Water Rocket Forum

Hi,

Just want to show you a simple parachute deployment thing I made.

It's all made out of an umbrella that someone wanted to throw away the other day - I had it instead. It was one of those "pocket" ones where the rods are made of many parts that fold together.

It is one of those with a rubber band around the nosecone of the rocket. Down the side of the rocket hangs a lever that releases end of the rubber band, releasing the nosecone and deploying the chute. The rubber band makes the lever swing up and release it, but:

- Before launch, a pin holds the lever down
- During boost phase, the acceleration keeps the lever down
- During the coast to apogee phase, the air keeps it down
- Finally at v=0, it relases...

The parachute is the fabric thing from the umbrella, and the other parts from the structure... and I made a balsawood hinge thing.

Next, I need to make a nosecone that doesn't wedge down so hard over the rocket. It jammed a couple of times. Maybe I will glue the bottom part of a bottle (just the bottom 1 cm) on the top of the rocket, so it forms a well that the nosecone can stand in.

Regards
Soren

Hey Soren, congrats on your first parachute deploy design! Nice to see other people experimenting and refining their ideas. I don't think a lot of people use the air speed flap and even fewer use it with a vertical deploy. Most I've read about use a side opening door. Thanks for posting the pix.

I agree its nice to see someone creat something new an see how it works. Great job!!!!

nice system i need to post some of mine soon on the web

That looks great! What size do you think is ideal for the area of a speed flap? I'm working on something similar right now.