elton01

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Everything posted by elton01

  1. Finished roughing out the helmet. I'm machining the hinge as we speak. I'm going with a poor man's rough rendition of the BH cutaway hinge. It looks good on Matt's and is clean. I weighed the helmet as is right now and it comes in at 2.9 lbs without any accessories. It needs the top plate, hinge, closing clasp and of course cameras. I hope to keep it under 8.3 lbs when fully done. I think it will be achievable.
  2. Thanks guys, I'll wait to hear from Angela before I jump.
  3. Hi guys, Angela from FreakNSuits just finished making a camera jacket for me. The workmanship is first rate. One thing (through my own mistake in measuring), is the fact that the arms are about two inches too long. I cannot get the wing to fully tighten until my arms are almost fully extended. I would like the wing to be fully tightend by standard "box" position. If I use temporary velcro "cuffs" and tighten them where the arm should end on my wrist, then fold over the excess, I can get the wing to tighten right where I want it. Once I've test jumped a few times, I'll mark the sleeve, cut the excess and resew on the cuff. The one thing I've noticed though, and I'm not sure if Angela puts them in, is swoop cords to allow the wing to be tightened. Has anyone else gotten a camera jacket from FreakNSuits that doesn't use swoop cords? Is it supposed to be tightend just by the pulling of the trailing edge using the arm only, no cords? If anyone else has a FreakNSuits camera jacket, please let me know. I've sent Angela an email, but it's the weekend so I probably won't get a reply till this coming week. I was just curious if anyone else could tell me what the design intends. Thanks, Elton
  4. Hmmm, I still jump my old 1984 Centaurus container and 1986 Sidewinder when I'm looking for something different. They have a Clipper and Turbo Z respectively with round reserves. Piece of S**t death traps, they'll be the end of me one day, mark my words.
  5. Yeah, I get the same issue occasionally. All I do is allow it to charge for 5 minutes, (red light on), unplug, then turn the camera ON, then plug the USB cable in, it starts up in windows 7 and recognizes the drive with no issues. If you still can't recognize the drive, then pull the SD card and reformat/reinstall. It might help.
  6. So, Today I wrapped my helmet plug with the following: 1 layer carbon 2 glass 1 carbon 1 glass 1 carbon I left it rough on all the edges, with plenty of overhang. I made sure that the important middle was well wet out and bonded. It has been indicated by the red lines in the photos where the finished edges of the helmet will be located.
  7. Hey Lilchief, Nice setup. One thing I did notice, and it may not necessarily apply to your setup, since your cables seem pretty well fixed, but you may want to get some very small gauge silicon tubing and glue it around the edges of the cutout on your box. The natural tendency of the cables to move due to wind buffet, and the inherit sharpness of cut carbon fiber can make a very slow cable cutter. You may make 100 jumps with no issue, but then suddenly one day you'll have a sheared at worst, shorted at best cable. Once again, I can't see really closely at the cable and whether or not it's touching the cut out edge, but if it is, you may want to cushion the edge of the box. Just a thought, and if it isn't an issue, then please disregard, I've had the issue before and it's not a big deal, but nothing worse than suddenly losing a cable.
  8. That is correct, Epoxy will stick to both poly and epoxy substrate, and poly will stick to itself, but not so well to epoxy. This is why I told OP to do some investigation to decide which would work best for him. Most of the larger helmet manufacturers are passing off that they have these great carbon fiber helmets, but then use polyester resin to provide the bond. This is sort of going out the back door to try and cut production costs, but to be honest, if they used epoxy then the helmets would be even more costly, but would stand up to abuse better. It's really not important in the grand scheme of things though. Also have to add that the repair looks good.
  9. Hi guys, I seem to have a corrupted MTS file. Are there any programs that are useful in looking at / repairing a corrupted image. Any help appreciated. Thanks, E
  10. So here's the deal with repairing your helmet. Wherever you see the delamination (white cloudy area on the helmet, looks like yours goes from the very back edge of the flat mount on top, to around the sides, I'd say right up to the edge of your freefly man sticker, and around and equal distance to the other side and then about to mid level of the helmet at the back.) You're going to need to completely cut that out, but VERY carefully. You need to cut it out and then find a way to brace the piece you've removed. You're going to use it to as a temporary mold to pour plaster or two part pourable foam into. Once you've made the mold of the damaged part, you then need to use it to recreate a new piece to put back in. Now the fun part, you have to go around the entire perimeter of both the NEW part and the EXISTING helmet edges. Very carefully sand a 16:1 feathered edge on both, but make sure it's opposing from helmet to new piece. What you want is a very nice gradual feather that will allow the most surface area of the composite layers to meet. Once you have this edge you can then begin to bond the two together. You'll want to run two layer of CF in the inside, and feather to match existing structure, and then run two layer of CF outside, also blending into existing structure. The best way to build the patch though is to keep it two layers less than the helmets layer count, this way you can apply two wet layup patches directly butting into the helmet, and then carry on with two more inside and out as described above. This will give you the most strength. If you need some really detailed pics, let me know and I'll send some from the last aircraft repair I did. It was on a Slingsby firefly wing, and it took a week but it is as strong as factory. It's not a helmet, but the exact same rules apply for any type of composite repair. The most important thing is to get a good feather edge for bonding to. You'll also need to decide if you're going to use an epoxy based resin, or a polyester. I prefer epoxy as it's easier to use and provides greater strength, but some like polyester because it still provides enough strength for a helmet and is cheaper, but it does not resist UV very well. Do some research and decide what you'd like to use if you want to do the repair.
