hackish

If my wife didn't pull on the choke chain every time I talked about another sewing machine I'd surely have a collection like you. Maybe I'm just under-estimating what can be done with a drop feed machine. -Michael

Sorry man. Permission slip came back from wife with denied stamped on it. D'oh.

I might be up for that. I'd PM, but your PM's are turned off. -Michael

I got their design but ultimately built one for myself that was similar. Their engineering is correct and what they say isn't wrong but the reality is that it's marginally better. They also pack larger. Due to the increased complexity, I think they will probably wear out faster - BOC pocket too. -Michael

My 20U has been a good machine but it falls short when I am tacking a leg pad on, making toggles or sewing the corners of a container. Time for an upgrade. I was wondering if anyone has used the Consew 146RB-1A machine? If so, what limitations did you find? I need to go as light as patching canopies and as heavy as the tasks I mentioned. -Michael

I build probably 10 sets a month. Betzilla has already mentioned the right material to use. They're easy to build if you know what you're doing but I've developed cut sheets for the job. You do need to compensate properly for the finger trapping of each part. Depending on the skills and equipment of your rigger you may want to go with the pre-fab ones from icarus. -Michael

I'd go with the 750 lines. At 100 jumps I think you'd be hard pressed to tell. It's like asking a student pilot to tell you if the school airplane is flying better because it was just washed and waxed. On a technical sense, none of what you've been told is wrong, just that the 2mph of forward speed and the 0.5 degree of glide angle isn't worth it in your world. The downside is that the lines will wear quicker and will visually appear less new when you are ready to sell it. -Michael

I think it's fair and the billing is just an exercise in communication. You need a way to communicate that it's not something simple like replacing a rubber band. The invoice should read something to the effect of repair broken stiffener. I normally put materials and labour separately. $5 for grommet, $10 for plastic and $35 for labour. As you like but I feel it communicates what went into the repair, not just an arbitrary $50 on top. -Michael

Am I the only one here is not enthused over the design of the bag itself? Feels like some very basic principles of staging an opening were forgotten. When you look at the "stowless" bags big companies are using they tend to still have at least some positive staging mechanism. -Michael

What I mean is that fully articulated harnesses make it far easier to replace only a section of the webbing when the pilot decides to downwind it on the taxiway. If not it's often a complete harness and while manufacturers have been very kind with the pricing for me it is still often a $500 mistake or a $100 mistake if they were articulated. -Michael

Every time i see a legstrap repair on an articulated harness i know that the cost of that option paid for itself.

I would suggest you have the trim checked. We have a firebolt 189 at the DZ and I load it around 1.1. It's been a few seasons since I test jumped it but I found the flair to be quite acceptable, far better than my triathalon. -Michael

Since e-tackers are constantly dropping in price it's not worth buying anything but a complete working tacker. Cheap parts seldom work well enough to use for skydiving quality where we care about occasional dropped stitches or inconsistent tension. I fell into this trap buying a juki without a clutch. Clutch is $1000 tacker is worth $1000. -Michael

Depends on the size. I'd tend to go toward the 750. I thought I recalled that their lines were normally HMA but I'm not sure. -Michael

Personally, unless you know a very good sewing machine mechanic I'd stick with something really common like a 20U. There are lots of guys out there who can set them up and time them with their eyes closed. I can also get a hook, bobbins or any of the parts inside a day. While the machine in your pictures may be perfectly serviceable, there is considerably less knowledge out there and if you're just getting started that's a recipe for being discouraged. -Michael

I think the sabre2 is a design that shows some of its age. PD has continued on their R&D programs improving openings, flight and landings. I wouldn't be surprised if they released a Sabre3 or retired it completely in the next few years. Having said that, it's hard to compare the sabre2 against anything more modern that's on the market. -Michael

I'm trying to repair a harness for a jumper. It was a student rig and I would have liked to buy a complete custom sized sport harness and sew it in. Unfortunately the $580 just for the harness is outside the budget. While I can duplicate the wrecked harness I would to build it as a proper articulated sized unit. While I always ask for and appreciate help from the manufacturer they have indicated that they don't even have engineering documents or cut sheets for their harnesses. I guess it is just done on a bunch of marks on a table and the stitchers just know how to make them... Does anyone have ideas or info on how to project jumper measurements into an actual harness size?

