How to protect chute when using JL chute release in a 54mm rocket?

[Chris_H]

I have never used a Jolly Logic Chute release before, but it seems like the good choice for a 54 min. dia. project I am working on right now.

I am planning on using a 36" Fruity Chutes Compact Iris elliptical chute, which when the canopy is folded into a 4" long package, fills the diameter of the airframe fully.

The charges will be placed below the chute. I am concerned with the charge damaging the chute. It seems like, with care, a nomex cloth wrap could be made that will work with the chute release, but I do not know.

How does one reliably protect a chute in this scenario?

 

[BradMilkomeda]

I have never used a Jolly Logic Chute release before, but it seems like the good choice for a 54 min. dia. project I am working on right now.

I am planning on using a 36" Fruity Chutes Compact Iris elliptical chute, which when the canopy is folded into a 4" long package, fills the diameter of the airframe fully.

The charges will be placed below the chute. I am concerned with the charge damaging the chute. It seems like, with care, a nomex cloth wrap could be made that will work with the chute release, but I do not know.

How does one reliably protect a chute in this scenario?

Hi Chris,

I have not packed at any fruity chutes in a 54mm tube but I have regularly used it with 36” flat chutes. During my ground testing, I found the rubber band of the JLCR was grippy against the air frame. It was neseccary to tightly wrap it with nomex to get the bundle to smoothly slight out. On my AMW White Wolf I even successfully tried wrapping with some streamer wadding to get smooth action.

I have also begun adding some dog barf again to help protect the recovery system.

Hope that info helps, but I know is not quite what you need.

 

[dhbarr]

See if dinochutes would make you a 54mm petal protector? That seems like the absolute easiest deploy-and-a-half solution there could possibly be.

 

[Chris_H]

Okay, a couple of questions...

Brad, when you talk about wrapping tightly with nomex, is that over the chute release? Or under?

And dhbarr, the petal protector, is that by chance a flower shaped nomex piece that makes for a smaller, more sleek 'wrap' for the chute? And would that be over the chute release?

 

[dhbarr]

And dhbarr, the petal protector, is that by chance a flower shaped nomex piece that makes for a smaller, more sleek 'wrap' for the chute? And would that be over the chute release?

Yup: https://www.dinochutes.com/Petal-Protector-26-Petal26.htm

 

[Rainmaker]

Do a burrito wrap, with the JLCR on the parachute inside the nomex. Works very well. Search the forum for step by step instructions.

 

[Chris_H]

Do a burrito wrap, with the JLCR on the parachute inside the nomex. Works very well. Search the forum for step by step instructions.

My concerns were not so much about general technique, but about how tight the fit is with the 36" chute, plus the release, plus a blanket, inside a 54mm airframe. With a typical nomex blanket, and the chute folded into thirds, the fit is pretty tight. It may work, though, I will try.

I think that a custom protector similar to the petal protector is a better answer.

 

[Rainmaker]

I realized after I posted that I should have said more. I have a 36" chute (not sure of brand) that I use in a 54mm rocket. I use the JLCR with a 9" nomex wrap. It's snug, but not tight. I get a pretty tight wrap on the chute. And it works. It is an alternate flight set up for a rocket that can do traditional DD, so I have a charge that I can size appropriately to make sure it all gets pushed out. YMMV.

 

[Chris_H]

Thanks for clarifying. I think the Fruity chutes compact iris chutes pack smaller than most other chutes in a given diameter. I had not yet tried just a blanket, but I did do a mock up of a petal style protector, and it worked.

 

[base890]

I know this is an old thread but I thought I’d post my solution to the same problem our OP ran into... well perhaps a little different in that my 36” chute I made out of zero porosity nylon was too slippery to keep the lines trapped by fabric when wrapped by the JLCR - even just the fabric would fall apart if I shook the package even a little, no matter how I wrapped it up or tight the band I placed. My chute would have to be first wrapped in the fire blanket and the chute release on the outside of that. So I made this up for the blanket.

I haven’t tried it yet but it’s set now for next weekend at URRG.

 

[Buckeye]

Clever. Let us know how it works out.

 

[base890]

Flew this last weekend for a level 1 certification (3” loc army hawk with a cti I180 skidmark) and it worked great!

View attachment 387213

 

[mbeels]

Nice packing, I got a permission error trying to view your attachment.

 

[mpitfield]

Flew this last weekend for a level 1 certification (3” loc army hawk with a cti I180 skidmark) and it worked great!View attachment 387160

I saw that flight, congrats on the L1

 

[base890]

Weird I can’t see it either

 

[base890]

The mobile app for the forum was the trouble I suppose, uploads fine with chrome.