.::. Chutes : How To Make A Tangleless Chute

	The problems with typical parachutes is that the lines can tangle in deployment. This can cause chute failure and is extremely frustrating. This is the inspiration for my tangleless parachute. This is a "high end" parachute from a childs toy.
	The top of the chute is made of nylon which is light and strong.
	The bottom of the chute is made of a soft nylon netting. No lines and no possibility of tangling. This increases the chance of a successful parachute deployment.
	Okay, now we begin construction of my parachute. You can make your chute out of any strong, light and flexible material. Nylon is really nice but its edges need to be sewn and with water rockets, the likelyhood of losing a chute in the trees is great. I make most of my chutes out of simple plastic shopping bags. Here's on that has good flexibility and yet seems strong enough.
	I want to cut this bag into a big open sheet of plastic. In this picture I have cut down one side and I'm cutting off the bottom seam.
	I've cut this bag open and I've laid it flat. I'm looking at the center section as the largest area of plastic I can get for my chute. You may want to use a larger bag to get a bigger chute. Bigger chute equals longer hang time but it also means greater weight and some additional difficulty in deployment.
	How do I get a circle cut from the plastic? I could cut the circle but that takes a lot of time. Here's a quick and dirty shortcut. I pinch the center of the plastic and pull it up into a bunch and slide my hand down to where I've got the greatest amount of plastic exposed.
	I then take a sharp pair of scissors and cut the plastic off across this point.
	I then spread out my plastic on the table and I've got a fairly round circle. Don't worry too much about the jagged edges. We'll be folding those over in a moment.
	I've purchased a roll of nylon netting from Wal-mart. It costs about $1 per yard. I splurged and bought 4 yards worth. I'm set for quite a while.
	In this picture I've rough cut a piece of netting that is just a bit larger than my parachute top.
	We need the nylon netting cut in a cirle of a similar diameter as the parachute top. I've pinched the center of both the parachute and the nylon netting.
	With a sharp pair of scissors, I've gut the nylon netting just a bit below the parachute top. When I spread them back out, they are approximately the same size compared to each other.
	Here's my friend: electrical tape. It's light, sticky and very easy to work with. We're going to use this to join the plastic parachute and the nylon netting together.
	In this picture, I have folded over my plastic below my nylon netting. The electrical tape sticks best to (a) other electical tape and (b) the plastic of the parachute. Smoothed out, the electical tape sticks to the plastic in between the nylon netting holes. I've also overlapped the tape onto the piece of tape that came before it. I work my way around the chute.
	We're close to the completed product. Notice that I've cut a small hole in the center of the chute.
	This hole allows for some air to excape while the chute is deployed which is bad. This hole however is worth it in that it increases the chace that the parachute will "open up" and give you a good hang time. A small hole will suffice. Do not cut this hole too large.
	In this picture, I've grabbed the nylon netting in the center of the chute, pinched it, tied a length of string to it and then bound it with electrical tape for strength. This string can then be attached to your rocket!
Depending on your results, you can also sew the nylon netting to the plastic top. If you use a chute over and over again, this may be worth the extra investment. One other tip that I offer is to make several parachutes at one time. Don't make just one. If one rips or fails, you've got others to turn to. Parachute making takes a long time and it's better to have several at your disposal when you're out in the field. Good luck and play it safe!