Spherachutes

So going off of the repeated high praises I've seen on here for spherachutes i decided to buy their parachutes for my project. I ordered a 120" and a 36" yesterday and I got a email today saying they are in the mail! That's amazing I spoke to Julie on the phone right before I placed my order and wow is she a pleasure to speak with she's super nice and helpful. I'm so happy I decided on spherachutes and I can't wait to get them and fly them!

John Williams said:

So going off of the repeated high praises I've seen on here for spherachutes i decided to buy their parachutes for my project. I ordered a 120" and a 36" yesterday and I got a email today saying they are in the mail! That's amazing I spoke to Julie on the phone right before I placed my order and wow is she a pleasure to speak with she's super nice and helpful. I'm so happy I decided on spherachutes and I can't wait to get them and fly them!

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I have used them for quite a while, maybe getting a dozen of them over time. Great chutes (pack small!) and quick service.

Jim

Julie is super nice to work with too..
I don't want to speak for her but I think she'll make chute to your color spec as well..
Her chutes pack small as Jim said and have a great drag coefficient for any given size as well..

Teddy

So that was another motivation was the small pack. my rocket Rocinate flew a few weeks ago and got damaged due to a combination of old brittle tubing and a main parachute that was too small. I used a giant leap tac-1 60" parachute but the rocket was far too heavy and hit the ground hard at 34 fps. However inspite of her weight the Rocinante has a narrow body tube and there isn't a ton of room in the parachute bay. The tac chute was a little snuggly. The spherachute gives me a bigger chute that will still fit comfortable in the bay.

Onebadhawk said:

Julie is super nice to work with too..
I don't want to speak for her but I think she'll make chute to your color spec as well..
Her chutes pack small as Jim said and have a great drag coefficient for any given size as well..

Teddy

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You are right she let me choose my colors for no extra cost which I thought was fabulous!!

They're great - Julie and her sister Lisa do a fantastic job on both the chutes and the customer service. I have... probably a dozen of them? Maybe more. Some the standard weight, some the ultralight which is this crazy thin but strong nylon. Anyway, they USUALLY ship next day. If they got a burst of orders and get a little behind or are taking a vacation they'll let you know what the deal is. They just have the one basic design in different sizes and strength/weight tradeoffs so they're pretty efficient at knocking them out.

Prices are good too for such nice chutes. The hemispherical design makes them look nice and big coming down, and the spill hole makes them stable. I got my first Spherachute to solve the swinging problem I was having with flat chutes, and it really worked well. Nice and stable, no oscillating.

ThirstyBarbarian said:

Prices are good too for such nice chutes. The hemispherical design makes them look nice and big coming down, and the spill hole makes them stable. I got my first Spherachute to solve the swinging problem I was having with flat chutes, and it really worked well. Nice and stable, no oscillating.

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Well said! I totally agree. I rarely use flat chutes. Maybe on small of the smaller rockets I have, but I switched over. I buy a kit and the first thing I do is sell the chute.

AfterBurners said:

Well said! I totally agree. I rarely use flat chutes. Maybe on small of the smaller rockets I have, but I switched over. I buy a kit and the first thing I do is sell the chute.

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I’m only using flat chutes on smaller rockets too, and I’m phasing them out, even for the small rockets. Flat chutes oscillate a lot, and I’ve had more damage from rockets swinging hard into the ground than from landing too fast. So I’ve slowly switched the larger rockets over to more stable designs. I’m also having fun matching chute design to rocket design. A company like Spherachutes will let you pick your colors for each gore, so you can really match your chute to your rocket.

ThirstyBarbarian said:

I’m only using flat chutes on smaller rockets too, and I’m phasing them out, even for the small rockets. Flat chutes oscillate a lot, and I’ve had more damage from rockets swinging hard into the ground than from landing too fast. So I’ve slowly switched the larger rockets over to more stable designs. I’m also having fun matching chute design to rocket design. A company like Spherachutes will let you pick your colors for each gore, so you can really match your chute to your rocket.

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I tend to use a chute for multiple rockets. I have 4 fruity chutes the smaller TARC for all my LPR and some MPR. Of course I really don't have many rockets left. Maybe 4 total

So I got the parachutes this morning in the mail. And wow I'm so impressed they are absolutely gorgeous and came neatly packed in color coordinating bags! The parachutes are perfect and I'm super impressed by the quality and attention to detail in the construction. She even threw in an Apex drouge for free!! Jeez she definitely has a new customer for life with service like that! FYI I love parachutes it's one of my favorite parts of rocketry..

AfterBurners said:

I tend to use a chute for multiple rockets. I have 4 fruity chutes the smaller TARC for all my LPR and some MPR. Of course I really don't have many rockets left. Maybe 4 total

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I switch them between rockets when necessary, but I really prefer having one chute for each rocket and not having to swap. And now I like to have the design match the rocket if possible. I’ve got more chutes than rockets now and more chutes on the way. A year ago we had an event called the Chute Out where participants could show off their chutes, and it resulted in a group of local chute nerds. We’ve all been getting more creative with the chute designs. The other guys have taken it a lot further than I have.