Pennsew also has some parts but it's more difficult to find them based on part number. I've bought a lot of parts for my machine to find they were substandard chinese junk and not worth putting on. I troll ebay constantly because there will be liquidated new old stock from sewing repair shops that went out of business. There are still some quality parts being produced but you can expect to pay lots of money for them. I scored a new singer shuttle for $20 while a quality one is usually $300. Yay. -Michael

I'm not so confident with the assertion that a specific brand of pencil is going to degrade nylon. When someone soaked their rig/reserve with scotchguard I had to do a lot of research into it including talking to the chemists at dupont and at the factory where most ZP fabric is made. It turns out that Nylon itself is chemically quite resilient and the coating they use on, F111, ZP and the R and L treated webbing is also quite chemically resistant. If someone can direct me to a brand of pencil they feel damages Nylon then I'd be happy to test some samples, but for the most part, pencils contain similar ingredients. Chemicals that would damage nylon (acids for example) would also cause undesirable effects on paper and other mediums so it is not likely you're going to find them. -Michael

I only managed to put 1 jump on it. It's a bit tough to give a complete review this way. The opening wasn't hugely different, maybe a bit firmer but it's hard to compare a single opening. I can really only say it was a 'different progression'. Overall, it is a lot like my safire 2. It feels like it's trimmed flatter. I consistently enter the pattern at 800' but when I was ready to turn into final I was noticeably higher. Initial front riser pressure was noticeably higher. On landing I'd say the flare was a tiny bit better, but also hard to compare as the brake lines on the new one were too long. I held them by the toggle nose to get the same feel as mine. I feel like they may have fixed the annoying slider flapping that all the Icarus canopies I've jumped seem to exhibit (I frequently have to make shorter slider drawstrings for people). The stall was nice and progressive and since I opened high, I had time to stall it a few times. I did the same exercise on my own canopy the previous jump and I think the safire3 stalls a little more consistently. I also feel like it's a bit more controllable in that mushy slow flight before the stall and I expect this translates well to the end of the flare. I looked quickly at the construction of this "powerband" thing to see if it was just marketing droids doing their thing. I do feel like it is a real innovation that gives a small incremental improvement but not a game changer. The seam itself was folded and double needle stitched. Plenty strong with a decent seam allowance but I wonder if the exposed edge will fray poorly after 500 jumps. I wish it were felled but I can understand a need to keep stretch and bulk down at a critical point in the airfoil. Would I sell my safire 2 and upgrade to a safire 3? I don't think so. The safire 3 is better in a number of respects but not hugely better overall. It's just more "refined". If I was in the market to buy a lightly used versus new then yes, I'd buy the new design versus a safire 2 if a dealer still had one. I'll ask Adam, who is also an Icarus dealer to post his review as he jumped mine for comparison. -Michael

I know someone who just got a safire3 129 so we're going to swap canopies a few times and compare against my safire2 129. Should be able to give some good feedback. -Michael

Sell me the whole clutch assembly off it for $200 then sell the rest for parts for $100. Put $300 of free money toward a newer machine... -Michael

Things have changed a lot since I started. I think I had started training around 160ish jumps. This was out of a 182 at a very small DZ and without a camera. It was to learn how to fly the slot first. After a dozen or so jumps like that I got a camera helmet without any cameras. One day out of the blue the instructor handed me his camera helmet and said you're filming this one for real. That started my video career. I'm not saying this is the best way to do things. I did about 40 practice jumps and everyone felt I was ready. Looking back, I'm thinking the 300-500 jumps point would have been more appropriate. I didn't really know what I was doing back then. In a way it's like driving a vehicle, everyone thinks they're a great driver until the crash happens. Was I lucky that my bag of experience got some filling without any incidents? Maybe. Experience and ongoing (driving and skydiving) training both reduce your risk. -Michael

I have about 600 camera jumps on a Katana 150 and 200 on a Safire2 129. I find the safire2 is a little nicer because of the openings and it's a bit better at getting back from long spots. We have a great team and the wx is pretty predictable so through the TI alerting me in freefall that the spot is long and good spotting I only land out about once a year. -Michael

Jackwallace: Where is the hooker museum? I haven't visited "The Rock" yet even though I grew up on the east coast. Did you kiss a cod and drink some Newfoundland Screech? I just love the accent of the newfies. -Michael