Over the past two days, I have been trying to work on my journal as much as I can, as I am falling behind with the amount of content that I am trying to capture. I still need to get my website up, I need to start on my research project, I need to start planning the future launches and assigning objectives to them, I need to try and further publicize my Indiegogo campaign, and on top of all that, I need to learn how to build a parachute and then actually build one. Sigh.
My parents know this, and they are saints. My dad looked up how to build a parachute and built a prototype parachute yesterday, that he said would work well for my design. He said that he would teach me how to do it, so that it would take a little bit of stress off from my side (thanks dad).
Today I thought it best to try and find the material that will be used to make the actual parachute. With my Skydiving knowledge and a bit of research, I concluded that the best material for the job is Ripstop Nylon. If this material rips for whatever reason, it is made in a way that prevents it from ripping further, hence the name.
Although popular in aerosports, such as skydiving and hang-gliding, I was surprised that I couldn’t find any places that sold this stuff in Cape Town, so I went to a place that had potentially more information: Cape Kites in Wynberg. After telling them what I wanted to achieve, they told me that they wouldn’t be able to supply me with any, and on top of that, the only place I could get is from a place called Gelvenor Textiles, in Mpumalanga…
This was not good news, as it is in another province. Never-the-less, I was determined to get this stuff, so I went home and phoned them up. After being bounced through their internal communications network, I finally got to speak to someone who could help me. I asked the lady on the other side if I could buy Ripstop Nylon and what would the cost be including shipping. She told me that the cheapest option would be R35 per meter, however since they are manufacturers, I would have to buy in bulk as they don’t do small orders. This means that I would have to buy 16m of Ripstop Nylon, which would cost me R560 excluding shipping and tax, meaning the total would be around R900. This was a bit steep, however since it was my only option, I decided to pursue it and see if I could get some kind of deal if I said it was for a project. I was told that I needed to email the lady with my request and she would get back to me the next day.
This is not what I had planned, but it was the hand I was dealt so I was going to make the best of it.
Later in the day I took my dad and brother to my gran’s flat to go and test the parachute prototype my dad made yesterday. The parachute itself is made out of two plastic bags, kite string and contact adhesive, so not the most orthodox, but definitely one of the coolest looking. We attached an unbalanced weight to the bottom, in order to simulate worst condition environments. Despite the prototype design and the horrendous payload balance, the parachute work really well, much better than the ones we used for the previous two launches, it was made out of plastic bags!
Contempt, we went home with a plan in mind: build an actual parachute. Since we didn’t have the Ripstop Nylon material, nor could source it in the time frame, my dad suggested we use the old fly sheet of a tent and cut that up, as it was just taking up space in the garage.
I will start building the parachute on Wednesday, as I have to catchup on my journal writeups in the meantime. I will contact a seamstress I know who works from home in Bergvliet and see if she will be able to help me with the sewing part of the parachute, as she is very experienced, and I’ll probably get a discount price with her. Also I’m not that good with a sewing machine…
