My little project

[RiggerLee 61]

You can't see it in that pic because you have to turn the hook by hand, turn the pully on the end of the machine, till the gap where the hook part of the hook exposes the tension spring on the side of the bobbin case. It's just like on a home machine but you can't remove the case from the hook.

A couple of other points. In the pic. those screws you see are not the ones. They hold the curved plate that keeps the case setting in the race. If you turn it slowly you'll see the ridge in the case that that plate holds. That is a perfect place to put a drop of oil so that it's drawn right into the race. Their's no real way for a machine to oil there it self. you have to do it every time. Also in the pic. Those two round post with holes in the top of them part way under the hook, you can see them better when you turn the machine by hand. Those are wicks, another good place to put a drop of oil. You should oil these points every time you change bobbins and when you first set down to sew any thing. Make it a habit. Set down to sew, open plates to see how much thread you have, oil bobbin and threads and any other points on the machine, close plates, begin sewing. Same thing when you change bobbins. Make it a habit. Their is absolutely nothing, with the exception of the motor, on this machine that can be damaged by oil. If in doubt squirt some oil on it. Any where one thing moves and touches another. Tip it up and look at the bottom. Shafts pass through parts of the frame. on the top side above all of these will be a little hole through the frame. That's an oil hole so squirt some oil through it. That bushing is thirsty. Same things all over. Oil, oil, oil. Now you see why I told you to get one of those oil bottles with a long straw on top. Is this machine an oilier? Does it have an actual oil pan that you fill up with a pump? If not then you may see a set of gears on the bottom where the hooks are that turn the rotation to make the hooks turn vertically. This it a gook place to spray a little white lithium grease on the gear teeth them selves. just turn the pulley as you do it and spay it in the gap. It stays better then oil. Once you make friends with it you will love this machine.

Lee

Lee
[email protected]
www.velocitysportswear.com

[Quagmirian 40]

I think I've found the screws. I won't play about with them now because I'm halfway through my canopy, but thanks. They were in an awkward location too. As to oiling, I think my machine is a self oiler. There's a reservoir at the top and it all drips down and collects into a bottle under the machine. I haven't physically oiled anything since I started.

[gowlerk 1,902]

You should take Lee's advice about oiling the hook races. Self oiling systems are not perfect. Do you have the manual for the machine? If not, what is the exact model number? I'll find you one.

Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

[Quagmirian 40]

It's a consew 332R, and I have a hard copy manual (many of the pictures are indiscernible though). I would always appreciate something a bit clearer.

[gowlerk 1,902]

Here is a good one from online at the Consew site. That Consew is a straight copy of a Singer 212. Any information you can fine for the Singer will apply. There are sub models with different feed systems and options, but the hooks and bobbin cases are all pretty much the same. Do you have the oil reservoirs in the hook saddles filled?

http://www.consew.com/Files/112347/InstructionManuals/332r.pdf

Send me a PM with your address and I'll fill your inbox with manuals.

Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

[Quagmirian 40]

Thanks for that. For some reason, there's a lot in there that isn't in my manual. I will definitely have to take a break after this canopy and have a good old play with the machine.

A couple more pictures of the orange thing

[inline LST_small.jpg]

[inline centre_cell_small.jpg]

[Quagmirian 40]

All main seam work finished. I just have to put the line attachments and then the lines on. Of course, there will be pictures if it gets jumped. This whole thing has been a very good exercise in sewing and construction efficiency. It's taken me just under a month, and I know I can go faster than that. I'll be investing in some new equipment and rethinking the whole process before my next prototype.

[RiggerLee 61]

Looks like it's all closed up. I wish I'd thought to mention this earlier. Have you ever thought about adding false ribs to your tail like they are doing on some of the newer high performance canopies? The trailing edge is a lot of drag. It might sound odd to suggest this on a large low performance canopy but I'm thinking that it's an even bigger problem on larger canopies with wide cells and widely spaced ribs. It would be really interesting to make a second prototype, exactly the same but with those included. I'd bet that you would see a measurable improvement in performance.

