Parachute Customization Level

[edwardw]

I'm trying to gauge the demand for custom chutes vs. stock chutes...

Examples:
1st Choice
I have a friend with a Der Red Max - I'm making a custom color matched, 15fps descent rate with the Der Red Max logo on it for him...he chose the lines and everything. Took me two tries to dye the fabric.

2nd Choice:
I want custom colors, lines and a descent rate for my rocket - no logo or graphic work.

3rd Choice
I want my colors and lines, but I will take a chute that recovers a range of weights - from say 2.5 to 3 lbs.

4th Choice
I'll take a predesigned parachute in whatever colors with their lines with a range of weights - it looks good and will recover my rocket.

We won't talk about the 5th choice

Edward

 

[edwardw]

I should have posted this originally - sorry

This is how the price breaks between the levels

Take any chute

Stock = $X

Custom Colors/lines, range on weights = $X + 5% more

Custom colors/lines, descent = $X + 10% more

Color matching/lines/logo graphic = $X + 20-25% more

Also - any reasons you guys like stock over custom work?

Edward

 

[Elbmod]

Stock = cheaper

Logos are unimportant to me - for most of the flight its too far away to see and I never display a parachute!

Colour is significant - it helps me track the little monsters.

... and while we're at it, I really hate the plastic bag variety of chute every single chute failure I have is due to one of them - failing to deploy, too much heat, too little wadding, cold day memory effect you name it. I do keep a stock of ripstock nylon ones that I transfer between birds as the need arises.

 

[DynaSoar]

Originally posted by elbmod
Stock = cheaper

Logos are unimportant to me - for most of the flight its too far away to see and I never display a parachute!

Colour is significant - it helps me track the little monsters.

I concur. First, I want to be able to see it; that's on the vendor. Second, I want it to recover safely; that means my matching bird and chute. There's already plenty of range in stock chutes, and enough techniques for customizing them easily myself.

Stocking lots of different chutes costs a lot and that gets reflected in the cost, even to those who want to do their own customization of stock.

Now, if a vendor were to carry stock chutes, but test them with standard weights for average descent rate, and make that information available in their catalog (along with completed weight, suggestions for color customization and references to previous R&D work on customizing chute characteristics), that would help know know what chute to get to work on further. I would probably buy from that vendor because they would be one hoopy frood who really knows where their towel is. If it were a very critical model (ie. competition, carrying expensive electronics, etc.) I would certainly be doing some testing and probably tweaking of my own. Consider just the effect of pendulum swinging of different model weights and lengths, and shock cord lengths, on chute lift due to drift.

If I were a vendor, I would be wary of providing precustomized chutes, because sooner or later one won't work as advertised, and rightly or wrongly, said customization could get blamed (OK, not color, but you know what I mean).