Who makes the tightest packing HPR chute?

I have a super cool Doug Stout Arcas that I have set up for dual deploy. One small problem is that main chute section is quite small, and the R7 (along with the 36" drogue) that I used for the first flight brought the rocket down too fast. But that R7 is a snug fit, and I am thinking that the R9 will not fit, period.

Options seem to be:

A) tighter packing large chute (similar size to R9).
B) larger drogue.

Look forward to your comments.

See: Spherachutes.

https://www.fruitychutes.com

I've never seen a parachute that packs so tightly, especially if you get an Iris Ultra

-Kevin

Spherachutes makes good chutes and I like them. They pack decently small for their size. I pack a 54" in a 54mm tube length of about 9 inches, in a nomex taco. But, the Cd for a Spherachute is not going to be nearly as high as something like the Iris Ultra. That chute design lets one use a much smaller diameter chute. So, it ends up packing smaller.

If you really are up against the limits in some rocket, consider using vacuum to help shrink the packing volume. But if one is careful and patient, one can go pretty far without resorting to it.

Do you need a drogue that big on that small a rocket? I'm using about that size on a 60+ pounder. That may be a place you can save packing space. YMMV, but I don't mind 100fps descent under drogue. As long as the drogue has enough drag to keep the sections behaving themselves, the faster it comes down the closer it comes down.

And if you are really really pushed for space, consider using the main in a blanket with linecutters as the drogue.

What dimensions do you have to work with?

Gerald

troj said:

https://www.fruitychutes.com

I've never seen a parachute that packs so tightly, especially if you get an Iris Ultra

-Kevin

Click to expand...

I will second that. I have an 84" Iris Ultra Rated at 28lb @ 20fps and a Cd of 2.2! That is equivelent to a 96" Standard chute and it packs easely into a 4" X 12" deployment bag.
They are not inexpensive but they are worth it.

Chute packing is less about the chute and more about the person doing the packing. Tightly wrapping shroud lines around the chute, no matter what the material or design of the chute itself, can lead to failure. Lines do tangle. A better way to minimize shroud wrapping is to string out the entire thing from apex of the chute to the shock cord/shroud attachment hardware with the lines as close together as possible. Instead of rolling or folding the chute from the apex, roll it up from the shroud attachment points toward the apex. This "swallows" the bulk of the shroud lines in such a way that you can make it a very tight roll without risking creating a foul as the chute material isolates the lines from self fouling. I was always able to get a 60" chute wrapped this way into a 3" airframe. A 48" chute should fit comfortably in a 54mm tube.

There's also the added benefit of reducing chute opening shock as the unfurling chute creates drag progressively.

+1 on the FruityChutes. The workmanship is excellent - on par with what I'd expect on a parachute I was jumping - and they have the best drag to pack volume ratio I've seen in rocketry.

Gene can also build them with Spectra lines if you beg. This will cut the pack volume down another 30% or so.


All the best, James

I use Spherachutes by default, since the material used in them is very easy to handle, and the shroud line volume isn't out of this world, and they are priced extremely reasonably.

Fruity chutes have a lot of volume taken up by the shroud lines, because they use obscene numbers of panels, but Iris Ultras have enough volume saving in the canopy to make up for it. They are the tightest packing for a given load capacity, but fairly pricey.

Note that this experience holds true up until about 20 pound load capacity; I've never handled a larger parachute before and so don't know how well the packing volume scales.

There used to be a manufacturer named RocketRage that had quantum line of toroidal chutes that packed smaller than any other chute I've ever owned.

Wish they were still around.

alexzogh said:

There used to be a manufacturer named RocketRage that had quantum line of toroidal chutes that packed smaller than any other chute I've ever owned.

Wish they were still around.

Click to expand...

Fruity Chutes are pretty close to Rocket Rage, from what I've seen.

-Kevin

I had really good results with an 84" Starchute from Rocketry Warehouse. I needed a really compact chute that would bring my 34 lb 6 oz. L3 rocket down below 20 FPS. It worked like a charm. I had to pack it into about a 12" length of 4" tube in the nosecone of my Gixmo XL. The 4 shroud line made it easy to deal with. Oh yah, only $139.00.

The p-chute bay is 4" D X 7" L.

The fruitychute looks good. I think I will get one.

Thanks to all for the advice.

I now use a 72" Fruity Chutes Iris Ultra where I used to use a Skyangle Cert III L parachute. The Iris Ultra has a slower descent rate and packs in about 1/3 the space.

Peter Olivola said:

Chute packing is less about the chute and more about the person doing the packing. Tightly wrapping shroud lines around the chute, no matter what the material or design of the chute itself, can lead to failure. Lines do tangle. A better way to minimize shroud wrapping is to string out the entire thing from apex of the chute to the shock cord/shroud attachment hardware with the lines as close together as possible. Instead of rolling or folding the chute from the apex, roll it up from the shroud attachment points toward the apex. This "swallows" the bulk of the shroud lines in such a way that you can make it a very tight roll without risking creating a foul as the chute material isolates the lines from self fouling. I was always able to get a 60" chute wrapped this way into a 3" airframe. A 48" chute should fit comfortably in a 54mm tube.

There's also the added benefit of reducing chute opening shock as the unfurling chute creates drag progressively.

Click to expand...

This is very promising. It makes a nice, tight bundle that unfurls easily. Easily packed a 40" recon (wildman) recovery chute into a 54mm tube, which I had not been able to do previously. Haven't tested it in the air yet, but this makes packing much easier. Thanks, Pete.

alexzogh said:

There used to be a manufacturer named RocketRage that had quantum line of toroidal chutes that packed smaller than any other chute I've ever owned.

Wish they were still around.

Click to expand...

Agreed. I wish they still existed - Fruity Chutes are probably my top pick among currently existing vendors (the Iris Ultras are quite nice), but I've yet to find something that could quite match the quality, workmanship, and overall performance of the Rocket Rage chutes. They were unbelievably cheap too, considering the quality.

The Rocket Rage chutes looked like they were airplane rescue parachutes. I've seen some very similar designs out there that look like Rocket Rage. Toroidal parachutes are nice. I remember when some HS kids I was mentoring made one of the first RR clones. Too bad they decided on their school colors, grey and blue, and that rocket drifted off into Kansas.

Edward

84" Fruity Chute Iris Ultra into a 3.5"x13" in a nomex burrito. Brought in a 30-lb rocket at 16 FPS. Expensive? Eh... for that rocket, I'd say the parachute was priceless.


Later!

--Coop

Coop said:

84" Fruity Chute Iris Ultra into a 3.5"x13" in a nomex burrito. Brought in a 30-lb rocket at 16 FPS. Expensive? Eh... for that rocket, I'd say the parachute was priceless.

Click to expand...

I would agree with this. The iris is one of the best chutes on the market. It is similar to the rocket rage chute and packs very tightly.

I'll start posting my packing method for the IRIS chute in a few minutes in the high power forum, Sprite thread. I pack the IRIS and a SkyAngle into a single deployment bag. The IRIS is 96" and the SkyAngle is 60" (for the nosecone which comes down separately along with the dbag and the drogue). Including the shrouds, they take roughly the same volume. Rocket is > 70#.

Gerald

PS - Ok I have enough posted in that thread now to show how I pack the IRIS.