Meteor Mike
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- Joined
- Apr 22, 2013
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If you have a low power rocket that came with a parachute but you want to use a streamer instead, how do you figure what width and length the streamer should be?
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Upgrade NowRocketus eatemupus (rocket-eating trees)
Okay, it just occurred to me to cut a hole in the parachute instead (the light bulb suddenly blinks on over my head - duh). I see there's a dotted circle in the center of the chute for this purpose. But it looks like it would leave a pretty big hole. How big of a hole is too big?
I put a piece of kite tail (light weight poly) about 1x72 inches in an Alpha thinking that it would be a better choice than a chute on a C6 motor. That son of gun actually thermaled on me and drifted away, I was shocked, I had no idea that a rocket of that size and weight could ride a thermal on such a small streamer.
I also like crepe paper for streamer material, it's light, fire resistant and cheap as heck for a big roll at the dollar store. It can double as wadding in a pinch. I always have a roll in the range box.
+1 on that. Comes from an MIT student back in the 60's or early 70's.You get the maximum amount of drag with a 10:1 ratio of length to width.
So basically a 1 inch wide streamer would be 10 inches in length, a 1.5 inch wide 15 inches in length, a 2 inch wide 20 inches, etc.
Lengths beyond that do not appreciably improve descent rates. Also pleated materials used for streamers create more drag than non pleated. Simple crepe paper works great...
The above is based on the studies I have read over the years. Would be interested in hearing if others disagree.
3-inch caution tape. $8.00 at Home Depot for a lifetime supply.
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