dagabu Posted September 1, 2014 Posted September 1, 2014 As was the headline, NEPT tubes in the USA are all gone, no more orders will be accepted and Jim from Hobbyhorse is all but exhausted of all popular tubes. Please support Hunter in finding a new manufacturer and supplier, he has a line on them, he just needs us to support him with pre-orders.
mkn Posted September 1, 2014 Posted September 1, 2014 ???? what....I go away for the weekend and this is what I read, but it's not April 1st.
ddewees Posted September 1, 2014 Posted September 1, 2014 Jim will likely find a new manufacturer (hopefully), the sky hasn't fallen yet... (That doesn't mean I didn't order as many as I could afford this morning though. )
psyco_1322 Posted September 1, 2014 Posted September 1, 2014 Did he (Jim) bump the prices because of this or have they been that high?
ddewees Posted September 1, 2014 Posted September 1, 2014 The prices went up some time after May... it wasn't Jim, it was NEPT. I had quotes from them dated in May and August, and the price had almost doubled. Jim just got a letter from them in the past few days. They wouldn't even allow him to make another purchase.
dagabu Posted September 1, 2014 Author Posted September 1, 2014 Jim MAY look into purchasing the roller from NEPT but another manufacturer says the equipment is just junk and is worth more in scrap. Whatever shakes out will be interesting for sure!
Blackthumb Posted September 1, 2014 Posted September 1, 2014 I too am dealing with a possible supplier....would like to have a sample of a NEPT tube and sizes wanted....Have some of these in stock...
ddewees Posted September 1, 2014 Posted September 1, 2014 From the picture, those look like the real deal blackthumb.
TSO Posted September 5, 2014 Posted September 5, 2014 Jim at Hobby Horse is now out of 1lb NEPT tubes.
nater Posted September 5, 2014 Posted September 5, 2014 Some of us will be testing various replacement tubes in a couple weeks at MFF. Stay tuned!
pyrokid Posted September 5, 2014 Posted September 5, 2014 Would it be good or bad for someone in the community to assume the role of manufacturer? It seems good from the outset, because in the case of NEPT tubes, the long lead times and other headaches would be eliminated, and Jim B would no longer be the middle man. Surely prices would remain constant at the very least.
ddewees Posted September 5, 2014 Posted September 5, 2014 You need a company that does this for a living... it's not as simple as rolling paper around a mandrel. Like Nate said, this new supplier they will be testing looks very promising. It's a phenolic impregnated virgin Kraft tube, and supposedly they even offer them waxed... and have been for years. Hopefully it turns out as great as it sounds.
mkn Posted September 5, 2014 Posted September 5, 2014 and we can get them pre waxed.......wow, maybe I'll file the drawings I have been putting together for a simple roller.......
ddewees Posted September 6, 2014 Posted September 6, 2014 I don't know if the wax thing will happen or not, but Phil said they have been doing it for years. I don't see why not. Price is still not certain, but numbers mentioned already were slightly higher than from nept.
nater Posted September 6, 2014 Posted September 6, 2014 Don't forget that Phil's first prices were for a small run, new specs and a rush order. They will only go down from here.
kpknd Posted September 6, 2014 Posted September 6, 2014 I asked Firefox about thier tubes and thay have a diferent supplier. They also sait thad NEPT tubes are top quality. I have been getting my tubes from FF for years and have no complaints.
TSO Posted September 22, 2014 Posted September 22, 2014 Some of us will be testing various replacement tubes in a couple weeks at MFF. Stay tuned!How are the reports from MFF on these new tubes to replace the void left from the end of NEPT tubes?
mikeee Posted September 22, 2014 Posted September 22, 2014 Anybody know how much pressure you can press the fuel grains in the FireFox rocket tubes before they start splitting?I use a tube support while pressing, but cheaper tubes will split after you remove them from the supports. Mikeee http://mikeee12345.w...om/case-formers
kpknd Posted September 25, 2014 Posted September 25, 2014 I ordered a new batch of .75" I.D. tubes from firefox a few months ago and they seem a bit diferent from what I usedto get from them in the past. They are not as shiney as the others, as if made from cheaper paper, and they are a little bigger in diamater. So far the 1.lb. motors I have made with them all went bang and split straight down the side, shorter mortors seem okay.
nater Posted September 25, 2014 Posted September 25, 2014 (edited) How are the reports from MFF on these new tubes to replace the void left from the end of NEPT tubes?The results were mixed. Phil had some phenolic impregnated tubes which we were very promising when we tested the burst strength with a clay a nozzle. However when we pressed whistle in them, they split after the mold was released. Ben Smith pressed a nozzleless BP and whistle rocket in Phils standard spiral tubes and they flew flawlessly. The ID of the tubes was a touch small. Ben and Wolter's tooling fit the tubes fine, but the tooling from Steve LaDuke was too tight. All the tubes fit various supports with a nice friction fit. All in all, while we were not able to get as much testing done as we would have liked, the standard hard spiral tubes are worth pursuing. I have a few more left, so I can test more as time allows. Edited September 25, 2014 by nater
pyrokid Posted September 26, 2014 Posted September 26, 2014 I bought an order of 1 lb. rocket tubes from Phil a few years ago and their ID was too small for my Wolter kit.
nater Posted September 26, 2014 Posted September 26, 2014 A few years ago, Phil had an out of spec batch, which was discounted and advertised as such. Was this the tubes you had? His current batches fit my tooling from Wolter and Firesmith just fine. 1
mkn Posted September 26, 2014 Posted September 26, 2014 I have made a few whistle ( tame whistle ) 4oz with the hard spiral wound from Phil's general store on E-bay. waxed or un waxed they all flew great with 6,000 lbs on the gain, no storage more than 24 hrs. Matt
TSO Posted September 26, 2014 Posted September 26, 2014 That's good to know about those tubes from Phil's General Store. I have seen them in the past listed and saw "spiral wound" and just moved on.
DavidF Posted October 5, 2014 Posted October 5, 2014 http://fireworking.com/sites/default/files/u83/run%2062%2C%20SLD%20hybrid%20%232%20fuel%2C%20Phil%27s%20tooling%20and%20waxed%20.750inch%20Phil%20tube.jpg I did a bunch of tests of Phil's tubes. The ID's are definitely snug for general use, but he is getting thousands more with increased ID. Phil supplied me with .740" diameter tooling to do my testing with, and it worked quite well in waxed tubes. Steve LaDuke's tooling will need to be turned down to take advantage of these low-cost but high-quality tubes. They are not your normal spiral-wound tubes. I posted all my other results on Fireworking.com.
Recommended Posts