Best Place to purchase a parachute UK

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LamdinRockets
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Best Place to purchase a parachute UK

Post by LamdinRockets »

Hi,
Looking to purchase a parachute for a water rocket from a shop in the UK with fast delivery.
Any help would be great thanks.
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anachronist
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Re: Best Place to purchase a parachute UK

Post by anachronist »

It would be quicker to make your own. Follow the tutorial here to make an octagonal parachute: http://www.uswaterrockets.com/construct ... torial.htm

The only change I would make to those instructions is, don't attach your 4 shroud lines to opposite corners. Tie off adjacent corners first, then the next two, then the next two, then finally the adjacent corners on the other side. This allows you to loop your shroud lines through an eyelet or hook without getting them all twisted.
LamdinRockets
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Re: Best Place to purchase a parachute UK

Post by LamdinRockets »

OK will do thanks for the advice, might buy some ripstop kite material for the job. Thoughts ? Any cheaper and lighter materials you can think of?
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anachronist
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Re: Best Place to purchase a parachute UK

Post by anachronist »

I find that a plastic grocery bag is more than sufficient. It has an excellent tensile strength and doesn't stretch with the forces it will experience. There are two types of plastic grocery bags; one is a kind of stretchy thicker plastic, another is a non-stretchy thin plastic (these are typically semi-transparent). Strong, and lighter than rip-stop nylon. But you need to reinforce the corners with tape or binder-hole protectors so that your shroud lines don't tear through.

I had an 'anomaly' (that's the NASA term for 'explosion') in which my rocket body buckled in flight, at about 200 km/h, and the parachute deployed at that speed! The wind yanked it so hard that the connection tore right out of the plastic nose cone attach point. The parachute (made from a plastic bag) was unharmed, no discernible damage or deformation. I was pretty amazed.
LamdinRockets
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Re: Best Place to purchase a parachute UK

Post by LamdinRockets »

OK I'll look into the plastic bag, not sure I understand what you're referring to in terms of the two types of plastic bag, additionally which is preferable?
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anachronist
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Re: Best Place to purchase a parachute UK

Post by anachronist »

Well, if I go to a clothing store and they give me a plastic bag, it's usually an opaque, somewhat heavier material, and it's a soft plastic that stretches. If I go to a grocery store, or a Chinese foot take-out place, I get a more translucent bag made of a different, lighter material that feels like it would be a hard plastic if it were thicker.

-Alex
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anachronist
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Re: Best Place to purchase a parachute UK

Post by anachronist »

Googling a bit...
From http://recyclingnearyou.com.au/document ... tsheet.pdf
There are two major types of plastic shopping bags. Lightweight, checkout-style bags are most commonly found in supermarkets and takeaway stores, and are made from high density polyethylene or HDPE. The heavier, tougher plastic bags found in boutique and department stores are made from low density polyethylene or LDPE.
Yeah, that's more or less what I said in my previous post.
You want the lightweight checkout-style bag.
-Alex