BrianM

Ah, ok, that makes sense. Just how bent was this pin, BTW? "It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

Why was he able to extract the pin by pulling on the cable, but unable to do so by pulling on the handle, which pulls on the cable? There would be a bit of extra friction from the cable running through the housing, but the better grip afforded by the handle should permit a much larger force to be applied than by pulling directly on the cable - more than enough to overcome that bit of extra friction, I would think. "It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

We've had a perfectly good term for this for a very long time - it's "forward throw". It's in the CSPA PIMs, the USPA SIMs, and several other countries equivalents. It was in common use when I stayed jumping twenty years ago, and still is today. I'm surprised nobody here seems to know it! "If the previous skydiver or group is still under the airplane, do not jump." sounds suspiciously like a variation of the 45° rule.

You can: https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=pDwwVNeAMcS5iwKqtoDoCg&url=https://developers.google.com/apps-script/&cd=1&ved=0CBwQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNFwotsDfTfbwcDODZb6JOz8z-7stg&sig2=0pHcYrlVc99v0-AYskYklA "It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

This is the first I've heard of that, but you're right, I found it buried on page 29 of the manual. They seem to have left that change out of all their marketing materials; good job noticing it! "It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

I played around with various tips from this thread tonight. The folder gets in the way of doing some of but I'm trying everything that's been suggested. Here's a photo of my latest attempt. Still some room for improvement but I will keep practicing. "It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

Thanks Rob. What I've been doing is to sew the inboard row of stitching first, right up to the edge, then advancing a bit to lift the needle, then turning the piece (which is how I've done it successfully on double needle machines). The problem is that without the second row of stitching, the tape doesn't want to fold into place on the bottom - it tends to just bulge out somewhere. I'm not sure how reversing a few stitches will help with that but I'll give it a try when I get home from work. Also, won't reversing a few stitches mean the material will no longer be under the needle once I rotate it? "It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

I'm trying to do binding with a single needle machine by doing two passes to get two rows of stitches. This works fine for straight edges, but I'm having trouble turning corners. I know how to turn a corner with a double needle machine, but I can't get the tape to fold properly with the single needle. With only one row of stitching, the tape isn't secured as well and doesn't want to go where it should. I've tried sewing the inner row of stitching first, and I've tried sewing the outer row of stitching first, and haven't had success with either. I'm using a ParaGear binder on a Bernina 217. Are there any tricks to doing this, or am I trying to do something that just isn't going to work well? "It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

Hey John, since you have a couple of these - does the stitch length adjustment do anything? Mine doesn't seem to change the stitch at all. I assume it's something to do with the conversion? "It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

I've always found the Aerodyne soft link tacking instructions a little confusing for a few reasons: Step 1 shows the needle piercing one side of the riser (which doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't later pierce the other side, of course) Step 2 shows the needle piercing both sides of the riser. Step 3, which seems to show the finished tacking before the knot is tied, shows the thread piercing only one side of the riser. In step 3, all the stitches go through the middle of the ring - so if it's only tacked to one side of the riser as shown, the ring isn't actually secured to the riser (though the knot in the middle of the ring may help prevent the link from rotating). This is probably a bit more nitpicky, but I've also noticed: Step 2 shows the needle (with doubled thread) making a single vertical stitch. Steps 3-8 show two horizontal stitches. The knot shown after step 8 seems to fit with the stitches shown in steps 3-8 but not with what was done in step 2. While the risers aren't shown in that drawing, it appears to show that only one riser is involved, given that we know the knot is tied inside the riser. Or have I just missed something obvious? [inline aerodyne_tacking.png] Click the image to see it full size. "It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

I don't remember hearing anything about problems with loose tolerances, only about problems with soft metal. Do you have any more info about this? The only info I've seen about that is this thread. It contains one post reporting a rumour that there was an Argus and that it didn't fully cut the loop, and one post (from the Argus manufacturer) saying that there was no Argus involved at all, so it's unclear to me if this is, in fact, another Argus failure-to-cut incident or not. "It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

I did this for a local jumper recently. Took a few minutes on the zigzag machine. It works great. I've got a couple more to do soon. I have a picture I can dig up and post when I get home. I've done that too. It also works well. "It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

The Argus requires a test from a service centre every four years. "It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

It will always turn the display off, regardless of which of those modes you have it set to. in economize mode, however, it will also turn the device off completely after a certain number of hours (I forget how many). "It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

