recon and iris

My parachute experience so far has been, use what is in the kit, or buy the recommended size classic from Top Flight. They have treated me well. But I have a much heavier rocket now, and am looking at my options. I assume these charts are sized for real descent weight? That is, launch pad weight, minus burned propellant? Not dry or full launch weight.

That same chart from Top Flight says 84" for this bad boy. Fruity Chutes Iris has higher drag, and thus recommends a mere 60". Of course that comes at a price, more than triple the cash. They sure look nice, though.

Is Recon of similar shape? I was also told 60" for this weight but I have not found a single picture or set of instructions of their parachutes online. The price is nicely between the Top Flight and Iris, so it could be a good compromise.

Recon chutes have 4 shroud lines, similar in design to RocketMan chutes. Maybe they are the same??

https://www.the-rocketman.com/chutes.html

What is your altitude where you launch? It is always good to take that into account. An 84" from Top Flight would be a good investment. As you build larger rockets you can use the chutes on multiple ones. I have chutes ranging from 16' to 5', in many styles. I would suggest before you lay down the cash on an Iris make sure you have your technique down for recovery. Nothing worse than burning a hole in a new parachute.

Edward

I love my iris chute, can't beat them for size or weight.

On a related note, I hear more difficult packing mentioned in regards to Iris chutes a good bit it seams. How much more difficult is it really, and is the consequence of suboptimal packing a slow deployment (3-4 sec) or the chute not opening at all and flapping like a streamer until impact?

Also, by packing I don't mean just stuff it in the tube unfolded with a Nomex blanket and hope. Nor do I mean make a ball and wrap it with the shroud lines. I'm more interested in the performance of not quite perfectly packed...I'm trying to get at the margin of error if that makes sense.

I don't find Iris chutes more difficult to pack. They are perhaps a little more time-consuming to pack, but not harder. I use both the burrito method and deployment bags, depending on rocket and chute, and I've used 36" to 84" Iris chutes. Never had any problems with deployment (including slow or delayed deployment) in over 30 flights.

David

Never had any problems with them deploying, but I'm a skydiver and very particular about my pack jobs. I have packed thousands of military round chutes and hundreds of parafoil "square" chutes. Toroidal chutes have a bridal that attaches to the apex (center) of the chute and pulls it down. You can't flake out each gore like the Topflite chutes, and the video on how to fold it actually shows them rolling the shroud lines around the chute. :y:
The rigger in me cringes when I watch that.

Wayco said:

Never had any problems with them deploying, but I'm a skydiver and very particular about my pack jobs. I have packed thousands of military round chutes and hundreds of parafoil "square" chutes. Toroidal chutes have a bridal that attaches to the apex (center) of the chute and pulls it down. You can't flake out each gore like the Topflite chutes, and the video on how to fold it actually shows them rolling the shroud lines around the chute. :y:
The rigger in me cringes when I watch that.

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How would you recommend packing the shroud lines? I was helping someone pack one of those and found it odd that they recommended rolling the shroud lines around the chute. I have very little experience/knowledge about packing larger/complex chutes so I didn't say anything, so seeing as you do have experience it be interesting to know what your packing technique is.

Seeing them roll that chute also makes me cringe. That, to me, is the best way to tangle a parachute and splat a rocket. I'm shocked that they recommend it.

Edward

RocketHunter said:

How would you recommend packing the shroud lines? I was helping someone pack one of those and found it odd that they recommended rolling the shroud lines around the chute. I have very little experience/knowledge about packing larger/complex chutes so I didn't say anything, so seeing as you do have experience it be interesting to know what your packing technique is.

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I "S-fold" them next to the chute. You can do this with any type of round chute, even the Iris:


I took that picture from my "Ultimate Darkstar build thread", post #45. That post shows the whole process for "Burrito" wrapping a Skyangle XL chute.
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...Ultimate-Darkstar-build&p=1473484#post1473484

It's about half way down in the post.

Buy some bean bags, and by some I mean at least 15-20. They will help a ton in holding things down when you are packing parachutes. One of the best tips I've had.

Edward

60 inch Recon ordered. I might get an Iris too but for my first nice big parachute the price gap is hard to swallow.

Wayco, thanks for the pictures. Seriously, your builds provide some of the best resources on this web site.

watermelonman said:

60 inch Recon ordered. I might get an Iris too but for my first nice big parachute the price gap is hard to swallow.

Wayco, thanks for the pictures. Seriously, your builds provide some of the best resources on this web site.

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Wow, anybody got some heat shrink I can stick my head in?
Thanks!
Just so you know, it's feedback like that that keeps me posting up these blogs disguised as build threads....