fyi: canopy
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Christopher Gorski
Apr 21, 2012, 6:13:22 PM4/21/12
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FYI: Rodney asked about the canopy, so I snapped a couple pictures and put them in the NSL-4 group:
To be honest, though it was tangled up in some pretty rotten latex, the parachute itself is in surprisingly good shape. It's a little bugbitten, kind of sunbleached, has a couple tears, and a few spots of what's probably some sort of mold... but generally intact, and I would expect the tears could be mended.
I am not sure if I trust reusing it without testing, though. Anybody want to guess how to do that?
--me
R Radford
Apr 21, 2012, 9:32:07 PM4/21/12
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From the photo, it looks in great shape to me - we really don't care
about the cosmetics of bleaching, mold, etc. I suggest we just try
hand washing it first to make it look better and get some of the crap
off of it, and then give a good yank to see if the shroud lines seem
firmly attached still.
If we can get one guy to hold the loop at the top and another to grab
the shroud lines and yank a couple of times and we don't hear any
further tears or cracking due to old nylon, I say it is good for a
launch.
Remember the guy that sold it to us told me that we could just go with
a streamer at the weight we are launching and that a parachute is
technically not even needed. So at worst, it acts like a streamer.
However, if you want a functional test, attach a couple pound weight
to it and drop it off a bridge somewhere (please not over I40, but
surely there is a place it can be dropped that will not endanger
traffic below). Personally, if the tug-test works and the material
seems supple enough, I would be willing to go with it.
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about the cosmetics of bleaching, mold, etc. I suggest we just try
hand washing it first to make it look better and get some of the crap
off of it, and then give a good yank to see if the shroud lines seem
firmly attached still.
If we can get one guy to hold the loop at the top and another to grab
the shroud lines and yank a couple of times and we don't hear any
further tears or cracking due to old nylon, I say it is good for a
launch.
Remember the guy that sold it to us told me that we could just go with
a streamer at the weight we are launching and that a parachute is
technically not even needed. So at worst, it acts like a streamer.
However, if you want a functional test, attach a couple pound weight
to it and drop it off a bridge somewhere (please not over I40, but
surely there is a place it can be dropped that will not endanger
traffic below). Personally, if the tug-test works and the material
seems supple enough, I would be willing to go with it.
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Groups "NC Near Space Research" group.
> To post to this group, send email to ncnea...@googlegroups.com
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> ncnearspace...@googlegroups.com
> For more options, visit this group at
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Christopher Gorski
Apr 21, 2012, 10:58:42 PM4/21/12
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That's probably a good approach in general, Rodney.
Just a couple of details: I do want to address the mold, but only so it doesn't get worse; the bleaching only concerns me inasmuch as it might have weakened the fibers (though to be honest, it has been nice being able to look for blaze orange in the tree line); and I'd like to try to figure out how to patch the holes just so they don't get worse.
But I had forgotten he had suggested a streamer might be okay.
If anybody has a favorite non-chlorine mold remover, I am all ears... Will try and test the chute shortly thereafter in some way that doesn't involve the 440 overpass near here!
--me
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