  11. It's a nice piece of kit, but the one thing I do like about my Go Pro is that when I was Spain, I spent one day filming myself playing around at Empurabravia at 13,500 ft. , then two days later at 85 feet down in the Mediterranean while scuba diving. From what I understand, this unit is only water resistant down to .5 meters. Since I like to use my camera for both hobbies, the Go Pro is still the most adaptable. But if you're into jumping only, then this could be a good way to go. Would like to see how it does with more people using it and giving their impressions. It definitely has a more streamlined design than the "box".
  12. Just to muddy the water and reply to something I don't even have I use an Olympus E-510 and E-620. No issues so far. Great results with skydiving photos simply because the 4/3 sensor does excellent in brighter light conditions. Just don't ask me to shoot hand held low light conditions. Easy to wire in your switch, and both bodies are extremely lightweight. Just make sure you turn off the stabilization for the sensor.
  13. Just a quick update with some pics. I know I shouldn't have used the CF, but I couldn't resist. So the initial lay-up consists of two layer CF, two layer glass. When I do the next lay-up (crown), I'll do three layers glass and the last CF for cosmetic (light satin weave CF). The mounting plate will be 4 layers CF.
  14. Hey SJF, Yeah, I use partall wax with miller stepenson A122 spray on PTFE mold release. Winning combination to be sure. I've been able to literally untape my molds and they just fall off the parts that I've laid up. I don't really have to buy any of my glass/carbon supplies since we have so many cut offs from work that I can get 2x2 or 2x4 pieces without much trouble. I just have to go down to the floor and ask the guys not to throw out the larger pieces.
  15. Hey Matt, Yeah, I liked your idea of keeping the front flat. It just seems a lot easier to wrap the glass when you don't have to worry about following the countour of a nose, lips and eye sockets.
  16. So, back on track for building after a 2 month lay over. Here is my completed head form for laying the fiberglass on. I'm going to wax it tonight, then probably do the first couple of glass layers tomorrow morning.
  17. If anyone is looking for an easy GPS setup they could try the following: -GlobalSat BT-359 Bluetooth GPS Receiver for PDA/Laptops -HP iPAQ hx4705 VGA Pocket PC -Street Atlas 2010 (I don't use this for navigation, but rather to convert .gls files to .glx and then import into Google Earth for my jump profile including altitude.) The above has worked flawlessly so far, and I'll keep my fingers crossed. I have sewn a small pouch on my jumpsuit shoulder and all I do is enable bluetooth on the ground and link the antenna to my HP PDA which sits in my cargo pocket on my thigh. The nice thing is that once they've been linked, the Street Atlas program continues to keep logging every second and stores up to 12 hours of logging on a 4GB CF card in the PDA slot. The battery for the antenna is good for 11 hours, the PDA for about 3. So I have no issues, I just link, jump and download. At the end of the day I take all the logs and import to Street Atlass and convert to .glx for Google Earth, or keep on Street Atlas and look at track over ground. With Google Earth I get a very nice 3D rendering of the jump. The antenna is really quite good, I can enable the bluetooth link and get satellites while sitting twenty feet away from the nearest window at work. It doesn't even hiccup in the aircraft, even if I'm sitting in the middle of the fuselage on the floor. Hope this gives anyone with an old bluetooth enabled HP Ipaq an idea for a GPS logger. Please keep in mind that I'm not a wingsuit flier, and I can't really comment on how this would work in that scenario. I would think it would be useful, but I don't know how the antenna would work in a reduced vertical descent. I know it would be nice to have it update faster than once a second, but that is all it is capable of. It currently logs at 1/4/8 second intervals (user determined).
  18. If you want carbon fibre to add structural strength, then you need to follow a fiber clock, and lay the fiber down in proper orientation with each successive layer. This is true no matter if you autoclave or wet lay up. I don't want structural strength or stiffness, just the CF panel to show through the clear starburst that will be on the side of the helmet and box. The box and helmet will be white, with the carbon fiber starburst in relief and surrounded with navy blue pinstripe. I looked at what Brett did, and saw that he did a CF sandwich of inner layer CF, glass, intermediate layer CF, glass, outer layer CF. This is definitely more than I want. I'm going to go with 5-7 layers of glass, with one outer layer of CF, or perhaps not even a full layer, but only 2 small CF "patches" where I'm going to do the starbursts. This does nothing structurally, will allow the helmet to still have some give, but still cosmetically give me the CF look, which I've always found to be an attractive option. Matt has indicated that it's better to have a bit of flex in the helmet, so I'm just going to do the patches. I also don't want to have to deal with the "PITA" that Brett describes.
