BP electronic ignition problems

Generic BBQ igniter?

You might want to check with some model rocketeers that use solid fuel engines like Estes makes.

Yes I read the OP I mean actually talk to the rocketeers not watch a You tube or read on line.

One can learn a lot from 12 year old boys.....if one survives the experience.

-kBob

Get the coated-wire igniters for those rocket engines.
I used them all the time w/ BP in Officers' Call events
(...back when this was still a free country)

Cannonman, I just tried a little experiment. I used a 13.8V DC power supply capable of sourcing up to 20 amps of current - you could duplicate this with your car battery.
I connected a 6-inch length of 32 AWG nichrome wire across the power supply's output terminals. This wire is supposed to run 10.5 ohms per foot, so we're talking about roughly 5 ohms of resistance (somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.7 amps of current).

Within one second after switching on the power supply, the wire was glowing bright orange -



I lifted a partial spoonful of BP up to touch the wire, and yes indeed, it ignited. When the powder "poofed" it broke the hot wire.

I would suggest a one-inch length of this 32 AWG nichrome wire connected to the end of some speaker wire (20 AWG or larger). Add some type of pyro coating to the nichrome wire segment, as you wish.
If you can keep the speaker wire down to a reasonable length (a few yards?) the ignition time should be well under one second.

I've used a spark plug wire to instantly ignite BP, though I categorically refuse to share the totally non-lethal, hilarious, and stupidly dangerous details.

Hobby rocket engine igniters.
All you need is some standoff wire and a 9v battery.

http://www2.estesrockets.com/pdf/Estes_Igniters_and_their_use.pdf

https://secure.hobbyzone.com/estt2251.html?gclid=CIKsgvT17cYCFZKRHwodkKMJwg

Rc

CANNONMAN said:

I have been trying to create an electronic match. I settled on the Christmas bulb idea. An exposed filament burns quickly with a 9v. Next I coated this with a slurry of BP. No luck with the 9v. So I tried my truck. The amperage from my truck set this off after 2 seconds. Not acceptable. Time to ask for help. "HELP!" OK, so... 1. too much slurry? 2. Try something more reactive like a flash powder as a coating? 3. What is/are the recipes for something else? Pre-built, like Estes rocket igniters are a bit pricy and I did not build them. I've seen a few utube's but I don't seem to have the success. Thanks for ideas and/or directions to go.

Click to expand...

My uncle used to use the filament from an old toaster oven hooked to 12v.

If you must use Christmas tree bulbs the better idea would be to carefully cut the glass bulb, fill the bulb with powder then use glue to replace the bulb. The less oxygen the longer the filament will burn and the greater chance of ignition.

It was/is called the CVA Electra model rifle.

LD

Again, actually talk to some rocketeers. My gang had kids that used everything for controllers from touching bare wire ends to clothespin "booby traps", to aluminum project boxes with early giganto LEDs noting controller status and a Three wafer key to unlock a fire button cover.

The wire ties used on sandwich bread bags is typically nichrome steel.

Hmm Does anyone make a digital Camroc payload these days? Might could even build one cheap enough to have it transmit and not bother revering I bet with old cell phone parts....hmmm, I have to get a new gun project going be fore stuff like that distracts me.

I wonder if some surplus place might have a working Claymore clacker. I seem to recall the earliest canvas Claymores used a GI angle head flashlight with an adaptor to set of the claymore. Maybe mod out a old Maglight four cell light as a controller.

OK that's it I am outta here.

-kBob

Cannonman, it sounds like you could use a 12V NiMH battery pack, like the RC car guys use..... something compact/portable which is capable of sourcing over 5 amps of current.

Why the fixation with 9v batteries?

As rugged as some of those cell phones are now, you could probably launch the whole thing. Use a mirror package to get it looking downward.

Maybe there is some way to modify a little stun gun like this one?

http://www.amazon.com/VIPERTEK-VTS-...pebp=1437593097420&perid=0K4HC9D3C220H16DC7V5

Try this.
http://www.firefox-fx.com/ignition.htm

rc

CVA tried electronic ignition and it is now a discontinued item. If you decide to try a Ohmically heated wire ignition like in model rocketry, realize that you will now have a gun that ignites slower than a matchlock musket. From an old rocketeer from the late 1960's I know that a hot igniter wire resting against a combustible solid propellant takes a big fraction of a second (or more) to ignite.