I had an old Chafen canopy once. He insisted on terminating his ribs short of the tail leaving the top and bottom skins lose and unattached. It looked like he just chopped off the back of the rib. Never really understood why but it gave him a very rounded tail. No sewing between the top and bottom skin. Lots of drag. The canopy actually flew and landed much better when I sewed the top and bottom skins together along the rib line.

Some thing I always wanted to play with is actually making the unloaded ribs shorter so that the bottom skin has a zig zag to it. The short ribs would terminate at like the D line. the top skin would be rectangular but the bottom skin would be a saw tooth forming a point at the long load bearing rib. So the cell would have basically a cone on the back supporting the single layer top skin. The idea is that the airflow would smoothly transition along the cone. No blunt trailing edge between the ribs. The bottom skin would also act as a zigzag to carry the load from the unloaded rib. It would be like a cross brace with out the diagonal rib. The bottom skin would be the load bearer supporting the unloaded rib not letting it float upwards distorting the canopy. Span wise support with out the extra rib. The bottom skin would be the same shape it always is with the lifting of the unloaded I beam, it's just built into the canopy allowing the top skin to remain a smooth fully spread air foil with the support it needs.

Lee

Lee
[email protected]
www.velocitysportswear.com

[riggerrob 558]

Riggerlee,

Your idea reminds me of a Pioneer military freefall canopy circa 1984. The top skin extended about 6 inches farther aft of the bottom skin, creating a sharp trailing edge for smoother airflow immediately aft of the trailing edge.
On hard wings, trailing edge radius makes a (several percentage points) difference in lift to drag ratio.

[JerryBaumchen 1,046]

Hi Rob,

Quote

The top skin extended about 6 inches farther aft of the bottom skin

The only reason Pioneer did that was to get around Snyder's patent; no other reason.

Jerry Baumchen

[Quagmirian 40]

I think I almost understand what you mean, Lee. You'll have to sketch it or something. I really like the idea of reducing tail drag.

[Quagmirian 40]

Woo finished wow.

[inline canopy.jpg]

[Quagmirian 40]

Good news all around.

My local chief instructor got to jump the grey thing this weekend, but subsequent jumps were cut short by the weather. Once it has been jumped a few more times by some other very experienced people, apparently there's no reason I can't.

[inline grey_thing.jpg]

Also the orange thing looks good, we can do a similar test program at some point.

[inline canopy_1.jpg]

[inline canopy_2.jpg]

[yoink 321]

I'm deeply impressed. that looks like a real parachute!

[Quagmirian 40]

yoink

I'm deeply impressed. that looks like a real parachute!

Thanks. It does look like a parachute doesn't it?

I am going to take a break from manufacturing for a while, to properly test the two I have at the moment. I also want to rethink the whole design and production process, improving efficiency and quality. I might invest a little bit here and there. For example, I want a 'proper' hot knife rather than the 30 Watt soldering iron I have at the moment (I like to look of these). I think I'll get my sewing table extended a bit and buy a glass cutting surface for trimming tape etc.

I want to raise the bar in terms of professionalism.

[RiggerLee 61]

Trying to up load pics...

Lee

Lee
[email protected]
www.velocitysportswear.com

[RiggerLee 61]

Cool! That worked!

Lee

Lee
[email protected]
www.velocitysportswear.com

[RiggerLee 61]

More pics

Lee

Lee
[email protected]
www.velocitysportswear.com

[RiggerLee 61]

Lee
[email protected]
www.velocitysportswear.com

[hackish 8]

Cool setup Lee, is that a puller installed on a 112w140. I think I'm going to have to steal your idea for the presser foot and make myself a ribbon feeder like that.

I assume you or someone silver soldered that part on the presser foot? I could probably TIG weld one on if I made the feeder out of SS.

-Michael

[RiggerLee 61]

First set of pics is a tape foot. It's the very first upgrade you need to buy for your machine. Perhaps a separate bobbin winder, that should be first. But a tape foot is the cheapest most useful attachment you could add to your sewing. It's just a foot. Put it on any time you need it.