John Williams said:

So I got the parachutes this morning in the mail. And wow I'm so impressed they are absolutely gorgeous and came neatly packed in color coordinating bags! The parachutes are perfect and I'm super impressed by the quality and attention to detail in the construction. She even threw in an Apex drouge for free!! Jeez she definitely has a new customer for life with service like that! FYI I love parachutes it's one of my favorite parts of rocketry..

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The little bags are nice, aren’t they? Post some pics of your new chutes!

ThirstyBarbarian said:

I switch them between rockets when necessary, but I really prefer having one chute for each rocket and not having to swap. And now I like to have the design match the rocket if possible. I’ve got more chutes than rockets now and more chutes on the way. A year ago we had an event called the Chute Out where participants could show off their chutes, and it resulted in a group of local chute nerds. We’ve all been getting more creative with the chute designs. The other guys have taken it a lot further than I have.

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I love parachutes and like you I like all of my rockets to be fully equipped with their own stuff including electronics and parachutes. Obviously that's not always reasonable like I only have one chute release that I move between rockets

ThirstyBarbarian said:

The little bags are nice, aren’t they? Post some pics of your new chutes!

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So unfortunately there isn't enough wind to get a shot of them inflated one is a 120" and a matching 36"

John Williams said:

So unfortunately there isn't enough wind to get a shot of them inflated one is a 120" and a matching 36"

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Those are going to look great! I know someone who is painting a rocket right now that those colors would coordinate with.

There have been a couple of times when I’ve wanted to see my chute inflated, but there was no wind, so I got my wife to run down the street with it. She puts up with a lot!

ThirstyBarbarian said:

Those are going to look great! I know someone who is painting a rocket right now that those colors would coordinate with.

There have been a couple of times when I’ve wanted to see my chute inflated, but there was no wind, so I got my wife to run down the street with it. She puts up with a lot!

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I asked my wife she said there would be none of that. Lol

John Williams said:

I asked my wife she said there would be none of that. Lol

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haahahaahaha..

You guy's are too funny..

The next time we're at a launch
I'm going to ask my wife Sandy to
run down the field pulling a chute because I want to see it inflated..

You'll prolly read about it in the national papers.. lol..

Teddy

John Williams said:

I asked my wife she said there would be none of that. Lol

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Nice try guys. My wife digs up lawn darts.

Jim

Winds picked up here and I was able to get an okay shot of the canopy of the 120" main

John Williams said:

So unfortunately there isn't enough wind to get a shot of them inflated one is a 120" and a matching 36"

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Who made those?

John Williams said:

Winds picked up here and I was able to get an okay shot of the canopy of the 120" main

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Beautiful chutes.
Spherachutes?

On the Spherachutes what is the attachment point? Are the lines tied to for a loop or is there an actual bridle?? I might want to buy some

AfterBurners said:

On the Spherachutes what is the attachment point? Are the lines tied to for a loop or is there an actual bridle?? I might want to buy some

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So yes these are made by spherachutes and they are incredibly nice parachutes. So Julie gathers the shroud lines into a loop and Tues them so it's easy adjust the shroud length by expanding or contracting the loop. It also makes for an easy attachment to a swivel or a quicklink or whatever definitely don't hesitate to get one they are the nicest rocket parachute I have ever gotten

John Williams said:

So yes these are made by spherachutes and they are incredibly nice parachutes. So Julie gathers the shroud lines into a loop and Tues them so it's easy adjust the shroud length by expanding or contracting the loop. It also makes for an easy attachment to a swivel or a quicklink or whatever definitely don't hesitate to get one they are the nicest rocket parachute I have ever gotten

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I'm sold!!!

I looked at her site and like I said I'm sold and you can't beat the prices. I think I will go for the ultra lite weight chutes. I'm assuming the CD on these chutes are around 1.5 or thereabouts? I think what would add to her page would be some customers rockets with her chutes deployed etc showing some of the different color combinations. John I like the purple and blue combination you picked. It's stunning. Do have pictures of the rocket you will be using it with? Spherachutes Definitely nice looking and well made!!

AfterBurners said:

I looked at her site and like I said I'm sold and you can't beat the prices. I think I will go for the ultra lite weight chutes. I'm assuming the CD on these chutes are around 1.5 or thereabouts? I think what would add to her page would be some customers rockets with her chutes deployed etc showing some of the different color combinations. John I like the purple and blue combination you picked. It's stunning. Do have pictures of the rocket you will be using it with? Spherachutes Definitely nice looking and well made!!

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So she posts a descent rate chart on her website definitely take a look at it she gives the descent rate on her chutes and recommended weight I think she posts a .75 cd. Thank you it's always been one of my favorite color combinations! The rocket that it s for is not painted yet as I'm still trying to get it to fly right before I spend time and money on paint but here is a picture of it. It got damaged a bit in its first flight and I have repaired it and the parachutes I was using were too small so I bought these spherachutes as the replacements. The next flight will be February 15th in three oaks Michigan

The Cd she uses is .75. That is probably not the true Cd, but it works in sim programs if you put in her nominal sizes, which are measured in kind of an odd way. She measures over the top of the hemispherical chute, not across the opening. If you used the opening size, the Cd would be higher, but that’s not how she does it.

I couldn't find the descent rate chart but I'll look for it. I would think it would higher?