Don't let that stop you however, trying something out it half the fun!

kBob said:

Again, actually talk to some rocketeers. My gang had kids that used everything for controllers from touching bare wire ends to clothespin "booby traps", to aluminum project boxes with early giganto LEDs noting controller status and a Three wafer key to unlock a fire button cover.

The wire ties used on sandwich bread bags is typically nichrome steel.

Hmm Does anyone make a digital Camroc payload these days? Might could even build one cheap enough to have it transmit and not bother revering I bet with old cell phone parts....hmmm, I have to get a new gun project going be fore stuff like that distracts me.

I wonder if some surplus place might have a working Claymore clacker. I seem to recall the earliest canvas Claymores used a GI angle head flashlight with an adaptor to set of the claymore. Maybe mod out a old Maglight four cell light as a controller.

OK that's it I am outta here.

-kBob

Click to expand...

As a former boy who nearly blew up the family home with home made nitroglycerine, gunpowder, nitrourea, sprengel explosives, fulminate of silver etc and as the father of multiple boys now I think you might be thinking of days past. i never see kids outside these days and when they are forced outside by their father ( if they know who they are ) like mine are then they just mope around until they can get back to their computers.

Today's experiment with the 32 AWG nichrome wire - I didn't have any large-gauge, twin-conductor wire laying around here, so I used an 8-foot length of 24 AWG speaker wire (this should simulate a 30-foot length of 18 AWG speaker wire). I soldered a one-inch length of the nichrome wire at one end of the speaker wire -



I powered it up with a 9V Duracell alkaline battery. From the moment the switch clicked, it took about 1/2 second for the nichrome wire to light up -



The speaker wire plus nichrome wire measured 2.2 ohms on my meter, but the switch added another 0.9 ohms to the circuit...... 3.1 ohms altogether, almost 3 amps of current flow, very similar to my experiment with the big power supply.
I'm a little surprised, I wasn't sure the 9v battery would source that much current.

...

Cannonman,

You have me confused with someone else as I never suggested wireless.

I actually went to Demo school at Velsek Training area by Graffenhowr in 1975.....radio bad...ungawa! Light weigh poncho..bad...ungawa! Gloves..well you get it.

You want a long hairy wait? Try setting off a 2 1/4 block of C4 with six inches of det cord, one round M80 7.62 Nato ball, and the paper matches in C-rations. Notice there is no blasting cap electric or non electric involved.

Small delays are nature of the beast unless you want to spend some real money. Saw more than one actual electric blasting cap take second or third twist from yea olde blasting machine or have a half second wait a bit. One is never sure if it was just the extra twist or a hang fire cooking off.

"Just some cannon fuse, PVC pipe, and common household chemicals."

"Why'd you have the cannon fuse?"

"For my cannon."

Wish I could get a version without the blue language, my kids asked to turn off tremors in just a couple of minutes cause of the cussing.

-kBob

Back when I played with model rockets...lessee, I'm 63, was 16 at the time, you do the math....I did notice that the coated nichrome wire had a delay to it off the Estes launch pad I had powdered by 4 D cells IIRC. So, I built a pad from wood and set it up with a control panel with leads to my ol' man's truck's battery. Much quicker ignition.

That's my $.02 on the model rocket igniters.

I make my own percussion caps with a "Tap-O-Cap", but one uses cap pistol roll caps for the ignition. Haven't made any in a while. Been finding percussion caps at the LGSs around.

I never could make the white part of a match work (antimony pentasulfide IIRC). Must be a trick to it as some say it works. If you could coat THAT in powder form around a nichrome ignitor wire, might work just as a match works. The coated wires work fine and even non-coated nichrome ignitor wire will work to set off model rocket engines with enough juice, a 12 v car battery for instance. I'd bet the coating unnecessary for black powder with enough amps, too.