I usually make my own parachutes out various plastic materials, including simple plastic garbage bags.
I was about to buy a roll of cheap, white, tall kitchen garbage bags for this purpose when I noticed the bags were only .4 mil thick. That is .0004 inch. That is pretty darned thin. I try to make my parachutes thin, especially when I am trying to stuff the parachute into a BT-20. Still, .4 mil is very thin.
Sometimes I use dry cleaner bags, which are .75 mil thick. That is usually as thin as I like to go.
This made me wonder: How thick is a standard, plastic Estes 12 inch parachute that comes with many of Estes LPR kits?
I figure, to achieve light weight and less bulk, I should shoot for a thickness somewhat less than a standard Estes parachute.
I was about to buy a roll of cheap, white, tall kitchen garbage bags for this purpose when I noticed the bags were only .4 mil thick. That is .0004 inch. That is pretty darned thin. I try to make my parachutes thin, especially when I am trying to stuff the parachute into a BT-20. Still, .4 mil is very thin.
Sometimes I use dry cleaner bags, which are .75 mil thick. That is usually as thin as I like to go.
This made me wonder: How thick is a standard, plastic Estes 12 inch parachute that comes with many of Estes LPR kits?
I figure, to achieve light weight and less bulk, I should shoot for a thickness somewhat less than a standard Estes parachute.
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