Testing 5/12 (sort of)

After the last test sequence I did some more igniter test work and made a few changes:

• Increased the orfice sizes raising the igniter chamber pressure from 80 to 160 PSI.
• Changed the check valves to metal seat check valves and moved them closer to the igniter.
• Added a sintered fuel filter to keep from plugging the fuel orfice.
• Changed the orifices from steel to stainless.

After verifying all of these changes with some igniter tests using GOX/Ethanoal I fabricated a new injector and chamber assembly. I also took Sunday the 6th off and went up to help Kevein weld on the Large vertical test stand. It was a really busy week, we finished up and headed to the test site about 19:30 on Friday.

We have been bringing our own LOX out to the test site, but this time we were bringing two barrels of Ethanol and did not want to carry both on the highway at the same time. So we had the LOX delivered. We arrived at the test site about 00:30 Saturday morning. As we unpacked and got ready to camp we noticed a loud hissing noise and discovered it was the lox dewar venting, It was completely empty. The short version is no LOX no testing.

Saturday was scheduled to be a FAR work party weekend, so we spent the day working on the facility. We shovled the sand out of the block house, and laid out and leveled the Emergency Medical Evacuation Helipad. (Just happens to be a 10M diameter circle.)

On Monday the 14th I fly back to DC to talk to the FAA about my experimental permit and to attend the experimental permit workshop.