Chute roller

Having trouble getting that big, fluffy parachute into or (more to the point) out of, that minimum diameter airframe? We sure have. The above photos are of our 1st and 2nd Firefly crashes. In the 1st, the BP charge blew out the motor tube. In the 2nd, the BP charge blew the fin section off the rocket. The chute remained nicely packed in both crashes. Try this easy to make parachute roller.

You'll need (2) 12" long pieces of smooth (we used sst) tubing and (2) 1" Dia. X .25" thick metal discs. Wooden discs would also work. Drill (2) .25" clearance holes on .75" centers in the discs. Weld or epoxy the tubing ends into one disc and make sure the other one slides along the tube lengths

The picture series shows a 44" Classic Skyangle chute going easily into our 54mm Firestorm.

Hold chute from top and bottom and layout on a flat surface. Slide the chute between the roller rods.

Slide on end stop and roll chute tightly over roller rods.

Keep the shroud lines untangled and wrap them in a tight spiral around the chute.

Remove the end stop and slide out the roller (very important). Lay the recovery line flat along the chute and insert the rolled chute in the body tube. Connect your nose cone and you're ready to go.