That is normal. It's not switching off; only the display is turned off, the ProTrack is still on and will work. "It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

Oops. I hate it when I do that! Here's the picture. "It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

Did you see my post above (http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4494932#4494932)? It's not quite the "cutting away -> incident report" example you are looking for, but it probably would have been if I had cut away (the reserve didn't make it out of the freebag, I landed the main). "It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

Thanks to everyone for all the info. Sorry for taking so long to post, I had no time to play with it until the weekend. Then I didn't have the proper needles, so had to go buy some of those - then discovered the timing was way off. I've never adjusted timing on any machine, but the 143 manual describes how to do it, and with a bit of trial and error I was able to get it running well. Yes, the red nut sets the zigzag width. The adjustment range is quite a bit more than the machine is capable of - the needle starts hitting stuff it shouldn't and breaking. I learned that the hard way. Good thing needles are cheap!

My 143W2 is a single-throw ZZ. Trade? Hmmm... I may have been wrong about the stock 143W2 being double throw. I could have sworn I saw that in the manual, but now I can't find it. That would certainly explain the reason for the conversion. I better keep this one - it's not mine, it's been loaned to me - though I suspect it may never end up going back.

Correct, it is a double throw zigzag (308 stitch) - and I'm impressed that you can tell that from those photos! Yes, but the question is what exactly do I adjust? It's not the same as the Singer 143W2 manual, and Camatron doesn't have any info available. They suggested moving the adjustment knob - but there's nothing on there that I would describe as a "knob" (other than the stitch length and tension adjustments). Loosening the nut that has been painted red (see 5.jpg) and sliding that end of that arm up and down should adjust the zigzag width (the vertical brass part that it is attached to swings like a pendulum, which is what creates the zigzag). It looks fairly obvious, but I figured it was worth asking before I do something I shouldn't. If nobody knows for sure then I'll give it a try and see what happens.

Hello, I've got my hands on a Singer 143W2 with a Camatron conversion. I have no idea what the conversion does - anybody know? Also, it is missing the knob that sets the zigzag width on a normal 143W2 - I assume that is part of the conversion but don't really know. How do I set the zigzag width on this machine? The mechanism that moves the needle bar from side to side looks adjustable, but I don't want to start randomly adjusting stuff without knowing what I'm doing. I've attached a few pictures. Brian

I'm confused about how going from a design that scales to the screen size to one that barely scales at all (changing width by a measly 200 pixels) is supposed to make things look/work better on a variety of screen sizes. My horizontal resolution is 1920. The new look uses only 62% of my screen - and only 51% if I ignore the sidebar (which is only visible at the top of the screen, and not is not visible as soon as I scroll down the page). I can now view significantly less content on the screen, so I have to scroll more. I have the space, I want to use it. Worse, if I resize my window in order to fit multiple windows on the screen, now the content doesn't fit and I'm stuck scrolling back and forth to read every single line. It also looks really bad - I have this river of text flowing down the middle of my screen with huge swaths of blank space on either side. It is ugly, distracting, and frankly, it reminds me of the bad old days of 90's web design. The rest of the changes are great - but can we please have the forums scale to fit the screen size again? "It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

It could do worse than that. I had a PCIT last year. I did not cut away. I ended up with a main-reserve entanglement in which the reserve never left the freebag. I landed the fully open and perfectly flying main. I am very happy I did not cut away. Unrelated, but it was a night jump, I landed in the middle of a forest with my freebag between my knees and my reserve PC in my teeth. My only injury: walking out behind the guys who found me, a branch snapped back and struck my eye, giving me a corneal abrasion. We recovered the gear the next day and found the main PC was folded in half (hacky was near the base) and the bridle was wrapped and knotted around the whole thing. "It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

No there isn't. "It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

My ProTrack stopped working last fall - completely dead. I asked L&B how much it would cost to repair (it's an older one and I wouldn't have felt right getting a new one for free). They told me they won't repair any ProTrack over a year old. Not won't repair for free, not won't repair yours because it's too old, but won't repair any ProTrack over a year old. That last part surprised me. Since mine was quite old, I wasn't upset about it. I like their products, and they've taken really good care of me in the past. I bought a new one. Now if the new one dies a month after the warranty expires and I can't even pay to get it repaired, then I'll be upset... but it does sound like that is their new policy, so I've got my fingers crossed that this one lasts as long as the first one did (which was a long time, BTW; longer than a brand new CYPRES would have lasted!). "It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg