KCAR Meeting Minutes - July 20, 2002

Attendees, KCAR members:

• Bob Wingate - President
• Theo Asir - Vice President
• Tim Burger - Secretary/Treasurer
• Jerome Tonneson

• Glen Metter
• Shawn Metter

Since there weren’t enough members present to form a quorum, Jerome gave a very interesting demo on creating igniters from kits and partly from scratch. The method demonstrated used common bell wire, with the ends of two wires stripped (1/8" at one end, 1/2" at the other). The two wires were then arranged such that the 1/8" stripped end of one wire is about 3/8" below the stripped end of the other and the wires are twisted together their full length. A short length of nicrome wire is then twisted around the stripped end of the shorter lead using a wire wrap tool. The free part of the nicrome is then wrapped around the insulation of the wire and then wrapped around the stripped part of the longer wire using the wire wrap tool. The igniter is now checked using an ohmmeter. The measured amount should be about 2 ohms - 1.5 to 2.5 is generally accepted as OK. The igniter is now dipped in the pyrogen once, getting a good coating with no lumps or clumps. The pyrogen is purchased as a two-part kit that is mixed by the user. The stuff can be thinned using acetone and will readily harden even in the jar if not carefully contained. Several kits were discussed; including one sold by Yellow Jacket systems that comes complete with nicrome wire (most kits are simply the two part pyrogen and the user must supply his own leads and nicrome.) There is also a kit available that requires no nicrome, but it requires that the igniter be dipped twice - once in a primer that is conductive, and a second time in the pyrogen. Jerome made two igniters, one of bell wire for larger grained motors, and another using Kynar coated wire-wrap wire for smaller motors such as 18mm reloads. The demonstration was very interesting and the club is thankful to Jerome for sharing his experiences with the club.

At this time, more persons had arrived, and there were enough of us to make some decisions so the meeting was called to order.

The March minutes were read by the treasurer, there were no corrections or changes made, and the minutes stood as read.

We began by discussing the important issues first, rather than the standard order of old business, then new business.

