TDK Propulsion » Red http://www.tdkpropulsion.com Research 2.0 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:26:41 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 ROCstock 29 http://www.tdkpropulsion.com/2009/06/rocstock-29/ http://www.tdkpropulsion.com/2009/06/rocstock-29/#comments Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:13:22 +0000 David Reese http://www.tdkpropulsion.com/?p=102 Overcast at times, nice temperatures in June, Skidmarks in California, Frank Kosdon legal again. What was going on?! Hats off to the board and all the volunteers for a fantastic launch. Find some of my photos from ROCstock 29 after the jump, including lots of Ms, Skids, Greens, Reds, and an L3 flight.

]]> http://www.tdkpropulsion.com/2009/06/rocstock-29/feed/ 1 Carbonate Reds http://www.tdkpropulsion.com/2008/08/carbonate-reds/ http://www.tdkpropulsion.com/2008/08/carbonate-reds/#comments Thu, 14 Aug 2008 07:27:33 +0000 David Reese http://www.tdkpropulsion.com/?p=47 It seems that Strontium Carbonate-based red motors get a bit of a bad rap in the community. The king of these formulations is Pat Gordzelik’s Polish Rojo family of propellants. I originally shied away from making reds, as I believed PR/SPR to be “wimpy” propellants that made a weak red flame, and that real men used Strontium Nitrate to make red motors. But Strontium Nitrate has its problems — it’s highly hygroscopic and needs to be dried and screened before use, and the grains must be kept sealed tightly before flight. I have a few old Kosdon East “Red Rhino” motors that are nitrate based, and though they give a BRILLIANT red flame and a delightful low-thrust, long-burn profile, they are immensely difficult to light due to their age and the amount of moisture collected by the hydrophilic Nitrate groups.

So, I decided to try out Polish Rojo:

Nice flame, Pat! (Photo by SoCal Mad Matt, click for larger version)

Further details on the motor after the jump: This was a 54/1400 load in the venerable Arcas (flight #15, I believe) with something between Polish Rojo and Super Polish Rojo propellant. From my understanding, the only difference between the two is the size of the Magnesium used in the fuel; the Mag in this motor was -800 mesh stuff from Pat, though it was slightly clumpy, so I’m not actually sure what to call it. The motor used 3/4″ cores (since I didn’t have a 5/8″ drill bit with me at the launch to core the motor), so it was probably a very full J motor rather than the usual baby K we get from this case. But still, way cool flight.

Moral of the story: Carbonate reds are reds too!

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