VK slider

[skydivebb 0]

What has worked best for the bouncing VK slider? Mine moves 1-2 ft and timing it is a pain. Only a few jumps on it and haven't yet found an input that helps grab it quickly

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[ianmdrennan 2]

I squeeze my rear risers together. That annoyance also went away when I switched to a RDS slider.

Performance Designs Factory Team

[dqpacker 7]

ianmdrennan

I squeeze my rear risers together. That annoyance also went away when I switched to a RDS slider.

+1 on the Rds. I also am grabbing mine the first time it gets to the slinks.

[danielcroft 2]

My RDS slider doesn't bounce but it does hover higher up on the risers on both the VK79 and VK75 demo wings I've jumped. Luckily I have long arms to go with my 25" risers but, it definitely sits higher than my VC84 (or friend's VC79) on the same risers.

[skydivebb 0]

Thanks for the tip

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[Skydivesg 6]

ianmdrennan

I squeeze my rear risers together. That annoyance also went away when I switched to a RDS slider.

Does squeezing the rears bring it down close enough to grab or does it jump back up as soon as you let go. Also, my removable slider is from a VE 103 do you think it's ok to use it on my VK 96? I haven't had time to measure them yet.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.

[ianmdrennan 2]

Hey Sandy,

I found once the slider got at an angle, and was over the risers in some fashion, it didn't want to shoot back up again - so no, it didn't jump back up for me.

As for the RDS, I use the same size VC slider on my VK. I believe that they are identical, and you should be able to use your 103 RDS slider on your VK 96. I'd call PD to confirm though, I don't really have much experience on the larger sizes.

Blues!
Ian

Performance Designs Factory Team

[chuckakers 406]

As a casual hp observer these days I find this topic as entertaining as it is educational. As our evolution continues so does the introduction of new issues.

Bouncing slider? Never heard of it. Well you have now, old man.

Chuck Akers
D-10855
Houston, TX

[danielcroft 2]

ianmdrennan

As for the RDS, I use the same size VC slider on my VK. I believe that they are identical, and you should be able to use your 103 RDS slider on your VK 96.

http://performancedesigns.com/docs/linetrims/VC-071-111-Line-Trim-Chart.pdf
http://performancedesigns.com/docs/linetrims/VK_LTC.pdf
The slider for the VC103 and VK96 are the same according to their respective line trim charts.

[Zlew 0]

danielcroft

***As for the RDS, I use the same size VC slider on my VK. I believe that they are identical, and you should be able to use your 103 RDS slider on your VK 96.

http://performancedesigns.com/docs/linetrims/VC-071-111-Line-Trim-Chart.pdf
http://performancedesigns.com/docs/linetrims/VK_LTC.pdf
The slider for the VC103 and VK96 are the same according to their respective line trim charts.

This may have changed, but as of a year ago all of the velo sliders were the same size, but PD RDS sliders were several inches smaller than the non RDS slider. For me, it made a significant change in the opening characteristics at terminal (on a velo).

[danielcroft 2]

Zlew

This may have changed, but as of a year ago all of the velo sliders were the same size, but PD RDS sliders were several inches smaller than the non RDS slider. For me, it made a significant change in the opening characteristics at terminal (on a velo).

This is my understanding as well; PD's RDS sliders are generally smaller than their drawstring counterparts which speeds up openings.

[angryelf 0]

With the exception of the Katana and (maybe) some other canopies-most of PD's wings are designed to use a 19" x 23" slider. the material measurement is the same whether it is removable or not; how it reefs changes (a bit) when the rings/grommets are built into the corners of the slider or are outside of the slider. Which is why PD says no removables on canopies going to terminal...

I put a home made removable slider on my VK 90 (from my VE 96) for the first 10 jumps. The rings (which I made) were an 1/8" smaller than PD slider grommets (I.D.). the slider would hang above the risers and flop all over the place. After multiple H&P's that took over 1000 ft to get control of the slider, I switched it out for a PD removable with larger I.D. rings. problem solved, slider comes down/stops on the risers and is easy to remove.

The VK "slider flop" is a real thing. I think the flight profile/angle of attack/etc has something to do with it. That being said it is manageable. Like Ian said, rear riser inward pressure helps.

Anybody out there on Peregrines/Petras/Leias experiencing this?

-Harry

"Sometimes you eat the bar,
and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

[skydivebb 0]

Squeezed my risers together today and it worked perfectly. Got the slider on the first drop down and I feel it would have stayed if I didn't. Definitely the right procedure to quickly and accurately grab the standard slider on the VK.

