rubber-banding the control-lines to the slider?

[obi]

I just read Chris' (460) post on the thread "Softer slider down pack jobs?" where he states that he is rubber-banding the control-lines to the slider on slider-up-pack-jobs. I've then played around with it for a little while but couldn't find a way to do it that would satisfy me. Either the lines where held together too tight or the rubber band slid down the lines forcing the slider to come down too early or...
Chris, what exactly are you doing?
Depending on the delay, I use a rubber-band fixed on a little finger-trapped eye on a center-c-line to hold up the slider and stage the deployment. It works fine, but the only thing I don't like about it is that it is asymmetric and could theoretically mislead the opening. I also like the idea of controlling the lines like I do it with a tail-gate on slider-downs, so I'm interested in what you're doing there.
Cya, obi

[guest]

Back inthe early 90's we used to deliver the Mojos with sliders that had a small tab for the purpose of rubberbanding the upper control lines in place. I used this method for years on early elliptical canopies (bluetrack, jonathan, etc) and felt it was a handy packing aid. However, after experimenting with it, and without it, on both skydiving canopies and Mojos I was eventually drawn to the conclusion that off-heading openings were more frequent when using it.

This was not a quantitative determination but never the less it was definitive enough for me to stop using it and stop including the tab on Mojo sliders.

The slider is the best reefing device yet developed. I'm not sure that additional reefing will improve reliability or consistency.




Adam Filippino
Consolidated Rigging, Inc.
http://www.crmojo.com

[guest]

I generally only do this on delays of 6+ seconds. For shorter delays, heading performance suffers.
It's a personal preference that the brake lines are under a little more control during high speed deployments. I have a BASE canopy that opens with a 180 or an occasional line twist on high speed openings and this technique has since given very good openings.

A one inch tab is sewn on the center of the trailing edge of the slider. Attach a tailgate like rubber band (small skydiving rubber band cut in half). Insert a bite of the control lines into this rubber band.

[guest]

What if you attach a whole tail gate to the center of the slider's trailing edge?

If you closed it the normal way with a small rubber band, then you should get a fairly symmetric release while still achieving the original goals of containing the control lines and promoting nose first inflation.

Has anyone tried this?

Feel free to tell me I've got no clue--I just made this up about 30 seconds ago.

--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@ucdavis.edu

[guest]

having only done a relative few terminal/near terminal BASE jumps - and those having been a long long time ago before this microreefing was done... from which side of the slider is the bight of steering lines taken? above or below the slider? how much bight? I'm inclined to just let the slider do its job sans microreefing, but I'm curious as to how, exactly, this particular gun is cocked.

thanks,
Gardner

[bps]

Hi Tom -

By all means, I'm not putting down your idea, but there's a very important point that everyone should consider before trying that idea:

Your control lines are one of the primary forces that drives the slider down.

Tom, I know that you evaluate new ideas thoroughly and then test them in an appropriate environment, but I'd hate for someone to read your above post and then run out and snivel into the dirt. Not saying that this would definitively happen, but IMHO it is certainly possible.

For me, I feel really comfortable with my slider-up pack-jobs and feel that the chances of a line-over are very rare with a careful pack job and direct-control on the slider.

If I need to slow down the opening, I simply use a sail slider.

C-ya,

Bryan
(This post is not really directed towards Tom -- it's more or less food for thought for everyone)

[guest]

The center of the tail is still very exposed and will produce a great deal of drag. There is plenty of force to unstow the 3/4" bite of the 8 upper brake cascade lines. I've tried many variations on direct slider control (rubber banding a bite of the slider to one of the center B or C lines) and have had occasional poor results.

IMHO, even neat pack jobs can suffer greatly when exposed to terminal wind, and my suggested modification seems to work for my gear configuration (even though it's still all from the BASE manufacturers).

On one note, I did try a trapezoidal mesh slider (narrow at the rear than the front) using the idea that the brake lines provide most of the downward force on the slider. I did this out of desperation trying many different things to get my BASE canopy to open on-heading. My experience with BASE canopies was that specific canopy was probably a lemon, possibly related to a rumored bad batch of F111. The results of that experimentation was a shattered femur that left me grounded for 6 months. The only real advantage of a BASE canopy is consistency (and their overbuilding). In the past, everyone had to dial their specific gear in. Some of them have better openings and better landings than some of todays BASE canopies that are difficult to dial in.

[guest]

Hey Bryan:

I'm confused. Why would the control lines fail to drive the slider in this scenario?

I'm not talking about removing them from the slider grommets, just putting them through something else as well.

--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@ucdavis.edu