parachutist

Still only 140 degree FOV, so IMO still useless for inside shots and handcam use. That's too bad because I like some of the features and especially ease of access on the Replay's camera body

Yep, I missed it... yeah, there's not much in that video

The link in the OP is a video. It starts out with music + black screen for a couple seconds... Maybe you're having a connection issue http://vimeo.com/108117364

That's what I was thinking. In the video at :09 it looks like the RSL lanyard is just tied around a bight of bridle

So I'm sitting here picking stitches from a tandem main with a 3' long rip, and there's nothing else to do but mind wandering while picking this many stitches... and I realized this analogy of motorcycle sprockets fits the sewing machine very well, because: If you put a small pulley on the sewing machine motor, the surface area of the belt contacting the pulley has been reduced. So the belt slips at the motor more easily now. You can correct this slippage by tightening the belt, but that translates to more unwanted pressure on the machine head's shaft bearings. To date it's been a fair balance for me between the two: I just tighten the belt. I haven't had any head damage as a result, but in principle it would be better to increase the upper pulley's size instead of decreasing the lower one. Maybe one day we'll have a CVT transmission box for these machines, so the pulley ratio automatically adjusts as needed. Anyway, back to seam ripping while daydreaming for me

Actually the main reason people usually put small countershaft sprockets on are because they are cheap. With a few exceptions I would almost always prefer to gear with the rear. A lot more expensive but much less stress on the front sprocket, swing-arm clearance issues, ect. Of course you need to go up about three depending on g/r to get the same and eventually can run into guide issues back there if you are trying to gear sport bikes for stunt riding which in that case longevity is a non issue. But for the most part I prefer to go up with the back. Now I have went up on the front when I used to have a natural MX track on the bottom of a frozen drained lake right in front of my house. Why? Because I was cheap and was basically destroying my bike anyway with massively hard landings. I still feel bad I sold some of those bikes for as much as I did. Sorry for thread shift. Having a bad day waiting to get my son returned Your explanation fits riggers too. I'm cheap when I can be. It's much cheaper to buy a small pulley for the motor than it would be to purchase some large custom handwheel pulley for the machine :)

Every servo motor that I have seen had speed control. Which begs the question : Why does the pulley size matter ??? Same reason some people put small countershaft sprockets on motorcycles: To get more raw power immediately. You still have 6 speeds on the bike, but your max speed will now be slower.

... and you know it worked when you installed and tested it in your shop, ask them what color button they're pushing. So far I have one confirmed, and one possible, insta-fix by telling the customer to push the Yellow button. The Red one isn't a button. [inline marsm2control.jpg] Maybe some people are accustomed to the red Cypres Expert button, and the orange Vigil button, so their finger goes to the red area on a Mars display.

Nope, a separate reducer mechanism with a separate belt. I'm sure you've seen one before. Here's an example: [inline pulleyreducer.jpg] Chris

Depends on the model. You'll want one that's 3/4 hp and has speed adjusting control. There are quite a few models out. I use a 3/4 hp servo on my Consew 339RB-3 for binding. It'll punch through binding + cordura + thick MDS stiffener as long as you keep it going. If I stop in the middle, and the needles are up against the MDS, then I have to help it get through an initial punch with the handwheel, then it goes on from there on its own. I'm not sure if a clutch would be different there. For the harness machine a clutch will be the easiest solution. I have a servo on my 7-33, but I added a pulley reducer just to give it more torque. It works well, but it would have been cheaper and simpler just to use a clutch.

Good points about servos: * lightweight - cheaper shipping, easier handling, easier moving. * no noise unless you're sewing * no power use unless you're sewing. * Infinitely adjustable speed - makes it easy to teach a newbie the basics of sewing, and easier on me to make everything work as I want. I have 5 servos and 2 clutches in machines at my shop. They all work equally well in the end. Chris

I did for a while, til I grew tired of my Blacks failing for a few different reasons, so I went back to using Silvers for tandem handcams. Superview works. It adds a slightly wider view.

His priorities were mixed up... He landed there chasing his fb/pc.

Where is the media card slot in this new model? Sony's AS models required breaking the camera body open to replace the card. Has Sony matched GoPro's easy-access to the recording media? Or is Sony still lagging behind in this department?

The Aerodyne magnetic tuck tabs work well, however in that same area: Where the left reserve risers lay, Aerodyne has the fat hard housing for a skyhook reserve ripcord + a hard housing for a cutaway cable laying right next to each other. There's now a sewn seam keeping these housings pressed to the inside. Outboard of that seam is only about 1.5" of flat space to lay the reserve risers. So... you can lay the inboard edge of the reserve risers on top of the housings, which means there's empty space under the outboard edges. Or you can lay the reserve risers flat, next to those housings. Then the risers fold vertically when you close the riser covers, because there's not enough flat space for the reserve risers. This seems like a prototype model rig that needs refinement. Then there's the reserve pin protection: a flap of ty-12 that covers half the grommet on the top reserve flap. It's quite annoying trying to pin the rig without damaging that ty-12. Then when the pin goes under that flap, it's pressed up against the ty-12 so the pin's tip looks like it'll wear through in short order. Given the choice between a Vector 3 and Icon Nextgen, I'd definitely choose the UPT Vector. Chris

That's weird. The fabric on our NZ icarus 330's stays in good shape throughout its life. And they handle well in the turbulence we get on the CA coast here. Downsides to Sigma mains: - crossports rip and need to be repaired (icarus prevents this by lining the edges of x-ports with tape) - drogue attachment points rip and need to be rebuilt - Vectran lines cut through the slider grommets and then lines get shredded - complicated brake stowing system adds more possible failure points and take longer to pack - high toggle pressure Downsides to NZ Icarus tandem mains: - end ribs develop tears near the trailing edge after about 1200 jumps. It's not difficult to fix, but it takes a while, and a little reinforcement at these areas during manufacture would eliminate it completely - after 800 jumps all data on the data tag is unreadable. It's pretty annoying and should be an easy fix for NZ, but they still haven't dealt with it. Downsides to A2 mains: - in my very limited experience the canopy ripped a big L rip during one of the openings. Chris

I'm going by the text in PD's reserve manual (page 3): http://www.performancedesigns.com/docs/Reserve_manual.pdf Those boxes make it pretty obvious how many pack jobs should be done before sending the canopy in, I was just poking fun at the literal interpretations of the instructions

Adding fuel to the fire: my PDR manual reads "each time the parachute is inspected and packed" Left hand, meet Right. more fuel: I just re-read that part of the manual because of this thread. There's a discrepancy 2 paragraphs down... it says "After 40 repacks or 25 deployments have been reached, the reserve must have its permeability tested" Going by the instructions, there is no open box for that 41st pack job, aka 40th repack. And really, how do they expect that sentence to be interpreted? As soon as the 40th repack is completed, or "reached", then it must go in for testing? But I just packed it!

Last week I repacked an almost-new rig. It'd been assembled , packed, and sealed at the container manufacturer's loft. All boxes were blank on the PD reserve when I opened it. I'm not sure why people don't mark the boxes, but it seems very common

About every 2 months I'll have a corrupt card. The video will usually be garbled or unreadable. That card goes directly into trash and all's good til next card failure. I'm using silver hero3's with 3.0 firmwares. Chris

So Aerodyne and NZaero are now making dupes of PD's design. Did the patent expire?

In between the top two parallel tacks you could tack a short piece of 600 lb dacron, fingertrapped back into itself. About 1.25" long. One side even with the edge of the TY-17 riser, the other size sticking out 1/4" past the edge of the riser. This piece would be parallel with those bar tacks, and located on the front side of the riser so it doesn't catch the brake line. That's a quick fix. It would take some force to pull it down over that nub, and to push it back up edited to add: even quicker, easier, and better looking in the end: take a piece of 1" binding tape, 1" long and fold it about 6 times, short folds. Afterwards it's still 1" wide, but stands around 1/8" thick now and maybe the last fold made it .25" tall. use this folded block for the same purpose as that 600 lb dacron mentioned above... mount it parallel to those 4 tacks, and make it stick out 1/4" past the outside edge of the riser. Chris

Already pulled the battery out for 20 seconds, then put it back in? Tried a different batt?

It's gonna get a lot of helmet in that shot, if it's wide angle 170 degrees like we're accustomed to for GoPro, or even with 120 I expect. It can't really be that far back on the helmet *and* lens flush with the top of the helmet

We have a large pea gravel pit for tandem landings here in Lompoc. It's good for those slide-in landings... not only for the TI's body, but also for the Tandem container and harness. Wearing out of TI bodies in my experience starts with arms/shoulders. The tail doesn't really get roughed up landing in a pea gravel pit, except when jumping in turbulent conditions and getting dropped. I say go for it. Only positive results