ineed2fly

http://www.deltarigging.com/contact/locations/ Their grand junction location will pull test things, cant speak for the others but I imagine they would. "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

I use doubled type 8 for the leg straps. Zero issues with slippage, less so than with traditional steel hardware. That is one of the reasons I chose to use them. It is worth noting I am using the "stretch" version of the hardware which is slightly longer. 2 layers of type 8 will not fit through the standard length. I also have to do the turn backs on my leg straps with 1 less layer of webbing than I would with steel, or they wont thread through the hardware. "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

I use these as standard as leg strap adjusters on my base rigs (blacksheep) as does skunkape now. I am about to grab a set off of a rig that has ~250 jumps on it and blow them up, I will check back in here when I have those numbers. I had a friend build a harness with them and blow it up as well, the harness broke at the MLW/lateral junction (if I recall correctly) before the hardware. "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

WHY ARE WE YELLING? "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

http://www.paragear.com/skydiving/10000168/M6945/CABLE-CUTTER-HEAVY-DUTY "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

http://squirrel.ws/epicene "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

I have a 3/16" gauge and i've just used that to build all of my canopies, worked just fine. "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

http://catalog.dj-associates.com/viewitems/thread-nylon-thread/thread? "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

Flat bottom airfoils are substantially more stable in turbulence. Staying with a standard relatively low AR square canopy, and using a curved bottom airfoil, would offer little to no performance increase, with a large sacrifice to stability. Fluid wings is playing with a comp version of their swoop canopy (think petra-esque) that heavily borrows from paraglider design, like internal seams and curved bottom foils, intended for select hands only. "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

Whenever I build cutaway handles with hard inserts I just build it as normal, and thread the cable through a piece of PVC tubing with some foam wrapped around the outside. "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

http://www.rockywoods.com/Fabrics-Kits/All-Ripstop-Nylon-Fabrics/400-x-300-Denier-Cross-Dyed-Nylon-Polyester-Mini-Diamond-Coated-Ripstop-Fabric There yah go "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

Well, I don't fold my top seams over on my non load bearing ribs, I just do a 1cm raw finish seam. For the bottom non load bearing seam and I just fold it in half, but its all along the block of the fabric so its easy sewing once you get it started. For the top non load bearing seams, I do a 1cm raw finish seam, and i just make 2 passes on a single needle. And for the bottom load bearing seam, I just hold like 20" away from the foot, and fold it as I go. The only seam that I think would really be any faster would be the top load bearing seam. "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

I build my canopies without folders. I just pin the fabric together at the reference marks on the top skins. And for the bottom seam I just pin the A B C and D, and fold by hand as I go. I really don't think I would be all that much more efficient with a folder, especially switching from one folder to the other etc. I have no plans to buy folders in the foreseeable future. Last time I was in the badseed loft, his technicians were all building canopies without folders as well. "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

Spectra doesn't holds knots well, they tend to slip out. I would suggest Dacron. I highly doubt the difference would even be remotely noticeable for this application. Dacron will also be easier to untie once the knots are loaded, since its a thicker diameter. "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

Also, as far as folding the bottom of the seam like that, I do the same thing on my canopies, but only for the bottom non load bearing seam. Only reasoning being, that I have a 1cm seam allowance on the top of the ribs regardless of it being a load bearing or non load bearing seam. But the bottom load bearing seam requires a 2cm seam allowance, the bottom non load bearing seam requires a 1cm seam allowance. So I have found it easier to just fold the non load bearing bottoms over to make up for the extra length, as opposed to making a completely separate pattern for the non load bearing rib that is just 1cm shorter on the bottom. "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

My bad, it was someone else, over at BJ.com Circa 1990, Sandy Reid certified the Flexon harness sewn mostly with bar-tacks. Most of those bar-tacks were 3 inches long! Only the Flexon shoulder joints (directly below the 3-Rings) were sewn with 5-cord. Flexon was the first American harness with hip and chest rings and it survived all the heavy-weight and high-speed drop-tests required by FAA TSO C-23C. The only problem was that bar-tack machines were not durable enough for sewing harnesses year-in-and-year-out. .. which is why Rigging Innovations had switched to sewing most of their harnesses with 5-cord by the time I started working there in 1994. "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

I only put attachment reinforcement load tapes on the center cell, and center top and bottom skins in an I shape. I just leave out the center cross port for that section. You shouldn't need to do this for the center 3 ribs, only the very center non load bearing rib. And for what its worth, I build all of my harnesses on my base rigs with tightly zig zagged E thread out of type 8 webbing. Riggerlee had even mentioned something about the flexon originally being TSO'd with bar tacks instead of 5 chord. IMO zig zagged E thread is fine for harness work in lighter duty webbings like type 8, or type 7 in the case of my speedflying harnesses. If you start working with type 7, or more than 4 layers, it stops being viable. It also takes a little longer to sew than a walking foot with 5 chord likely would. "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

Kite wont work, as it is designed to fly with the tow points like 2-3' apart, if you put them right next to each other it will distort the canopy. You'd need to build a whole new line set for it. But if you want something cheap for said purpose, and are willing to reline/mod: http://www.panshkite.com/ Those are actually pretty fucking great kites, I have several and have zero complaints. Built quality is good, and they fly well. I think they're just copying other designs and building them with seconds quality fabric and slave labor. "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

Or what about something like, a double cypres cutter, with the white loops threaded through them, and the cutters could engage above a certain G force. And its disable-able under canopy before initiating the hook turn. Someone could probably put something like that together with a smart phone, a double cutter and some audio jack components honestly. Theres an app for G-force induced trauma prevention? "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

I'd hate to be pulling the cutaway handle from that situation and thinking "oh god I really hope the reserve is in better shape" "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

This is true, dacron/vectran seem to have about the same texture. If there were to be more damage from vectran vs dacron it would likely be from a smaller diameter line rather than abrasiveness. Fun fact, Dacron is made from the same plastic as soda bottles (PET) and Spectra is made from the same plastic as milk jugs (HDPE) "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

Has anyone with an HMA or vectran line set had a lineover, and seen damage to the canopy as a direct result? Was it worse than damage you have seen from a spectra or dacron line set? I am more interested in the results of vectran, as it is far more abrasive to nylon. "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

What about using a bungee in place of a spring? "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

I remember coming across something a while back about people searching out rigs that have been sitting in closets for years (20+ years kind of time frame) to go and have the reserves drop tested. All worked flawlessly. "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.

Is it Jerry's RAX? "As soon as you're born you start dying. So you might as well, have a good time." -CAKE I'm crazy not stupid. There is a difference.