If this has been done before I haven't seen it. After pondering it for a while I decided that there was zero chance I could do it myself, so I'm throwing the idea out there if anyone wants to give it a go.
The idea is: a little piece that holds the shroud lines of a typical hexagonal LPR (or MPR, I guess) parachute in a de-tangled state. Hex parachutes are usually connected up like this:
Each shroud line connects to two adjacent vertices of the chute, in a generally symmetric fashion. When you attach the ends of the shroud line through a loop, though, they invariably come out a bit tangled. It's unavoidable with this type of shroud line connection.
My idea here is a very small printed piece that attached at or near the end of the shroud lines to cleanly arrange them. I have thought of about 20 ways to do this so far, but have no idea which is best or which would even work at all. There are two basic varieties that I can think of:
1) pieces where you actually attach the shroud lines. Then, somehow, the piece must be attached to a snap swivel or nose cone eyelet or whatever. Here's one very rough example (again, there are many ways to do this):
The shroud lines come from above, loop over the hook at the bottom, and route through the grooves on the side. Another piece would be required to lock everything into position, and then some means of attaching the whole thing to a loop.
2) Something where you attach the parachute directly to the snap swivel/eyelet as before, but the piece inserts just above it to route the shroud lines cleanly.
If something like this existed I would put one in every single rocket I own. The tangle of shroud lines on the parachutes drives me absolutely batty, despite the fact that I rarely have deployment problems.
So that's the idea. There are some challenges here but I feel like they're solvable... by someone that knows what they're doing.
The idea is: a little piece that holds the shroud lines of a typical hexagonal LPR (or MPR, I guess) parachute in a de-tangled state. Hex parachutes are usually connected up like this:
Each shroud line connects to two adjacent vertices of the chute, in a generally symmetric fashion. When you attach the ends of the shroud line through a loop, though, they invariably come out a bit tangled. It's unavoidable with this type of shroud line connection.
My idea here is a very small printed piece that attached at or near the end of the shroud lines to cleanly arrange them. I have thought of about 20 ways to do this so far, but have no idea which is best or which would even work at all. There are two basic varieties that I can think of:
1) pieces where you actually attach the shroud lines. Then, somehow, the piece must be attached to a snap swivel or nose cone eyelet or whatever. Here's one very rough example (again, there are many ways to do this):
The shroud lines come from above, loop over the hook at the bottom, and route through the grooves on the side. Another piece would be required to lock everything into position, and then some means of attaching the whole thing to a loop.
2) Something where you attach the parachute directly to the snap swivel/eyelet as before, but the piece inserts just above it to route the shroud lines cleanly.
If something like this existed I would put one in every single rocket I own. The tangle of shroud lines on the parachutes drives me absolutely batty, despite the fact that I rarely have deployment problems.
So that's the idea. There are some challenges here but I feel like they're solvable... by someone that knows what they're doing.
