last updated: 21st october 2023 - Day 226 to Day 230 - Various Experiments

Safety First

Search

Site Index

Tutorials

Articles

Rocket Gallery

Labs

Where To Buy

10 Challenges

Links

Blog

Glossary

Contact Us

About


Construction - Basic

Body

Ring Fins

Flat Fins

Nozzle

Nosecone

Construction - Advanced

Robinson Coupling

Splicing Bottles #1

Splicing Bottles AS#5

Reinforcing Bottles

Side Deploy #1

Side Deploy #2

Mk3 Staging Mechanism

Multi-stage Parachutes

Fairings

Construction - Launchers

Gardena Launcher

Clark Cable-tie

Medium Launcher

Cluster Launcher

Launch Abort Valve

Quick Launcher

How It Works

Drop Away Boosters

Katz Stager Mk2.

Katz Stager Mk3.

DetMech

Dark Shadow Deployment

Articles

Recovery Guide

Parachutes

How Much Water?

Flying Higher

Flying Straight

Building a Launcher

Using Scuba Tanks

Nozzles

Video Taping Tips

MD-80 clone

Making Panoramas

Procedures

Burst Testing

Filling

Launching

Recovery

Electronics

Servo Timer II

V1.6

V1.5

V1.4

V1.3, V1.3.1, V1.3.2

V1.2

Deploy Timer 1.1

Project Builds

The Shadow

Shadow II

Inverter

Polaron G2

Dark Shadow

L1ght Shadow

Flight Log Updates

#230 - Tajfun 2 L2

#229 - Mac Uni AON

#228 - Tajfun 2 Elec.

#227 - Zip Line

#226 - DIY Barometer

#225 - Air Pressure Exp.

#224 - Tajfun 2

#221 - Horizon Deploy

#215 - Deployable Boom

#205 - Tall Tripod

#204 - Horizon Deploy

#203 - Thunda 2

#202 - Horizon Launcher

#201 - Flour Rockets

#197 - Dark Shadow II

#196 - Coming Soon

#195 - 3D Printed Rocket

#194 - TP Roll Drop

#193 - Coming Soon

#192 - Stager Tests

#191 - Horizon

#190 - Polaron G3

#189 - Casual Flights

#188 - Skittles Part #2

#187 - Skittles Part #1

#186 - Level 1 HPR

#185 - Liquids in Zero-G

#184 - More Axion G6

#183 - Axion G6

#182 - Casual Flights

#181 - Acoustic Apogee 2

#180 - Light Shadow

#179 - Stratologger

#178 - Acoustic Apogee 1

#177 - Reefing Chutes

#176 - 10 Years

#175 - NSWRA Events

#174 - Mullaley Launch

#173 - Oobleck Rocket

#172 - Coming Soon

#171 - Measuring Altitude

#170 - How Much Water?

#169 - Windy

#168 - Casual Flights 2

#167 - Casual Flights

#166 - Dark Shadow II

#165 - Liquid Density 2

#164 - Liquid Density 1

#163 - Channel 7 News

#162 - Axion and Polaron

#161 - Fog and Boom

#1 to #160 (Updates)

 

Parachutes

Parachutes

This article presents hints, tips and techniques for dealing with parachutes on water rockets.

Contents

How to fold a Parachute

We are often asked which is the best parachute folding technique. The problem is there really is no "best" procedure for all situations. A lot depends on how much the parachute needs to be packed, what the resulting size and shape needs to be and how fast you want it to open. There are also a wide variety of parachute shapes and sizes. What works for one does not necessarily work for another. A parafoil for example is packed very differently to a parasheet.

One of the main criteria though is that it should open cleanly, and so careful preparation is necessary.

Existing Tutorials

There are quite a few tutorials available already on line. Here are just a few examples of the variety of styles:

After initially using the simple wrap the shroud lines over the canopy technique, we suffered the occasional tangle or getting caught up on on part of the deployment mechanism. We were then introduced to the following procedure: http://ausrocketry.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=480. An almost identical procedure is also described in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN5LzZJmP10

Since we have started using the above technique we've only had very rare tangles. This was often the result of the parachute getting caught on a fin during deployment when the shock cord was too short. The following procedure describes how we pack our parachutes made from ripstop nylon for use with the side deployment mechanism:

Procedure

  0. Pack your parachute just prior to launch. Don't pack your parachute the night before.
1. Shake out the parachute holding it by its shroud lines. Make sure you fully inflate it by swinging it around. This makes sure sections of the canopy aren't sticking together. You should always do this before each launch. Also check if any of the shroud lines are crossed over, and untangle them. This is often the result of a landing when a parachute can be inverted and thread through some of the lines.
2. Grab the end of the shroud lines and the tip of the parachute and pull it out straight.
3. Lay the parachute on a flat surface and bring all the shroud lines together.

Go through each of the sections of the parachute and make sure they are all sitting flat and do not have any folds in them.

4. Fold the shroud lines in half and neatly lay them in the parachute.  
5. Fold the parachute over in half so that you can't see any of the shroud lines.
6. Fold the opposite side over. You can fold it again to get a thinner pack.
7. Fold the tip of the parachute over.
8. Now depending how tall you want your packed parachute to be, you may want to vary the number of folds. Another one or 2 folds are normally good enough.
9. Fold the bottom of the canopy over (where the shroud lines are) so that the shock cord sticks out the middle.
10. Fold it over again so that the shock cord sticks out at one end.
11. Wrap the shock cord over the canopy pulling it tight to make the package smaller. When you wrap your shock cord rotate the parachute rather than winding the shock cord over it. This helps prevent a twist developing in the shock cord.

We usually only wrap the parachute about 5-8 times. A lot more turns means that the parachute will take longer to open. We try not to cross over the shock cord loops. I'm not sure if that's important or not, but it makes the parachute neater and compact. Having folded the parachute this way means there is less chance of the bottom of the shroud lines getting caught up on anything in the deployment mechanism.

And that's it.

Hints and Tips

  • If your parachute is wet either from spilling water on it, or dew from landing on the ground, make sure you dry it as best you can before packing.

  • People recommend using talcum powder on plastic parachutes to help prevent them clinging together during a deploy.

  • Don't store your parachute folded up. Store it hanging by the shroud lines.

2/1/2012

 

Back to Top    Construction Index

 



Copyright © 2006-2023 Air Command Water Rockets

Total page hits since 1 Aug 2006: