Once you go nylon, do you ever go back?

[grimlock3000]

After having a few plastic chutes fail to fully deploy or rip on various LPRs, I did not want to take any chances on the two larger rockets I am working on. I got a couple of purple ripstop nylon chutes from Thrustline Aerospace for my D powered Big Daddy and my soon to be built E powered Stormcaster. I was very happy with the build and quality of the chutes. I decided to do some testing with an old house fan. The nylon chute never failed to unravel or full deply in front of the fan. I repeated the test with plastic Estes chutes and there was no comparison. The nylon chute opened quicker and more reliably.

Stich detail:

I can see myself using more nylon chutes in the future. With swivels on them it is easy to go from rocket to rocket at needed

 

[Fore Check]

I love Thrustline's rip stop chutes. I have a collection of 12's, 18
s, and 24's that I use in everything that doesn't require something bigger or simply uses non-parachute recovery.

People still swear by chutes made from other materials (like mylar) and we don't want to get a pros-cons thing going again, but I think it's safe to say that people find something they're comfortable with and roll with it.

I'm in the ripstop camp, and the Thrustline chutes are darned good ones. I won't use plastic anymore either.

 

[wwattles]

Depends on what you mean by "go back". I "go back" to mylar for some of my rockets (such as the Gemini DC, which has very little room for parachute in those side tubes), but I mostly stick with nylon whenever possible.

WW

 

[DynaSoar]

Originally posted by wwattles
Depends on what you mean by "go back". I "go back" to mylar for some of my rockets (such as the Gemini DC, which has very little room for parachute in those side tubes), but I mostly stick with nylon whenever possible.

WW

Same here. The right tool for the right job.
Ripstop nylon in a kit bashed Alpha? Hardly.
Most of the failures of plastic chutes are not the chute's fault.

 

[jetra2]

I despise plastic chutes, mostly. I'll usually only put them in my rockets that I have a good chance of losing due to either high altitudes or what not. I'm a big fan of both Mylar and Ripstop. The best Mylar chutes I have used have been Rockethead Rockets' chutes and then for nylon, the best have been STL Rocketry (edwardw) chutes, with Thrustline's chutes being a very, very close second place. In fact, we chose to use Thrustline's chute for the Deuce's in the Tour de Deuce! 15 flights on each Deuce and still no burning or failures!

Jason

 

[grimlock3000]

Same here. The right tool for the right job.
Ripstop nylon in a kit bashed Alpha? Hardly.
Most of the failures of plastic chutes are not the chute's fault.

Good point. I was not trying to say I was going to use nylon chutes for _everything_. I would feel kind of silly stuffing a nylon chute into a rocket that cost less than the chute did So far every rocket that had a chute fail on me was on an A->C motor and recovered with nothing more than minor damage after tumbling or lawn darting.

I am sure some of the plastic chute failures could have been prevented if I did not store the chutes in my rockets and powdered the chutes before each flight. That is just not convenient for me to do though. Two of my Estes chute failures have happened on late ejections with the rocket past apogee. The chutes came out as the rocket was coming down, and ripped two shroud line attachment points. Not much I could do about that except watch the rocket fall.

This is what happened on one flight when a plastic chute ejected at apogee, the shroud lines unrolled normally... and the chute never opened. It just trailed along behind the rocket for a few hundred feet. I was expecting the chute to catch air and open at any second. It never did, and my rocket landed in a swamp:

For now I am only planning to use the nylon chutes in the two large rockets I have. As I get more large rockets, I will use the chutes in those as well. Going into the swamp after a cheap rocket is not that bad, but I would rather now have to worry about chasing a large rocket into a swamp or watching it lawn dart and get ruined.

I am going to try a few mylar chutes and streamers soon as well. www.jonrocket.com has an assortment of three sizes of mylar chutes for only $5.50. I just need to get a couple more rockets stuck in trees so I can place an order for some new ones and get the mylar chutes at the same time

 

[prowlerguy]

I have found a solution to the storage of chutes. I found one of those hangars from a dry cleaners that is a wire hangar wrapped in paper. I use snap swivels on all my chutes, and I hook them through the paper and over the bottom piece. They hang naturally below, not folded and stuck together. The paper keeps the chutes from sliding and tangling, and when I go flying I just grap the hangar and go. I hang up in the back of my car, and I can easily select what I need and replace it when I am done.

 

[Stewart32]

Custom's shroud lines.... not sure what the thread is but it seems far superior to the cotton line which come with Estes chutes. Mylar seems a bit stiff. And the one nylon chute I have has not yet flown.

We will see....

 

[rbeckey]

I use Thrustaero nylon chutes in several sizes on swivels for most of my flights. I even have a custom 30 incher for larger rockets. I do still use Estes type chutes in smaller or sacrificial rockets. I store chutes outside of the rockets until the night before flight, and use cellulose wadding. I have few recovery failures.

 

[astrowolf67]

The only time I use plastic chutes any more, is when I prep a lot a day prior to a launch, and I don't have enough nylon chutes to go around. And, that's only if a 18 inch or smaller chute is needed. Over the years, and mainly just what have come with kits, I have built up a nice assortment of nylon chutes. I have also started a collection of nylon streamers. It's also handy to have some of the smaller nylon chutes in the thin mill variety. Example, my 14" LOC chute is an extremely tight fit in my Deuces Wild, but a Top Flight 14" thin mill fits great!

 

[flying_silverad]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Whether you go plastic, Mylar or Rip-Stop, it's just nice to have choices.

Remember when Estes switched from the nicely checkered chutes to the orange and white stripes? I sure miss those checks!

 

[edwardw]

I would say that I use nylon chutes on all my scratch built rockets. Just has a better feeling to me knowing that I made the chute for the rocket. If I buy a kit I'll use their chute if I'm happy with it. Estes kits I usually just use the chute they give you. If it's a bigger plastic chute (24" +) then I'm usually tempted to throw a nylon one in there to calm my conscience.

Edward

 

[ClusterWiz]

I personlally swear by Top Flight chutes. I also never use the chutes provided with the kits, from any company. They are alwase to big cuz there ment to bring the rocket to a soft landing. I prefer to build the rocket nice and strong and use a smaller Top Flight chute to bring the bird down faster, so I'm not spending all day hiking for my rocket on windy days. I've used Top Flight chutes for everything from 9" for the estes to a 70" for a main on one of my high power rockets.

 

[Steward]

We have our first "BIG" club launch Saturday, and this evening I have been sitting at the sewing machine... too long...

I'm all for learning new things as well as new ways to do things... but next time I think I'll just buy parachutes...

My design is good and I have good nylon and threads... but it's a tad bit tedious... I shouldn't wait to the last minute either... That doesn't help... I'm afraid that they just wont be the exacting quality that I know I can do...

Oh well... who the heck needs color cordinated chutes anyway...???

LOL