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[dpreguy 14]

I don't have a vk slider, but...I submit: If you have to jump for any slider, maybe look into 16 inch risers. I have them. Even though I have 'plenty long' arms I was having to reach high on every jump before I switched to the shorter risers. No regrets on my choice.

[skow 6]

angryelf

the slider would hang above the risers and flop all over the place. After multiple H&P's that took over 1000 ft to get control of the slider, I switched it out for a PD removable with larger I.D. rings. problem solved, slider comes down/stops on the risers and is easy to remove.

The VK "slider flop" is a real thing. I think the flight profile/angle of attack/etc has something to do with it. That being said it is manageable. Like Ian said, rear riser inward pressure helps.

Anybody out there on Peregrines/Petras/Leias experiencing this?

-Harry

Do you have a video?

[angryelf 0]

https://vimeo.com/128783104[/url]

Some openings/slider removal clips for those interested.

Red slider/rings are mine-rings worked fine on other canopies (velo/pilot), not so hot on the VK.
Yellow slider is a stock PD RDS slider.

Jumps where you see harness input with big turns while fiddling with the slider or otherwise not 100% focused on traffic-was either the only canopy pilot in the air or I was a minimum of 1000 ft/ 300M below other wings. Obviously-big altitude losing turns in traffic are bad.

The terminal jump you see at Raeford I immediately used a riser to turn back towards DZ, intentionally. IF you've ever jumped at Raeford you know it can be bad to open on the East side of the DZ.

Canopy opens great at terminal and sub terminal. Jumps where I packed riser offsets, opened in horrible body positions I pretty much got exactly what I expected. Otherwise the wing opens soft, but relatively quickly and always within 20deg of heading. On the last opening you can see the right front riser group getting snagged for a second. I have had this 3 times, 2 terminal/1 sub. the ring is clean, I'm still not sure what is causing it. Either way it clears every time with rear risers.

I have 35 jumps on 2 different VK 90's now: one with 300 Vectran and mine which has 500 Vectran. I have no idea how the stock slider behaves on the canopy as I have never jumped a VK with one. I can say that line diameter makes a huge difference in flight on the same wing.

-Harry

"Sometimes you eat the bar,
and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

[skymeat 0]

Hi Guys , reading about the slider thing, I dont have a VK , have a comp velo 79 wit standard removable slider, anybody knows if you can customize it to make it collapsable ( drawstrings) I know its technically possible, but would it work with the extra bulk / stifnes/ cables of the PD slider. Anybody has this ?

I use it for regular freefly jumps , sometimes its a bit busy in the sky, or Im a bit low,.. then I would like to just collapse it. I landed a few times with the flapping slider, cause I coulndt grab it, it has a great effect on flair. , it sucked . Next time I try pushing the risers towords each other

[danielcroft 2]

Interesting, thanks for posting.

I have a couple of openings with full RDS on a VK75 where the slider happily sits just above the risers, no problem. I should put those in a video somewhere... at some point.

[luis 0]

in addition to bounce - anyone having slider hangups? The slider is standard PD RDS.
Mine sometimes sits at the cascades refusing to respond to any input. Then, couple of hundred meters and few "oh shits" later it just slides down ..and starts bouncing

[shogo 0]

my 84 loaded at 2.2 does the same. yes annoying. the stainless steel grommets hit my thumb and index finger at joints. hurts.

my velo 79 did the same thing. i used to put fishing weights sawn in my slider (front and back). that helped.

but after the slider lost crunchiness, the bouncing stopped.

[Zlew 0]

I only have bout 10 jumps on mine, but only had the slider issue once. And to be honest that one time may have been the first jump where I was anticipating a wild slider due to this thread... The rest of the time it comes down, flaps just for a second and then ends up with the back grommets down, and the front grommets up and very stable. Video below.

http://youtu.be/glUQtrc8XOI

[skydivebb 0]

That's nice! Wish mine would do that. What's your loading? I'm loading 2.7 and wondering if that may have something to do with it.

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[Zlew 0]

I don't load it up too much. About 2:1 without lead.

[Fordy 0]

It's an easy modification for any decent rigger. I moded mine (CV79 & V79)so I didn't have to mess about after AFF jumps and no issue when using RDS or as a collapsible slider.

Regards

Fordy

Fordy

[AdD 1]

I've done a handful of jumps on my new VK103 with removable slider, the openings are a bit quick at terminal, a less neat packjob seems to help. At subterminal as it is intended they are very nice.

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