edward

You could just buy a piece of lead and turn it in the shape of a nosecone :)Edward

I went to the Newark factory once off I-225 and I-70, southwest corner. I walked right in, bought a couple sample tubes, walked out. Must have changed policy.Edward

Newark Tubes in Denver makes some very large tubes. There are definitely better brands out there than Sono that keep better tolerances. Or almost as cheap you can go to Yazoo Mills and they’ll make them to order.Edward

Tom,You’ve chosen the one size that is better to buy than to have machined. 54mm tube is 2.125 x .095″ wall. It used to be a standard size but is not found much outside of 5000’+ mill runs. This is…   Read more»

I could turn cases up to 98mm and ~30″ in length for you. I’ll need a bit of lead time though.Edward

2020 rail uses 1010 size buttons. It is the same as putting four 1010 rails together in a square. Rail buttons aren’t a limiting factor. For Unistrut you just use doorknobs.Edward

You can make a swing-set like top guy wire doohickey. I fly off the 16′ rail when my hybrids go slower. The key is not needing the 16′ :)Edward

I’ve flown off of the 1020 rails a lot at NCR. I think they are on Mark L.’s big pad. The only thing is it sways a lot at the top.Edward

I’m much more a fan of the 1020 rails – they are 1″ wide and 2″ deep. Gives you more rigidity in one direction. They also have 2020 rail that is very nice, but the key with any rail is…   Read more»

This weekend and next weekend are packed for me. I’ll have to set aside some time after that. Once we get semi-final weights (+/- 5 pounds) I can generate patterns and order the fabric.What altimeter are you using to deploy…   Read more»

Looking good! How is the final weight coming in. I’m going to need to get a pretty accurate weight so I can do final recovery calculations. I’ll find time one weekend to stop by and look at the setup and…   Read more»

For something this big we’ll want to use a bag. The parachutes open *extremely* fast and will put very high loading on the recovery harness if we let it free fall under the stopped chute. A deployment bag will make…   Read more»

After talking tentative weights it looks like we will need three parachutes. One 196″ and two 160″. All are sized for under 15 feet/second descent rate. We will be using 75 yards of 66″ wide ripstop for these.One concern is…   Read more»

I’m very time limited this time around – I have a 3 year old who consumes most of my time on the weekends.Another question – what rail/guidance system are you using? I’m pretty sure I can turn any type of…   Read more»

The 120″ chute can do 58 pounds at 15 ft/sec. If you want to go slower, we need to upsize the parachute. The parachute is ~8 yards of fabric. I’m guessing the parachute would be between 3-4 pounds. I would…   Read more»

It was *at least* 10 pounds. The good thing is we had planned and built a compartment at the very front in case we needed some noseweight.Edward

Have you tried CD Fasteners in Fort Collins? I have gotten a variety of nylon materials there. If that fails try McMaster Carrhttp://www.mcmaster.com/#nylon-set-screws/=ggvr1zThere is really no need for a line cutter to cut kevlar. I use it to cut a…   Read more»

My cutter went poof when I tried to cut even the thinnest of kevlar. I use them in tandem to cut through the zip ties – that way I have a backup.My only reasoning for using a 1/4″ nylon plug…   Read more»

I can give you a few tips on something similar to the bolts. I built a parachute reefing/ line cutter mechanism off of something that Tony A. posted.http://tqc.yuku.com/reply/32555/2010-Balls-project#reply-32555Post #27 is a picture of what I have.It is 1/2″ OD aluminum,…   Read more»

If you want to bore and then tap them a lathe would be perfect. A simple easy operation. Grooving the outside on a lathe would also be repeatable.Edward