For rockets which use cluster engine mounts, there are several engines to ignite simultaneously. To make this happen, multiple igniter pairs (one per engine) need to fire at the same time. This is where a clip whip comes in. Let's say we have a flying model rocket with a three engine motor mount. We'd need a way to hook up three pairs of igniters (one for each engine) to the controller and have them fire all the same time. As we have 3 engines, we'd need three pairs of alligator clips and 45" (15 x 3) of insulator wire. Now, simply follow the assembly instructions below. The clip whip shown here was created for use with the FlisKits Tres model rocket (uses three engines per launch). If you're not quite sure yet how many rocket engines your cluster rocket will have, it's better to build for more than you think you may need.

If you make a clip whip to ignite four rockets motors and it turns out you'll be using a model rocket with only three motors, your clip whip will still work. Simply don't use/attach one of the alligator clip pairs. On the other hand, if you build for three engines and it turns out you needed more, you may not be able to launch your rocket at all.

List Of Parts

You'll need the items listed below to make your own clip whip. Flaw jaw clips can be substituted for alligator clips.

- alligator clips (one set per engine) - 24/2 insulator wire (15" per engine) - 2 terminal crimps - solder

To make the clip whip, a soldering iron, wire cutter/splitter are also needed. If you're not used to soldering, don't let that keep you from doing this project. I'm quite horrible at soldering myself, yet I managed to build this, fully functional, clip whip. And without burn wounds, I might add. Something that can't be said for other rocketry projects involving soldering that I've attempted.

Assembling The Clip Whip

Start by cutting the insulator wire (speaker wire) into 15" lengths, one per engine. Strip 1" to 1 1/2" from one end of each length. Twist the copper ends together and twist the nickel ends together. At this point, I like to tie all wire lengths together, simply to keep the twisted ends together during assembly (and after).

Strip 1" to 1 1/2" from the remaining wire lengths. Crimp and solder an aligator clip to each end. Crimp and solder the terminal crimps to the pair of twisted wire ends and your clip whip is ready to use. Some people prefer flat jaw clips over alligator clips. They claim to get more reliable ignition that way, which would be a plus for clustering rockets where reliable ignition is key. Others prefer alligator clips. Personally, I went with what I could find easily at a local hardware store and have no preference. I don't launch enough cluster rockets to have one.

Clustering Techniques

To avoid confusion, I like to attach one pair of clips to each igniter pair. Keeps things nice and easy and works fine, however there are other ways of cluster hookups.