Due to all the running around yesterday, I only got home at around 7pm, so was unable to start working on the parachute. This was fine, until I realized that I had forgotten the to buy the cord for the holding lines yesterday. To make matters worse, I found out that Denise in Bergvliet didn’t have the seam tape that I needed, so I would have to buy that as well. So due to bad planning, yesterday was a total disaster.
I started off the morning by cutting the panel pieces for the parachute out of the old tent flysheet we set aside a few days ago. I used the template I printed yesterday to cut out the panels to the correct size, although this proved trickier than first anticipated. The problem was that I wasn’t attaching the template to the material correctly, so it kept slipping and I was unable to cut in one go, which slowed me down a lot and the results were not great. To fix this I asked my brother if he could come and hole the template in place while I cut around it. In addition to this, I taped down each of the sides of the material so that it was stretched taut across the table and then set to work.
Yesterday I printed two templates, one for cutting the panel to shape, and another smaller version which I used to mark where it needed to be hemmed on the inside. Once each panel had been cut to shape, I drew around the second template to mark out the hem line.
Although going was slow, it was still faster than the previous method. An hour or two later, I had twelve panels cut out and marked. Although done, there was still much to be done before I could take it through to Denise. I asked my dad if he could cut out the two circle pieces which would sandwich the top of the parachute where all the panels joined, just so that it looks neater. While my dad started on that, I headed off to Rope World and Fabric World to get the line cord and the seam tape. At Rope World, I was told that the best cord to use for my setup would be the flat 3.5mm Nylon cord. I calculated that I would need around 12m, however due to the rush, in my hastiness I made a huge mathematical error, which resulted in me buying only half the amount I was supposed to buy. In my head I knew that the distance from the bottom edge of the parachute to the payload needed to be 2m. This was correct. I also knew that I would only need six strings as opposed to twelve, since we would be running the cords from one end of the parachute to the other, so it was connected on opposite ends. This was also correct. However my error was that I forgot to double the length of each of the strings in my head, since the strings would be connected in two places, meaning that the distance should be doubled. This led me to the conclusion that I needed 2m x 6 strings, as opposed to 2 x 2m x 6 end-to-end strings. So without knowing it, I paid and left Rope World with the incorrect amount of string.
The next stop was Fabric World. I knew that the parachute instructions said that 13mm 100% polyester seam tape was used, however Fabric World did not have that, so I had to choose between 12mm 100% cotton tape (which didn’t look all that strong), and 20mm Polypropylene seam tape (which was much stronger-looking, but the width was overkill). I couldn’t decide, as I didn’t have the expertise, so I decided to go with both and see what Denise said.
With that I returned home, where the twelve panels were laid out nicely and the two circles had been cut to the correct size. As we were about to go, my dad saw how much cord I had brought, and two minutes later, after a few calculations and “Oh no’s” from my part, we found the error that I had made earlier. With only minutes to go before The Cottage Shop closed for the day, we had only seconds to come up with a new plan. During these few precious seconds we also realized that we didn’t have enough electrical shrink tape to go around the bottom of the cords which would be used to protect them. Despite the new hurdle, we overcame both problems and got to the car with all the things in under 30 seconds. The new plan was for me to drop off my dad at The Cottage Shop, so that he could explain what needed to be done to Denise, while I went to Builder’s Warehouse and back to Rope World for the electrical shrink tape and more cord.
I got back just as my dad was finishing explaining the process. Denise thinks the project can be done quite quickly and will only take a few hours to complete. She suggested that I go around there tomorrow at 8:30am to oversee the whole process and make sure everything goes according to plan. I told her that would be great, and I’d see here then.
When I got home I wrote to Michael with a few questions. The first was if it would be possible to use Intermet’s tracking stations and internet connection, which is necessary for our website tracking interface, or Payload Tracker Graphical User Interface (GUI) v2.0 as I like to call it (just sounds better). The second question was if it would be possible to do an early morning launch, as that yields the best photos. Also if it would be possible to do launches on weekends, as I am heading back into school term. Lastly, I asked if I could buy two balloons and the gas required to fill them, so that I could do two additional launches to the ones Intermet was sponsoring. This would give me more flexibility in terms of payload options and would flesh out my project more.
Hopefully he is able to read it over the weekend and get back to me soon, or else I will have to revert back to the original plan and only start tracking once the balloon has burst in order to save power.
