[AR] Re: Explosive bolt detonator caps
- From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 7 Jan 2016 13:49:24 -0500 (EST)
On Thu, 7 Jan 2016, John Dom wrote:
... the "Vanguard Engineering Summary" gives a detailed description
(drill the bolt lengthwise and epoxy in a couple of standard detonator
caps: specific DuPont part numbers were given!)
Right. So in case I'd like to make such an explosive bolt, say, for
nosecone/chute release, which "standard detonator cap" should the
amateur use? Manufacturers?
The Vanguard Engineering Summary is publicly available, including from
Arocket's own download library (I put it there a few years ago) -- you can
check it yourself.
(ESA used RDX or similar in such bolts devices. I take it such HE's are
not for sale.
You can buy them, I believe, with no more than the usual complications of
buying explosives -- which vary from modest to prohibitive, depending on
where you are. Even pre-made explosive bolts *are* explosives, which
means you need to think in advance about issues like how you will handle
them and transport them and where you will store them, and usually you
need to prove to regulatory authorities that you have satisfactory answers
to those questions. For example, if you want to use them for nosecone
release in a rocket, the authorities may well want to know things like how
you will recover and disarm them if your rocket crashes.
While there may be more bureaucracy, and associated expense, in this than
is really necessary, it's not entirely unjustified. HE devices are a
little too dangerous to just improvise procedures as you go along.
There's a reason why even the professional rocketeers are trying to cut
down on the use of explosive hardware in their designs. Doing it safely
adds a lot of expensive overhead.
Henry
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