From: jim@doink.b23b.ingr.com (James B. Reed)
Subject: Quest motors (was Re: Video)
Reply-To: jimreed@b23b.ingr.com
Organization: Intergraph Corporation, Huntsville, AL.
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 14:15:51 GMT

In article <1992Apr2.144124.26581@cbfsb.cb.att.com>, hrbob@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (robert.e.wiersbe) writes:
|> In article <1090@taniwha.UUCP> paul@taniwha.UUCP (Paul Campbell) writes:
|> [ ... video stuff deleted ... ]
|> >If it turns out that this really happened I'm tempted to go down to my local
|> >hobby stores and tell them that I'm only going to fly Quest engines and kits
|> >and would they please get some of them in ....
|> 
|> On a side note, are the Quest motors the same size as Estes? I know the MRC
|> motors are 1/8" shorter than Estes from experience........

My nearest hobby store recently doubled or trippled their Estes stock and
added Quest stock not quite as large as their old Estes stock.  Here's a
mini-review based on very limited experience with Quest motors.

Quest has a small selection of motors, but their catalog indicates they
will add more pending certification.

I only launched a few times (for friends from out of town).  Only once
with a Quest motor, twice with a Quest ignitor in an Estes motor.

When I recovered my (medium-small Estes) rocket launched with a Quest A6-4,
the motor was pretty hot to the touch.  Estes motors are usually warm, but
the Quest was hot.

I suspect that the Quest ejection charge left more debris inside the body
tube that an Estes.  (That's part of the reason, I only used one Quest
motor, I didn't want to junk up the insides of my Estes Black Hawk.)
This is difficult to say because this was about the tenth launch for
the rocket, it could have been junkier than I realized.

The Quest "Tiger-Tail" ignitor is sort of a cross between an Estes ignitor
and a copperhead.  It is like a copperhead in that it is made of two metal
strips separated by an insulator.  It is like an Estes ignitor in that it
had that black gunk on the tip you stick into the motor.  It looks like
the tiger-tail is a little sturdier than the Estes because there are no
wires to bend and break off the black gunk.  Each ignitor came with a
strange shaped adhesive tape thing that let you use a typical Estes
launch controller with two aligator clips.  I'll try to draw a picture:

      +-----+
      |_   _|      <- Attach to side of motor
        | |
    +---+ +---+
    |         |
    |  O      |    <- Put one clip here
    |         |
    |      O  |    <- Put other clip here
    |         |
    +---------+

The "O"'s are holes.  The adhesive tape thing is folder over the ignitor
so that there is one hole one each side.  It's taped to the motor so the
ignitor won't fall out.  There was no problem with the rocket trying to
fly off with the aligator clips still attached.  The thin neck either
burned through or broke easily.

The tiger-tail responded a little slower than an Estes.  I would guess
that an Estes ignitor "fires" in about a quarter to a third of a second.
The tiger-tail took about twice as long.

I hope this was either helpful or interesting (or both :-).

-- 
James B. Reed                | If at first you don't succeed,
DAZIX, An Intergraph Company | Find out why,
jimreed@b23b.ingr.com        | **THEN** try again.
(205) 730-8874               |