Making Old School Igniters Part 2

With the 1" tail to the left -
Wrap the nichrome around the paper clip wire so you have three loops.
Try to make them even and close together.
Don't get frustrated, it takes a few tries to get it right.

Slide the loops off the end of the paper clip wire.
If they open up, squeeze them back together between your fingers.

You want the loops tight enough to fit into an engine nozzle but the loops can't touch or cross over each other. If a loop touches you could get a short. The inset picture shows what you are trying to make.





If the loops touch you can open them up by passing a knife blade between them.

I stick the igniters between 1/4" wide strips of masking tape like the Estes igniters.
You can use them uncoated or - Paint them with lacquer fingernail polish.
The fingernail polish does two things. It insulates the wire loops and is also a poor excuse for pyrogen.

With a 6 volt controller the 32 gauge wire will take 1/2 second to heat red hot.
Using a 12 volt system the wire heats very quickly and the lacquer will flash.

These are "old school" and the wire diameter is consistent without a thinner bridge wire at the top.
In the old Estes catalog Yellow Pages you were directed to attach the clips close, or farther up the igniter wire for more concentrated heating.

These homemade igniters will ignite single standard 13mm, 18mm and 24mm black powder engines. These will take an extra moment for ignition to occur.
I wouldn't recommend using bare nichrome in clusters. I still prefer the Quest Q2G2 igniters. You want simultaneous ignition when clustering.