Recovery system???

Sooo... I just decided to get in to the rocketry hobby.....

One question about the recovery, once you fold the parachute. Where does the elastic go? On top, or under the parachute?

justinaskin said:

One question about the recovery, once you fold the parachute. Where does the elastic go? On top, or under the parachute?

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What size/class of rockets are you talking about? Plastic or fabric parachute?

I have launched a lot of rockets with the Estes style plastic chutes. I've seen a lot of photos and diagrams of folding and rolling these chutes but it never worked for me. When we did this they wouldn't open. We had to put them as loosely in the body tube as possible. It never seemed to matter whether the shock cord was put under the chute or on top of it.

With larger rockets and fabric chutes, they don't seem to take a set so they can be folded/rolled/packed a little tighter. For large high speed rockets the chutes are sometimes packed more elaborately to not allow them to open too fast. I'm still not sure if it matters if the cord is under or over though.

We do have a separate forum here for "support and recovery" so you might want to ask the question there.

Typically, I put the the elastic portion that is below the chute in first, then the chute, then the the elastic portion that goes from the chute to the nose cone.

Welcome to TRF!

Greg

I'm also a newb, and I had the same question. I don't worry to much with the "elastic" cords but they have the (I think cheaper) rubber cords- I found if I have these rubber cords above the parachute, the chute can wedge the rubber against the inside of the tube and prevent deployment. So I try to get as much below as possible. Seems to work.

I've read here that people use talcum powder to prevent everything from sticking together, I will also do that in the future.

As several others have said with most model rockets the choice is really up to the owner

That being said I've found over the years it really depends on what the recovery system is (Streamer or chute) and what it's made of ( Plastic, Mylar, Nylon or Teflon).

For all the basic "Kit type" Plastic parasheets I've found it helps to keep the chute as far away for the heat as practical. so with these and most mylar chutes and streamer they go in on top of the Shockcord above the Wadding of choice.

Talc baby powder is a GREAT way to ensure whatever matieral chute opens completely every time and creates a pretty good Cloud at ejection which helps spotting the model at apogee.

If i'm using a Teflon Plumbers tape streamer 1/4" to 2" wide, which is flame proof, I usually use it to double as the wadding installing it first below the shockcord.

bjphoenix said:

I have launched a lot of rockets with the Estes style plastic chutes. I've seen a lot of photos and diagrams of folding and rolling these chutes but it never worked for me. When we did this they wouldn't open. We had to put them as loosely in the body tube as possible. It never seemed to matter whether the shock cord was put under the chute or on top of it.

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I've found that if I open the chute right before I pack it, to make sure it's not stuck together in a wad, that it opens virtually every time. I do this with plastic and nylon chutes, and it seems to help.

All I do is what estes says to 'spike' the chute than I put it in the tube first than the other stuff I push in the tube so it sits on top of the chute. I always do this right before I leave my house to launch, and it works every time on rockets above a 1.25'' body tube.

I put wadding first, baby powder, elastic shock cord, then parachute. Has worked everytime. Course coming out of a rocket doing 350+ helps.

Thanks for all your help guys.

I cant wait to go out for the first flight, i just finishet my first rocket today!!!

I remember my first rocket launch after all this time and hope yours is memorable, too.

In a good way, that is.