Ping Pong Parachute B/C

[HippoLowercase]

well, how are you loading up your parachutes? If they are resting against some jagged edges then they might be prone to break. Otherwise your material could be weak but I find this highly unlikely unless you're using something reallllly light and thin.

I usually drape the plastic over the tube part of the rocket with the ping pong ball hanging off on the side of the rocket. It might be because of the plastic as well, but I'm not fully sure on what really thin is. I feel like the plastic I'm using is fairly light and thin though.

hm yeah that probably shouldn't be happening. does the tube have any sharp burrs or anything? and where does the tear occur?

I couldn't feel or see any jagged edges on the tube. The tear was in the middle of the parachute which was laid over the tube. Also, would the ping pong ball hanging off of the tube, and a high psi cause a tear?

[CookiePie1]

I usually drape the plastic over the tube part of the rocket with the ping pong ball hanging off on the side of the rocket. It might be because of the plastic as well, but I'm not fully sure on what really thin is. I feel like the plastic I'm using is fairly light and thin though.

hm yeah that probably shouldn't be happening. does the tube have any sharp burrs or anything? and where does the tear occur?

I couldn't feel or see any jagged edges on the tube. The tear was in the middle of the parachute which was laid over the tube. Also, would the ping pong ball hanging off of the tube, and a high psi cause a tear?

it's possible that there was a very high load on the ping pong ball which pulled really hard on the parachute into the tube, which could have cause the tear. If this is the case, then i'm not sure if there's anything you can do except use a stronger parachute material. maybe someone else has a better idea.

[HippoLowercase]

hm yeah that probably shouldn't be happening. does the tube have any sharp burrs or anything? and where does the tear occur?

I couldn't feel or see any jagged edges on the tube. The tear was in the middle of the parachute which was laid over the tube. Also, would the ping pong ball hanging off of the tube, and a high psi cause a tear?

it's possible that there was a very high load on the ping pong ball which pulled really hard on the parachute into the tube, which could have cause the tear. If this is the case, then i'm not sure if there's anything you can do except use a stronger parachute material. maybe someone else has a better idea.

It most likely was that. Most of my other parachutes didn't get torn like that, so it might've been either an unlucky test, or the material was somehow weakened already. I don't really know

[Airco2020]

I put a round piece of foam in the too of the tube. It sticks out like 1/8", just enough to cushion the parachute but not enough to get caught on a line.

[NewFlyer20002]

You need to test and log your PSI/Height so you know when you get to competition. I'd work on reducing weight. You can only go to 65psi, so if you have a venue with a 30+ ft ceiling you won't be able to reach it which puts you at a big disadvantage.

Yes, the psi required for your rocket is unique to your rocket. For example, at Princeton, many teams were launching at upwards of 50, 55, even 60 psi but our rocket only needed about 40 to get close to the ceiling. So, tbh it doesn't really matter what psi others are using, you just need to calibrate your own rocket.

Also want to point out that to us at least, the nerds inc launchers are very inconsistent between launches... 40 psi on one launch can go 15 ft while 40 psi on the second can go 25 ft.

You may want to check the O-ring. We use the Nerds Launcher and have not had these issues. The Aquapod that we also have is inconsistent and we traced this back to an old O-ring. It has a slow leak.

NewFlyer20002

[NewFlyer20002]

I couldn't feel or see any jagged edges on the tube. The tear was in the middle of the parachute which was laid over the tube. Also, would the ping pong ball hanging off of the tube, and a high psi cause a tear?

it's possible that there was a very high load on the ping pong ball which pulled really hard on the parachute into the tube, which could have cause the tear. If this is the case, then i'm not sure if there's anything you can do except use a stronger parachute material. maybe someone else has a better idea.

It most likely was that. Most of my other parachutes didn't get torn like that, so it might've been either an unlucky test, or the material was somehow weakened already. I don't really know

You may want to lightly sandpaper the edges of the tube. You may not see or feel the burr that could cause the tear. We have hit the ceiling a few times rather forcefully and have not damaged the parachute. Someone mentioned using foam to covering. That is a brilliant idea!


Newflyer20002

[Kyky]

it's possible that there was a very high load on the ping pong ball which pulled really hard on the parachute into the tube, which could have cause the tear. If this is the case, then i'm not sure if there's anything you can do except use a stronger parachute material. maybe someone else has a better idea.

It most likely was that. Most of my other parachutes didn't get torn like that, so it might've been either an unlucky test, or the material was somehow weakened already. I don't really know

You may want to lightly sandpaper the edges of the tube. You may not see or feel the burr that could cause the tear. We have hit the ceiling a few times rather forcefully and have not damaged the parachute. Someone mentioned using foam to covering. That is a brilliant idea!


Newflyer20002

We also tore a hole in our parachute as well. But when playing back the video, it was because of a delayed deployment. So the parachute half deployed off the tube, the tube fell a little to the side and the top of it skimmed the parachute as the rocket fell down. We've put packing tape around the top of the tube before but we just wanted to get some quick tests in and didn't put the tape around the edge.

[Airco2020]

PPP world record!! 20+ minutes!!!

I was dying to see how high my rocket would go at 65 psi. So I took it out to the football field after testing. It was really windy so I took a back up parachute and loaded it on. Set the pressure to 65 and let it rip. Rocket went up, deployed the chute, then it crumpled a bit in the wind and started dropping. Suddenly it opened fully and looked beautiful! Wind was blowing and it was drifting across the field and past the bleachers!. Then I realized, it was going UP!! It kept rising and blowing off in the distance like a Chinese lantern. Realizing I was not going to retrieve it soon, I packed everything into the car and started chasing it. I drove for about 15 min and lost sight of it completely. Gone!

[xiangyu]

PPP world record!! 20+ minutes!!!

I was dying to see how high my rocket would go at 65 psi. So I took it out to the football field after testing. It was really windy so I took a back up parachute and loaded it on. Set the pressure to 65 and let it rip. Rocket went up, deployed the chute, then it crumpled a bit in the wind and started dropping. Suddenly it opened fully and looked beautiful! Wind was blowing and it was drifting across the field and past the bleachers!. Then I realized, it was going UP!! It kept rising and blowing off in the distance like a Chinese lantern. Realizing I was not going to retrieve it soon, I packed everything into the car and started chasing it. I drove for about 15 min and lost sight of it completely. Gone!

Words cannot express how hard I'm laughing rn

(Hmm emojis max out at 10?)

[CookiePie1]

PPP world record!! 20+ minutes!!!

I was dying to see how high my rocket would go at 65 psi. So I took it out to the football field after testing. It was really windy so I took a back up parachute and loaded it on. Set the pressure to 65 and let it rip. Rocket went up, deployed the chute, then it crumpled a bit in the wind and started dropping. Suddenly it opened fully and looked beautiful! Wind was blowing and it was drifting across the field and past the bleachers!. Then I realized, it was going UP!! It kept rising and blowing off in the distance like a Chinese lantern. Realizing I was not going to retrieve it soon, I packed everything into the car and started chasing it. I drove for about 15 min and lost sight of it completely. Gone!

Words cannot express how hard I'm laughing rn

(Hmm emojis max out at 10?)

norcal be like