Rocketry Planet

SOUTH BEND, Indiana USA — Rocketflite recently introduced their new MagFire MF-KIT, a kit-form product to make your own low-current electric matches.  Given the difficulty hobby rocketeers may be experiencing with the ever-tightening regulatory noose, the new MagFire kits are a welcome sight.  

Rocketflite's new MF-12 e-match blank.

MagFire electric matches are meant to be a replacement for the Daveyfire "B"-style matches and are suitable for hobby rocketry recovery deployment ejection charges or other similar uses.  This product is not suitable for use in igniting rocket motors on their own. The low-amp pre-stripped one-foot-long electric match blanks can be fired with as little as a single 1.5v AA alkaline battery. The "no fire (N/F) rating" is 0.92 amps and the "all fire (A/F) rating" is 1.6 amps.

The kits consists of four pre-measures bottles which contain the necessary ingredients to make hundreds of low-amp, high-temperature (magnesium) electric matches. The kit includes a water-proofing sealer and thinner, and all necessary tools and instructions. It is designed specifically to produce an electric match that is a near substitute for commercially-made electric squibs used to fire ejection charges in most altimeter or timer-equipped rockets.

Rocketflite's MF-KIT components.

Electric matches (often called e-matches) are used to ignite an ejection charge for the recovery parachute in hobby rockets. Once they are made, they are fairly safe to use and handle. The small explosion made by an e-match is about the same power as a toy cap. But they are friction and impact sensitive, so some care should be taken in using them around black powder ejection charges or other explosive compositions.

At the heart of each e-match is a very thin nichrome wire bridging a small gap on the leading edge of the MF-12 pre-stripped blanks. This nichrome wire is soldered at both ends to ensure good contact. When an electrical current is introduced to the wire, it heats up and melts. The heat from the melting wire then ignites the pyrotechnic material coating the tip of the e-match. It is this ignition, which creates the characteristic pop or snap sound of the e-match igniting.

The MagFire kit has been designed to make it easy for you to make your own electric matches. All the materials have been pre-measured for you. To maintain the highest possible reliability, Rocketflite does not recommend using the MagFire kit with anything other than their pre-stripped MF-12 blanks.

Website: http://www.rocketflite.com/