,
our max thrust was 800 lbf for 7 seconds (LOX-kerosene, LR-101). We are 1300
feet from the nearest occupied house. I wouldn’t feel comfortable going over
1500 lbf thrust for more than 10 seconds.
I haven’t had any problems with the government. Who else has and in what
context.
Be safe,
Rick Wills
Huber Heights, Ohio
From: arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of
Bruce Beck
Sent: Thursday, 25 February, 2021 6:46 PM
To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AR] Re: Has amateur rocketry gone stealth-mode or what?
Do you have an ATF license and if not do you feel at all vunerable?
On Thu, Feb 25, 2021 at 1:03 PM Dr Edward Jones <RocketPioneer@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:RocketPioneer@xxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
Not many years ago this aRocket forum was effervescent with
experiments, tests, questions, answers, and wise observations my
dozens of enthusiasts, IIRC.
I've only recently resumed hands-on rocket science/engineering/tech
after a few years playing with fire and reaction motors in Mojave.
Good fortune has brought me back to Socorro, in the Land of
Enchantment, home of both the Energetic Materials Research Test Center
[read 'explosives and propellants"] and New Mexico School of Mines now
known as NM Tech, as well as the illustrious and notoriously quiet Mr
Ray aRocket Calkins himself.
Ray commutes to ABQ where he's about to graduate with a federal A&P
License. He's simultaneously engaged with R&D projects at the nearby
SpacePort America, and befriending me with assistance and personal
support in my new life here.
I was an engineering coop training student at White Sands Proving
Ground before Sputnik One and NASA, studying at then NM A&MA, now NM
State U. The Army paid my way (GS-2, Step One, $1.17/hr) letting me
work hands-on with the then-newish HAWK dual-thrust propulsion system.
Now I'm eighty-one, socially isolated, living with permssion in an
"abandoned" house Ray found for me when my place in CA burned last
year in those wildfires.
Ray and I have been playing with fire in reaction motors together
since 1989, when with the support of Dr Henry Spencer we cofounded the
Rocket Science Institute right here in Socorro, on the anniversary of
Apollo 11. Our notion at that time was to cooperatively design, test,
and fly the first amateur (non-government, private non-professionals)
rocket to the Moon. Older aRocket readers will recall our "Lunaris
Project." Thank you again, Henry!
Today I'm developing do-it-yourself ematch igniters for nozzle-less
KNSB motors, cast in paper cases, burning blends of sorbitol, xylitol,
and fructose oxidized by KN with modest additions of AN and AP, along
with the usual condiments. I'm learning again about vacuum degassing
of hot mixes. Happily these little motors can be static and flight
tested nearby.
So what's happening in the low-tech, old-school realm of amateur rocketry?
Curious, always.
Edward Jones