For Chute Makers

For those who make their own chutes and other items from nylon, here's an article that might come in handy. It's dated, but much still applies. Mastering Nylon

This was linked from www.flymarketkites.com where you can get 3/4 oz. ripstop. I haven't check prices so I don't know how they compare.

I recently purchased some Texlon .75oz in 3 different colors from FlyMarketKites with no issues. All 3 pieces were slightly oversized by a couple of inches or more.

Was the fabric from Texlon a soft foldable fabric? Make sure you guys get samples of fabric before you buy. We have found that many samples we have received are not what I would want to make a chute. Kite fabric can be very stiff which makes it hard to fold for rocketry use. We can sell you fabric if you want to make your own chute.

Gary

crossfire said:

Was the fabric from Texlon a soft foldable fabric? Make sure you guys get samples of fabric before you buy. We have found that many samples we have received are not what I would want to make a chute. Kite fabric can be very stiff which makes it hard to fold for rocketry use. We can sell you fabric if you want to make your own chute.

Gary

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The fabric I have isn't very stiff, but it also isn't soft like a t-shirt. The chutes made from it seem about the same as my flat chute made by Top Flite Recovery (Gary's company) they maybe a little stiff comparatively though too. My TFR 24" flat has many flights on it with zero issues.

Anybody know the stats on the yellow AT chutes? I'd like to get an equivalent in orange, slipperiest I've seen in person.

If I remember our Thin Mill fabric is very close to the AT yellow fabric.

Rich glad to hear you Par24 has held up well for you.

crossfire said:

Was the fabric from Texlon a soft foldable fabric? Make sure you guys get samples of fabric before you buy. We have found that many samples we have received are not what I would want to make a chute. Kite fabric can be very stiff which makes it hard to fold for rocketry use. We can sell you fabric if you want to make your own chute.

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crossfire said:

If I remember our Thin Mill fabric is very close to the AT yellow fabric.

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My username at moc tod liamg, looking for pricing and stats on orange.

I have some extremely fine UHMWPE line coming soon, a pattern for a PDA toroidal, and a willing tailor with his own equipment

dhbarr said:

Anybody know the stats on the yellow AT chutes? I'd like to get an equivalent in orange, slipperiest I've seen in person.

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I have purchased 1.1oz uncoated ripstop from Seattle Fabrics. https://www.seattlefabrics.com/nylons.html I don't know the stats of the AT material but to me, the 1.1 oz material looks and feels the same as AT chute material. They sell a sample pack of the 1.1oz materials so you can do your own comparison.

Thanks for the article!

I get my fabric and thread from here: https://ripstopbytheroll.com/

And I've switched over to kite line for my shroud lines.

Banzai88 said:

Thanks for the article!

I get my fabric and thread from here: https://ripstopbytheroll.com/

And I've switched over to kite line for my shroud lines.

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I've also purchased fabric from https://ripstopbytheroll.com/. Their 1.1 oz ripstop is nice and light, and not stiff at all. I got the uncoated, calendared variety.

sl98 said:

I have purchased 1.1oz uncoated ripstop from Seattle Fabrics. https://www.seattlefabrics.com/nylons.html I don't know the stats of the AT material but to me, the 1.1 oz material looks and feels the same as AT chute material. They sell a sample pack of the 1.1oz materials so you can do your own comparison.

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+1 on Seattle Fabrics. I'm using their 1.3 oz silicone-impregnated ripstop for a couple of chutes right now, and it packs really well and is super-slippery. It goes through the sewing machine remarkably well for how hard it is to pin. I've also used the 1.1 oz on other projects. If you are in the area, they have remnants bins for most different kinds of material. I got a 6-yard section of safety orange ripstop 30% off because it had extremely minor scuffs/discoloration in the middle. The chute will get worse than that on its first flight. They also have lots of cord and tubular nylon products by the yard, including 550 paracord.

Does anyone have rough guidance on the amount of fabric necessary for an elliptic half-toroid ( AKA Pull Down Apex ) of a given size? I have one pattern from squirrel.ws that I'm intending to have made, but I'd like to hear practical recommendations which will hopefully help prevent me from overbuying.

I'm glad this was posted, I was just going to start a thread on a good source of nylon.

dhbarr said:

Does anyone have rough guidance on the amount of fabric necessary for an elliptic half-toroid ( AKA Pull Down Apex ) of a given size? I have one pattern from squirrel.ws that I'm intending to have made, but I'd like to hear practical recommendations which will hopefully help prevent me from overbuying.