  19. Yes, you are so right on that one Matt, 8 hours of total HQHD in AVCHD, it's nice to be able to record a years worth of jumping with no worries about memory. Douglas, I used to jump at Eden when I lived out west. Lyle and Kathy are good folks. Sorry, it's been about 4 years since then, or else you'd have had the chance.
  20. *** Very clever Yes and no. If you look at all the posts regarding exchanging HDD for SSD, you'll see that Doug (DSE) (wow, the acronyms are coming fast and furious), has repeatedly said that the HDD cameras are not built for high altitude requirements, and you will take chances modifying them. HE'S ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. Unless you get the SR11 like I did, (from the Mother-in-law), free when she updated to a 500), then it's not worth the hassle. If you shelled out 750-800 for the camera, another 150 for the drive, you're now out 850-900 total. I got the SR11 for free, so I'm only out the 150 for the drive. In my case it makes sense. For anyone else, you might as well save the 900 for ONE camera, and go buy two ready made CX-100 cameras for the same cost. You now have a backup. Remember, no matter how good the SSD performs, if the unit fails, Sony will tell you to take a hike if you try to get it serviced. If the CX-100 fails at altitude, send it back for free servicing under the warranty. By the way Doug, I know that your initials are DSE, I didn't know you at the time I ordered my new Vectors. I did the most natural thing I could think of. I had my daughter's/wife's and my initials put on the left mudflaps. (Danica/Sue/Elton). You guessed it DSE. Hmmm, I hope I never jump at the same DZ as you, you could pick up the rig and say "see, it's mine, it even has my initials)
  21. Just thought I'd add a few photo's of the box that is being built alongside the helmet. I just finished glassing last week. What you're seeing here is the glass plus the first layer of slurry to even out all the high/low spots. The slurry will be added in 4 thin layers to give a nice finish to put primer over. I've also shown the foam plug that was carved out of foam to use as a mold. This will be going on the top of the helmet when it's completed. I'm using a customized Sony SR11 HDD. The customization dealt primarily with removing the HDD, and installing in it's place a 64GB Advanced Media Products SSD with a 1.8 platform and ZIF connector. Drop in replacement that has worked flawlessly so far. Suffice to say, no one builds boxes for this unit, so I had to build my own.
  22. Hey Glen, It would be a nice way to go if not for the drawbacks listed by Matt. The biggest being inhaled fumes. You'd need to wear a supplied air mask, which would require adjusting the lay up, which would ruin the jawline of the helmet. I'm using an epoxy resin (MAS epoxies), which is low VOC/odor, and I still smell it. Also, a 24 hour cure time is the minimum I'd want to let it sit before removing. If I wanted to get an exact mold, I'd consider 3D scanning and then printing off an ABS model of my head in a wetsuit, then do a lay up off of that. We have a 3D printer here at work, but the cost of the ABS cartridge is still $175, so it's still cheaper to go with the cast of my head. We also don't have a 3D scanner at work, we just send off our CAD models to the printer. So that would mean I'd still have to go outside the company and get someone to scan, probably another $100-$150, so I'd still be up in the $300+ range. At this point, the most cost effective and feasible way is with casting.
  23. Hey Shoot, I hope you were directing that question at me, if it was at Mr.111, then he must have loved birth. Imagine coming out of the womb already tipsy. Yeah, the beer or ipod would have been a tremendous improvement. In my case, my head was wrapped, then my buddy went to go get the oil changed in his truck, and my wife went to put our little one to bed for the night, so I was stuck for almost an hour listening to the little voice in my head. I'm going to make sure that this cast will hold up to abuse. I've taken the time tonight to reinforce with some extra plaster anywhere that I've noticed it's a bit thinner. I don't ever want to have to do it again.
  24. Hey Karen, I saw your helmet that Wes made for you in another post. It would make one feel very special that they have perhaps one of the last helmets he made before all the skydiving community lost him. It's nice to see that it is put to such good use and that you have taken some amazing photo's with it. I'm sure he would be pleased. I unfortunately never got a chance to meet him or have him make me one of his phenomenal helmets. BUT, I have had the wonderful experience of maintaining a full fleet of Slingsby Fireflys, which happen to be composite aircraft, so I'm not to bad with the compsite side of things, but the head casting was foreign to me. Being claustrophobic didn't help, after about 35 minutes into the casting, I suddenly realized just how hooped I would be if I suddenly panicked and had to get the cast off immediately. OOOPS, so sorry, you're quite stuck. It didn't help that I had mental imagery of crawling through a small tiny cavern and suddenly the roof is falling in and I'm being crushed. Yep, should have thought it through a little more.
  25. It only looks good from afar, there are holes in the armpits. The wife said it had to go, so I decided to send it out with an honorable finish.