1. School Aerospace Demonstration - we have been invited by Scott McQuerry to participate in an Aerospace demonstration at the Pioneer Ridge Science Education Center in Independence on the afternoon of September 7th. John Skelton has already volunteered to participate and since he wasn’t here to defend himself wound up getting elected as the coordinator for this event. Tim and Bob have also volunteered to assist, as well as a possible participation by George. We will use mostly our personal equipment save for some of the things we might need of the club’s such as the launcher, battery, and PA system. See the next item for equipment movements. This event seems like an excellent way to get some exposure for our club, and to encourage growth in the hobby. The Miami County demonstration last year was a great deal of fun and this event promises as much.
2. Launch Equipment Movement - since the equipment is now currently stored in the loft at the Case Farm and will need to be moved from there to the Tickwood Ranch for our August launch we needed to hash out how it would get where it needed to be, and decide where it needed to go after that. We will need some of the equipment on September 7th for the demo, and all of it back at the Case Farm for the September launch. We discussed how we might make this happen as conveniently as possible. Finally we settled on the plan of Bob, Jerome, and Tim (and anyone else who would like to help) arriving at the Case Farm on Saturday morning at 9:30 to collect the equipment. This should allow us to be at the Tickwood Ranch at about 10:30 or thereabouts in time for set up to be ready when the waiver window opens at 11:00. The equipment will then be transported back to the Case Farm after the launch and placed back in the loft, save for the equipment that John determines we will need for the demonstration - more than likely just the box containing the PA/radio/launcher, battery, igniter clips, table, and tarps. These things will be stored by Tim or Bob until the demo. We will sort out how that equipment gets back to the Case Farm in time for the September launch after the demo. Tim will e-mail James and Trisha our plans.
3. Meeting place for September - we have planned a fiber glassing demonstration for the September meeting which will not be conducive to the public library. Initially we had planned to have this meeting at Bill’s place of work, however, he has recently changed jobs and that will no longer be possible. We discussed several possibilities but did not come up with a clear plan. Tim offered to host the meeting in his house with the demo being done either in the yard or the garage if everyone is willing to drive out to his place. No other alternatives were suggested. At this point we decided to verify that Steve is willing to give the demo. We will hash this out and make final plans using the e-groups. The room at the Library has been reserved for the afternoon of September in case the demo is not available. We’ll keep everyone advised using the e-groups.
4. We discussed displaying rockets in the library display case this winter. After the meeting we went out to discuss what dates and cases we’d like to reserve with the librarian. We are on for January, 2003! We have all three of the cases reserved. Please help us fill the case with rockets and photos! We will have access on the first weekend of the month (4th and 5th).
5. Web Site Space - We were recently given notice by our web host that our web site is above the limit of space that we have allotted to us free. We discussed the options (pay for more space, find another host, or trim off photos/videos until we are in compliance.) We discussed briefly the costs involved in upgrading, and did not consider more than briefly changing hosts. So far, the service has been pretty good for what we pay for it (nothing), and the only complaints are in using the graphical web based utilities in order to view the site size and get hit statistics. These pages are very slow to load, filled with fluff and ads, and insisted on us selecting a title (Mr, Mrs, or Ms) and a birth date (we are Mr, and were born on 1892.) Comments were made that the ads are not that distracting on the main web pages and are tolerable. The content to be deleted was discussed - the movies have already been removed placing our current space requirements to 19.35Mb. Some of the pages for 2000 have a lot of photos, and many of those are different pics of the same subject - these duplicates and extras could be easily removed without adversely affecting the content of the pages. It was agreed that this would be the course that we take, and when it becomes necessary, we will remove the earliest pages. A comment was made that of the NAR section web sites, ours has a high ratio of photos, and is a big draw. Bob requested that some forewarning of photos being removed be given via the e-groups. Please note that the photos aren’t lost forever, but will be archived locally as are the movies that have already been removed.
6. Raffle - In order to encourage helpers with the range set up and tear down, the idea of a raffle was put forth by the President. The idea would be to award raffle tickets to those who help with the range duties. The more an individual helps, the more tickets they would be awarded. At the end of the launch a drawing would be held. What needs hashed out is will this help? Will we award tickets for helping with LCO/SCO duties? What sort of kits/motors would we offer, etc. Should we go back to our fixed rate launch fees since the rated system doesn’t seem to be helping? Tim suggested enlarging the idea by raffling something wonderful once at the end of the year such as a copy of Apogee’s Saturn V or Saturn IB rather than multiple raffles after each launch. This would really encourage participation but would require good accounting to keep track of who had been awarded which tickets. We also discussed how we would pay for such a fabulous prize. We did not make any decisions on this idea at this time.
7. We briefly discussed low meeting turn outs and e-group meeting perhaps being the cause. No decisions were made.
8. We also briefly discussed the problems we’ve encountered this season with moving the equipment around. We all agree that we need a trailer, but did not come up with any flashes toward making this possible. We shall all be keeping our eyes open for a decent covered trailer advertised in the paper or e-bay, or sitting by the side of the road.

Meeting was adjourned informally at about 3:45.

1. We are planning to participate in the Pioneer Science demonstration.
2. The equipment will be moved to the launch site on Saturday morning by Bob, Jerome, and Tim and returned there after the launch.
3. We have not decided on a meeting place for September; if Steve has changed his mind about giving the fiber glassing demo then we will meet at the library as usual.
4. We are displaying rockets at the library in January - all three cases.
5. The web site will be trimmed a little as new photos are added. Oldest photos removed first.
6. No decisions were made regarding a raffle for launch assistants
7. No decisions were made regarding finding a trailer

Treasury:

March meeting:	$272.82
Error	-2.00
Prizes	-39.85
Prizes	-56.55
April Launch./contest fees	76.00
Bazinet dues	18.00
Zeilmann dues	18.00
Skelton dues	18.00
Dave Lucas dues	12.00
Theo Asir dues	12.00
June 1 launch fees	11.00
June 8 launch fees	34.00
Mark Grant dues	12.00
July launch/contest fees	40.00
Brown family dues	19.00
Wingate family dues	18.00
Total	$454.42

These minutes are written from memory and notes. Please feel free to point out any inaccuracies, updates, or changes. Please be kind as my memory isn’t what it once was!

Tim Burger Secretary/Treasurer

KCAR Home Page
Email: nar505@yahoo.com

Last updated: July 24, 2002