Next is a stand to feed the tape from above the machine. Or you can just hang a shaft for a spool of tape from the ceiling above your machine.

Next is a couple of simple folders. That is an example of a French Fell seam folder. A little pricey but worth it to me. Paid for it self on the first project. For you... I'd say a simple up turn folder to prep the edges as you sew tape on. And a full roll to finish the tail. You should be able to just feed the tape into the roll as you finish the tail seem. It should be an easy off the shelf item.

Last, and this is a bigger one. You will want at some point to get a puller. You could get one installed on that machine but the cheapest way to go would probable be to find a machine with one already on it. They don't grow on trees. Just keep an eye out. Build up a cool machine fund and just have it their waiting in case your dream machine pops up on E-bay or some shit like that.

Hot knife. This is the one you want for most things. By that I mean all your fabric cutting. The larger knives are nice. I have like 4 that I rotate through to keep from over heating them. Their really for cutting webbing and heavy fabric, shit like that. You could use it to trim tapes and a few things but you can do even the heaviest cuts on this with your small knife.

Work space. Their is an axiom that your work will expand to fill the available area. A project is like a gas not a liquid. I used to have a 5000 sq ft loft. Now I get by in half a 2000 sq ft house. Things you can do. First try moving your table into the middle of a room so things can go off the end with out piling up. Scratch that. First thing is get a bunch of slippery box tape and cover every sharp edge on your machine and stand. No snag points. No sharp junctions, bolts, metal, any thing that could snag fabric. Goal is to make it as smooth as a babies bottom. You'll only have to snag a canopy once to regret not doing this when you rip a hole in it on the last seam. Next thing you can do is to get a table that you can stand behind the sewing machine to support your work. One solution is to get another sewing machine table. Get a blank table top. They mass produce those table tops and then cut the hole for what ever machine is desired. You can just get a blank uncut table and an old ass scrap set of legs. Wala, instant easily removable extendable table surface. I used to have them in between a lot of my machines with their backs to them so two machines shared one spare table. Mine were actually made from some shelving. But if you want to see a table... Four by Eight baby. Fall to you knees and pay homage to my table. Yes I have a small dick but I have a big sewing table and some big ass guns. It evens out. don't even have room to set that one up right now.

Lee

Lee
[email protected]
www.velocitysportswear.com

[RiggerLee 61]

It's actually a 112-w-116 It's made that way. The bottom roller is powered. The top is just a spring loaded idler wheel. You can ret an after market puller like that and cut out behind the machine to fit it. But it's probable cheaper to find an old one like mine.

It's silver soldered. I've never seen them tig welded. There are companies that do nothing but build attachments. A tape foot is an easy one and sooo worth it.

Lee

Lee
[email protected]
www.velocitysportswear.com

[JerryBaumchen 1,046]

Hi Quag,

Quote

I like to look of these

I borrowed one of those once to see what I thought of it. Way too heavy; you will be wore out by the end of any day.

Try this one ( it might be available in 220 v ): http://products.mmnewman.com/category/heavy-duty-hot-knife-and-tips

They are the best that I have ever found. The electical leads are somewhat short but I just extend them.

Jerry Baumchen

[hackish 8]

I have the sailrite cutter but I find it's too hot for cutting zp/f111. For that I have a small butane powered soldering iron with a blade tip. It works OK but it is a PITA to heat up every time and you have to be careful of where the exhaust outlet is.

When I get some spare time I might buy a laser and see how well it works. Oh wait I don't have any spare time!

-Michael

[Quagmirian 40]

Can we have a discussion about toggle turns?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFH7vK3vR3E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzRAviKN1Do

These two people have jumped my canopy and noted that it flies oddly. John LeBlanc also said that proper testing of toggle turns is important.

The problem seems to be a lack of coordination between roll and yaw during the stroke. I'm having trouble seeing it, but then again I would. Input would be appreciated.

For some reason I thought it might have something to do with panel shape. I have taken off a PD 210 topskin and so far looks exactly like mine. This only leaves the rib, but I don't see how this would affect turns.