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Same as any other chute; it depends on your gore width, overall gore length, hem allowance, and chute diameter.


Later!

--Coop

What type of thread do you guys use for chutes?

I usually use this.
https://www.joann.com/coats-andamp-clark-dual-duty-xp-heavy-thread-125yds/xprd840932.html#start=23

Bonded Nylon B (Tex 46) or E (Tex 69), depending upon application.


Later!

--Coop

Thanks guys!

Reviving last year's discussion... I see that Handeman plugged my company, Fly Market Kitemaking Supply. Thanks! I'm a kitemaker, so I'm sure you're all going to teach me a few things about rockets, but it seems we use the same fabric. Fly Market stocks three brands of ripstop nylon -- Texlon, Paratex, and Chikara -- totalling more than 60 colors. The biggest difference between them is the coating sprayed onto the fabric at the mill. The coating inhibits UV damage, and decreases porosity. Texlon has the heaviest coating, which makes it fairly stiff (almost papery). Chikara has a lighter coating, giving it a fairly soft hand. Paratex is in the middle. As for colors, I'd think that the four fluorescent shades of Paratex would be great for high-visibility chutes, but as I said, there are a lot of colors to choose from.

You'll find all the fabric info at https://www.flymarketkites.com/34-oz-ripstop-nylon/. And I'm always happy to send out free sets of swatches, if you want to feel the fabric and check the colors. Just PM me with your mailing address or send an e-mail. Thanks, looking forward to working with the rocketry community.

I too have purchased from Fly Market Kites, some .75 or .5 oz thin mill iirc, nice product and on time service. My only issue was certain colors I wanted were not in stock at the time and due to the nature of me was unwilling to wait for them to be in stock. I have made probably 20 chutes from 6" up to 36" and the product seems to perform well.

I'm definitely looking for some samples. PM sent.

I've got new chutes to make. I left the golf umbrella chute I was using in a trash can at an earlier launch. The cows like to chew on them for some reason. It was dripping cow slobber. Not worth trying to clean up.

Why not just buy from Top Flight Recovery? I bet they would sell it at a better price than anyone out there.

recon60 said:

Why not just buy from Top Flight Recovery? I bet they would sell it at a better price than anyone out there.

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They might, but I want elliptical chutes with 12 to 24 gore, depending on size. I can make them much cheaper then Top Flight or anyone else can sell them, and that's part of the hobby I enjoy. Even if it costs me more, I'll probably still make my own just because....

Handeman said:

They might, but I want elliptical chutes with 12 to 24 gore, depending on size. I can make them much cheaper then Top Flight or anyone else can sell them, and that's part of the hobby I enjoy. Even if it costs me more, I'll probably still make my own just because....

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What I am saying they might sell you the fabric at a better price. No problem if one wants to make their own chutes its up to you.

recon60 said:

Why not just buy from Top Flight Recovery? I bet they would sell it at a better price than anyone out there.

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Handeman said:

They might, but I want elliptical chutes with 12 to 24 gore, depending on size. I can make them much cheaper then Top Flight or anyone else can sell them, and that's part of the hobby I enjoy. Even if it costs me more, I'll probably still make my own just because....

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By making my own chutes I can control the colors and configuration, while I don't generally make ellipticals like Handeman but I do make hemisphericals, X-form, and 4 shroud style (not sure what they are called, Recon and Skyangle are two similar styles). Some of my rockets are themed like the Crayons so the chutes are 6 colors (1 gore each of red, yellow, blue, orange, green, purple) and they are 30" diameter. TopFlight makes great quality products at a competitive price (and I own a fair number of there standard chutes in sizes up to 30"), but for the price of 2 TFR 30" (which are flat sheet style) regular chutes I can make all 4 of the custom hemispherical and have a fair bit of material left over. It also helps that I am married to a lady who has a nice sewing machine (but makes me sew most of my own chutes). Making chutes is not for everyone.

To TFR and the other chute makers please don't take my statement as a put down, you guys make great products and serve the rocketry community well.

crossfire said:

What I am saying they might sell you the fabric at a better price. No problem if one wants to make their own chutes its up to you.

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They might sell the fabric, but I haven't been able to find any place on the website where they sell fabric. Please post the link if you find it.

Handeman said:

They might sell the fabric, but I haven't been able to find any place on the website where they sell fabric. Please post the link if you find it.

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If they did sell the fabric at a good price then I would buy my material from them especially the thin mill fabric, the 1.7oz I can get locally from Joann's, but the nearest source of thin mill is Seattle Fabric 250+ miles and their prices are high iirc.