MrCATO Posted January 9 Posted January 9 I usually just use a block of parrafrin wax to lube my spindle before making a rocket motor. The problem is it was stored in my closet which was poorly insulated so the wax came out very cold and hard so it didn't "shed" very well onto the spindle. (like it usually does in the summer) Now I got a motor stuck on my base and spindle that will absolutely refuse to come off. I tried securing the base in a vise and using the solid rammer to provide tupe support while I used channel lock pliers to try and twist the tube off. All this did was mar up my base and tear up the motor a bit. Can I just spray something on the bottom and let it soak for a while?
DavidF Posted January 9 Posted January 9 Next time use Visegrips instead of channel lock pliers. That's the old school method that works whether you wax the spindle or not. Also, if it's a nozzled motor, waxing the nozzle area of the spindle is important. That's what grabs the most. Woodys spindle remover works great too.
MrCATO Posted January 11 Author Posted January 11 Rubbing some alcohol on my hand seems to dry out my skin helping me get a better grip on the round base my bench top vise can't hold. I'll be headed to the store to grab some dry graphite lube, is that okay for this?
DavidF Posted January 11 Posted January 11 (edited) I could not imagine a vise that can't hold a spindle base enough to get a 1lb motor off a spindle. I would hack off 2 sides of the base to make 2 flat sides to grab before I would use graphite. That's how most spindle bases come- with 2 flat sides. EDITED to add: One really handy tip Caleb from Woodys shared is to take a couple of pieces of wood and screw them parallel to each other onto the table where rockets are pressed. They are spaced so that the spindle base (with flat sides, like he makes) slips in between. This holds the motor in position while Visegrips are used to twist the motor off the spindle. Easy and free Edited January 12 by DavidF
MrCATO Posted January 15 Author Posted January 15 With every venture comes small little details nobody tells you about beforehand and you only really figure out when you start trying things. When I got my first AR I didn't know that little dimple left in the primer after chambering a round was due to the floating firing pin and was normal. The shape of my tooling's base was one such example, prior to doing this I would have thought the only difference is cosmetic. If I buy more tooling in the future, the base will definitely be square instead of round. The can of graphite lube I got BTW ended up being an absolute nogo. It's like black spray paint and very messy, waste of $8. I seen ned gorski using some sort of spray lube in a video one time and I can't remember what it was. I'll keep the vise grips handy in the future too, I tried that too and it was way better than the channel locks/slip joints.
Recommended Posts