The dog barf is many shredded pieces of flame resistant treated paper. There is the chance of ejection charge "blow-by" especially in larger body tubes.
I have a LOT of extra wadding! I pick it up and reuse it when I can.
Usually only the bottom piece (closest to the engine ejection) is burnt and can't be reused.
I won't pay retail for some treated toilet paper.
I've bought Parade Pomps online and cut up my own flame resistant crepe paper.
The Quest wadding looks to be parade pomp paper. It's stiffer than the Estes toilet paper wadding and a little harder to pack.
To make the Quest style wadding easier to work with:
Before putting it into the body tube, take one square roll it between your hands into a tight, small ball.
Re-open the wrinkled ball and the crumpled paper will be easier to pack.
On smaller tubes (BT-50 and smaller):
Recrumple the wadding into a ball the right diameter to seal the inside tube sides.
On larger diameter body tubes:
Put your fingertip in the center of the square and press into the top of the tube. The loose sides of the wadding will automatically give a pretty good seal on the inside body tube walls.
Here's a square of the the crepe wadding I cut from a sheet to about 4" square.
It's stronger than the Estes wadding and won't rip down the perforated lines.
It's just a dowel with engine casings friction fitted over the end.
I'm not really tamping the wadding into a tight wad, just insuring the the sides are sealed and the wadding is far enough down the body tube.
I can also insert the dowel end through the engine mount and push up and raise the wadding piston. If it slides pretty easily from the bottom I know the wadding will eject.
A final protective measure:
One square of wadding is wrapped around the low end of the parachute.
This is a extra measure of protection but not a guarantee of no melted spots on the parachute.
Parachute burn spots happen to all of us.
I'd never known the term "parade pomps" before. I searched and found a number of suppliers that looked pretty good, e.g. package of 300 5 1/2" squares for about $3 or $4... but every single one wanted $8 and up for shipping. Still cheaper per sheet than Estes, but seriously, $12 for a small stack of tissue paper? The big sheets of tissue paper look to be much more cost effective, assuming they're really flame resistant.
ReplyDeleteWhen I order, sometimes the shipping charges are a deal breaker. You can bet Quest buys it in BIG quantities so the the shipping doesn't even matter.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember who I ordered the parade pomps from, I know I got the crepe paper sheets (you have to cut it into 4" squares). The rolls are $1.07 each, shipping is still $8.00 additional. I ordered 10 packages at $1.07 from
https://crepepaperstore.com/product/canary-yellow-crepe-paper/
5 1/2 square is pretty large for wadding, 4" is better overall.
I'm so used to the crepe wadding the Estes style wadding seems weak to me now.
Since I cluster so many 18mm motors, I have a huge stash of Questes wadding. For several years, the following is my favorite method for BTs between BT-50 and 2.5" (where I use transplantable 'chute protectors). I take 1 or 2 pieces of the Quest wadding, lay some dog barf on top, and fold the edges over to form a ball. Works great and the mostly intact ball is often recovered near the rocket and still containing the dog barf.
ReplyDeleteWhen I run short I will try the crepe paper.
Hi Dick,
ReplyDeleteYou're like me, I have way too much extra wadding.
I have used dog barf like you with the Quest (or crepe wadding) on either side. It seems to help prevent blow-by of the ejections.
The crepe paper takes a little getting used to, it is stiffer. Now it's about all I use.
Since I fly a lot of low power, I tend to buy the Estes Blast Off Flight Pack 24 engine bulk box (6 each A8-3, B6-4, C6-3, and C6-5.) It comes with both a lot of wadding AND 36 igniters.
ReplyDeleteTom Markel
Hi Tom,
ReplyDeleteI've bought a few of the Blast Off 24 Packs myself. But the there was a time when I was running low on wadding and didn't want to pay so much for the Estes toilet paper. That's when I started using the crepe wadding after realizing Centuri sold crepe paper for wadding in their short lived Stellar line of rockets.